Suitable Flesh

In my youth i was never really familiar with the work of writer H.P. Lovecraft. I remember seeing books at the local library where his name was mentioned but i never really sat down reading one of his stories, instead i would return to one of my favourite novels at that time which was Stephen King´s novel Misery. A really good book that was also turned into one of my Stephen King favourite films Misery with a brilliant performance by actress Kathy Bates. As i understand H.P. Lovecraft have a very large crowd of fans worldwide who love his stories and even if he passed away back in 1937 his work will definetely live on in many generations into the future. When it comes to the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft you can find several horror films inspired by some of these stories. One of the films i especially remember discovering that was clearly inspired by H.P. Lovecraft is the 2001 horror film known as Dagon. Even though it must have been over 20 years ago since i bought this film on DVD i still rewatch it now and then because it is a personal favourite of mine. Loosely based on his short story Dagon ( 1919 ) and his 1931 novella The Shadow Of Innsmouth, Dagon tells the story of Paul Marsh ( Ezra Godden ) is on vacation in Spain with his girlfriend Barbara ( Raquel Merono ), and their friends Vicki ( Birgit Bofarull ) and Howard ( Brendan Price ). A sudden storm blows their boat against some hidden rocks. Vicki is trapped below deck and Howard stays with her while Paul and Barbara head into land to try and get help. They are about to find out in this fishing village this is a place of pure evil. Dagon is a fun horror film that uses practical special effects and really capture the style of H.P. Lovecraft with the monster designs and the strange symbols found all over the village. If you have not seen this film from director Stuart Gordon i suggest you pick it up on DVD. Last year i was reading online about an upcoming horror film called Suitable Flesh inspired by a story called The Thing On The Doorstep from author H.P. Lovecraft. I was especially interested when i noticed that both actors Heather Graham and Barbrara Crampton was included in the cast. I picked up a physical copy of this film and the question is, does this film work inspired by H.P. Lovecraft or is it a total disaster from start to finish?

In a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Daniella Upton ( Barbara Crampton ) visits the morgue where the mortician is dissecting the body of an unseen figure, the victim of a brutal murder. Daniella visits the murderer, her friend Dr. Elizabeth Derby ( Heather Graham ), who begs Daniella to destroy the brain of the corpse and begins to recount her story to explain why she must do so.

Whenever you enter a film that is inspired by a story of author H.P. Lovecraft you know there is a chance that the film can be quite different from the usual horror release. And honestly i have to say that Suitable Flesh definetely stands out from other horror releases for a number of reasons. This is a so called body horror film where a different personality jumps into different bodies, so once you figure out who is inside a specific body you understand what is going on. I would also say that Suitable Flesh is very influenced by the Lovecraftian classic Re-Animator from 1985 as well as the cult film From Beyond, something we don´t see very often in modern films these days. I definetely feel that Suitable Flesh does make sure to present us with characters that we actually are interested in, instead of just focusing on a main character and forget about everyone else. Regarding the body horror events i do feel that this is one of the details where Suitable Flesh becomes interesting, where different individuals have some kind of seizure on a completely different level than we are used to see. For being a horror film that surrounds itself on therapy sessions i feel that the film does a great job switching the plot just at the right time, without forgetting what the main story tried to tell us. The acting in general is actually pretty good and i have to say actress Heather Graham as Dr. Elizabeth ( who can forget her in Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me ) does not only look fantastic i also feel that her performance matches her character really well. Legendary actress Barbara Crampton knows exactly how to make her scenes magical with her screen presence and she looks incredible as always. One preformancethat surprised me is actor Johnathon Schaech (who i especially remember from the 2011 war action film 5 Days Of War directed by Renny Harlin ) as Dr. Elizabeths husband Edward. His performance in this film is definetely a great match to the character. The horror influences surrounding Suitable Flesh works pretty good for the most part, the one thing i do feel they should have done is being more brutal than holding back the violence. Other than that i had a good time with Suitable Flesh and this is a great Lovecraftian film from director Joe Lynch ( director of Wrong Turn 2, my personal favourite film in the Wrong Turn franchise ). If you are a fan of H.P. Lovecraft you should definetely pick up Suitable Flesh on a physical copy. Suitable Flesh proves that there is still hope for quality horror films to see the lighht of day, let´shope we see Barbara Crampton return in a future Lovecraftian film.

Rating: DDD