THE DUNWICH HORROR. American International Pictures, 1970. Based on the story by H. P. Lovecraft. Music by Les Baxter. Director: Daniel Haller.

   I watched this movie with what you might call a severe handicap. I’ve never read the story it’s based on, and what’s more I think the whole Chluthu Mythos is bunkum, to speak frankly, and to sum it up quickly, this movie did nothing to change my mind.

   The first half, though, I have to tell you is stylishly done, with some good performances by the players, especially by Dean Stockwell in a standout performance as a last living member of the Whateley family, shunned by the townsfolk of Dunwich for years, and by Ed Begley as Dr. Henry Armitage, who as the movie begins has just finished a lecture at Miskatonic University in nearly Arkham.

   It turns out that the charismatic and soft-spoken Wilbur Whateley needs the famed and very rare book called the Necronomicon for his own purposes, and to that end he captivates a very pretty student named Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee) into driving him home from the University library, and what’s more, into staying the night in his very antique and picturesque family mansion.

   And in that mansion, guarded over by Wilbur’s aged, wild-eyed grandfather (Sam Jaffee) is a room, locked and barred with a secret inhabitant inside. All is deliciously filmed, with loads of anticipatory suspense until, alas, the secrets begin to be revealed, and the film goes into all kinds of psychedelic contortions to avoid showing us who or what has been hidden away for so long in that room.

   But where this affair really goes off the rails is the point where the story stops making sense. A female friend of Nancy’s goes to the mansion alone to rescue her, without Professor Armitage, and does she open the door? Need you ask?

   This occurs right around the halfway point, and for me it was downhill the rest of the way. Lovecraft fans seem to be only so-so on this film, so if you’re one also, you need not take only my opinion on it, even though their reasons may not be the same as mine. A big plus is the very effective musical score by Les Baxter, a portion of which you can listen to here, and in one of his final roles, Ed Begley is as always a joy to see on the screen.