The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter | |
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Directed by | Jean-Paul Ouellette |
Written by | Jean-Paul Ouellette H. P. Lovecraft (short story) |
Produced by | Jean-Paul Ouellette Alexandra Durrell |
Starring | Mark Kinsey Stephenson Charles Klausmeyer Maria Ford John Rhys-Davies Julie Strain |
Cinematography | Greg Gardiner Roger Olkowski |
Music by | David Bergeaud |
Distributed by | Prism Entertainment Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
Language | English |
The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (a.k.a. The Unnamable Returns) is a 1992 horror film directed Jean-Paul Ouellette. It incorporates elements from the short story "The Statement of Randolph Carter" by H.P. Lovecraft, and is a sequel to The Unnamable , which is loosely based on the short story of the same name, also by Lovecraft. [1]
Mark Kinsey Stephenson reprises the role of Randolph Carter from the previous film, while Charles Clausmeyer also reprises his role as Howard. John Rhys-Davies plays Professor Warren, and David Warner plays the dean of the university.
David Warner is also featured in the film Necronomicon , starring alongside Jeffrey Combs, who plays Lovecraft himself.
The film opens outside the Winthrop house from the first film, only this time it is swarming with police officers and medical technicians. Howard is being wheeled into an ambulance because he has three deep gashes in his chest, Tanya is put into a police car, and Randolph is carrying Joshua Winthrop's book of spells, which he gives to Howard for safe keeping. Randolph confronts the Dean of the university about the house, who tells him not to dabble in things that he could never understand. Then Randolph goes to Professor Warren, who agrees to help.
Howard is dragged along and the three go to the spot where Randolph erupted from the ground in the first film. Howard is to stay near the car to keep guard. Eventually, Warren and Carter find Alyda, Joshua Winthrop's demon daughter (Joshua Winthrop appears to Howard in a dream at some point to confess that he caused his daughter's evilness) wrapped up in the roots of the tree that dragged Alyda out from the house in the first film. Warren injects the monstrous being with insulin to rid her body of the demon. This plan works, and she transforms into a beautiful woman, naked and wrapped in the tree roots. She is given sugar to bring her out of the insulin overdose, and the pair free her from her bonds. The demon is still in the caves, though, and it begins to hunt Alyda down so that they can be one again. After a showdown in the Arkham Library, Randolph manages to defeat the demon, but Alyda dies simultaneously.
In their book Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft, Andrew Migliore and John Strysik write: "Unfortunately, the sinister grace of Katrin Alexandre's she-demon from the first film is sorely missing. Julie Strain's take on the creature is like herself, bigger and more athletic, and the overall feel is less like Lovecraft and more like a commonplace monster that's escaped from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. That said, Unnamable II is still a fun ride for anybody who has ever tried smuggling a member of the opposite sex into their dorm room after a long night in a graveyard." [2]
Randolph Carter is a recurring fictional character in H. P. Lovecraft's fiction and is, presumably, an alter ego of Lovecraft himself. The character first appears in "The Statement of Randolph Carter", a short story Lovecraft wrote in 1919 based on one of his dreams. An American magazine called The Vagrant published the story in May 1920.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Begun probably in the autumn of 1926, the draft was completed on January 22, 1927 and it remained unrevised and unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that make up his Dream Cycle and the longest Lovecraft work to feature protagonist Randolph Carter. Along with his 1927 novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, it can be considered one of the significant achievements of that period of Lovecraft's writing. The Dream-Quest combines elements of horror and fantasy into an epic tale that illustrates the scope and wonder of humankind's ability to dream.
Bride of Re-Animator is a 1990 American comedy horror film produced and directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Yuzna, Rick Fry, and Woody Keith. It is a sequel to the 1985 film Re-Animator and the second entry in the Re-Animator film series. Like its predecessor, it is loosely based on the serialized story "Herbert West–Reanimator" (1921-1922) by H. P. Lovecraft. Unlike its predecessor, it was released direct-to-video.
Beyond Re-Animator is a 2003 horror film directed by Brian Yuzna and starring Jeffrey Combs, Jason Barry, Elsa Pataky, Simón Andreu and Santiago Segura. It is the third and final installment in the Re-Animator film series.
