tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post1299558130261491686..comments2024-01-09T04:01:00.672+00:00Comments on Breakfast In The Ruins: Lovecraft on Film: The Dunwich Horror (Daniel Haller, 1970)Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14951955227326548340noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-58203016225643397632017-07-16T06:35:12.060+01:002017-07-16T06:35:12.060+01:00There seemed to be more of an emphasis on visuals ...There seemed to be more of an emphasis on visuals than content back then. How else to explain the double feature of Awful Dr. Orlof and the Horrible Dr. Hichcock, extremely adult in content, marketed to children's matinees (I was a pre-teen attendee) with all sort of marketing gimmicks. What was really going on in those two films went right over my head. Only years later did I understand. This would never happen in today's PC environment that attempts to sanitize both fictional movies and real news. Elliot Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17964519903027517480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-8883126664281506902017-07-10T16:59:14.281+01:002017-07-10T16:59:14.281+01:00Thanks as ever for your comment & recollection...Thanks as ever for your comment & recollections Elliot; it is very interesting to me that a film like this one was still being screened to pre-teen / matinee crowds in the US, despite its nudity, sexual content, drug use etc... clearly the transition toward the harder-edged, adult-orientated exploitation/horror of the early '70s hadn't quite come into effect yet. Or, maybe we could blame 'Dunwich..'s commerical failure on the fact that it kind of fell into an uncomfortable chasm between the two audiences..? Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14951955227326548340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-70369680009159647462017-07-09T02:27:24.466+01:002017-07-09T02:27:24.466+01:00Lovecraft. His work is too difficult to commit to ...Lovecraft. His work is too difficult to commit to film and capture his strange universe. Del Toro has tried to get financing to make his dream project and hasn't succeeded. If anyone can realize Lovecraft, he's the one.<br /><br />I remember the experiences of watching Dunwich and Die Monster Die in the theaters more than I remember the movies themselves. (What would this be called in the language of psychology?) Both times, I recall the restlessness and sounds of boredom of the early-teen audiences (of which I was one). I haven't seen Dunwich since then.<br /><br />The Shuttered Room, essayed on your blog a year ago, was an interesting attempt at Lovecraft, without any special effects, though lacking in the kind of otherworldly weirdness needed, as you wrote.Elliot Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17964519903027517480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-48332508595162896892017-07-07T19:20:30.655+01:002017-07-07T19:20:30.655+01:00Thanks so much for your comment Ian, and I'm g...Thanks so much for your comment Ian, and I'm glad my writings inspired you to re-visit the film -- even more glad you enjoyed it too, but yes, I agree, that hippie dream sequence is ridiculous.<br /><br />On the surface of it, your partner's concerns re: lack of wardrobe changes seem entirely valid, but I would counter by poiting out that, in the Lovecraft story, Wilbur Whateley remains fully dressed at all times in order to disguise the fact that he is actually an inhuman monstrosity, so maybe that idea got carried over into the film? Also, if we take it that he really is luring Sandra into some kind of Mansonite drug cult, then surely never changing yr clothes and generally being smelly would be an absolute prerequisite, at least as per the usual hippie stereotypes..?<br /><br />Nonetheless though, now that it has been pointed out, I will definitely be keeping an eye on this issue the next time I sit down to watch a gothic horror movie... I've got a feeling Vincent Price probably didn't get through many changes of frilly shirt and smoking jacket per film...Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14951955227326548340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3369610344911858466.post-80414665653922139092017-07-07T18:22:58.456+01:002017-07-07T18:22:58.456+01:00After reading this entry, I tracked down 'The ...After reading this entry, I tracked down 'The Dunwich Horror' on the Internet and watched it again with my partner (who, unlike me, was seeing it for the first time). I love the movie -- as time passes and the 1960s recede into history, its psychedelic weirdness becomes evermore charming. That said, I could have done without the early dream sequence where Sandra Dee is assaulted by a bunch of eye-rolling, tongue-waggling hippy-troglodytes.<br /><br />My better half, on the other hand, was most perturbed by the fact that Sandra Dee spent several days stranded at the Whateley mansion without a change of clothes -- which meant, presumably, no change of underwear either. Also, she was not impressed by the fact that Dean Stockwell did not remove his brown corduroy jacket once during the whole film. "What a pair of slobs!" she exclaimed eventually and indignantly. Yes, it's always worth appraising a favourite old film with a fresh pair of eyes...Ian Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17895092159128758361noreply@blogger.com