Horror has been making a theatrical comeback over the past few years, but there are also some problems that are associated with it. The new generation of horror director doesn’t quite have the impact that director’s in previous decades did. The films are trite; lacking scares often times, or are simply watered down remakes from Asia or of other popular titles. You also have a number of director’s that aren’t necessarily into the genre to make a name for themselves as much as they are further their careers, albeit hoping to one days win an Academy Award. While there are a few take the genre more seriously than others, there are still a select number of director’s that have made horror their life, and Showtime’s series Masters of Horror has brought some of the most well-known names to the table, and now to DVD.

Stuart Gordon; his is a name that many horror fans associate with H.P. Lovecraft, and while others tried to adapt the legendary authors works to screen and television, Re-Animator remains a classic to this day. Gordon has adapted other Lovecraft tales into film and with such a perfect match, it seems natural that he takes yet another of the late author’s literary works and creates a modernized retelling.

Dreams in the Witch House, like many of Lovecraft’s tales, is set in New England. Here we find Miskatonic University student Walter Gilman (Ezra Gooden) trying to find a little peace and quite in order to finish his studies for school and an old boarding house seems to be the perfect place. While the overbearing landlord isn’t pleased about letting a college student move in, Walter assures him that his schooling is his main focus and reluctantly he is given the room. Things seem to be going fine and he’s even met his attractive new neighbor Frances (Chelah Horsdal) and she and her baby Danny aren’t too much of a bother. Things quickly take a turn for the worse.

What starts as nothing more than a rat seen by Frances turns into something much more and the strange old man who lives downstairs wonders if Walter has seen the rat with the human face, the same one that comes around with the witch. Walter thinks that he’s crazy, but soon it seems that Walter might be the one losing his mind. He’s had terrible nightmares, seen the rat with the human face as well as the old crone of a witch, and everything seems to tie into dark forces needing him to sacrifice Danny. No one believes him however, but he soon sets out to prove that his nightmares are in fact a reality.

Much like with Re-Animator and other Lovecraft tales that have been adapted, there is a lot of creative licensing that has been taken here, but for any screenwriter or director, this is a case where you really have to. The material that Lovecraft himself produced during his years of writing is told in what would have been modern then, but decades later it doesn’t quite serve the same purpose, so instead of setting the story back in the time it was originally set, Dreams in the Witch House has a more modern setting where laptop computers, quantum physics and cell phones are all common. These changes however don’t distract for the original idea behind the story, and Stuart Gordon’s version is quite faithful to what Lovecraft had penned.

Dreams in the Witch House does capture those dark and ill-feelings that are very much a part of Lovecraft’s mythology, and the cast is what really helps. Ezra Godden really is a perfect match for the role of Walter, and often times his acting, which can be a bit over the top (but in just the right way) has some telltale signs of being influenced by B-film great Bruce Campbell. His mannerisms and almost everything else make the role of Walter one that fans could just as easily see Campbell taking on. Walter even has some of that same tragic hero syndrome that is present with Evil Dead’s Ash. The student starts out seeming calm and collected, but when the dreams start, he slowly seems like he’s losing his mind and its sheer will and determination that pushes him to attempt to solve the mystery. If you know you’re Lovecraft though, then you are well aware that the hero doesn’t always come out on top, and often times there is some ironic twist where evil still is lurking not too far beyond the darkness and hasn’t been sent back to where it came from.

The Masters of Horror anthology also happens to be the ideal vehicle for a story of this nature simply because Lovecraft often times wrote shorter tales instead of lengthy forays into dark desires. The pacing as far as the film does is very well done, and any lull is overtaken by atmosphere. This all comes down to lighting and having the perfect sets and locations for the film. There are some rather laughable spots though with some of the special effects, such as the human rat, but it’s not a element of the story that is always in the forefront. Instead it’s human interaction and one man’s eventual spiral into madness, a very common theme in Lovecraft’s stories. There is also just the right dash of blood and gore, an appearance of the infamous Necronomicon, and even a bit of nudity to make the film more attractive, and it does. Showtime like HBO has been getting a great deal of publicity due to their delving into original programming, and Masters of Horror is like a nod to shows of the 80’s like Tales from the Darkside of Tales from the Crypt, only here there are no restrictions. Network television isn’t going to allow full frontal female nudity (though I wish they would) or eye being gouged out resulting in a shower of blood.

The film itself has commentary included with Stuart Gordon as well as Ezra Godden, but that’s just the beginning of the special features. There is a collection of stills from the film, a storyboard gallery, and even a bio on Gordon and his body of work, but there are a number of featurettes included here as well. There is an interview with Stuart Gordon and here he sheds more light on the film, the horror genre itself, and even covers Lovecraft. Gordon’s history in the industry is examined in the Working with a Master section that included appearances by a number of people that have worked with him in the past. On a side note, I found a bit of irony here as it is mentioned that Stuart Gordon read Dracula at a very young age, something I can relate with having read a number of the collective works of Edgar Allen Poe in around third grade.

The extras aren’t just about what Gordon has done in horror, but Dreams in the Witch House itself has some bonus material. There is a short interview with Chelah Horsdal, a making of features, and even a look at a certain special effects area, that being Brown Jenkin, the rat in the film. If you own a DVD-ROM, and most people do these days, you will find screensavers, the screenplay for the film and even Lovecraft’s original story. There are more than enough materials to not only get you behind the scenes of the film but to give you more information on Stuart Gordon that you probably ever wanted to know.

Stuart Gordon and Lovecraft have always been a great combination, and while he has done an adaptation or two that weren’t perfect, Dreams in the Witch House is a great retelling done by, of course, a horror master. There isn’t some happy, Hollywood ending here, and that’s the way the horror really should be. Gordon has crafted a memorable film that is outshined only by Re-Animator, and if you like his other work, this is yet another Stuart Gordon film that is sure to stick with you for quite some time.

-mike-