With every college kid in America aware of Cthulu role-playing games, H.P. Lovecraft is a hot item these days. Plenty of direct-to-video horror items exploit the concept of hidden passages to terrifying alien dimensions, an idea plumbed often in the past by filmmakers like Lucio Fulci and Sam Raimi. With the restraint of censorship removed Gordon could conceivably be free to bring Lovecraft's "unnameable, unimaginable" horrors to the screen.

Gordon and Dennis Paoli's script is compact, intense and to the point. The 55-minute running time isn't wasted on peripheral characters or 'balancing' interests. Walter Gilman is assaulted by supernatural phenomena almost as soon as he settles in his dingy room, a series of shocks that never let up. Ezra Godden and Chelah Horsdal are sympathetic and likeable main characters, even if Ezra's Walter tends to be on the hyper side. In terms of on-screen horror the episode doesn't cheat. Gore abounds in cascades of splattering blood, and the story makes good on its every horrible threat.

Some H.P. Lovecraft enthusiasts may find that Dreams in the Witch House is a perfect horror adaptation. Gordon and Paoli deliver the shocks, but the episode leaves little room for much beyond the gore and the (true-to-Lovecraft) morbid depression. The show is basically an up-market variation on the cheapie direct-to-video efforts. The Showtime cable formula has made nudity essential, so Walter is seduced by a naked witch to keep the fan-boys breathing hard. Frankly, we lose respect for Walter when he's so easily corrupted. Dreams in the Witch House was written as a period piece where the sheltered scholar of Arkham (or Providence, Rhode Island) could conceivable be as naíve as is Walter. After reflexive horror films like Scream, what modern student would consider staying in a rooming house beseiged by such terrors?

Dreams in the Witch House is morbid grand guignol that eventually rejects psychological explanations for Walter's atrocities. The authorities see for themselves that Walter is a patsy for supernatural forces and not an outright madman. That distinction doesn't make a whole lot of difference, because we can tell that this Masters of Horror is satisfied with delivering the promised goods - nudity, gore, nihilistic doom - and leaving us to contemplate the nasty result. Horror used to be about a lot more than that.

Anchor Bay's DVD of Dreams in the Witch House is a beauty, and the early adopters who recorded cable HD signals on their videotape recorders may want to seek out this disc to sample the ample extras. The enhanced widescreen image is ultra-sharp and the audio track is finely tuned to bring out scratches in the walls and echoey prayers from the room downstairs; the only time the sound design disappoints is when Polanski-like coven chanting is heard over scenes of demonic possession. The rich color in the witch house is ably stylized yet still attractive to the eye, which may detract from the overall mood, depending on one's theories about color in horror films.

A full roster of extras is overseen by disc producer Perry Martin, who guides a commentary with Stuart Gordon and Ezra Godden and directs the main making-of documentary. Additional interview featurettes center on director Gordon (his theatrical history before filmmaking is quite interesting), his crewpeople, actress Chelah Horsdal, and the main KNB special effects master, who introduces us to the animatronic Brown Jenkin.

The peripheral extras render magazine articles on the show unnecessary. The menus offer links to a Stuart Gordon text bio, galleries of stills and storyboards and trailers. DVD-ROM files access the full screenplay, a screen saver and Lovecraft's entire original story. As the work of the creepy bard of Arkham is now considered official 20th century literature, high schoolers may have all they need here for a dandy book report ... the 'not rated' variety.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
Masters of Horror - Stuart Gordon - Dreams in the Witch House rates:
Movie: Very Good
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: Audio Commentary with Stuart Gordon and Ezra Godden; Featurettes: Behind the Scenes, The Making of Dreams in the Witch House; Stuart Gordon, Working with a Master; Dreams Darkness and Damnation, an Interview with Stuart Gordon; On-Set, Chelah Horsdal; SFX, Meet Brown Jenkin; Stuart Gordon Bio, Trailers, still and storyboard gallery. DVD-ROM: Screenplay, screen saver, original H.P. Lovecraft story.
Packaging: Keep case in card sleeve.
Reviewed: March 18, 2006