Customer Reviews

HP Lovecraft's The Tomb

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I was never really into Edgar Allan Poe, even before I heard "The Tell-Tale Heart" way too many times as an oral interp at high school speech meets. But when I heard Rod Serling talking about how H.P. Lovecraft had written his chilling little tale "The Haunter of the Dark)" as something of a joke, repaying Robert Bloch for killing off a Lovecraft character in "The Shambler of the Stars" by killing off a character named Robert Blake, I had to check the guy out. I was soon reading everything by Lovecraft that I could get my hands on and I still remember making the mistake of reading "At the Mountains of Madness" late one night and then having a lot of trouble getting to sleep.

So when you slap the title "H.P. Lovecraft's The Tomb" on a DVD I am going to check it out, even though as a rule the adaptations of Lovecraft's stories have been rather disappointing. But when I actually watch the movie and discover that it has nothing to do with Lovecraft's short story, does not take place in a tomb, and is really a rip-off of "Saw" that should have been entitled "Ulli Lommel's The Warehouse," I get pretty ticked off. In fact, I want to drive to Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, get my hands on their copy of the "Necronomicon" by the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, and bring down the wrath of the Old Ones down on the heads of those responsible for this abomination. I always maintained that a rating of one-star should be reserved for snuff films or movies where those responsible should be hunted down and dealt with severely. I guess I finally found a film that fits the bill.

Lovecraft's short story "The Tomb" is about Jervas Dudley, who checks out the family tomb and finds an empty coffin with his name on it. He decides it is a good idea to sleep in the coffin each night and then, as you would expect, bad things happen to him. In this direct to video 2007 offering, Tara (Victoria Ullmann) wakes up in a warehouse where she is joined by other guests courtesy of the "Puppetmaster," an unseen psychopath with a deep voice who starts tormenting them. In an effort to justify the title starts dropping names associated with Lovecraft's stories, such as Charles Dexter Ward and David Pickman. The references purport to be clued, but they end up being gratuitous. Eventually Tara learns the only rule that matters in this particular little game: the last one alive gets to leave. Now, that is certainly a premise that can work in a horror film, but did I mention that this one is set in warehouse? Because it is, and I sort of expected Tara and the others to make an effort to get the hell out of there because they start competing in earnest for the golden ticket out of that "tomb." However, that would make sense.

Consequently this movie is a lot like "Saw," only without the interesting death traps, but with your standard plot twist right out of the tradition of 1970's slasher flicks (always pay attention to back stories as if they were Holy writ in these movies). Overall this is a very boring horror film. The most interesting part was when Tara talks to the woman in the box, but that is not really a good sign because horror films are not supposed to come down to two women talking. Of course, this is a horror movie filled with bad signs, beginning with the title, which is still the biggest insult here. If this was just a bad rip-off of "Saw" that would be one thing: you expect those to be coming out of the walls after the success of that horror trilogy. But desecrating the name of H.P. Lovecraft is totally unforgivable. The only way fans of Lovecraft or horror movies are going to check out this film is by mistake.

I rented this from my local video store. I am a horror movie fan; I even ocassionally enjoy cheesy predictable horror movies if they have some redeeming aspect. "The Tomb" has none. The production quality of this movie is awful. It is like an 80's porn flick (not that I have seen one, lol). The music is equally awful. The acting is awful. The plot (and I use that term lighlty) is awful and, as far as I can tell, is a direct rip-off of the "Saw" movies. Frankly, I couldn't bear to watch it after about 20 minutes and I turned it off. It appeared it would be quite gory from the few minutes that I watched but what is gore without anything else to support it? Boring. Avoid this movie at all costs.

Oh well this is bad. I mean this is really bad. I had really hoped that this would be a great horror movie. I always loved The Tomb story. A great story, mind you. A really wonderful story. I do not know why I rented this really bad movie. I think that slamming a ball bat against my head would be far more amusing than this silly movie. No. Wait. This wasn't a silly movie. This was an atrocious movie. One of the sins of this movie is that it has no pace, this movie has no tension, this movie has no characterization. I watched this movie with hope but it has no hope. I really think you should not even look at this movie. Dont rent it. Dont buy it, definitely. So many things were wrong with this movie. They only taped Lovecraft's name to it to make you want to see it. It has really nothing to do with the original story, nothing to do with Lovecraft's writer's worldview. A pointless movie. Should never have been made.

