101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen: Review #1: NECRONOMICON (1996)

Starting a new series of reviews. I have used FANGORIA'S 101 BEST HORROR MOVIES YOU'VE NEVER SEEN as a guide for choosing which horror flicks to add to my personal collection for years now and have come to the conclusion to start a series of reviews of these little-known horror films for the site. They are not necessarily going to be in the order that the book lists them (which is alphabetical) but I will make an attempt to see and review as many of these picks from the book as possible. This first entry is an H.P. Lovecraft anthology titled NECRONOMICON.

Country Of Origin: France/USA

USA Release: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 (Video)

How I Saw It: Imported DVD

MPAA Rating: R for Violence, Gore, Language, and Sex

Running Time: 1 hour 37 minutes

Directed by: Christophe Gans, Shusuke Kaneko, Brian Yuzna

Written by: Brent V. Friedman, Christophe Gans, Kazunori Itô, Brian Yuzna

(Based on three short stories by H.P. Lovecraft, THE RATS IN THE WALLS, COOL AIR, THE WHISPERER IN THE DARKNESS)

Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Payne, David Warner, Bess Meyer, Signy Coleman, Don Calfa

Anthologies are some of the best examples of horror filmmaking. It's interesting to watch a group of short horror stories put to film during one sitting. Another plus is that if one story sucks, the rest have a chance of being better. NECRONOMICON's weakest story is still good, which goes to show the quality of this film! The wrap-around story follows H.P. Lovecraft himself (played by Jeffrey Combs) as he visits a mysterious monastery and translates the Necronomicon (an ancient book of evil) for his writings and the safety of man-kind. What follows as he reads are 3 adaptations of Lovecraft tales.

 Story 1: THE DROWNED
The first story is about a man who attempts to resurrect his wife (who died in a car accident). Turns out the ritual has some unexpected side-effects. This story had some very cool special effects and a dark atmosphere. It also has an appearance by a Cthulhu/Dagon kind of monster near the end. Pretty friggin' neat!
Grade: B+

 Story 2: THE COLD
A woman (who has just moved into an apartment building) discovers another resident there is a scientist who has a rare disease, he will not age if kept alive in the cold and with considerable doses of spinal fluid. Unfortunately, spinal fluid does not grow on trees and this leads him to have someone murder people and steal their spinal fluid. Despite his despicable nature, the woman begins falling in love with the man which leads to some pretty sick and nasty consequences. This was the weakest story of the three. There were parts of it that just dragged, but when there was interesting stuff happening, it was pretty insane! Although, this is the weakest, the ending alone makes up for it (what a dark way to cap it all off).
Grade: B

 Story 3: WHISPERS
In my opinion, the best story of the three. A pregnant cop pursues a killer who has kidnapped her partner into an abandoned warehouse. Turns out a weird couple live in the warehouse and there are creatures underneath it as well. This story is disturbing, darkly comedic, and just plain scary. I loved every second! This is how you tell a horror story! It all leads up to a nightmarish and twisted ending that will have you laughing at the cheesy effects but creeped out by where the story went.
Grade: A-

Overall Grade: B+: Although I did not care for the aspect of making H.P. Lovecraft into some sort of action hero near the end (it's like having Edgar Allan Poe pulling of Indiana Jones stunts, just isn't right), this movie is all kinds of cool! With some really neat (cheesy) practical effects, good acting, and brilliant writing, this one comes highly recommended. The major problem I have with this movie is that it currently has not yet been released on DVD! Seriously, it was well-received when it originally came out. What makes the studio think it wouldn't have an audience now? Oh well, this is only avaliable on VHS at the moment (and other means if you get my drift). You should definitely give this one a look, if the opportunity comes!