"Masters of Horror" Dreams in the Witch-House (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Stuart Gordon

Writers:

Dennis Paoli (teleplay) &
Stuart Gordon (teleplay) ...

TV Series:

"Masters of Horror" (2005)

Original Air Date:

4 November 2005 (Season 1, Episode 2)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A graduate student questions his sanity after he rents a room in an old boarding house which was the residence of a 17th Century witch, and he figures out that the evil forces still roam within the walls.

Plot Keywords:

Witch | Rat | Baby | Nightmare | Old Man

Cast

Ezra Godden	...	Walter Gilman
Jay Brazeau	...	Mr. Dombrowski - Manager
Campbell Lane	...	Masurewicz
Chelah Horsdal	...	Frances Elwood
David Racz	...	Baby Danny
Nicholas Racz	...	Baby Danny
Yevgen Voronin	...	Brown Jenkin
Susanna Uchatius	...	Keziah Mason
Donna White	...	Librarian
Susan Bain	...	Psychologist
Terry Howson	...	Attendant
Anthony Harrison	...	Detective
David Nykl	...	CSI

Runtime:

55 min | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-MA | Singapore:M18 | Italy:VM14 | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-18 (DVD) (self applied) (2007)

Company:

IDT Entertainment

Trivia:

In this movie it's the second time Ezra Godden has a character that wears a 'Miskatonic University' t-shirt in a Stuart Gordon film. The first one was Dagon (2001) where they both were involved.

Quotes:

Librarian: What are you doing here? This is a restricted area. The rare book room is always locked. How did you get in?
Walter Gilman: I don't know.
Librarian: How did you get this book? No one has permission to see the Necronomicon. No one! Who let you in?
Walter Gilman: Please... I...

Movie Connections:

Version of Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)

The Best Lovecraft-Translation to-date

Amazing is the only-word I can find to express how good this short-film is. Mick Garris deserves thunderous-applause for initiating what will probably be the most-important development in horror in over 20-years. While Stuart Gordon has done Lovecraft proud with "ReAnimator", "from Beyond" and "Dagon", this simply excels-them in capturing the dread and cosmic-horror. Insofar as horror goes, this is Gordon's finest-addition so far. I read the short-story 20-years-ago, and this summarizes it well. Lovecraft-purists are going to have their hackles-up, but the omissions and changes still capture the spirit of the original and do not detract from the basic-thrust its plot.

Yes, the cloven "Black Man", and a trip to the surface of another planet are not-present, which is fine. Do we really want to see Lovecraft's racism on-display, especially when he rejected-it at the end of his life? The answer is no. People also tend-to-forget that in some areas, Lovecraft gets-tedious, often going-on for too-long with descriptions of things, or he just meanders. Yes, you can actually improve-upon some of his work, I contend. Dennis Paoli and Stuart Gordon have achieved this feat, and where Lovecraft was bad at warm-characters, the writer(s) and director compensate. I truly love and care about the characters in this story, especially the mother and her child. The fears of this story are so primal and basic--everyone fears for a baby in a movie, it's true.

What excites me so-much about this short-film is how effectively it conveys many of Lovecraft's themes: the fear of losing-one's-mind, the fear of women, the fear of the unknown, the fear of a loss-of-control, the fear of mortality, and-then-some. Also very-exciting is how well Gordon and Paoli realize the Witch--I would say this is the best-depiction of what the Puritans, and Medieval Europeans thought witches were, and what they did. Usually, they try to steal-babies to sacrifice to some dark-power. But Lovecraft's true-genius was taking physics-theory to explain witchcraft, and a witch's powers.

To the uninitiated, H.P. Lovecraft's tomes seem to have appeared, fully-formed, but he was an avid-scholar of New England folklore. Much of the rule-book he uses for the witch and her powers and actions are from the writings of Cotton Mather, and other Puritanical leaders, thinkers and witch-hunters. It's likely he even consulted the witchfinder's-manual, "Malleus Malificarum". Lovecraft didn't believe in the supernatural as a reality, but did accept the possibility that odd-phenomena did exist, and could be explained by science at some point.

So, while this tale and many-others written by him seem fantastical, some elements are not-entirely implausible based on his scientific-philosophies! "Dreams in the Witch House" is not-unlike a rational-mind trying to grasp how a witch could be possible. This little crumb-of-plausibility is a component of what makes the writings of H.P. Lovecraft so scary, and contemporary. Even educated-adults can entertain their reality, and this film captures this reality in every-respect. People tend-to-forget that modern-science comes from alchemy, after-all! The story concerns Walter Gilman, a Physics-major, who has found a room at 300-year-old house in Providence. Yes, in the short-story, Walter already knows the reputation of the house, but I think it was wise for film to omit this. Walter represents we, the audience, and this is a story of curiosity, discovery, and tragedy. Walter notices that his theories on multiple-universes, and his mathematical-maps resemble the shape of a corner of his room. In-time, he begins to have-dreams of meeting a familiar--a rat with a human-face, perfectly in-keeping with witch-lore! Eventually, it becomes-clear from an older-tenant, and other-dreams, that the witch is very-much alive within the house. She wants Walter (us) to fetch her a child, the infant-son his neighbor.

There is a sense of dread, sorrow and inevitability in Walter's situation that echoes the victims of witches in lore. It is a situation without-much-hope, the only exit being death or insanity, so very Lovecraftian. Anchor Bay/IDT have done a perfect DVD, no-complaints here. The transfer is perfect, the audio is perfect, and the extras are incredibly-generous and substantial for the most die-hard-fan of Stuart Gordon. Richard Band's score is wonderful, and makes this story all-the-more timeless in its sorrow, grimness and evocation of mystery. It has been 12-years since Band has done a score for Gordon with his excellent score for "Castle Freak" in 1994. It has been too-long, and thank-God it happened. The entire Masters of Horror series promises to be superb, a great-day for true fans of horror.