FilmArcade.net: "Beyond the Dunwich Horror" Review

Beyond the Dunwich Horror
Year: 2008
Director: Richard Griffin
Studio: Scorpio Film Releasing
Stars: Michael Reed, Jason McCormick, Sarah Nicklin
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 104 Mins
Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/graveyardrotthemovie

"Beyond the Dunwich Horror" is latest of H.P. Lovecraft’s work that’s being loosely adapted for film. Kenny Crawford is a person from Providence (Michael Reed) who arrives in Dunwich, after finding out that his brother (Jason McCormick) is locked away, in a mental institution. He begins to find out that his brother might have something to hide, as he’s a suspect in a couple of disappearances. To prove his brothers innocents, he begins to investigate the disappearances with the help of a local reporter and the town’s eccentric. They, then begin find out that Kenny’s brother was involved with a mysterious woman (Sarah Nicklin) and her creepy boyfriend, who are into the occult and need him to find something, for their devilish plan, which might spell doom for everyone. The film also costars Lynn Lowry and Jeff Dylan Graham.

"Beyond the Dunwich Horror" is a very gothic and surreal horror film. Writer/ Director Richard Griffin did a good job adapting H.P Lovecraft’s dark story. His direction was very good, as the material didn’t become too outrageous or too surreal, to the point that you would lose your interest and be confused, with the film’s story. Speaking of the surreal images, the images worked very well, as images were very surreal. Credit for that goes to both Griffin and the film’s cinematographer Ric Rebelo. It was filmed in a way that it felt like a scene that you would see out of a David Lynch film, with the camerawork and the bizarreness of the action that taking place. Also, gorehounds will not disappoint here, as the film is very gory. Griffin handles the gore effects, very well, as the effects made the some of the scenes, very shocking that made your truly cover his eyes for one of the effects. The acting was surprisingly good considering that the acting of the first ten minutes of this film felt clichéd, as I thought that this was going to be one of those clichéd acted films. Griffin gets some very good performances after the first ten minutes, especially from one of the film’s leads Sarah Nicklin. Her performance is one of the film’s highlights, as she makes her character darkly seductive and terrifying. That’s the type of performance that is needed in a female villain, which isn’t seen with most female villains.

Griffin’s screenplay was very good, with the expectation, of the first ten minutes, which liked the acting felt clichéd. He handles, Lovecraft’s dark material very well, from the original story. This film never let up on the dark and surreal atmosphere, throughout the whole film. This would make the scares, very effective. Griffin makes it effective, by timing them very well, so that it becomes scary, when it happens. Another thing that was done well was the fact that the material and story wasn’t too confusing, as there were a lot weird things happening in the story. Then again, you’re expecting this, because this is a H.P. Lovecraft story. But what makes it not confusing was the fact that the subplots were interesting and I could tell what was happening, in those subplots, as I wasn’t confused, one bit. That’s how weird material can be effective, as your not trying to sort out, what place in the story that your in, which hurts some of these surreal films, but doesn’t here. He also does a good job making the characters very interesting, which helps the film, when the atmosphere of the story gets surreal. Griffin develops them very well, which also contributed to making the characters, interesting.

“Beyond the Dunwich Horror” is a old school horror film that’s frightening and surreal to its shocking end.

To purchase this film, you can goto: http://scorpiofilmreleasing.net/movie5.html

Review Rating: 4 Stars