Review: HP Lovecraft’s Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (2023)
By William Pattison
Supposedly from the mind of HP Lovecraft comes the story of George Carney, who is hired by a graphic novel
publishing company to validate a book that is supposedly the black magic diary
of Aleister Crowley. The book is supposedly the inspiration for the book in
Lovecraft’s stories,The Necronomicon, a book made from human flesh that can
bring the dead back to life. Carney is sent to New Orleans and New York and meet
up with people who can prove the book is real, but he is unaware his publisher
has secondary reason for sending Carney on his quest, one that will cost the
comic book writer his soul.
This is a very dark movie, literally. The filmmaker tried to
give the film a shadowy art noir atmosphere, but instead made it hard to watch.
This fucker is dark and not in the good way, as in not lighting. The opening
and ending, with the narrator in the car, royally doesn’t help the film and makes it look horribly
amateurish. Even the inclusion of Michael Madson, Lyssette Anthony, and Sylvester
McCoy does nothing to improve this mess of a film. The filmmaker needs to
realize that just because you reference Lovecraft or the Necronomicon
doesn’t make it a Lovecraft film.
As a fan of Lovecraft’s work I’m royally offended by this film. Ignore this
piece of crap and instead watch the Lovecraft anthology film Necronomicon: Book
of the Dead, which starred Bruce Campbell as HP Lovecraft. It is a legimate
Lovecraft film and is far more entertaining…
