University student Walter Gilman (an extremely affable portrayal by Ezra Godden) rents a seedy room cheap in a rundown old boarding house. Walter discovers that the gateway to another dimension exists in his room. Walter has frightening visions of ghoulish ratman hybrid Brown Jenkin (a marvelously grotesque Yevgen Voronin) and falls under the sinister spell of evil witch Keziah Mason (a deliciously wicked Susanna Uchatius). Director Stuart Gordon, who also co-wrote the intelligent and engrossing script with longtime collaborator Dennis Paoli (said script is based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story), does his usual aces job with creating and sustaining an eerie and mysterious atmosphere that becomes more increasingly creepy and nightmarish as the story heads toward its positively horrific climax. Better still, Gordon gives the whole grisly affair a dark, brooding, no-holds-barred tough and grimly serious tone that stays true to itself to the literal bitter end. Godden's intense and excellent acting in the lead really holds everything together; he receives fine support from ravishing redhead Chelah Horsdal as nice struggling single mother Frances Elwood, Jay Brazeau as cranky landlord Mr. Dombrowski, and Campbell Lane as the helpful, regretful elderly tenant Masurewicz. Jon Joffin's slick cinematography, Richard Band's exquisitely lush'n'spooky score, and the supremely gruesome make-up f/x are all on the money solid and effective. Well worth a watch.
Review of Dreams in the Witch-House
A typically fine H.P. Lovecraft adaptation by the always reliable Stuart Gordon
8 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers