The Unnamable, Unmentionable Horror

H.P. Lovecraft has quite a name in horror, and today we look at one of his short stories made into a film...1988's "The Unnamable." When something unnamable does something unmentionable it leaves writers with a bit of a challenge. Naming it Jason, Michael, or Freddie is just too easy and perhaps a bit underwhelming. Not to worry, H.P. Lovecraft sends us a tale of some great looking college kids from Miskotonic University who will have names on their gravestones.

Howard, Joel, and Carter

Many years ago, something unnamable (Katrin Alexandre) did something unmentionable. In other words, it broke out of its attic confinement and ripped the beating heart out of its guardian. Present day, the old house is boarded up and an ancestor, Carter (Mark Kinsey Stephenson), of the the fellow who lost his heart is trying to put the pieces together of exactly what happened. His brave buddy Joel (Mark Parra) decides to prove Carter wrong about his belief the house is cursed, and spends the night there. He won't make it through the night as the unnamable fiend rips his head off.

Joel, that night

The next day, two babe Miskotonic coeds, Wendy (Laura Albert) and Tanya (Alexandra Durrell) arrive at the house with two frat-boys, John (Bland Wheatley) and Bruce (Eben Ham). They are there to have pre-marital sex, but right away the unnamable thing begins hunting and dissecting them. Also arriving are Carter and Howard, in search of the missing (dissected, actually) Joel. Realizing that the unnamable is loose and hunting hunks and babes, Carter is fortunate enough to find a copy of the Necronomicon. He quickly peruses the human skin pages for an explanation and an incantation to get rid of the unnamable. He will have to work fast as the creature has done away with the hunks and has set its sights on the half-naked skank, Wendy. As Carter desperately tries out incantations and digs up graves, the chivalrous Howard seeks to save the nubile females from the thing, which we find out, does indeed have a name.

The unnamable

What is the backstory of the unnamable? Does anyone at Miskotonic University ever major in Communications or Business? This is a fun, and very gory monster in a haunted house saga. Whether Lovecraft would have been proud of the film version of his story is a debatable point. Nevertheless, this is a fun horror film that earns a nice R rating. See "The Unnamable" and come up with your own name for a creature that rips out internal organs, cracks open skulls, and eats human flesh.