This horror collection features many successful works inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s stories.
‘The Drowned,’ ‘The Cold,’ and ‘Whispers’ are three Necronomicon stories involving resurrecting a dead wife and kid, life extension, and aliens.
A book encased in barbed wire and black plastic is unlikely to be safe to read because its contents could be dangerous. The Necronomicon is claimed to have been authored by Abdul Alhazred, a wild Arabian poet who spent a decade wandering the ruins of Babylon and Memphis.
In truth, the Necronomicon’s history is much shorter than H.P. Lovecraft’s readers were taught to believe by his creator. Although actual writings such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead inspired Lovecraft, the Necronomicon was the result of his vivid imagination.
Necronomicon: Book of Bizarre Monsters, Troubled Communities, and Insane scholars
Insanity and even death are caused by the Necronomicon, a book bound in human flesh and written in blood, filled with spells to summon and raise the dead.
According to legend, the Necronomicon was written by Abdul Alhazred, the ‘Mad Arab,’ and has over 1000 pages. There is no known copy of this book, which may be a good thing!
It is believed that the Necronomicon and its fictional author came to its creator H.P. Lovecraft, through a dream. As translated by Lovecraft, Necronomicon means ‘An Image of the Law of the Dead’; however, a better etymology would be ‘A Book Classifying the Dead.’
Lovecraft only ever refers to the book in passing, starting with the short story ‘The Hound’ in 1924. In true Lovecraftian fashion, the Necronomicon appears story after story, as whispered horror. The Necronomicon’s events happen behind closed doors, in fragments, with only our imagination fueling our fears.
It is the mystery of the book itself that gives the Necronomicon its true power. Lovecraft never wrote a copy, stating that he not only lacked the skills to do so but also the time.
What does this book contain? According to Lovecraft’s stories, Alhazred mostly wrote about extraterrestrial creatures with cosmic powers. He calls them the ‘Old Ones’, a term Lovecraft used to describe more than one group of strange creatures.
The Necronomicon was referenced in other weird fiction and horror works, carrying on Lovecraft’s myth long after his death. The Necronomicon appears in a number of Lovecraft-inspired works, not just on the printed page. It appears on TV and film, as well as in video games. The ‘Evil Dead’ trilogy is famously inspired by the Necronomicon. It actually showed the evil book, bound in flesh and inked in blood with a screaming face on top.
Lovecraft’s works involving alien beings of great power involve the Necronomicon, which plays an important role in the Cthulhu mythos. The book appears in 18 of Lovecraft’s stories, more than any other mystical book he mentions. According to many mythos fans, the “Necronomicon” is the Bible of Lovecraft’s pantheon.
To Hell and back – Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993)
In the film’s frame story, H. P. Lovecraft learns that a copy of the Necronomicon is held in a monastery. He requests to read Volume 3 of the Alchemical Encyclopedia. Lovecraft steals the key from another monk and flees to the cellar, where the Necronomicon is kept. As he unlocks the vault to find the book, the door unexpectedly closes behind him, causing Lovecraft to drop the key down a grating and into the water below. One of the seals is opened as a result.
As Lovecraft reads, he records what he is reading. It is not stated if he sees visions of the future through the book or if the book contains future accounts.
The Drowned
After inheriting an old, abandoned hotel, Edward De Lapeer is tracked down in Sweden. He learns of his uncle’s tragic death from a sealed envelope left by Jethro De Lapeer. Jethro’s wife and son were killed in a boat crash while returning to New England.
He is told that he is “not alone” that night by an odd Fishman, who leaves behind the English translation of the Necronomicon. By using the book, he brings his family back to life. However, they are reborn as unholy monsters. He casts himself off an upper-floor balcony when he feels guilty.
Distraught over the death of his wife, Clara, in a car accident years ago, Edward finds the Necronomicon and performs the ritual. Clara arrives that night and asks to be invited in. Edward apologizes for what happened. In a panic, Edward pushes Clara away as she regurgitates tentacles from her mouth.
As Clara attacks, Edward cuts her with a sword he took from a nearby wall. Clara becomes a tentacle that reaches underground. After being dragged underground by the injury, the creature destroys the main floor and rises as a giant monster with tentacles, one eye, and a large mouth. Edward jumps on the chandelier rope, clambers up, and climbs to the ceiling. As “Clara” tries to restrain Edward, Edward destroys a stained-glass window, forcing her away with the light.
Edward releases the chandelier rope from the pulley, the pointed end piercing the monster’s eye, killing it presumably. With Edward now perched on the roof, he is able to avoid the same fate as Jethro’s from years ago and decides to live.
The Cold
Dale Porkel investigates a series of strange murders in Boston spanning several decades. It seems that the woman confronted by him suffers from a rare skin condition that makes her sensitive to heat and light. In order to get the truth, Dale is told the story of Emily Osterman’s arrival in Boston twenty years ago.
Dr. Richard Madden, a scientist, is in Emily’s new apartment building and Lena, the landlord, tells her not to disturb him. Sam, her sexually abusive stepfather, finds her and attacks her. As Dr. Madden opens the door and grabs Sam’s arm, he stabs his hand with a scalpel, causing him to fall down the stairs and die. Emily awakens that night to the sound of drilling and discovers blood dripping from her ceiling. She passes out, waking up later in her bed with a clean ceiling.
Emily sees two police officers the next day with flyers asking for information about Sam’s murder while job hunting. As Emily confronts Dr. Madden, he admits that he would have killed Sam regardless of whether or not Sam was dead from the fall. Emily is shown a copy of the Necronomicon by Dr. Madden, who explains to her how it contains information about sustaining life. He proves this by injecting a wilted rose with a compound, saying that if it is kept out of direct sunlight, it will always live. The pair later have sex with Lena spying on them.
Lena threatens Emily that night with death because she is in love with Dr. Madden, a feeling that has never been reciprocated. Emily flees and later returns. Her boss from the diner is found struggling to avoid death in Dr. Madden’s apartment upon Emily’s arrival. He is killed by Lena. Lena wants to kill Emily too, but Dr. Madden will not let her. As the two struggle, lab equipment is destroyed. Dr. Madden is severely injured in the fire, and without his fresh spinal fluid injection, his body disintegrates before he dies. As revenge, Emily shoots Lena with a shotgun. Lena saves Emily when she learns that Emily is pregnant, thanks to her loyalty to Dr. Madden.
During his conversation with the woman, Dale suspects that the woman is not Emily’s daughter, but Emily herself, who contracted the disease while having an affair with Dr. Madden. Emily confirms that he is right and says she is still pregnant, hoping to give birth one day. Additionally, she reveals that she has continued to murder for spinal fluid and chooses to stockpile a supply. Dale realizes that his coffee is drugged when Lena, a woman in her eighties, approaches him and brandishes a syringe.
Whispers
While pursuing a suspect known as “the Butcher,” Paul and Sarah, two Philadelphia police officers, are arguing about their failed relationship and the upcoming birth of their baby. As a result of the argument, the cruiser flips upside down. After unbuckling his seat belt during the argument, Paul is knocked out and dragged away by an unknown person. Sarah unbuckles herself, breaks her window and leaves the vehicle. She can’t call for help, so she follows the blood trail alone.
The old warehouse service elevator takes Paul down, and Sarah follows. She encounters Harold Benedict. He claims to be merely the landlord of the warehouse, and ‘the Butcher’ a tenant, and he offers to lead her to him. Mrs. Benedict, a blind elderly woman, shoots at the two downstairs. Sarah, tired of being run around, takes the shotgun and commands them to lead her to the Butcher.
Sarah discovers a cavern filled with bat-like creatures and other monstrosities while searching for the Butcher, only to be trapped by the Benedicts when the ladder is pulled from the hole. In the cavern, Sarah gets scared, even promising to keep her unborn child. The next time she sees Paul, he has already been eaten by bat-like creatures that inhabit the cave. She is then cornered by the creatures. Then she wakes up on a table where Mr. and Mrs. Benedict seems to be feeding her to the monster bats.
Sarah wakes up suddenly in a hospital. A doctor and her mother rush to her bedside. Due to the car accident earlier, Sarah was forced to have an abortion, but her mother insists that she will be forgiven if she forgives herself. Paul is brain dead and in the same condition as when he was discovered back in the caverns. Sarah wants to see Paul.
She screams in terror, despite her mother’s pleas to not scare the baby. Because Sarah believed the baby had to be aborted, she doesn’t understand what her mother is saying. When her mother opens her blouse, she reveals that the baby is inside the womb of the monster-bat creature. As Sarah removes her bedsheets and discovers she has lost part of one arm, she becomes even more scared. Suddenly, the hospital setting turns into a cavern.
After the conclusion of the third tale, Lovecraft is confronted by the head monk, who assures him that everything will be fine if he opens the door. Unfortunately, Lovecraft lost the key. Furious, the monk urges Lovecraft to replace the book, but he is attacked by a monster in the water below as the final seal breaks. It becomes clear that the head monk is not human, as he stretches his body through the bars to enter the room, while Lovecraft uses a sword tucked into his cane to defeat the monster in the water.
One of the monks catches Lovecraft as he gathers his things and grabs the book, telling him of the foolishness of his actions and warning him that he will suffer the consequences. Once Lovecraft has escaped, he orders the taxi to leave, and it leaves unpursued.
The framework that holds everything together is amazing. I find it astounding how they use H.P. Lovecraft as a character to make it more realistic. ‘The Drowned’ is melodramatic, dealing with death and guilt. ‘The Cold’ talks about overcoming death by following instructions from the Necronomicon. Among the stories, this one is the most relatable and terrifying because it does not involve monsters. ‘Whispers’ is the best segment because of the significant amount of blood, body horror, and alien creatures.
As a whole, the actors in their respective short films within the movie are excellent. Even the camerawork is similar, as each story features random close-ups, adding to the scare factor. Computer graphics can never replicate the gory prosthetics used in the body horror sequences, such as melting bodies. As a whole, this movie is recommended to Lovecraft fans and monster aficionados.