Something Strange: Necronomicon (1993)

The Necronomicon is a fictional magical grimoire created by H.P. Lovecraft that features in his Cthulhu mythos novellas and short stories.  The book recounts the history of the “Old Ones” as well as ways of summoning them.  With Lovecraft’s approval, other writers such as August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith also cite the Necronomicon in their works building on the Cthulhu mythology.  Since the re-emergence of Lovecraft’s work in the 1970s other authors have built on the existing lore. Including comic books.  Felix Faust in DC Comics, for example used it to gain knowledge of spellcasting.  In Marvel Universes the Necronomicon is believed to be derived from or patterned after the “Darkhold” a grimoire written by Chthon, one of the Elder Gods.  In the MCU, the Darkhold was last seen in possession of The Scarlet Witch at the end of WandaVision.

The 1993 French -American film uses the so called “Book of the Dead” as a frame work to create an anthology movie based on three of Lovecraft’s short stories and ties the stories together by using the famed author as the common string.

H.P. Lovecraft (Jeffrey Combs) discovered that a copy of Necronomicon exists at a monastery that he frequently uses for research.  He covertly steals the keys to the cellar where the book is being kept.  Once he has the book, he begins taking notes about its passages.  It isn’t defined whether the notes were visions the book gave to him or if he was using the books influence to create his own “speculative fiction”.  These notes become the three self-contained scenes that make up the film.  Each one based on a short story published by Lovecraft.  The first, “The Drowned” is based on The Rats in the Walls and involves a young man who inherits an abandoned family hotel, only to find a dark secret about its past and a way to possibly bring back a deceased loved one by using the Necronomicon.  Next we have, “The Cold” which is based on Cool Air and involves a doctor who is obsessed with immortality and uses the Necronomicon to extend his life, with horrifying ramifications.  And finally, “Whispers” is the novella The Whisperer in Darkness which concerns a young police woman and her partner chasing a suspect, which leads them to an underground maze where monsters await their next meal.  The movie wraps up with Lovecraft being discovered by the monks and his eventual, near death, escape from the horrors of the “Old Ones”.  One thing to note, it is never really explained why all three of the scenes take place in a time after Lovecraft’s own 1920s or 1930s.

The movie is a standard anthology low budget horror film, but it uses what it has quite well.  With far out creatures, melting corpses and marrow sucking monsters, the film is heavily reliant on makeup and special effects, all of which are a bit cheesy, but pretty well done for a low budget early 1990s film.  The use of lighting and shadows was especially well done adding to the overall eerie creepiness of the production.  The cast is well chosen with the likes of David Warner and Dennis Christopher leading the pack.  Jeffrey Combs as H.P. Lovecraft has that aura of “Something Strange”, being no stranger to Lovecraft’s work having played Herbert West in the 1985 film Re-Animator which is loosely based on the 1922 novelette “Herbert West – Reanimator”.  Along with the acting, monster makeup and lighting, the music by Joseph LoDuca and Daniel Licht adds to the atmosphere and help create the appropriate mood and tension.

Since we last saw the Scarlet Witch studying the Darkhold at the end of WandaVision it is very likely going to be seen in Dr Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness this Friday May 6.