Charles Dexter Ward”, and a fairly decent one at that. The casting to the movie is strong, starring Vincent Price and featuring Lon Chaney Jr. (who has much better material here than his friend Boris Karloff had with “Die Monster, Die!”) and this cast isn't wasted. While the script isn't exactly the strongest I've seen it works (perhaps in part to the uncredited work of Francis Ford Coppola).

What really sets this movie above many of the older Lovecraft films is the atmosphere. The sets are very striking and the whole film is filled with a tense and moody atmosphere of the sort that Lovecraft strove to create in his work. On that level this film is a complete success. Visually, some of the makeup doesn't hold up with the passing of time, specifically the “mutants”. This doesn't really detract from the overall film though.

The only real drawback to this film is that the pacing is a bit slow. There are times where it plods along and you just wait for the movie to catch up with the story. Corman's pacing allows for a nice atmosphere, but I believe that he went too far, at times dragging the film for the sake of "atmosphere". Still, when that is the biggest complaint I have about a Lovecraft movie? That is saying a lot.

The DVD is packaged with another Vincent Price Film, “The Tower of London” and also has a documentary feature with Roger Corman (answering once and for all that yes, Francis Ford Coppola did work on this film). With two movies and the documentary, the DVD is certainly worth the price. Sadly, this title is already getting hard to find.

-Bob Brinkman

Special thanks to Bob Brinkman for allowing me to use this review.