In my quest to discover the works of one of the most influential writers in all of horror, I immerse myself into yet another story by H.P. Lovecraft. This time it is The Dunwich Horror and I find, yet again, its hard to go wrong with Lovecraft.
In the backwoods town of Dunwich, Mass., Wilbur Whateley is born to his disfigured albino mother Lavinia. The father’s identity is unknown but later in the story it is alluded that the father is Yog-Sothoth by Wilbur’s half-mad and witchcraft practicing grandfather, Old Whateley. Wilbur grows at an abnormally fast rate and reaches maturity by age ten and continues to grow. The locals try to avoid Wilbur and his family and animals detest him due to the smell he gives off. Wilbur continues to grow into a freakish size and learns sorcery and black magic from his grandfather. The locals begin getting suspicious as Old Whately always seems to be purchasing cattle, yet his herd never seems to grow and the cattle that are seen in the pasture have open sores on them.
Wilbur attempts to secure an unabridged Latin version of the Necronomicon in an effort to summon the “Old Ones” into this world. As the years go by, Wilbur and his grandfather continually remodel their home to larger proportions and strange rumblings are heard inside the house. Soon afterwards, Wilbur’s grandfather and mother mysteriously die and the rumblings get worse and more frequent. What could be going on in the Whateley house?
Lovecraft’s tale continues the revealing of Yog-Sothoth, the Old Ones, and the Necronomicon. It is wonderfully written with lots of suspense and eerieness. Its impossible to miss his influences on so many well-known horror stories and movies of the past and present. I’ve really enjoyed this journey into discovering Lovecraft. I’m looking forward to the next chapter of our journey together….into the macabre.
5 out of 5 stars
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Into The Macabre 