FAQ

The Dunwich Horror is based on a short story of the same name written in 1928 by American fantasy/horror writer H.P. Lovecraft [1890-1937). It was first published in Weird Tales, April 1929. The story was adapted for this movie by director Leigh Scott. An earlier movie, The Dunwich Horror (1970) (1970), is also based on Lovecraft's story.

Yes. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror is in the public domain and can be read here.

Neither. Although both movies are based on Lovecraft's short story, the movies are not connected, although they both draw upon the history of the Whateleys, wizards who moved from Salem to Dunwich in 1692, the "horror" they unleashed on the Massachusetts countryside, Dr Henry Armitage's efforts to stop them, the search for the Necronomicon, and the demon Yog-Sothoth. Of the two movies, this one is generally considered more true to the original story.

Yog-Sothoth is a fictional monster dreamed up by Lovecraft and introduced in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. He is an Outer God who impregnated Lavina Whateley (Lauren Michele) so as for her to give birth to Wilbur Whateley (Jeffrey Combs) and his monstrous twin brother.

Lovecraft made up the Necronomicon as a fictional book of the occult, containing rituals that would open the door to the Old Ones, a race of beings from another dimension that once inhabited the earth. It was supposedly written by the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred and was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story The Hound. The Necronomicon has been cited in various fantasy/horror stories so many times since Lovecraft made it up that many fans believe it to be a real book.

Professors Fay Morgan (Sarah Lieving) and Walter Rice (Griff Furst) find page 751 of the Necronomicon and learn from Rice's secretary that Dr Henry Armitage (Dean Stockwell) has gone to the Whateley house. Accompanied by Caitlin Bower (Natacha Itzel Badar), whom they have discovered also has family ties to the Old Ones, they go looking for Armitage only to find him in shock, after having seen the face of Yog-Sothoth. Meanwhile, Yog-Sothoth has escaped and gone on a rampage of the countryside. Walter deduces that, although Yog-Sothoth is the Gatekeeper charged with holding open the portal so that the Old Ones can pass into the earthly realm, he cannot open the portal himself. Someone from the earthly realm must do it...and then close the portal as soon as Yog-Sothoth takes his position but before the Old Ones can begin to pass through. Walter prepares the ritual, and Caitlin draws a circle of protection in the yard. As Yog-Sothoth approaches, the four of them -- Fay, Walter, Caitlin, and Dr Armitage -- take refuge in the circle and begin uttering incantations. Yog-Sothoth zaps them and tries to grab Fay's leg with his tentacles and pull her to him, but Walter grabs her hand and finishes the incantation. Yog-Sothoth lets go of Fay and begins to disappear, tearing down much of the Whateley house in his wake. In the final scenes, Fay and Walter have returned to the University. He asks Fay to go to dinner with him, and she accepts. He then begins to teach one of his classes and announces that the subject will be about the belief that there are powers than can change destiny. "Dr Rice, do you believe in such a power?" one of the students asks. "Yes," Walter replies.