Dreams in the Witch House (2005)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Good movie but grossly overrated

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Being a big fan of Lovecraft and knowing most screen versions are pretty bad, I decided to watch this when I had the chance, seeing some good reviews of it.. Knowing it was cut down to an hour (50mins or so) means a lot would be removed, but this was a joke.Basically everything about Brown Jenkin and Keziah Mason is removed (he is just 'the rat' and she is just 'the witch'). All the Lovecraft Mythical world from the story is scrapped (No Elder things, No Nyarlathotep, no Azathoth), though a.. weird version of the Necronomicon appears which doesn't tally with any version from Lovecraft's stories).Gillman seams to be studying string theory which isn't quite right as a modern version of his work (Non-Euclidean calculus and quantum physics) but just about okay.. He isn't student of Mathematics and folklore, This garret room with the weird dimensions become one corner of the room being a bit off. and it's not really a garret room at all. Elwood, his friend and fellow student is now a female love interest leading to a nude scene which doesn't have much place in Lovecraft and the child from a local area becomes Francine Elwood's son Danny. The Building horror of the coming of Walpurgis night is completely removed. Joesph Mazurewicz becomes an old guy that was also used by the witch and killed many children in the past, which completely changes the character.Gilman is less harmed by his battle with the witch, and instead of having his heart eaten out by Brown Jenkins, is put in an asylum and Brown Jenkins eats through his insides, coming out of his right side of his body, removing the whole eating out his beating heart. Gilman seams to not gain knowledge from the witch, but just has odd dreams.It appears, apart from a small part, all the idea of drawing lines and curves is removed.like with a lot of modern horror, thrown in tons of unrealistic gore, making things like Brown Jenkins no longer biting threw the child's wrist but chew open it's neck.I can probably go on dissecting every part of this.. 'Inspired by' story but I'm probably expecting too much from it. While I'm not a fan of taking stories set in the past and making them modern day, I've seen far better examples which done ruin the original story so much..IF you are a Lovecraft Fan, just don't bother with this and just stick to the works of people like the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society which have done two good versions of this story in both there Dark Adventures Radio Theatre (Under the original title 'The Dreams in the witch House', and the fantastic 'Dreams in the Witch House' rock opera album.If you are just a modern day horror fan, you will probably like this if you have only school boy knowledge of Lovecraft's work.

This one had its moments, just was not as good as I thought it was when I read a description of it. I was expecting something that looked and played out a bit better. Some of the things in the movie just made it seem a bit to comedic like the rat with human face. Then I was expecting some good nude scenes, but what we get is very short. Then there really is not all that much stuff in the way of horror other than the ending which I did not care for. Still, it was strange enough to keep me interested for a bit, but this one is just not as enjoyable as other "Master's of Horror" as I enjoyed Cigarette Burns and Fair Haired Child to name a couple a lot better. This one revolves around a man in a rented room that learns that the way his room sits may actually be able to access some other dimension or something to that effect. Well there is a rat with a human face and a witch that plays a part in this film, but all in all it left me feeling I needed a bit more. Felt to much like a television show than a movie, something Cigarette Burns avoided doing. Though Fair Haired Child most certainly felt like a television show also. There is a good deal of blood and stuff in this one though, however nearly all of it is confined to the end.

this was a fairly well executed movie. genuinely creepy. there was a tragic flaw, which is a line that i consider to be atrocious. i added it to my list of incredibly dumb things people say. the main character is a grad student working towards his physics degree specializing in time/dimension travel. he explains how the witch is able to stay alive all these years by stating: "witches were astrologers; they knew a lot about science". horrible explanation, sir. astrology is a pseudoscience, meaning there is no scientific basis. also, knowledge of star alignment does not imply knowledge of relativity.otherwise, fantastic movie with an ending that is not normative. one of those movies that leaves you with a feeling of "oh wow, i can't believe that just happened". an absolute must for fans of this series or horror in general.

As a long time appreciator of Lovecraft's work, I would simply like to thank Mr. Gordon for his effort. Dreams in the Witch House remains one of my favorite Lovecraft tales. Mr. Gordon has done a commendable job with respect to this piece. I have often wondered what would be involved in rendering Lovecraft's better tales for the screen without botching the job totally. Here Mr. Gordon demonstrates what can be done on a limited budget with a short Lovecraftian story.All told, it's a shame someone doesn't hand him carte blanche to try his hand at one of Lovecraft's more ambitious works. Wouldn't if be fine to see a respectable rendition of something like "At the Mountains of Madness" or "The Rats in the Walls"? As for my personal favorite, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," it's been done (Vincent Price, et al, qv) but wouldn't it be nice to see it done right and without so much of the tongue-in-cheek?