The Dunwich Horror

R

Released Jan 14, 1970

1h 30m

Horror

List

29%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

29%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley), an expert in the occult, goes to the old Whateley manor in Dunwich looking for Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee), a student who went missing the previous night. He and Elizabeth, a friend and classmate of Nancy's, are turned away by Wilbur (Dean Stockwell), the family's insidious heir, who has plans for the young girl. But Armitage won't be deterred. Through conversations with the locals, he soon unearths the Whateleys' darkest secret -- as well as a great evil.

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Steve D

Some decent ideas but it doesn't come together.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

07/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Well it's not great. I watched it for the first time all the way through last night, and found it mildly entertaining although I fell asleep part way through. And somehow I feel that a movie about the necronomicon, inbreeding and otherwordly gods and monsters should not help facilitate a long nap right in the middle of the goings-on. The problem is, the movie is too long for its own britches. It doesn't have that much of a plot, so scenes are stretched out interminably as when Sandra Dee is strapped to the rock in the devil's hop yard. Apparently naked and sexually charged up, but all Dean Stockwell's character can think of to do is use her groin as a book stand. Yawn. Then the endless scenes of his silly incantations. And the endless scenes of reverse-negative colored images cycling through every color of the rainbow. Sheesh - about the 40th time we see the patches of dirt and trees going by as a deranged monster ranges about in the woods, I was reaching for the fast-forward button. Then the ending is wildly outrageous - for about five seconds. Then it's over. I think the potential was there for a pretty good cult movie, but it was just stretched on too thin of a frame. Still I might it again some night - when I have 14 cups of coffee standing by.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

dave s

The Dunwich Horror, based on the H.P. Lovecraft novella, is an unimaginably bad movie. The virtually incomprehensible plot centers around the much-hated Whately family from Dunwich, Massachusetts, who are despised due to their dabblings in the supernatural, a hatred that is only intensified when a monster of some sort is unleashed on the villagers. The acting is consistently brutal, highlighted by a seemingly Quaalude-induced performance by Dean Stockwell. The direction is horrible (pointless close-ups, equally pointless flashbacks), the editing is seizure-inducing at times, and the psychedelic visual effects used when the monster is doing its killing is simply laughable.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Se me hizo muy larga y ya al final aburrida, y no vi como se supone que se moría el tipo o qué.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I like HPL, and I like Dean Stockwell, I even grew up on the old hammer films, but even for a 70s movie I wasn't very thrilled with this. In fact, only the age of this movie kept it from getting a lower rating.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great soundtrack and atmosphere, entertaining, but the story itself was not nearly as intriguing or suspenseful as Lovecrafts written works.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

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Daniel Haller

Director

Sandra Dee

Nancy Wagner

Dean Stockwell

Wilbur Whateley

Ed Begley

Dr. Henry Armitage

Lloyd Bochner

Dr Cory

Sam Jaffe

Old Whateley

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Budd Wilkins

Slant Magazine

Groovy and grotesque in equal measure.

Jan 12, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

A leadenly paced picture that grows less gripping as it moseys along.

Rated: 2/4

Feb 8, 2023

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Aug 12, 2005

Full Review

Jake Euker

F5 (Wichita, KS)

Rated: 3/5

Jun 12, 2005

Full Review

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Pretty much botched Lovecraft adaptation.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 21, 2003

Full Review

Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

Rated: 2/5

Dec 29, 2002

Full Review

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Synopsis

Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley), an expert in the occult, goes to the old Whateley manor in Dunwich looking for Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee), a student who went missing the previous night. He and Elizabeth, a friend and classmate of Nancy's, are turned away by Wilbur (Dean Stockwell), the family's insidious heir, who has plans for the young girl. But Armitage won't be deterred. Through conversations with the locals, he soon unearths the Whateleys' darkest secret -- as well as a great evil.

Director: Daniel Haller
Producer: Roger Corman
Screenwriter: Curtis Hanson, Henry Rosenbaum, Ronald Silkosky
Production Co: American International Pictures (AIP)
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 14, 1970, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 4, 2017
Runtime: 1h 30m

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