Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A Lazy Bear The movie is a Anthology movie based around H.P.Lovecrafts short-stories. Although based seems like the wrong word in this case, but more about that later...The movie some bad acting, mostly bad dialogue, bad story, bad characters (they don't even have any personalities whatsoever and for the most part I don't even understand their reactions/actions) and often terrible editing that simply confuses you, especially in the second story are some weird cuts. The whole concept of the movie doesn't even make sense, the stories are read from the necronomicon, which doesn't make sense since its a spell-book and none of these stories are written by anyone involved, at least we are never told so. BUT it also has its redeeming qualities, most of all the practical special effects are awesome! They actually are some of my most favourite practical gore effects ever and there are a lot of them! Also the set and sound design are quite alright.Now more about Lovecraft compared to this movie. The style is in no way comparable to Lovecrafts. There is no build-up, no subtlety (creatures EVERYWHERE), little explanation as to why all this happens (which is usually the scary part in a Lovecraft story), there is no feeling of the insignificance of humans compared to what exists out there (maybe). It feels much more like silly campfire stories.To sum it up I would recommend watching this either if you are a big fan of practical special effects (especially gore) or you like the Cthulhu universe. In my case both of these things apply which is why I enjoyed this movie despite its crap-factor.

GL84 Hearing that the fabled Necronomicon is in a library, writer H.P. Lovecraft wants to use it to help his writing. After finding it hidden in a secret compartment under the library, he reads three stories from it.The Good Story(s): The Drowned-After a devastating loss, a man is shown the crumbling hotel he has just inherited after his relatives have all died under mysterious accidents. When he learns the truth about his relative's actual deaths, he uses supernatural means to prove their validity. When he finally learns the secret buried underneath his house, he begins to question what really happened to his family. On the whole, this was a great story with a lot to like. One of the better parts to this one is the undeniable and utterly creepy atmosphere here. After starting off in the Gothic territory with a huge mansion, darkly lit hallways and strange rooms, it soon shifts over into the typical Lovecraft story with mysterious creatures, unknown incantations and a general feeling of unease that erupts for no reason. It's a great example of Lovecraft done right, especially when mixed with the Gothic opening. It's action-packed finale is a great conclusion, and makes it end on a high-note that most really don't have.The Bad Story(s): The Cold-Told through flashback, a young woman arrives in Boston looking for a new start, and she moves in to a new apartment complex. Told she is not to interfere with a resident doctor who also lives there, she goes on until he is required to save her and they come in contact. When she discovers that he is secretly conducting strange experiments in his room, he tries to keep the true nature of his work secret. This one was pretty interesting, and it moved a lot faster than it should, but the main problem about this episode was that the whole thing was built around a twist ending that was quite easily spotted and doesn't come at all as a surprise it should be. It really should work, but because it has come along so often, there's just the feeling of a clichéd style to this, and that lowers it into this category. Otherwise, this would be in the top one, as it is a good one, just let down by a weak and predictable ending.Whispers-Chasing a suspect, a policewoman loses her partner/lover and she has to track them both down. While navigating through a deserted building, she is attacked and happens upon a giant pit littered in mangled bodies. After being tormented and tortured by various visions, she is finally able to put it all to rest. Easily the weakest if the three, and despite providing the real gore in the film, isn't at all scary and is instead just a bore. Frankly, with all the deformed bodies and gore thrown around here there's very little about this that should fail on that alone, but it just so bland and lifeless that there's little hope for the great bloodshed on display It is a great wonder to look at with the cave itself being utterly freaky looking and the central pit of bodies displays the kind of darkened aura normally associated with his work, but this is just not scary enough to be worthwhile.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.

