Horror, as we all know and love, is a tricky genre to do well. Especially hard for the filmmaker is the adaptation to film of a classic writer or story. One of the greatest horror writers of the 20th century, H.P. Lovecraft, has been particularly difficult to bring to film in a true artistic way. Although he created the Chuthlu Mythos and wrote hundreds of short stories and novellas, there have been few filmmakers who've attempted to bring Lovecraft to the screen and most of those "movies" have little or nothing to do with the actual stories. One of the better Lovecraft films, however, has reappeared after many on year on DVD. This is the 1970 A.I.P., Corman produced, Dean Stockwell /Sandra Dee starring "The Dunwich Horror."

For those unfamiliar with the story, young Wilbur Whatley (Stockwell) tries to get his hands on the Necronomicon, which just happens to be down the street at the library of Dr. Armatage (Ed Begley). After a quick look at the tome, and a rejection by the Doctor to "borrow" it, Wilbur convinces young student Nancy (Sandra Dee) to drive him home to his requisite haunted house in the hills. Crazy Sam Jaffe is there, moaning and groaning about doom and gloom as usual. Of course, he might have a point, as there's "something" locked in the attic. After some car sabotage, Nancy is forced to spend the night in Wilbur's home, where she has a weird dream, filled with 1970's psychedelic images of naked painted freaks and Vaseline on the camera lens. Finding Nancy missing, Dr. Armatage and Nancy's friend Liz drive to the Watley house the next day, only to discover she's decided to spend the entire weekend there with Wilbur. The Doctor leaves and goes into town with Liz, where they meet Dr. Corey (Lloyd Boucher), who tells them of Wilbur's birth and that of his twin - who apparently died at birth. Nurse Cora (Talia Coppola) informs Liz that everyone thinks Wilbur is a creep and not to trust him. Liz leaves the two doctors and returns to the Watley house, where she clocks poor Sam and opens the forbidden door. Now that I've wet your appetite (so to speak), you'd better shell out your ten bucks and buy this fine disc to find (dramatic pause) what happens next !!!

This adaptation of Lovecraft stays pretty true to the story and mood set up by H.P. Aside from a glaring faux pas in the "Night of the Demons" vein ( I think you know what I mean), the movie is coherent, moody, has a very good cast and decent production values. Like most non-Italian horror movies of the early '70s, the film is deliberately paced, but never boring, and has the appropriate amount of "Psychedelic" moments. Oh yeah, "The Dunwich Horror" also has one of my personal favorite title sequences and theme songs. It's animated!

Trivia Fact: This was the last film for both great character actors Ed Begley ("12 Angry Men") and Sam Jaffe ("Lost Horizon", "Asphalt Jungle").

I was able to compare the picture and sound quality of the DVD with an old Embassy video copy. Like night and day, folks. The DVD image is so much sharper and bright, and the colors are exceptionally vivid. Just gorgeous. The sound is also much clearer - the video copy I have has a lot of static on the soundtrack while the DVD has minimal noise. I tried the sound in various stereo and surround settings, but there wasn't much difference between them.

MGM has released "The Dunwich Horror" (letterboxed) as part of their Midnight Movies promotion, so you should be able to pick it up for about ten bucks. (and we all know, ten bucks is ten bucks.) The extras included on the disc are the theatrical trailer, French language option and French/Spanish subtitle options.