A student named Walter Gilman rents a room in a decrepit old house that's apparently over 300 years old, and there something strange is going on with the walls in his room. It seems like they might lead to another dimension, and before he knows it, he starts getting visits from a rat with a human face in his nightmares. All he wanted to do was to write his thesis, but is soon visited by some kind of female demon, and from then on, things start to go down-hill for Walter. He soon meets Francis, a girl that he falls for, but is too shy and busy to do anything about it. She has a little baby that she lets him watch when going to a job interview, but again he caught up in a nightmarish reality and leaves the baby unattended. One of his neighbours explain to him that there's a witch, thirsting for souls and who needs a male victim to sacrifice babies for her. Walters nightmares turns into reality, and he soon puts both himself and Francis baby at risk when trying to fight off the witch.
From Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator trilogy) comes another H.P. Lovecraft tale about an old house, a witch and a student who gets trapped in the middle of it all. It's actually a pretty scary tale, and even if it's far from Gordon's best, it's still a great addition to a fine series. Personally, one of the worst things I know are rats, and even if this movie is not packed with rats a la Stephen King's Graveyard Shift, it's still too much and is kinda freaky. Not only that, but a rat that shows up here has a human face, and while that might look funny to some, it's just too darn freaky for others/yours truly.
I felt really sorry for the poor student Walter, as all he wanted to do was to write his thesis, but instead he was attacked by a witch and a rat, and had to go through hell. Like the title suggests, he rents a room in an old house that apparently was the home of a witch way long ago. There in his room, he starts having horrible nightmares and wakes up from that a rat with a human face sits on him in his bed, telling him that 'she's coming for him'.
While being freaked out by the dream, Walter still figures it was just a dream, and so didn't think more of it at first. But the night after, he gets a visit from a naked girl that looks just like his neighbour Francis, but that later appears to be the witch who's coming for him. Another one of his neighbours, an old man, seems to have gone through what Walter is about to go through, and so keeps warning Walter to get out before it's too late. But Walter stays, and things just keeps getting worse.
What I liked about Dreams in the Witch-House, is that it was a great tale that was pretty darn horrific. It works great as a horror flick, and was at the same time interesting enough, and made you wanna find out how it was all going to end. Best thing is that it ends in a really good way. It has a tragic ending, but so makes it way more interesting and makes for a better outcome then if it would've ended in a nice/happy way.
It's definitely not hardcore horror, but it's a great tale that is a bit freaky as well. The movie has really good pacing, and the acting is good, especially from Ezra Godden who plays the troubled student. It was hard not to feel bad for the guy. Now, I haven't read the actual tale by H.P. Lovecraft, but I guess it would be way more scary in book-form, still it works well as a horror film that has some black humour to offer too. Recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Dreams in the Witch-House
MOVIE YEAR: 2005
DIRECTOR: Stuart Gordon
WRITING CREDITS: H.P. Lovecraft
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Ezra Godden, Chelah Horsdal, Jay Brazeau
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 55 min
RATING: 7/10
Masters of Horror (S01E02): Dreams in the Witch.. Website/IMDB Click here
Masters of Horror (S01E02): Dreams in the Witch.. Trailer Click here
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