I seem to be in a similar position as the other reviewers-- I am a fan of Lovecraft, and I was disappointed to find that this was more of a rendition of Saw than any story by Lovecraft. Coincidentally, the night before viewing The Tomb, I watched another movie by the same director, Ulli Lommel, called "Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven" which also had nothing to do with the poem of the same name. I wish I had looked at the director before renting this movie! Both movies are B (or C?) movie quality, have incoherent plots, slow pacing, and leave fans of these turn-of-the-century horror writers feeling used and disappointed.

Ok, I am speechless. I've seen bad movies. I've seen movies so bad they are good. This movie is simply the worst thing I have ever put into my DVD player. I don't know what else to say. Avoid this at all costs. You will never get those 90 minutes of your life back. Your time is better spent picking and sorting your belly button lint.

I normally give a movie 2 stars automatically for tasteless nudity, but in the case of this film I'll make an exception. Anyone who has been stuck in a video game knows the frustration of watching this movie. With no sense of moving forward at all, the main characters walk around in circles watching people die. The acting could have been better (there were some good points there, notably the dude at the end). The sound is unforgivably bad - I actually missed dialog because I couldn't hear the actor. The budget for this movie should have at least been big enough to include a microphone and HD camera. Redubs could have been put in using free software tools available to anyone. The plot has nothing to do with H.P. Lovecraft, fear or anything of interest. I have been very impressed with some indie, low budget films in the past, which makes this one even more of a failure in my eyes.

I hope the crew had fun making the movie, because no one will enjoy watching it.

This really is a bad movie... and not in a good way. I like my fair share of bad movies (fan of Ed Wood and all) but this can't come close. HP Lovecraft's name shouldn't be on it - it doesn't really have anything to do with what the movie is about.

If you're curious to see it then rent it first and good luck!

Sometimes I can be dramatic... but trust me, I am not in this case. I have seen many bad movies, but this movie is now the #1 worst movie I have ever seen and there is a very large gap between it and #2. The story is bad, the acting is worse, the effects are horrible, etc etc. There is not one thing positive to say about this movie.

Where does one start? From the opening scene where a body wrapped in plastic drops into a warehouse from the floor above (how did it get there? it's a two story warehouse, that has no upper floor in the next scene, etc) to the last scene in the motel room - there is nothing but horror-ible acting and camera work inbetween...

A high school film class could make a better movie than this with a $100.00 budget and a 1992 camcorder.

I know it has been said many times before, but in this case, it's true: I will never get that 1 hour and 21 mins back in my life.

Don't beleive me? Then buy or rent it and if you think differently than I do, please post your review here as I would love to see if there is anyone who could possibly like this movie and why.

Lovecraft is honestly my favorite writer of all time. I don't read it for the Occult aspects (All hail the Old Ones!) Or because he came up with mythical creations beyond space and time (Cthulhu fhtagn!!). I read Lovecraft for his ideas on what truly is scary.

"The Tomb" short story is about a MAN who visits his family's tomb only to be confronted by his horrible destiny of his ancestors.

"H.P. Lovecraft's The Tomb" is about a group of people tortured by a puppet master of sorts. He wears a white mask like face garment, talks through a speaker system, and shows up on a messy TV. Sounds like another movie, it's called "SAW". Honestly I didn't like SAW either, but at least the gore was real and the plot was original.

Let us circle around again the Lovecraft name. Lovecraft has maybe 2 or three stories where a woman was involved as a main person. Lovecraft really didn't write about women. So why is there a movie bearing his name that has several of them? One being part of the man focus? That is not Lovecraften!

So back to the whole focus here. This movie has nothing to do with Lovecraft except its title. It is horribly written, badly taped (Are those the same cams they use for COPS?), and bad special effects, there is not a shred of good in the movie.

So run away from it! Stay away! (may Dagon eat you, writers of this movie!)Learn from my mistake, read first, then rent!

And remember just because it says Lovecraft doesn't mean it has anything to do with him!

Like others have said its a bad saw rip off, set in a warehouse. One of the most annoying things about the film was the use of broken toys, Halloween masks and decorations as if they were occult objects. I don't really know anyone into the darker side of occult practices but I had an Aunt and Uncle who were old school spiritualists. They had some things that looked creepy to conservative Christians but did not surround themselves with cheap Halloween junk.