I can’t say that any of these films is a true adaptation of Lovecraft’s fiction, but they are all trippy and weird. Does that mean they’re good? Let’s find out.
HP LOVECRAFT’S WITCH HOUSE (2021)
Based on the same story as the Masters of Horror episode Dreams in the Witch House, this low budget indie film features a female protagonist rather than a male protagonist. It’s pretty cosmic horror, to the point of feeling like a fever dream in the final act. There’s a lot going on considering it all leads to a fairly basic outcome.
A college student trying to escape an abusive relationship takes refuge in the attic rental room of a house. She befriends the landlady’s niece, which eventually leads to a lesbian hookup. Not that it adds much to the story.
In the meantime, the main girl is researching the occult and other dimensions. Conveniently, there’s a plank that comes up in her floor and appears to lead to another world.
Theres a very 80s vibe, with plenty of colorful horror lighting and atmosphere in both her nightmares and in the other dimension. There’s also talk of a witch and missing kids. However, the bulk of the movie is abstract, and all the eerie, occult moments are visually dark and muddled, so you have to fill in the gaps with your imagination.
A satanic sexual orgy dance ritual scene around a fire is the highlight of the film.
NECRONOMICON (2023)
75 minutes is too long for this sloppy film that postures itself as a Lovecraft film but ends up focusing almost exclusively on infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, all while having more of a Clive Barker, cosmic sexual theme. You’d think that would make it interesting.
The opening scene, which runs over ten minutes long, isn’t even necessary. It looks like a modern-day video game as some dude in a car chase with police narrates in a voiceover, talking all about the Necronomicon, the Devil, and Lovecraft.
Then the focus shifts to Crowley. A dude is assigned to get stories about him for a graphic novel. He spends a lot of time researching The Book of the Dead, Satanism, the occult, and Crowley, there are sexual themes, including a skanky sex scene (at least there’s that), and then he eventually discovers he’s a puppet in a cult’s scheme to resurrect the beast. Don’t expect to see any beast.
And one last thing. I really started to question my horror knowledge, because I’m pretty sure characters in this movie were pronouncing it NecroMonicon, not NecroNomicon, leaving me to wonder if I’d been mispronouncing and misspelling the name of the book for decades. And dammit, now every time I see the word, I hear NecroMonicon in my head, so forgive me in advance if I spell it that way in the future.
HP LOVECRAFT’S MONSTER PORTAL (2022)
You’d think this movie is horrible based on IMDb reviews, but quite honestly, it’s the easiest to comprehend of this trio, so it was the one I liked the most.
No time is wasted in presenting us with the giant monster that is the focus of the film. Not sure if it’s supposed to be Cthulhu, but it’s awesome in all its CGI glory as it accepts a sacrifice from a cult.
Next, a young woman comes to her recently deceased father’s house with her friends to settle his affairs. They immediately discover there are dead bunnies around the property, but the housekeeper says it was the work of the cats…even though there aren’t any cats. Uh-oh.
A much more sterile version of Lovecraft style that could easily have been a SyFy original, this one gives us friends hanging out, partying in the pool, and slowly discovering there’s something ominous going on around the house.
Most importantly, the daughter discovers her father was delving into some otherworldly stuff. Eventually we get a cult, the return of the monster, and even a ritual rape scene drenched in fog and red lighting, which, to me, made for a fairly satisfying final act.
