Mr_Ectoplasma "The Resurrected," based on Lovecraft's story "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," focuses on a Rhode Island P.I. who one day is contacted by the wife of a chemist. She expresses concern over her husband's erratic behavior, which has led to him isolating himself at his remote family estate, where he has been suspected by locals of grave robbing and performing disturbing experiments with human body parts. What they discover is all that and more.Given that I am not familiar with H.P. Lovecraft, nor am I familiar with director Dan O'Bannon's work or other Lovecraft adaptations, I feel I have a fairly objective opinion to offer here. It seems that the user reviews largely reflect the reactions of (mostly) big Lovecraft fans. From my knowledge, "The Resurrected" essentially takes the premise of the Lovecraft story and situates it in the twentieth century, and more or less is consistent with the story's framework.The film's beginning is rather dull, and I wondered what I was getting myself into; a drab, single-take shot of Jane Sibbett and John Terry in a very nineties-decor office gave the affect of a cheap television movie—and in all honesty, much of the film does in fact feel like that, from the unimaginative cinematography to the poor editing and sometimes awkward performances. That said, if you stick with the film, it does get progressively interesting and progressively weird.The final thirty minutes are what really cemented my enjoyment of the film, where it becomes a sort of "Indiana Jones"-esque horror film, and the filmmakers seem to step up their game in terms of the camera-work and atmosphere. The special effects are in some respects dated, but in others look passable by today's standards. The acting, as I said, is a bit of a hodgepodge, with Chris Sarandon overacting at times; John Terry is only mildly likable as the lead detective, and Jane Sibbett ranges from bad to quite good. Robert Romanus has a memorable part as the P.I.'s chain-smoking sidekick. The final showdown is well-handled, though the voiceovers from Terry that conclude the film (and which are present throughout) leave a bit to be desired.Overall, "The Resurrected" is a pretty decent horror flick. It definitely has the look and feel of a low-budget television movie at times, but it also manages to be atmospheric and quite a lot of fun once its wheels get turning. If the first twenty minutes of early-nineties aesthetic overload is too much, I'd urge you stick with it, as it really starts to demand one's attention about a quarter of the way through. It is not a flawless film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is commendably dark and compelling. 6/10.

Dadeus I love Lovecraft stories. Living in Massachusetts and spending summers in Northern Vermont put my childhood smack dab in the middle of his world. All the creepy elements of his stories invoke moods that I already felt and saw. Like Hitchcock, Lovecraft makes use of the readers imagination instead of blatant descriptions that may or may not let down the reader. One cannot fault one's own imagination for coming up with gore and deep implications Lovecraft puts forth for consideration. Unfortunately, todays movies feel the need to put everything in your face, too weak for some, too strongly for others. I have been searching for a good film adaptation of a Lovecraft story for quite a while. I found the re-animator series cute, but without any serious bite. Likewise for From Beyond. The black and white (and silent) "Cthulhu" came verbatim from the book, and I couldn't even finish it, having reread the story a week before. The new "Cthulhu" was horrible. "Resurrected" captured the mood in many places and follows the original story somewhat, but fails to make the primary connection between Curwins centuries old bid for resurrection (using his great, great, great grandson Charles Ward as a catalyst) and his continued intention of raising an Old One. Marsh makes note of the urns in the laboratory containing the remains of wizards and practitioners of the black arts, but fails to relate that Curwin was resurrecting them for their knowledge and power. The flashback raiding party, instead of being the culmination of the Curwin attempt to bring forth the Great Old One Yog-Sothoth, merely marks the incident from the book. There is no link between how close Curwin got and the fact that his resurrected body in the guise of Charles Ward is currently attempting the same thing. This is a crucial part of the story and makes this movie version a less than complete letdown.

