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Stuart Gordon is the only horror director with the cast-iron balls to dance in the footsteps of H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's intricate prose and specific vision has never really worked well within film (mostly because his horrors remained unseen and abstract), but that hasn't stopped Gordon from producing wildly inventive, if often uneven, adaptations. His Re-Animator was a gooey mess of depraved humor and inventive gore. And his Dagon is arguably the best effort to transmute Lovecraft's literary atmosphere to the screen.
So it is not without some expectations that "Dreams in the Witch House" arrives. The story concerns a graduate of Miskatonic University, Walter Gilman (Dagon's Ezra Godden), who's looking for a cheap place to concentrate on his thesis project. And while he makes some headway into his efforts with string theory, he also crosses the path of an ancient witch who may only be a figment of his imagination. The witch, you see, wants to take another tenant's baby and give its pure soul to Satan. So it's up to Walter to get to the bottom of the curse, if it exists.
I haven't read the short story by Lovecraft, but I doubt it was this goofy. Lovecraft loved to wallow in the architecture and mood of his stories, generally leaving little room for rats with human faces and bizarre sex scenes. But what can you do? Gordon gives the story his own personal stamp, a stamp that often includes the relationship between sex and death, as well as a joy in going too far. You may think you've seen children in peril before, but I doubt you've ever seen a knife get this close.
That boldness of vision is the story's best asset. Unfortunately, there are a few times too many where Gordon goes over the top. The aforementioned rat isn't really scary, or even all that important, and a lot of screen time is devoted to him – he enters the story twelve minutes in.I know. I counted. You tend to take note when a rat grows a face and starts talking to the hero. Additionally, the epilogue to the story feels unnecessary, an effort to tidy up loose ends better left hanging. Lovecraft wasn't above leaving his audience in a state of utter bewilderment at tale's end. Some would argue that's what he did best. But Gordon and Paoli have created additional scenes that only dilute what could've been a superb tale. Cut the last five minutes from the show, and the story would be a lot better. But it's still good.
As the episode is, it's diverting and it's fresh. It lacks the ferocious simplicity of Coscarelli's effort, but it bubbles with some trippy visuals and a clever, daring story. Besides, there's a cameo by the Necronomicon. How can you say no to that?
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