The Dunwich Horror (1970)
This 1970 adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror has often been unjustly maligned. No, I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece of cinema, but a pretty unintentionally silly and amusing adaptation of the Lovecraft story. Don’t expect the movie to be 100% true to the story, in fact Lovecraft stories weren’t supposed to translate too well to the big screen. But regardless of its faults, I actually quite enjoy it.
Where the original story was set in 1928, this 1970 adaptation was set in 1970, so expect lots of late ’60s hairstyles, clothes, and psychedelic scenes. Also, you’ll notice the movie ratings were a bit different in ’70, the movie was given an “M” rating, for Mature. Also it was produced by American International, which was well known for producing low-budget flicks (ranging from the Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon beach flicks to similar monster flicks like the Dunwich Horror).
The movie stars Dean Stockwell as Wilbur Whately, and Sandra Dee as Nancy Wagner. Also starring are Donna Baccala as Elizabeth Hamilton, friend of Nancy, Ed Begley as Dr. Henry Armitage, Sam Jaffe as the grandfather of Wilbur Whately, Lloyd Bochner as Dr. Cory, and Talia Shire (none other than the sister of Francis Ford Coppola!) as Nurse Cora.
There is no getting around the fact this film is from 1970. For the music, you get treated with silly electronic effects played from a Theramin, some harpsichord, and even early Moog synthesizer. Psychedelic effects are used from time to time, especially during the dream sequence, when Nancy Wagner has her tea drugged by Wilbur Whatley.
In this film, Wilbur Whately was completely obsessed with this book called the Necronomicon, in which he wants to use to bring back the Old Ones. He also needed a virgin for a sacrifice, so he seduces Nancy Wagner. Also on this film, it turned out Wilbur had a twin brother, but supposedly died during birth (at least that was in the doctor’s report). As you find at at the end, Wilbur’s twin brother was actually this tentacled creaturs from another world, the one who ends up killing Elizabeth Hamilton.
What’s totally silly about this film is Dean Stockwell’s acting. At that time, he had curly hair and a mustache, and on this film, he always talks in a monotone voice, never showing any kind of emotion. There’s a couple scenes where he attempt to laugh, but it was a feeble attempt. Another silly thing of this film, is it’s supposed to be set in an imaginary town called Dunwich, Massachussets, although the inhabitants all have Southern accents, making you think it might be in a place like Tennessee. In reality, it was filmed in California (presumably the northern California coast, judging by the vegetation). Also the college campus featured was called Miskatonic, when in reality it none other than the UCLA campus!
This movie is unintentioally hilarious! Bad acting, bad hairstyles, the cool psychedelic effects, etc. I included this movie here because the this film had a lot of undercurrents of that era, in which Wilbur Whately vs. the inhabitants of Dunwich (who were fundamentalist Christians) was a metaphor between the Counterculture and the Establishment, not to mention the psychedelic scenes that looked like they were done under a bad LSD trip. I was expected to be bored out of my skull watching this, but actually I had little problem sitting through this. Not really as bad as I thought it would be, and if you like cheesy, low-budget B-movies, the kind that teenagers would be found making out in the back seat of their car at a drive-in theater, you’d probably like this one as well.
– Dean Stockwell: Wilbur Whately
– Sandra Dee: Nancy Wagner
– Donna Baccala: Elizabeth Hamilton
– Ed Begley: Dr. Henry Armitage
– Sam Jaffe: Grandpa Whately
– Lloyd Bochner: Dr. Cory
– Talia Shire: Nursa Cora