The Thing on the Doorstep

Being a long time fan of H.P. Lovecraft I was hesitantly excited to discover a movie version of his story:

The Thing on the Doorstep (2014).

The story in a nutshell is this; Daniel Upton, a successful and level headed person narrates how his best friend Edward Derby, a sensitive and nervous writer, falls in love with and marries the mysterious Asenath Waite. Things turn sinister when Edward claims that his wife can possess his body and takes it to terrifying old occult places. Her power over him grows and it becomes a question whether Daniel can help his old friend before it is too late. There is of course much more to the story, but this description will suffice for now.

The movie tries to copy the original story as well as it can. It is set in modern days, which some have criticized it for, but I don't think it matters at all. Modern technology has no bearing on the horror The Thing on the Doorstep contains. They have used all the correct names, which is nice, but for some reason they decided that Daniel had to have a wife. She does little but remark on how Edward really needs to grow up and how annoying he is as well as snoop around where she really shouldn't. They have also added a couple of other characters in order to give more backstory which is okay as it doesn't harm the story too much.

What does harm the story is the complete lack of a budget. The Thing on the Doorstep is one of Lovecraft's stories that don't have any huge squiggly monsters so you can absolutely save some money there, but using cheap CGI for gunshots looks bad, really bad. Likewise, the actual thing on the doorstep itself was also bad CGI instead of even a simple makeup job which would have been so much better. There is nothing wrong with being low budget, but you have to work within your means, and sometimes this isn't easy. For some reason, most scenes are lit in a weird yellow-green light that made no sense. Such an effect used sparingly in specific flashbacks can work, but over half the movie is lit this way.

Most of the actors were pretty good. This isn't some sexy teenagers meet something scary, but actual adults, and they did their best, which I appreciate. My one exception is Rob Dalton (Edward Derby), who look like he could barely hold himself from laughing through half the movie. He also did nothing to show why Daniel would be his friend, he comes across as completely unlikable and that is pretty unforgivable. The friendship between Daniel and Edward is the central core that makes the story work in the first place, and sadly it fails here.

Overall, the biggest failure is that the movie isn't scary, it isn't even tense. I wouldn't even write about it but for one thing: they really tried. The passion does shine through and there are scenes that are pretty good, although those are few and far between. Is that enough though?

So, do I recommend this movie? No, not really. Lovecraft fanatics who have to see every movie adaption out there could enjoy it, there are certainly worse works out there, but casual horror fans should give this one a miss. I still appreciate that they did what I assume was their best, but sometimes trying your best isn't enough.

That is that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!