The devil's spawn is about to open the gates of hell.

Riding high on his successful adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe, the infamous 'King Of Exploitation', Roger Corman, took on that other titan of literary terror, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, in The Dunwich Horror, a tense, atmospheric, slow-burn, low-budget B-feature that melds acerbic Lovecraftian horror with a generous dose of late-60s hallucinatory freak-out psychedelia into a groovy occult trip.

Made at the apex of the love generation and transplanted from Lovecraft Country (New England) to hip and cool Californ-I-A, The Dunwich Horror is exquisitely divisive. It is either considered a pioneering minor cult classic, underrated and flawed but still one of the more successful Lovecraft 'weird fiction' adaptations committed to film, or a piece of distinctively cheesy high camp oozing the gaudy style of an early-1960s Hammer Horror film with a splash of the simmering unease of Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (the prior year's horror sensation).

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The charismatic and soft-spoken, but deeply unsettling Wilbur Whateley (a dandyish, poodle-haired and improbably pornstached Dean Stockwell *, channelling Aleister Crowley) travels from the degenerate coastal backwater of Dunwich to the library of the prestigious Miskatonic University in Arkham in a quest to access the esoteric knowledge contained within the Necronomicon, a rare occult grimoire of great antiquity (a creation that has been used several times in popular culture - including Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Trilogy, 1981-1992).

Naïve graduate student Nancy Wagner (top-billed '50s teenybopper starlet Sandra Dee and her huge helmet of blond hair †) unwittingly falls under his malign influence and is groomed to be sacrificed in a wild orgiastic fertility ritual in order to effect the release of the eldritch 'Old Ones', cosmic creatures beyond conception, trapped between the dimensions, yearning to break free once more, annihilate the entire human race and drag the earth off to some nameless place for some nameless purpose.

'The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be.'

Professor Of Occult Studies, Henry Armitage (Oscar-winning actor Ed Begley ‡, whose eyebrows alone are worth the price of admission), armed with a few incantations and a lot of desperate hope, refuses to accede to Whateley's malevolent intentions and races to annul the apocalyptic ceremony.

And behind the locked door of the room at the top of the stairs of the (very Mario Bava-esque) gothic ancestral home, something otherworldly and monstrous blackly unwinds itself and stirs.

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'A truly engrossing film of the supernatural that has been made with sensitivity and skill.'
Los Angeles Times

'A good old-fashioned B-horror film.'
Syracuse The Post-Standard

'Yeah, I have no idea what I just sat through; that was bloody odd!'
Helen_S

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CONTENT WARNING: please note, this film contains some scenes with outdated attitudes and cultural depictions.

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Many horror and film historians consider The Dunwich Horror to be one of the most faithful adaptations of any of H.P. Lovecraft's material. It feels akin to Stuart Gordon's adaptations (Re-Animator, 1985; From Beyond, 1986): reverent and the work of a fan.

A masterclass on how to create a creepy and uncompromisingly hallucinogenic atmosphere with practically no budget, it is widely celebrated for its keenly off-kilter visual aesthetic; perception-warping, solarised, inverted-lighting effects; manipulations of point-of-view (very Evil Dead, an influence perhaps on a young Sam Raimi?); rich, vibrant production design; its trippy dream sequences; evocative, theremin-heavy psych-rock soundtrack; fine performances from a committed cast; and its earnest attempt to portray Lovecraft's 'Cthulhu Mythos' on screen long before modern CGI was possible.

It might not be a lost genre-defining masterpiece, but whether as a deeply odd curio period piece of psychedelic gonzo cinema and/or as an audacious and admirably out-there attempt at 'cosmic horror', The Dunwich Horror, above all else, is fun to watch - preposterous, not to say profoundly mad, but a hell of a lot of fun. Either you are one of the devoted or you're not; you won't know what camp you're in until you see it.

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*  looking more '70s than it could be thought humanly possible and reminiscent of Richard Ayoade in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004).

†  in her first and final adult film role as her acting career waned and her personal life became increasingly troubled.

‡  in his final screen role before passing away shortly after.

The CUBE Of Wyrding is the CUBE Microplex's ongoing transnational folk horror/urban wyrd/dark fantasy film series. It showcases the best in rural eerie, metropolitan fright, and occult fable cinema from around the world, including classics, lesser-known greats, intelligent trash and freaky oddities from the margins, and delves into the darker recesses of these genres. It additionally features silent films brought to life with spectacular live musical accompaniments, lively screen talks, and opportunities to immerse yourself in obscure horror soundtracks.

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Venue doors open 30 minutes before the advertised start time. All film screenings are ad-free and 18+ unless otherwise stated and start with no more than a 10-minute curated selection of trailers.

The CUBE is a membership venue; please remember to bring your card. You can join at the door for £1 (life membership). Attend six events and receive a free drink.