The Unnamable (1988)
Director Jean-Paul Ouellette
Starring Mark Kinsey Stephenson, Charles Klausmeyer, Alexandra Durrell, Laura Albert, Eben Ham, Blane Wheatley, Mark Parra, Delbert Spain, Katrin Alexandre

The first feature films to be based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft (at least officially credited to him) started in the ’60s with Roger Corman’s The Haunted Palace (1963), based on the story “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” (even though they billed it as a Edgar Allan Poe movie!). Then we had Die Monster Die! (1965), The Shuttered Room (1967), and The Dunwich Horror (1970). We did see some adaptations in different series like The Night Gallery, but for the most part, it never really brought a lot of attention to the author and his work. Then in the mid ’80s, there was a slight resurgence of his work, starting with Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator (1985), followed by From Beyond (1986), each based on stories of the same name. Granted, these versions were probably a little more intense than what the author intended, it still got the ball rolling and brought attention to Lovecraft’s name and his work. The following year we got David Keith’s The Curse, based on the story “The Colour Out of Space”, and soon more were to follow.

In 1988, Vidmark Entertainment released The Unnamable on VHS, based on the Lovecraft story of the same name. It did the smart thing by putting the title creature on the front of the box. In a day when you had hundreds and hundreds of titles trying to grab the attention of a potential renter, that was key. And while Lovecraft’s name was also on the cover, they knew the monster would draw more than it would. Unfortunate and sad, but true. Now, 30 years later, The Unnamable is released once again, but this time on Blu-Ray from Unearthed Films in one kick-ass special edition.

The film starts out with a prologue with an old man trying to get some unseen thing calm and back into room with a locked door. It doesn’t take long before it is out again and kills the old man. Jump forward a hundred years or so and we’re now right outside the same house with some college students discussing life, girls, and horror stories. After a wager, one sets out to spend the night in the aforementioned house. When he doesn’t turn up the next day, the other two friends go to discover what happened to him. But before they get there, two other couples show up at the house for some fun. The title creature shows up and turns their evening of fun into a night of terror.

I will get the one negative comment out right away about this release. This release comes with three different audio options, a decent sounding 2.0 track, and a “Grindhouse” version where you can hear the hiss and crackle before it had been digitally fixed and then the last option. When we get to the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround, is where something is wrong because the farther you get into the movie, it sounds like all the sound effects, or pretty much everything but the direct dialogue, has an echo, or it repeats itself. Such as a single set of footsteps now sounds like two. By the time you get 30-45 minutes into it, it has gotten really annoying. So avoid this audio version and you’ll be fine. But that aside, the rest of the disc is great.

When watching this today, especially for the younger audiences, remember this was made back years before CGI and all those fancy effects. All of those were created practical makeup effects. As I mentioned early, they were smart to put their creature right on the box because it is a beautiful piece work, designed and created by R. Christopher Biggs. It is somewhere between a devil or demon, with hooves, long claws, horns and sharp teeth. The person that had to wear all these makeup was Katrin Alexandre, who helped bring this character to life. It’s one of those things that you want to kept the monster hidden until the end of the movie, but when you have look that looks this good, you want to show it off!

As far as the movie itself, while it might feel dated to some, I feel it still has its charm. One of the main characters, Randolph Carter, brought to life by Mark Kinsey Stephenson, and is my favorite of the whole film. Kind of coming off as pretension or aloof, but is pretty smart and doesn’t seemed to be interested in some of the more common things in life. Almost like Jeffrey Combs’ Herbert West, without the sociopathic tendencies.  Unfortunately, he’s not in a lot of the movie, but he does return in the sequel, The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter, that came out in 1992.

If you’re looking for a disc with extras, this has plenty. There is an audio commentary with Charles Klausmeyer, Mark Stephenson, Laura Albert, Eben Ham, Camille Calvet and R. Christopher Biggs, that is a fun-filled time of remembering and reminiscing. There are also video interviews with all of the above, as well as Mark Parra. Some of these features are damn near feature length! The audio is not the greatest but it is still very informative and well guided by host Jay Kay.

While this movie never made a huge impact when it first came out, I’m thrilled to see it out now and really hope it gets another chance because it is more than worth it. Plus, anytime we can bring H.P. Lovecraft’s name out into the open, it is always a good thing.