H. P Lovecraft's 'Murders In The Rue Morgue'

[tabby title="Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Dunwich Horror - Double Feature"]

Scream Factory serves up a double feature Blu-ray with two movies based on legendary authors Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. The first movie is Murders in the Rue Morgue, based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story. The film is more Phantom of the Opera than crazy orangutang on the loose, but still provides a solid murder mystery. The next movie included is H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror. It's a tale about the "Old Ones" involving ritual sexing and Dean Stockwell barely staying awake. Both movies fail at delivering enough frights to keep most viewers interested, but there can be some fun had with them, but it's a hard recommend for this horror fan. However,

I'm not saying a horror movie needs blood and guts to be good, but in the case of this flick, some violence and fright might have made things a bit more exciting. Either way, the mystery was enough to give this flick a recommend.

Based on H.P. Lovecraft's story of the same name, The Dunwich Horror is a slow film, that builds up to a weak ending. It plods along, with lead actor Dean Stockwell slowly dolling out his lines, nearly putting the viewer to sleep. The only thing to entice the viewer to keep their eyes open is the sight of actress Sandra Dee writhing in ecstasy as an invisible force has its way with her.

Dean Stockwell plays Wilbur Whateley, who believes in the occult and the ancient Necronomicon. He wants to bring back the ancient ones, old beings that ruled the Earth at one point. In order to do this, he must obtain a virgin to do weird stuff too, while a crazy deformed being sweeps across the countryside, killing people with its 70s disco vision. It all sounds exciting, but unfortunately, The Dunwich Horror takes its time, a bit too much time, in getting to the actual meat of the story and when it finally does, it's over in yet another weak AIP freeze frame

It's a bit rough around the edges in regards to the video. The Dunwich Horror in particular has some rough looking moments, that are grainy and unfocused. There is also a good amount of dirt and scratches present at times. However, there is also a nice amount of clear video that makes up for those rough moments. Murders in the Rue Morgue fairs better in that it hardly as any moments of rough footage. The audio for both movies comes across clear and precise. No complaints to be given.

Murders in the Rue Morgue features a sit down with director Gordon Hessler, which is actually an old feature. You can tell it's an old feature, as it says to pick up the movie on either VHS or DVD. The interview goes into a little bit of detail about the story, uncalled for edits and the reason for not having Vincent Price in the film. Also included is a new commentary with author and film historian Steve Haberman and finally a trailer. The Dunwich Horror includes a trailer and a new commentary, once again with Steve