All Movie Guide

Another semi-successful attempt to adapt the works of American fantasist H.P. Lovecraft to the screen, this is loosely based on the short story The Shuttered Room (also an alternate release title for the film), a story which is purported to be more the work of "posthumous collaborator" August Derleth. The story involves a couple's return to the creepy old ancestral home, located on an island in New England, in which they soon discover the dark secret hidden behind a heavily-locked door in the attic... a door the fearful townsfolk declare "must never be opened." Oliver Reed delivers one of his patented gruff, over-the-top performances as the local nutcase, and director David Greene creates a suitably moody atmosphere, but much like the Roger Corman-produced The Dunwich Horror, this film fails to act on the spooky potential of its theme. Cavett Binion

All Movie Guide

It! -- a twist on the silent classic Der Golem -- stars Roddy McDowall as Arthur Pimm, assistant museum curator and would-be Norman Bates who, among other things, preserves the body of his late mother in his home. When Pimm and museum director Grove (Ernest Clark) discover a grotesque statue left intact after a fire at one of the museum storehouses, they transport the stone behemoth to the museum for study. After finding Grove mysteriously crushed to death under the statue, Pimm's curiosity is piqued, leading him to investigate its origins. He discovers that the figure is actually the legendary Golem, an indestructible creature of 16th-century Yiddish myth capable of destroying the enemies of any man who becomes its master. Pimm is eventually able to control the monster with his deranged mind, leading it on a rampage of murder and destruction that devastates half of London. Aside from McDowall's typically eccentric performance, this stodgy film is a fairly tedious exercise, shambling along more slowly than the monster itself and punctuated only by occasional over-the-top moments, particularly at the laughable climax. Director Herbert J. Leder's earlier horror film The Frozen Dead is much more enjoyable. Cavett Binion

Product Details

• UPC: 883929039104
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Français

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• The Shuttered Room
• It!

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