Necronomicon: Book of Dead Movie Download

5 / 10

Jeffrey Combs, Brian Yuzna, Lovecraft… How’d This Happen?
H. P. Lovecraft (played by Jeffrey Combs) goes to a library of the occult to read the Necronomicon (book of the laws of the dead). But it is safely guarded and he must sneak past the monks. After he succeeds, he reads three stories from the book (each very loosely based off a Lovecraft tale) and we are treated to them from three different directors.

This film shouldn’t fail. Combs and Yuzna know Lovecraft… along with Stuart Gordon they’re like the masters of the Lovecraft. And the anthology format has been done successfully before (“Creepshow”). But yet, this just seems like more of a mess than anything. I think this is because the three stories have nothing in common with each other (that didn’t matter in “Creepshow” but it seems like it should here). And the fact it’s a different director each time makes the transitions a little stranger. Maybe this could have been a short-lived television series with directors adapting various Lovecraft tales each week. As one feature film, it just doesn’t slide.

The first tale (“The Drowned”) was awful beginning to end. I won’t name names, because the actors and director don’t need this on their record. Seriously, just plain bad.

Shusuke Kaneko (known for his Godzilla films) gives us the second part, based on “Cool Air”. Of the three, this is the only really good one, and the only thing redeeming this movie (besides Combs). We get the story of a woman who meets a doctor and falls in love with him, and gets impregnated. But the doctor has a secret — he is ancient, and must be kept alive by using spinal fluid and avoiding all heat and light.

David Warner (veteran horror actor and also the professor from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze”) plays Dr. Madden, and his presence is always welcome. Bess Meyer, whom I don’t know, plays a great Emily Osterman. If all three sequences were this good, this film would have been much more memorable (and maybe available on DVD by now). Obba Babatunde (best known to me as the “Dawson’s Creek” principal) shows up, also. The only good part of part three (besides the gore, which part two does better).

The road to filming this movie was paved with good intentions, but I’m not convinced. If you do watch it, watch all the way through — it gets better as it goes, I promise. But unless you’re as much of a lover of Combs or Lovecraft as I am, this really can wait until the DVD edition arrives… and even then, take your time.Read More