Paul Andrews Necronomicon starts in 1932 as writer H.P. Lovecraft (Jeffrey Combs) as learned that an order of Ontraggi Monks guard a copy of the legendary occult book the Necronomicon, Lovecraft manages to locate the vault where the Necronomicon is hidden & begins the read it...First he reads about 'The Drowned' in which a man named Edward De Lapoer (Bruce Payne) inherits an old hotel that has been abandoned for sixty years after the suicide of his ancestor Jethro De Lapoer (Richard Lynch) managed to bring his dead wife & son back to life using spells from the Necronomicon...The next story 'The Cold' is about newspaper reporter Dale Porkel (Dennis Christopher) who investigates the murder of several people which leads him to a boarding house & a certain Dr. Madden (David Warner) who has managed to prolong his life but with dire consequences...Finally Lovecraft reads 'The Whispers' about a female cop named Sarah (Signy Coleman) descent under an old warehouse where she finds herself in an ancient temple full of Bat creatures who feast on human flesh & need human brains to breed...This French & American co-production is a three part horror anthology film based around three short stories by H.P. Lovecraft who also features in the fictional wraparound segment, the wraparound segment & the third story 'The Whispers' was directed by Brian Yuzna while the first story 'The Drowned' was directed by the French born Christophe Gans while the second story was directed by the Japanese born Shûsuke Kaneko. The script for Necronomicon uses various Lovecraft themes & ideas but the individual stories don't really represent their supposed source materials but I still found them all enjoyable in different ways. I think it's quite nice to watch a horror film that has no annoying teenagers in it, that isn't a remake of anything & isn't a typically predictable slasher & to that end I did enjoy this although it could have been better. Each of the stories has an air of the supernatural about it with the first in particular, each story features the Necronomicon somehow but I would say that 'The Cold' is maybe the best of the three with 'Whispers' not far behind it & while 'The Drowned' is far from bad it's probably the least of the three stories. There's certainly plenty of gore & monsters here & the effects men have a blast bringing all sorts of slimy monsters, people melting, severed limbs & splattery creations to life. At a little over 90 minutes each story lasts the 25 minute range & are all suitably different although I think the twist endings could have been a bitter & played more for dramatic impact.Although based on short stories by Lovecraft the adaptations retain little of their literally source, 'The Drowned' is an adaptation of The Rats in the Wall from 1924 only retains the De Lapoer name & something under a house (a city rather than a monster though), 'The Cold' is adapted from Cool Air published in 1931 & is the closest to the original story while 'Whispers' is adapted from The Whispers in Darkness from 1928 that deals with rumours of aliens hiding in the hills of Vermont rather than cops & old warehouses. Fans of other Yuzna produced Lovecraft adaptations such as Re-Animator (1985) & From Beyond (1986) will be happy to see the same sort of visual style & the same sort of gory special effects, from people melting to piles of severed limbs to people's faces being pulled off to people with the backs of their heads missing to some bat like alien monsters to a huge tentacled monster thing & more besides as the effects men throw plenty of blood & slime our way. The dark Gothic setting or 'The Drowned' is very nice & atmospheric while the more sedate setting of 'The Cold' works too but the somewhat surreal setting of 'Whispers' looks a little theatrical with it's bright neon lighting & smoke everywhere.With a supposed budget of about $4,000,000 this appears to have had some money spent on it & while the effects & sets probably cost a fair bit the stories do feel a little empty at times, Necronomicon feels like a showcase for the effects men rather than the talents of Lovecraft. The acting is pretty good, Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Payne, Richard Lynch & David Warner add a little marquee value for genre fans.Necronomicon is a good film, it's not a perfect film but at least it's something different from the teen slashers, remakes & giant Shark creature features that litter video shop shelves, I suppose it's an acquired taste & the stories might have been fleshed out more for dramatic purposes but it looks great, has lots of slime & gore & is well worth a watch.

Woodyanders H.P. Lovecraft's gloomy short stories about obsession and the supernatural monsters that lurk all around us unnoticed by society at large naturally lend themselves to a multi-storied omnibus fright film format. Well, this trio of truly terrifying tales does the master full justice, combining both supremely sepulchral midnight-in-the-graveyard moodiness and jump-out-at-you startling straightforward shocks with often genuinely frightening results.First yarn, "The Drowned" - Wealthy Bruce Payne inherits a crumbling old seaside hotel that unbeknown to Payne has a foul carnivorous demon residing in the murky basement. Directed with exceptional style and grace by Chistopher Gans, this particularly chilling humdinger is highlighted by Richard Lynch's touching turn as a bitter man who renounces his faith in God after losing his wife and child in a shipwreck and direct-to-video erotic thriller perennial Maria Ford's strikingly eerie, ethereal and even strangely sexy cameo as Payne's dead girlfriend who's resurrected as a ghostly, pallid, mossy-haired zombie.Second vignette, "The Cold" - Sweet young runaway Bess Myer rents a room at a shabby apartment with a lonely, reclusive scientist (movingly played by David Warner) residing on the weirdly freezing top floor. When Myer befriends the sad, fragile Warner she learns that he has discovered the secret of immortality, which not surprisingly comes at an especially terrible price: Warner can only remain alive by constant fresh injections of human spinal fluid! Director Shusuke Kaneko manages to milk considerable poignancy from this haunting parable about the horrible price one must pay for cheating fate, coaxing fine supporting performances from Millie Perkins as Warner's protective landlady, Gary Graham as Myers' abusive, incestuous brute stepbrother, and Dennis Christopher as a foolishly snoopy newspaper reporter.Third and most gruesome anecdote, "Whispers" - Gung-ho female cop Signy Coleman and her more sensible partner Obba Babatunde stumble across the dark, dank and forbidding underground lair of these ancient subterranean monsters with a voracious appetite for bone marrow. Director Brian Yunza eschews the spooky atmospherics of the previous segments for a graphically visceral approach that's crudely effective in a gory, mondo disgusto, gross you out hideous sort of way. "Return of the Living Dead" 's Don Calfa and Judith Drake are wonderfully quirky as the nutty old couple guardians of the savage flesh-eating flying beasts who need new victims to keep their race thriving for all eternity.All these stories in and of themselves certainly smoke, as does the thankfully solid wraparound narrative starring Lovecraft movie vet Jeffrey ("Re-Animator," "From Beyond") Combs, who's perfectly cast as the author himself who visits a secret library to check out the legendary tome of evil "Necronomicon" and almost gets killed in the process. Barely recognizable under heavy make-up which makes him resemble a gaunt Bruce Campbell, Combs simply shines in a role he was seemingly destined to portray. Moreover, the uniformly superb special effects by such dependable artists as Tom Savini, Todd Masters and Screaming Mad George are as ghastly and grotesque as they ought to be, the splatter is likewise properly revolting and plentiful, the tone suitably creepy throughout, and, most importantly, the individual stories ultimately cohere into a provocative and penetrating meditation on man's tenuous hold on reality, exposing a scary netherworld that if intruded upon by us stupidly inquisitive mortals can prove to be quite deadly and dangerous. A superior horror anthology.