The Dunwich Horror 1970

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This movie is so terrible it is difficult to find words to describe it, but I shall make an attempt. There is a severe lack of production values, including shots filmed at dusk, blatantly dropped into scenes taking place in the dead of night. Seeing people walk around with searchlights, where the light around them is brighter than that of the searchlight, is pretty darn silly.

There are a few nightmare sequences in the movie, all of them terrible. It seems that Producer Roger Corman paid a few aging hippies to run around mostly naked and covered in body paint. Filmed with a Vaseline smeared lens, the nightmare scenes would have best been filmed with the lens cap on. The same could be said for all of the oddly colored negative shots that are so indicative of a late 60's early 70's occult horror film.

There is a fantastic cast to this film, but they are horribly wasted. Sandra Dee spends half of her screen time writhing about like a bashful pornstar (no wonder this was her last film) and Dean Stockwell seems almost ashamed of the horrible dialog that he is forced to spew forth. Oscar winning Ed Begley sleepwalks through this movie, uncovering the entirety of the truth with an ease that only a horrible script could provide.

This movie is only for the serious collector who wants it for the sake of completeness. The DVD includes the original theatrical preview.

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- Bob Brinkman