'70s Trash?: The Dunwich Horror (1970)

This one didn't end up getting watched and reviewed in 2018, but, eh, close enough.  This is The Dunwich Horror, a 1970 Film based loosely on the work of H.P. Lovecraft.  AIP and Corman were mining every bit of gold from this Era of writing for Horror Films, be it every Poe Story (save for The Gold Bug) and all the rest they could find.  As such, Lovecraft got his due with stuff like this and The Haunted Castle- kind of.  These are pretty loose adaptations.  The Plot involves the Necronomicon, an evil Ceremony and Al from Quantum Leap.  Yes, Dean Stockwell is here to make you jealous of your mustaches and your pathetic curls.  Can he end the World?  Can an old Professor stop him?  Will the Film make you feel like you just dropped Acid?  To find out, read on...

A local University- you know the one- is holding a very dark and powerful book.  There's one thing they must do...

Not let this guy read it!

They fail to do so, setting the Plot in motion.

He tricks a Student- Sandra Dee- into staying in Dunwich with him- after he rigs everything in his favor.

Her Professor and her friend come find her, choosing to stay in spite of her wishes (drugged as they may be) and they investigate the Town.  For one thing- Stockwell was born under very strange circumstances and may have a twin.

His Mother has also gone crazy and appears to be well-worn.  Does it have to do with the Ceremony?  Does it have to do with dark Magic?

Speaking of magic, Stockwell wears down Dee (also padding out the Runtime) and finally sets her up to do some sort of Ceremony.  Yes, this is silly.

Dee's friend refuses to take 'no' for an answer and opens the door, letting his 'brother' out.  It's a Monster...that they can't afford to show properly, so they go all psychedelic on us!

The bigger question- why does the monster take her clothes off during the attack?!?  Seriously, she was wearing three layers before and she's naked (or at least implied to be) by the end.  Huh?!?

Professor Armitage (Ed Begley SR.)gets the Town together to stop the Ceremony...which mostly just adds to the Body Count for the un-filmable Monster.

They show up and try to stop the Ceremony.  Stockwell realizes that it won't work...

...so his 'God' sets him on fire and drops a mannequin...I mean, him, off of the cliff.

In the aftermath, we see that Dee is pregnant, setting up a Sequel that never came.  The End.

A big silly mess of a Film- in kind of a good way.  Lovecraft is a hard guy to adapt.  His Stories are dense.  His Stories are dark.  His Stories are bleak.  His lightest Stories involve people putting off the end of the World for another day...but it's always coming.  Naturally, this leads to a trippy, balls out Film like this!  They *kind* of get the bleak tone with how badly things have gone for the one evil family and how hopeless things seem for Dee.  That's broken by the Ending, of course.  Evil is stopped (for now, at least) and all seems right with the world.  Granted- a bunch of people are now dead, but Yog-Sothoth is not floating around.  Speaking of that Elder God, that's the biggest problem of the Film.  You want to make a Film about something that fantastical and crazy- make sure you can first.  If you can't make a good Cthulhu, for instance, you make that terrible Movie of the same name.  You don't, for instance, try to make a Godzilla Film for $2 million, do you?  Instead of doing it right, you just get over-exposed and filter-laden shots of Dean Stockwell wearing the craziest mask seen outside of an ACI Short (see below).  You got an A for Effort, but also an F for Failure.  The best part of this Film is the Soundtrack.  I actually listened to it many times before even watching the Film.  For lovers of the bizarre and macabre, this is a must-see.  For lovers of good storytelling and effects, it is not.  Seriously, look at this super-evil being...

Next time, I look at a Murder Mystery that I've put off doing for Months.  Will a return to Acting end up being the right call for this Star?  Stay tuned...