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Introduction: Why 1993’s Necronomicon is the Ultimate Wet Horror Masterpiece
There is a specific, glorious texture to 1990s horror cinema that modern CGI can never replicate. It is a world where every monster, demon, and resurrected corpse is drenched in industrial quantities of K-Y jelly, slime, and glistening prop foam. When you combine this tactile, practical-effects-heavy ethos with the cosmic dread of H.P. Lovecraft, you get the absolute zenith of gooey anthology filmmaking: Brian Yuzna’s 1993 cult classic, Necronomicon.
In a special episode of The Cinema Psychos Show, host Brian Cottington was joined by guest KT Baldassaro—host of Movie Runtime and the podcast What If I Don’t Like—to dive headfirst into this delightfully unhinged three-part anthology. From Jeffrey Combs looking remarkably like Bruce Campbell while playing H.P. Lovecraft to characters who remain entirely unfazed by tentacled aquatic terrors, Necronomicon remains an essential watch for genre fanatics.
The Cursed Costco of the Occult: Jeffrey Combs and the Framing Tale
The film kicks off in style with a wraparound framing story titled “The Library.” Cult film royalty Jeffrey Combs stars as H.P. Lovecraft himself. As the podcast hosts noted, Combs initially hesitated to take the role because he worried he didn’t resemble the historical author. In reality, working in 1993, nobody really knew what Lovecraft looked like anyway. What the makeup department accidentally ended up creating is an author who looks astonishingly like Bruce Campbell, complete with a chin built for battling ancient evil.
Lovecraft sneaks into what feels less like a sacred, forbidden monastery and more like a cursed Costco of the occult—a members-only library where ancient, reality-shattering tomes are left sitting out in the open. The library’s guardians know Lovecraft is up to no good, yet they leave him alone with the Tome of the Dead. As the podcast crew joked, the occult archive must have been desperately low on funding and membership dues in 1933 to keep letting a notorious cosmic weirdo check out reality-ending artifacts without revoking his card.
Slime, Tentacles, and Practical Splatter: Why 90s Horrors Feel So Wet
One of the recurring observations from the episode is just how wet everyone is when they die in 90s genre cinema. As Baldassaro pointed out from firsthand experience working on special effects sets, foam props can feel a bit underwhelming until the moment you coat them in slimy lubricant. Once the slime hits, the tentacle suddenly comes alive, and you feel like you are actually getting attacked by an interdimensional monster.
Supervised by legendary gore master Tom Savini and featuring makeup contributions from practical effects titans like John Carl Buechler, Christopher Nelson, and the late, great Screaming Mad George—the mad genius behind Society—Necronomicon is packed with tactile gross-out brilliance. Whether it’s David Warner melting into a puddle of goo in the second segment or characters unhooking body parts to keep them fresh in aquatic laboratory tanks, the physical effects work remains a masterclass in tactile horror.
Three Tales of Cosmic Madness and Questionable Decisions
The anthology is divided into three distinct segments, each putting a unique spin on Lovecraftian tropes while escalating the absurdity:
- “The Drowned”: Based loosely on “The Rats in the Walls,” this segment follows a grieving man named Edward (played by veteran villain actor Bruce Payne) who inherits a dilapidated coastal hotel honeycombed with caves. Distraught over the death of his partner, Edward uses the Necronomicon to bring her back, only to unleash a tentacled aquatic nightmare. What follows is a bizarre tonal shift where a grief-stricken widower suddenly transforms into a swashbuckling Errol Flynn type, swinging from chandeliers and stabbing sea monsters in the eye.
- “The Cold”: Based on “Cool Air,” this segment is arguably the fan favorite. Directed by Shusuke Kaneko, it stars David Warner as Dr. Richard Madden, an immortal physician who preserves his life by harvesting spinal fluid from victims. Featuring a sprawling, melodramatic plot involving a flutist seeking shelter, a creepy greenhouse, and a spectacularly gooey melting-face finale, it plays like a demented horror version of a daytime soap opera.
- “Whispers”: Directed by Brian Yuzna, this Philadelphia-set segment leans hard into subterranean body horror. Two police officers pursuing a criminal crash their cruiser, leading to a frantic descent into catacombs where bat-like creatures harvest human brains to reproduce. With guttural screams and relentless paranoia, it delivers some of the most striking practical creature work in the entire film.
Sources & Further Reading
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