Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993 film)

Promotional poster for Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993 film)

H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon AKA Necronomicon and Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993 anthology horror film)

Summary

This anthology is divided into four segments: "The Library" which is the wraparound segment involving Lovecraft's research into the Book of The Dead and his unwitting release of a monster and his (alleged) writing of the following loosely-adapted horror segments "The Drowned", "The Cold", and "Whispers".

Details

• Release Date: 1993
• Country/Language: USA, English
• Genres/Technical: Anthology, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy
• Runtime: 1 hr 36 min
• Starring: Jeffrey Combs et.al.
• Director: Brian Yuzna ("The Library" and "Whispers"), Christophe Gans ("The Drowned"), Shusuke Kaneko ("The Cold")
• Writer: H.P. Lovecraft (original short stories), Brent V. Friedman ("The Library"), Christophe Gans ("The Drowned"), Kazunori Itō ("The Cold"), Brian Yuzna ("Whispers")
• Producer/Production Co: Takashige Ichise, Brian Yuzna
• View Trailer: (link)
• TVTropes: (link)
• IMDB: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: R (Adult Content, Sex and Nudity, Violence)

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• SSs__ (Two and a Half Tentacles: Lovecraftian)

The anthology's component stories vary in how faithfully they are adapted from Lovecraft's work from recognizable adaptations, to misguided pastiches.

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Y.Whateley: The film's quality is uneven at best, the adaptations wander pretty far from the original material, and the stories have some pretty goofy and misguided twists added to them; on the positive side, the first story, "The Drowned", includes perhaps one of my favorite portrayals of a Deep One on film....

Contents

This anthology is divided into four segments:

• "The Library (1993 short)"
• "The Drowned (1993 short)"
• "The Cold (1993 short)"
• "Whispers (1993 short)"

Synopsis

THE LIBRARY: In the wrap-around story of the film, H. P. Lovecraft (Jeffrey Combs) learns of a monastery where a copy of the Necronomicon is held. Lovecraft steals the infamous tome, and scans the volume for story ideas, with sinister cultists in pursuit....

THE DROWNED: Edward De LaPoer is tracked down in Sweden after inheriting an old, abandoned family hotel. Left a sealed envelope from Jethro De La Poer, he uncovers the secrets behind his family's unnatural deaths and their unholy bargain with a hideous sea monster.

THE COLD: Reporter Dale Porkel is suspicious of a string of strange murders in Boston over the past several decades. Confronting a woman at a local apartment building, he is invited in only to find the entire place is very cold. The woman he has confronted claims to suffer a rare skin condition which has left her sensitive to heat and light. Demanding the truth or his story runs as-is, Dale is told the story of Emily Osterman's arrival to Boston twenty years before, and her strange and doomed romance with a scientist obsessed with the cold.

WHISPERS: During a pursuit of a suspect known as "the Butcher", two police officers, Paul and Sarah of the Philadelphia Police Department, are arguing over their failed relationship and the coming baby. The argument leads to a crash, flipping the cruiser upside down. Paul, having unbuckled his seat belt in the argument, is knocked out and dragged off by an unseen person. Sarah unbuckles herself, breaks the window and exits the vehicle. Unable to call for backup, she follows a blood trail alone into a creepy warehouse with sub-basements extending deep below the city, into a confrontation with a gruesome alien horror.

Associated Mythos Elements

• Fiction:
  • "The Drowned" is (very loosely) based on "The Rats in the Walls (fiction)" and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth (fiction)"
  • "The Cold" is (loosely) based on "Cool Air (fiction)"
  • "Whispers" is (very loosely) based on "The Horror at Red Hook (fiction)" and "The Whisperer in Darkness (fiction)"
• Necronomicon
• H.P. Lovecraft (as a character)
• Deep Ones
• Om-Yati Monks
• Mi-gos
• De LaPoer family

External links, See Also

Other films by Brian Yuzna, Stuart Gordon, and Jeffrey Combs are very similar in tone, especially:

• Re-Animator (1985 franchise)
• From Beyond (1986 film)
• "Evil Clergyman (1987 short)"
• Castle Freak (1995 film)
• H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon (1993 film)
• Dagon (2001 film)
• Dreams in the Witch House (2005 short)
• The Unnamable (1988 franchise) (similar in tone, but from other creators)