I feel I missed a lot of great movie experiences by not watching this when I was a kid. It has everything that I would have loved, and lots of it. Now, a bit older, I can still appreciate it for what it is, but the novelty of it all is gone.
I'm not sure if I have read the specific Lovecraft story this is based on, but as far as I can understand, it moves away from Lovecraft's storyline. Because I don't know how the original story goes, I can't say this for sure, but: It feels like they stuck to the story a while, but then got too caught up in having fun with ideas for scenes. It's like the filmmakers were let loose on a set with SFX-people, trying to think how they could do as much sick/fun things as possible. Which leads to some interesting situation, but it all feels very engineered. The plot built up in the first act(s) of the movie is still there in the background, but they miss the chance they had at making a compelling story. All the characters get caught up in the gore and he violence (and the slapstick), leading to a blood filled finale.
What would I have preferred? Well, the SFX is fun, so I'm not really complaining about it. But I wish they had followed more up on the conflicts between the young idealistic scientist and the older, cheating one. It's there throughout the movie, but at one point you realize that it's just there to justify hostility. It also appears that some parts of the plot were removed, because the ending kind of does not make sense. How is one character able to control some of the re-animated? (according to wikipedia, it's explained in some cut scenes) Anyway, if you're a younger kid, you're gonna love this.
I'm not sure if I have read the specific Lovecraft story this is based on, but as far as I can understand, it moves away from Lovecraft's storyline. Because I don't know how the original story goes, I can't say this for sure, but: It feels like they stuck to the story a while, but then got too caught up in having fun with ideas for scenes. It's like the filmmakers were let loose on a set with SFX-people, trying to think how they could do as much sick/fun things as possible. Which leads to some interesting situation, but it all feels very engineered. The plot built up in the first act(s) of the movie is still there in the background, but they miss the chance they had at making a compelling story. All the characters get caught up in the gore and he violence (and the slapstick), leading to a blood filled finale.
What would I have preferred? Well, the SFX is fun, so I'm not really complaining about it. But I wish they had followed more up on the conflicts between the young idealistic scientist and the older, cheating one. It's there throughout the movie, but at one point you realize that it's just there to justify hostility. It also appears that some parts of the plot were removed, because the ending kind of does not make sense. How is one character able to control some of the re-animated? (according to wikipedia, it's explained in some cut scenes) Anyway, if you're a younger kid, you're gonna love this.