Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 26, 2022

Quite a few people have felt that the film version of Rosemary's Baby was a prime example of, if it's "not nice to fool Mother Nature", it's even less wise to make a movie about the devil, and that the cinematic adaptation of Ira Levin's disturbing novel might have made more than one kind of a deal with the devil (so to speak). The assumed result of this ostensibly injudicious behavior was that the production was supposedly cursed. Those subscribing to this idea bring up the horrifying murder of Roman Polanski's wife Sharon Tate and the subsequent headline making issues Polanski himself faced as evidence, and some of them also mention the mysterious death under still disputed circumstances of the brilliant composer for the film, Krzysztof Komeda (whose name was somewhat Americanized as Christopher for the film's credits), as further proof of this thesis. There doesn't seem to be any analogous dissection of what happened to several people associated with The Dunwich Horror (a film which probably owes at least part of its existence to the success of the Polanski movie) in the wake of that production, but it's curiously kind of tragedy ridden as well, though perhaps with a somewhat longer span of time and with less instantly fatal aspects than the relatively quick demises of Tate and Komeda after Rosemary's Baby wrapped. While co-stars Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee had decades to live after The Dunwich Horror, , Dee in particular had rather well documented bouts with various emotional and mental issues which her son with Bobby Darin, Dodd, detailed heartbreakingly in his memoir about his famous parents. Supporting player Ed Begley did die within just a couple of months of this film finishing shooting, at the relatively young age of 69. This film's composer, the inimitable Les Baxter, also lived a good, long life after this film wrapped, but his later career was also somewhat rocky, including some patently bizarre accusations by lyricist and music journalist Gene Lees that Baxter had had many of his most famous arrangements and even compositions ghosted by others without credit (accusations which have been pretty definitively questioned if not outright disproven, it should be added).

If The Dunwich Horror wasn't cursed per se, it still may have had less of a positive career redefining role for Sandra Dee, who was on record as having stated she hoped this film would help her to reinvent her "Look at me, I am Sandra Dee" nicer than nice girl persona. Dee portrays student Nancy Wagner, this film's "Rosemary Woodhouse", as it were, in that she soon finds herself ensconced in a quasi-Satanic conspiracy, though in this case, this film's "Guy Woodhouse", mysterious outsider Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell), isn't especially circumspect in revealing his ulterior motives.

There have been a lot of somewhat iffy film and television adaptations of the works of H.P. Lovecraft through the years, and The Dunwich Horror is arguably one of the more faithful to its source works, though that is not to suggest that scenarists Curtis Lee Hanson, Henry Rosenbaum and Ronald Silkosky haven't taken several liberties with Lovecraft's original. The story here can't help but echo certain aspects of Rosemary's Baby, even if (not to state the obvious, but to state the obvious) Lovecraft's tale preceded Levin's by several decades. But certain plot points, not necessarily just limited to the general outlines of an innocent woman falling prey to quasi-Satanists, but even "smaller" items like Nancy being drugged somewhat similarly to Rosemary, can't help but bring the probably generally better known story to mind.

One of the things The Dunwich Horror does differently from Rosemary's Baby, though, is to provide Nancy with a (non-devil's?) advocate who actually makes it through to the end of the story, local professor Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley), whose refusal to lend Walter his copy of the Necronomicon provides some of the early plot machinations. There's ultimately an "evil twin" (or something like that) aspect that may have provided some grist for the parody mill in The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror VII episode "The Thing and I". Both due to Nancy's drugging, as well as the Whateley family's beastly invocations, The Dunwich Horror definitely tips (trips might be the better word) into more patently psychedelic presentational aspects than the brief if unnerving "dream" Rosemary experiences in the Polanski film.

The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Dunwich Horror is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following verbiage on the restoration:

The Dunwich Horror is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at Company 3, Los Angeles.

The film was graded and restored in 2K resolution at Dragon DI, Wales. The original audio mixes were remastered by MGM.

All the materials for this new restoration were made available by MGM.

This film had a previous release on Blu-ray as part of Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Dunwich Horror from Shout! Factory, but as of the writing of this review, we haven't covered that release and one way or the other, it looks like it's going for pretty steep amounts of moolah. I have never seen the Shout! release, but I can't imagine it giving this presentation much of a run for its money, as this is a generally beautiful looking transfer, with secure detail levels and a nicely saturated palette. There are some noticeable variances in color temperature that struck me as a little odd, but a lot of the film's almost lurid psychedelic moments really pop incredibly well. Grain can also occasionally look a bit gritty or yellow, especially during opticals (which are fairly frequent), but the good news is there certainly appears to have been no digital filtering. There is some very minor age related wear and tear which has survived whatever restoration gauntlet was undertaken, some of which the most eagle eyed screenshot surveyor may be able to spot in a couple of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review.

The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Dunwich Horror features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that admittedly has a bit of boxiness which my hunch is stems (no soundtrack pun intended) from the film's probably less than huge budget. That said, sound effects like the heartbeat that start and end the film, and Les Baxter's score, are generally full bodied and problem free. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Guy Adams and A.K. Benedict is kind of daffy and often quite funny.


• The Door into Dunwich (HD; 2:10:13) is an amazing and wide ranging conversation between Stephen R. Bissette and Stephen Laws about various Lovecraft adjacent topics. The introductory text once you select this supplement is also hilarious.


• After Summer After Winter (HD; 16:21) features science fiction and fantasy writer Ruthanna Emrys discussing the film and Cthulu.


• The Sound of Cosmic Terror (HD; 32:06) offers the typically insightful David Huckvale discussing Les Baxter's score for the film.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:16)


• Image Gallery (HD)

Additionally, Arrow provides its typically nicely appointed insert booklet, this one with two interesting essays by Jack Sargeant and Johnny Mains, along with stills, cast and crew info, and technical data. Packaging features a slipcover.

The Dunwich Horror Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Dunwich Horror may not have the same decidedly disturbing subtext that Rosemary's Baby does because this film is actually more overt in terms of offering the audience a "view" of what's actually going on. If it frankly may not reach the frightening heights of the Polanski film, it's rather interesting in its own regard, and the often hyperbolic Stockwell is fun, if on the hammy side. This disc's supplements are first rate, and the off the wall commentary is probably one of my recent favorites. Technical merits are solid, and The Dunwich Horror comes Recommended.