1993 Necronomicon: Book of the Dead

• Directed by Christophe Gans, Shusuke Kaneko, Brian Yuzna
• Written by Brent Friedman, Christophe Gans, Kazunori Ito
• Stars Jeffrey Combs, Tony Azito, Juan Fernandez
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN8OY7GC0jM
• Get it: https://amzn.to/3Z3rLMl

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This was quite a good anthology of three tales with a number of recognizable faces, so the acting is consistently good throughout. The writing and effects are decent. None of the three or the wraparound are directly H.P. Lovecraft stories, it’s more a story of him discovering these events in the real world and then adapting them later to his tales. We enjoyed it.

Spoilery Synopsis

Wraparound Story: The Library

We hear H.P. Lovecraft talking about a time when he found out about the Necronomicon, and he needed it for his writings. It was supposed to hold the secrets of the universe. He talks to a creepy librarian and steals his keys. An attendant watches Howard sneak downstairs and unlock the vault using the stolen keys. The vault is surprisingly cooperative, and he finds the book quickly. 

As he reads the book, something opens in the back of the vault… Yes, it’s an anthology!

Part 1; The Drowned

Nancy talks to Edward, who has inherited this old hotel. As they wander around, we see there’s a huge sub-basement in the place. She recommends that he sell the place, as it’s all going to collapse someday soon. They admire a painting of Emma, Edward’s aunt. Her husband, Jethro, died just a few days later, probably of suicide diving off the balcony. We flash back to Edward and Clara driving. There was a crash, and she died.  

Old Jethro left a letter for Edward from sixty years ago. He tells his story. Their ship crashed into rocks, and he was the only survivor. When Jethro wakes up, his wife and child are on display downstairs for the funeral. He burns the Bible and throws all the mourners out. He also banishes… God. 

That night, a seaweed-covered stranger comes to visit. It’s some kind of fish-man who says, “You are not alone.” The fish-man leaves quickly, but leaves a book behind– it’s the Necronomicon. It tells him a “Remedy for Untimely Death.” 

Jethro does the spell from the book, and it works. Emma and Jon wake up, but their eyes glow evilly. Their mouths sprout tentacles; they are monsters. They watch as Jethro jumps to his death. 

Back in the present, Edward uncovers the pentagram that Jethro once used. That night, as he sleeps, we see green light and tentacles from the pit below the house. Edward wants the book so he can bring back Clara. It takes a while, but he finds it. Edward reads from the book, and we soon see Clara walking up the steps to his room. 

Edward tells Clara that the accident was his fault and that he’s sorry. When the tentacles start to sprout, she seems surprised. He attacks her with a sword, and she goes back down into the basement, where Edward gets a hint of what’s down there. 

The giant tentacle monster below breaks through the floor, it seems that “Clara” was really only part of the monster. Edward cuts the rope to the chandelier, which impales the thing right through its eye as he escapes out the skylight dome. 

Back in the library, Howard notices that there’s something odd under the floor of the library’s vault. Outside, the librarian and the attendant wonder if Howard is brainless enough to read the book. “Of course. He’s human.” 

Part 2: Cold Air

Dale, a reporter, comes to see Emily, who is allergic to heat and sunlight. The house is like a freezer. The house is supposedly owned by Dr. Richard Madden, who’s super old, but there’s no record of his death. He thinks Madden is dead and Emily had something to do with that. And he’s suspicious about the number of local deaths there have been. 

Emily tells the story. Twenty-two years ago, her mother rented a room in this building. Lena lived there alone and rented the room to her mother. There was also a mysterious tennant on the third floor, Dr. Madden. 

Her stepfather, Sam, tracks her down, and he’s abusive. She fights back, and there’s lots of screaming as she crawls upstairs. Dr. Madden comes out of his room and stabs Sam in the hand. Madden takes her into his apartment and explains that he’s got a disease that requires an unreasonably cold environment. He sends her downstairs but invites her to come back again. When she leaves, we see that his forehead is leaking orange goo. Lena starts giving her “vitamin” pills that are sketchy at best. 

