Celebrating its 30th anniver-sary this year, the cult horror film
THE UNNAMABLE -- which
TrustMovies had heard of occasionally over the years but never actually seen until now -- turns out to be a bit of good, old-fashioned horror/ supernatural fun, for reasons that begin with its surprisingly well-imagined and executed "monster" and include some decent dialog, well-placed scares, and better-than-average performances from most of the cast members. (The musical score is far too over-the-top, however.)
As directed and adapted (from an
H.P. Lovecraft short story) by
Jean-Paul Ouellette (shown at right), the movie's main problem (today, at least) is that the tale it tells seems awfully been-there/done-that, so audiences -- cult audiences are likeliest to fall for this one -- will simply have to ignore or forgive these trespasses and stick with what makes the movie the most fun.
The late Mr. Lovecraft, whose work has been adapted or inspired into nearly 200 movies so far (according to the IMDB, at least), did have a knack for scares & fright.
He knew how to make use of "the unknown," while turning the "knowing" of it into something much worse than one's previous ignorance.
In
The Unnamable, we begin maybe a couple of hundred years previous, in a large New England house in which a very naughty "being" is semi-imprisoned. When it misbehaves, carnage ensues.
Cut to present day (present day circa 1988, anyway), where a very attractive bunch of university students plus one dweeby nerd (yes, the usual suspects) are discussing the rumors surrounding that house and what they might mean.
Before you can say "pile on some more exposition," sure enough, one of the fellows (two photos above, at left) decides to explore the place. Yes, say goodbye to him. Then we meet a couple of hot and hunky frat boys (clearly quite expendable victims), who talk two female students -- one hot, the other sweet, and all four shown above -- into exploring the house with them as a ruse and a road to some nooky.
All this is followed by suspense, scares, and more gore and carnage. And a little near-sex. One of the girls, played by
Laura Albert, (above), possesses one of the nicest nipples I've seen in a long while, and her character also keeps her on pearls on during sex -- always a sign of class.
Our hero is played by an actor who went at the time by the name of
Charles King (but later became
Charles Klausmeyer), shown being menaced, above. He is adorable and naive and properly sexy, at least to the girl (
Alexandra Durrell, below) who pines for him but whom he does not notice properly until the finale. Well, the course of true love never did run smooth, as Willie the Shake told us way back when.
Now, to get to the main reason for watching
The Unnamable: that really scary, amazingly put-together monster, of whom, as befits all good horror movies, we view only snippets until fairly close to the finale, when she (yes!) appears in all her gory glory.
What a creation this one is, and despite all the ugliness, there is more than a hint of sexuality and carnal desire present here. One gets the sense that if only one of our hot and hunky young men had pulled a nice, big boner for our creature, he might have remained alive. Or at least enjoyed himself a bit before the end. Ah, well. Best not to dwell on what might have been.
From
Unearthed Films and running 87 minutes, the movie hit Blu-ray and DVD last month via
MVD Entertainment Group -- for purchase and (I would hope) rental. The disc is full of Bonus Features, as well (click
here for details), so fans can really dig in.
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