Lifeforce is a 1985 science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, adapted by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby, and starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and Patrick Stewart. Based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel The Space Vampires, the film portrays the events that unfold after a trio of humanoids in a state of suspended animation are brought to Earth after being discovered in the hold of an alien space ship by the crew of a European Space Shuttle.
Lovecraftian horror, also called "cosmic horror", or "eldritch horror" is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). His work emphasizes themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries, which are now associated with Lovecraftian horror as a subgenre. The cosmic themes of Lovecraftian horror can also be found in other media, notably horror films, horror games, and comics.
"The Statement of Randolph Carter" is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in December 1919, it was first published in The Vagrant, May 1920. It tells of a traumatic event in the life of Randolph Carter, a student of the occult loosely representing Lovecraft himself. It is the first story in which Carter appears. Its adaptations include the film The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter.
Necronomicon is a 1993 French-American anthology horror film. It features three distinct segments and a wraparound directed by Brian Yuzna, Christophe Gans and Shusuke Kaneko and written by Gans, Yuzna, Brent V. Friedman and Kazunori Itō. The film's ensemble cast includes stars Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Payne, Richard Lynch, Belinda Bauer, Maria Ford, Dennis Christopher, Gary Graham and David Warner. The extensive special makeup and animatronic effects were supervised by Tom Savini and were created by John Carl Buechler, Christopher Nelson and Screaming Mad George.
"The Unnamable" is a horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in September 1923, first published in the July 1925 issue of Weird Tales, and first collected in Beyond the Wall of Sleep. The corrected text appears in Dagon and Other Macabre Tales,. The story's locale was inspired by the Charter Street Historic District Burying Ground in Salem.
Dagon is a 2001 Spanish horror film directed by Stuart Gordon and written by Dennis Paoli. It is loosely based on H. P. Lovecraft's short story Dagon (1919) and his 1931 novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The film takes place in "Imboca", a Spanish adaptation of "Innsmouth". The film marked the last role of Francisco Rabal who died two months before its release.
A Shoggoth on the Roof is a parody of the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Published by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, it is credited to a member of the society who is referred to only as "He Who Must Not Be Named".
"The Silver Key" is a fantasy short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1926, it is considered part of his Dreamlands series. It was first published in the January 1929 issue of Weird Tales. It is a continuation of "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", and was followed by a sequel, "Through the Gates of the Silver Key", co-written with E. Hoffmann Price. The story and its sequel both feature Lovecraft's recurring character of Randolph Carter as the protagonist.
Harley Warren is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft, based on his friend Samuel Loveman (1887–1976). Lovecraft had a dream about Loveman, which inspired him to write the short story "The Statement of Randolph Carter" in 1919. In the story, Warren is a mysterious occultist and friend of Carter, who suffers a gruesome but undefined fate while exploring a crypt in Big Cypress Swamp.
"The Damned Thing" is a horror short story written by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It first appeared in Town Topics on December 7, 1893.
The Unnamable is a 1988 American horror film directed, written, and produced by Jean-Paul Ouellette. It is based on H. P. Lovecraft's short story of the same name. The film is about a group of university students that made the poor decision to stay overnight in a 'haunted house'. Mark Kinsey Stephenson played the lead role, Randolph Carter, alongside Charles King.
Mark Kinsey Stephenson is an American-born actor most famous for his role as Randolph Carter in the H.P. Lovecraft film adaptation named The Unnamable and its sequel The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter; the latter covered the whole of Lovecraft's story, The Statement of Randolph Carter, in about ten minutes.
Jean-Paul Ouellette is a film director, producer and writer. He has achieved a certain amount of success, mostly in the H.P. Lovecraft movie adaptation circle with The Unnamable and its sequel The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter. He has also been involved in other productions, such as James Cameron's The Terminator. He now works mainly for television but is still contributing to the motion picture industry.
The Curse is a 1987 science-fiction horror film directed by David Keith in his directorial debut, and based on the short story "The Colour Out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft. It tells about a meteorite that crashes into a farming community in Tennessee, which begins to infect the land and its residents. The film stars Wil Wheaton, Claude Akins, Cooper Huckabee, Malcolm Danare, John Schneider, and Amy Wheaton.
This article provides a list of cultural references to the work of author H. P. Lovecraft. These references are collectively known as the Cthulhu Mythos. For works that are stylistically Lovecraftian, including comics and film adaptations influenced by Lovecraft, see Lovecraftian horror.