“H. P. Lovecraft’s Witch House” (2021) is a loose adaptation of a H.P Lovecraft’s short story, The Dreams in the Witch House. In hiding from her abusive ex, Alice (Portia Chellelynn), a math graduate student rents the antic in Indiana’s The Hannah House Mansion, an alleged real life haunted house (eye roll), from a hostile landlady, her ranting Christian brother, Joe (Joe Padgett) and their tattooed niece, Tommi (Julie Anne Prescott), who befriends Alice. Alice is thrilled with the accommodation and does not even consider leaving when she stumbles across occultic objects, has strange dreams, and becomes ill. Is she dreaming or has she discovered a breakthrough for her dissertation: that certain structures’ geometry could be used to transport people to different dimensions?

“H.P. Lovecraft’s Witch House” is one of the weakest H. P. Lovecraft film adaptations that I have ever seen. My favorites are “Banshee Chapter” (2013) and “Color Out of Space” (2019) though classics such as “Dagon” (2001), “From Beyond” (1986) and “Re-Animator” (1985) have a nostalgic hold. Lovecraft stands out from other horror because it exists apart from Christian mythology and paints a picture of amoral otherworldly entities that are more terrifying than Satan because their mere existence disrupts ours without any evil intent. They are monsters to us, but just living their lives and did not notice or care that they wandered out of their neighborhood.

Unfortunately “H.P. Lovecraft’s Witch House” depicts the supernatural using Satanic and witch tropes devoid of fresh takes. The film’s imagery borrows heavily from Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) and Robert Eggers’ “The Witch” (2015). A rat humanoid figure who dwells in the attic is the most faithful character to the source material but is reminiscent of a guest from David Lynch’s red room. The rat person suffers from the same issues as the other characters—lack of a cohesive story.

If “H.P. Lovecraft’s Witch House” has a crucial flaw, the narrative lacks connective tissue. The opening scene gives viewers a glimpse of how Alice imagines a scene from the original short story that inspired the film, but these images reappear later in the film when Alice later travels to other dimensions. This imagination tied to her reality does not have to be explained, but it suggests that Alice is drawn to this path for a reason, but the filmmakers do not seem to realize the implications of their imagery and do not make Alice into a warped chosen one. They neglect why Alice feels drawn to this subject. 

Alice is initially engaging because of her friendship with Kelly (Erin Trimble, who was my favorite character in the film because she is the only one who reacts as a normal person would) and Kelly’s sympathetic backstory. Her character’s subsequent behavior seems like a stretch for a person who is looking for safety and is mourning the loss of a child. For a horror movie to work, characters need to do dumb things, but those dumb acts need to make sense in the context of the character’s psychological profile and/or the broader context of the story. 

“H.P. Lovecraft’s Witch House” never establishes how Alice acts on a normal day so it can gradually show how Alice is falling apart. Her dissertation thesis sounds like the ramblings of a high person, not a person who originally made sense and eventually sounded as if they were going mad as their exposure to interdimensional beings increased. Real grad students will wince as she goes through historical documents without wearing gloves and drinking a glass of wine over them. Alice is a one-dimensional figure who is thrilled with everything until she is not and randomly wants to stop the madness because the movie needs to end and stopping evil is how movies usually end. There are two to three annoying twists in the final scene that do nothing to improve the movie and may make viewers hate it more. Think “Dallas” with Bobby taking a shower. The film does not allow Alice to explore an internal conflict between the opportunity of her discover and the terrifying implications. To succeed at depicting a Lovecraftian universe, a film needs to initially make sense yet sound dangerous. Instead when things go bonkers, it stays that way so it becomes monotonous and fails to shock, which is its true aim. 

 “H.P. Lovecraft’s Witch House” felt as the filmmakers really had a checklist of exploitive moments that they wanted in the film but did not really move the story forward in a cohesive way: a lesbian sex scene, naked interdimensional women ritualistically dancing around a fire, a human supernatural figure sex/rape scene (very Sam Raimi “The Evil Dead” (1981) meets tentacle porn), a disemboweling, and a self-beheading. On one hand, the filmmakers deserve applause for their impulse to push boundaries, especially their merciless use of kids taunting their killer. On the other hand, if you watch movies for more than prurient reasons, sensationalism gets boring. It has more in common with giallo films which goes for the easy gore and nudity than anything truly disturbing. It even uses the basic color scheme of giallo films to inconsistently denote different realms-red, blue and green tinting. These acts of violence are some of the least passionate, monotone explosive actions. If it was to signify that the killers are under someone else’s powers, it is fine, but is not what was happening in a couple of killings.

“H.P. Lovecraft’s Witch House” is disappointing when it fails to make Professor Sherfick (John Johnson) a memorable character considering his importance in the plot. The film could have used Alice leaving one abusive romantic relationship for a professional one, but the connection is never made. Alice tells Kelly that he was an old professor who told her about the house, but when the film shows them together, they act as if they just met. Then the film reveals Sherfick’s hidden motives, but those scenes are a blink, and you may miss them. If you do miss it, it will be because the film does not take the time to link Shefshick and his shadow self. The makeup and the camerawork make him unrecognizable as his shadow self. In addition, the main villain is supposed to be Keziah Mason (Andrea Collins), a witch who was burned at the stake, but she is almost interchangeable with the other interdimensional beings other than her face being more obscured from being burned.  

If you choose to forget the original abusive partner, don’t because it will be briefly relevant later as a tool to provide a backstory for Joe, who is probably the most interesting character. Her abusive partner is underdeveloped. Every story of abuse has familiar dynamics and characteristics such as the abuser’s ability to charm others, so outsiders are less likely to believe someone when that person talks about the abuse, but this abuser never stops foaming at the mouth. 

“H.P. Lovecraft’s Witch House” was clearly filmed on a budget, and with a little more experience, the actors may have been able to fill some plot holes, but those factors are not what make the movie difficult to stay invested in. The story is weak and derivative. If you want to see a budget film with a solid story, check out “Edges of Darkness” (2008), which may be hard to find.

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Alice ends up being pregnant with the Anti-Christ. Why Alice? While alive, Kezziah was sacrificing babies and opening portals so why not her? Alice is presumably psyched because she thought that she could not have kids, but was it a result of a rape? She was drugged. Even if Alice does not consider it rape, child sacrifice disgusts Alice so how does she feel about having a baby with a monster? Why not Tommi or her aunt?

The film reveals that Tommi was present when Satan Shefshick impregnated Alice, which suggests that the other cavorting women exist on Earth too. So where are they? Why not them? Are they any true interdimensional beings? These are just interdimensional tourists. 

Joe ends up being the most interesting as a figure of abuse, who ends being controlled and abusing children against his will. His character is more like the story’s protagonist than Alice and more tragic as a Cassandra figure to stop literal intergenerational curses. He is a victim of abuse who hates that he perpetuates the cycle, a common phenomenon that more people probably would relate to than Alice.