Emily then goes upstairs and sees Lena and Madden disposing of Sam’s body; she faints. In the morning, she thinks she dreamed that. Madden accidentally cuts himself, and his blood is orange. Emily gets a job at the diner across the street, and the owner says old Dr. Madden must be nearly a hundred by now. Two policemen in the diner have “Missing” posters for Sam. 

Emily confronts Madden; he follows her downstairs, where it’s warm, and he doesn’t react well. After getting patched up, Madden explains the science behind his life. It requires him to live at a reduced temperature, but he has cheated death. He really is over a hundred years old. He demonstrates by bringing a rose back to life. 

Emily and the doctor fall in love and have sex, which annoys Lena. Lena’s jealous and pulls a knife. Emily runs away. 

She comes back and finds a man in Madden’s freeze chamber; Madden and Lena are trying to kill him. Another price of Madden’s extended life is that he has to regularly harvest spinal fluid from people. They struggle, and a fire starts. Madden’s face looks terrible after that; he starts to melt and rip flesh off. He literally falls to pieces. Lena comes in and shoots Emily in retaliation. Emily tells Lena that she’s pregnant with Madden’s baby. 

Back in the present, Dale wants to know why there were three more bodies even after Madden’s death. He suspects that Emily and her mother are the same person. She admits it, but then she mentions that the tea he’s been drinking is drugged. She got the disease from Madden and didn’t survive the gunshot, but she’s still got eternal life. And she’s still got that baby inside her that she wants out someday. Lena is still there, still a minion, but Emily’s now…

Lovecraft notices the temperature in the library is going up. The librarian watches through a peephole to see what’s transpiring inside. 

Part 3: Whispers

Two cops pursue a suspect in their car. Sarah and Paul argue as they drive; she’s afraid to be a mother. Their patrol car flips over, and Sarah watches as someone drags Paul’s body out of the wreckage. She follows the blood trail into an industrial-looking building. 

Paul’s not dead, but when he sees who’s dragging him along, he screams. Sarah runs into Mr. Benedict, who says “I’ve never seen him grab a cop before. The man you’re looking for is called The Butcher.” He says the building has a bad habit of just swallowing things up. They run into Benedict’s wife on the way downstairs. 

Sarah follows the couple, who show her to their apartment, which has the Necronomicon on a table. They’re very strange and warn her against the Butcher. They mention that the Butcher is an alien, who’s been down here since before the dinosaurs. They show her to the entrance of a cave system under the building

Sarah and Mr. Benedict wander through the tunnels, and it does all look very ancient. The old couple sets Sarah on fire and pushes her into a pit, where she soon finds a whole pile of skeletons and corpses… and Paul, who is being animated by The Butcher, a big worm-thing. 

Turns out, there are many of the creatures down here, and they want her baby. No, wait– Sarah wakes up in a hospital room with the Benedicts, who are now doctors. Did she hallucinate all that? Mrs. Benedict is actually Sarah’s mother, and she wants Sarah to keep the baby. Things get weird, and we see that the earlier bits weren’t a dream after all. 

Back in the library, Howard closes the book. The librarian tells him everything is going to be fine so long as he opens the door. The book glows red, and the librarian screams for him to put the book back. The librarian squeezes through the bars as Howard fights with the creature under the floor. “Consider your privileges revoked, Mr. Lovecraft.” 

The monster bites the librarian’s head off and everything resets. Lovecraft goes outside and drives away in a cab. He’s got the book, and he has stories to write. 

Brian’s Commentary

H.P. Lovecraft looks like Jeffey Combs with a prosthetic nose and chin. 

Jeffrey Combs, Richard Lynch, David Warner, and Don Calfa– it’s got a great cast of 90s horror people, and they all do a great job here. 

All the stories are good, but I thought the third one dragged on a bit too long while the second was a little too short. Overall, a worthy viewing. 

Kevin’s Commentary

Who knew that H.P. Lovecraft wrote his stories from real world inspirations. The quality was pretty consistent throughout, though I think I enjoyed the second tale the most. The heavily practical effects worked well, and I enjoyed the viewing. I’d never even heard of this one before. It’s worth checking out.