Masters of Horror: H.P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch House

"H.P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch House." Masters of Horror. Showtime, 4 November, 2005.

Jumping ahead some decades, we see the anthology series Masters of Horror. The idea was pretty sweet; have a bunch of horror directors/creators focus on one episode each. Sometimes classic stories were told while others did original work. Several of the directors from my horror countdown graced the series too but we'll address those episodes another day, but for this episode they brought in frequent guest here Stuart Gordon to tackle a Lovecraft adaptation.




Walter Gilman (Ezra Godden) is your typical student, i.e. broke. The only place he can afford is a rundown flophouse. One day he hears his neighbor Frances (Chelah Horsdal) screaming, as there is a massive rat chasing her around her rooms.

Walter manages to save her, despite the lack of care or assistance from the house's manager. The other neighbor, Masurewicz (Campbell Lane) is interested though, but he mostly wants to know if the rat had a human face.

Despite all this, Walter and Frances grow closer. He also grows closer to Masurewicz, although this is mostly due to the older man's constant prayers. There's a witch in the house, you see, and she and her rat familiar want souls. Masurewicz knows this because like Walter he was a student and rented the same room he lives in now.

He also murdered a bunch of children for her too.

Frances lands a job interview and leaves her infant son Danny with Walter. He doesn't mind but when he falls asleep he sees a nude Frances approaching. He doesn't mind that either, at least until she transforms into an old crone and starts clawing his back.

One near hallucinogenic trip later, Walter has a man faced rat on his shoulder urging him to sign a contract. Walter tries to warn Frances, but she writes him off as crazy. Maybe he is, but the witch is still real and she's eager to sign. Can Walter stop her in time?

Pretty faithful, although some liberties were taken. Not a terrible adaptation although this wasn't exactly Lovecraft's strongest story. Gordon seemed to be trying for a Re-Animator vibe but here it just doesn't quite work.