slayrrr666 "The Resurrected" is a really great film with only a few small flaws to it.**SPOILERS**Going to his investigation service, Claire Ward, (Jane Sibbett) meets up with John March, (John Terry) for help in trying to determine why her husband Charles Dexter Ward, (Chris Sarandon) moved out of their house to continue his chemical experiments. Taking up the case, he ventures out to find out what happened, he finds that a series of shipments to him concerning human bones are in his possession, even though he consistently claims otherwise. Further investigation reveals that he is studying black magic, like his ancestor Joseph Curwen, (Chris Sarandon) to whom he bares an almost uncanny resemblance and forcing him to believe that he has become by his spirit to carry on his work in modern times. Despite a raid on his house that puts him away, they are still convinced something is going on when a series of brutal slayings occurs around town, forcing them to delve deeper into the past to uncover the real nature of the experiments, and are soon plunged into a terrifying world that they won't be able to escape from easily.The Good News: This here was a very impressive film with a lot right about it. One thing it gets right is that the house where it takes place in is pretty creepy. An old Victorian monstrosity that looms large over a gigantic graveyard, with old wooden frames, tattered windows and dead and dying plants and bushes laying around give an impressive atmosphere here, and the talk about the stench coming from a location which looks like that gives it a lot of credibility since it isn't out the question for such a place to be like that. The constant uses of thunderstorms or heavy rains makes for some wonderful atmosphere in here, and there's some fantastic scenes to come about because of them. The flashback to the ancestor's times is really great as well, being creepy, action-packed and wonderfully gory, setting up a lot of greatness to come. The best is the discovery of what was fished out of the river, which is one of the most memorable and iconic-looking faces around in here, and with first-rate make-up work that helps it out even more, this one is a fantastic scene that is entirely memorable. It's also nicely done that there's a healthy amount of work done in here that feels akin to the intent of the original stories, with the different topics, themes and interests that it brings up. It's all quite fun to see these all inside. Also fun is what is all in the last half hour. From the journey through the catacombs through to the confrontations in the mental asylum, this one here is just packed with goodness. Included in there is most of the gore and some fantastic creepy moments that are tense and just all-out fun. The last thing that works in here is the gore, as this is a pretty bloody tale that features a lot of goodness to come from it. There's more than a couple bodies that are melted down to a pile of flesh and blood in one huge heap, there's the discovery from the flashback which provides some more, one has their flesh peeled off in chunks and there's a large amount of mangled and incomplete bodies that are seen in many locations, giving this one a fantastic amount of bloodshed that really helps this one out. These here are the film's good points.The Bad News: This one here has only a few flaws. The main one here is that it feels a little too long at times. This is due to the really long beginning before it gets to the great parts in the later half, and with the introduction being more about the mysterious disappearance more than the actual plot about the resurrection formulas that come into play later, and this derailment from, the true emphasis into the other area, makes for a slow-start to this one before it really hits it's stride, and by the time that it switches over to the good parts, it's pretty deep and it really feels much longer than it should be. The last flaw in here is that the film has a much more intellectual feeling to it, relying more on other tactics rather than just having stuff bounce out of the shadows to generate the scares, and for those who are into the more campy aspects of the genre will find a film like this to be a tad dull. Otherwise, this here had only a few flaws.The Final Verdict: A really fun and underrated entry, with a lot of good stuff that helps it to overcome the few flaws in here. Give this a chance if you're in the mood for a film of this type, a fan of the authors work or just plain interested, but those who can't appreciate the intellectual side should seek caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language

Coventry I'm not entirely sure if H.P. Lovecraft would have liked this decade very much. I once read in a biography article that he was a terribly depressed human being and incredibly difficult (impossible, even) to please, so it's probably a good thing he never got to see any of the cinematic efforts that were based on his twisted work. The 90's film-adaptations that were inspired by Lovecraft vary from abominable ("Chtulu Mansion") over poor ("Lurking Fear") and mediocre ("Necronomicon", "Bleeders") to decent-at-best ("Castle Freak" and "The Resurrected"), but none of them resulted in genuine genre masterpieces like they did in the 80's, with "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond". With "The Resurrected", director Dan O'Bannon delivered a stylishly made and overall very atmospheric chiller, but the wholesome sadly is a little overlong and it sometimes lacks the obligatory panache to become an immortal favorite among horror fanatics. The plot neatly follows the structure of H.P's tale "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", the same story Roger Corman used for "The Haunted Palace", and especially the transfer to the present day setting is adequately handled. The movie opens with a truly promising and sinister sequence inside a mental asylum, where panic and fear broke loose following the supposed escape of a dangerous patient named Charles Dexter Ward. Cut back to a period of time earlier, when a certain Mrs. Ward seeks contact with private detective John Marsh because her husbands behaves suspiciously and distant. The detective slowly discovers that Charles is involved in macabre occult experiments, together with the mysterious Doctor Ash, and that he may even has found a method to cheat death. The horribly shocking discoveries continue when Marsh and Mrs. Ward explore Charles' hideout place and laboratories. Although benefiting from a moody & absorbing atmosphere, the first half of "The Resurrected" is too talkative and yet thrifty when it comes to sharing useful information with the viewers. Slow tension building is good, preferably even, but it honestly takes too long before the first gruesome scene makes you jump up from your seat. The second half is much more eventful but occasionally suffers from unnecessary padding footage, like during the heroes' journey through the dark catacombs. The grand finale makes up for a lot, though, as it's inventive and pretty much impossible to predict even if you have seen the other movie-adaptations of the same Lovecraft story. There's a lot less gore and special effect than you'd expect, but the monstrous creations of FX-artist Todd Masters are engaging and effectively repulsive. Set pieces, lighting, camera-work and editing are all formidable, just the music is a little too obviously stolen from Christopher Young's theme for "Hellraiser". The acting performances are all fairly wooden, with the exception of the always-reliable Chris Sarandon whose portrayal of Charles Dexter Ward is stellar and genuinely menacing. Even though Dan O'Bannon only directed two movies, I'm convinced many horror fans (myself included) would be very interested in him making a comeback.