The stats are not encouraging — if you come across a movie adaptation of an HP Lovecraft story, it is likely not that great. But I’m a sucker, so of course I wanted to see this newish Heather Graham-starring thriller based on The Thing on the Doorstep. It’s… not that great. But it starts off promising enough.
Because it’s not a Lovecraft story if it doesn’t start with our protagonist being locked up in a padded room, consumed by madness, brought on by foul, unspeakable horror from beyond time; a tormented narrator who then flashes back to a time when things were normal and sane. In the case of Suitable Flesh, that protagonist is Elizabeth Derby, a psychiatrist with a whiny husband who happens upon a new patient — a brooding bad boy — to whom she’s instantly and inexplicably drawn. She soon gets involved in an occult conspiracy and it all evolves into a bizarre body-swapping movie, like a very complicated version of Freaky Friday but with more people involved.
It’s an odd movie. It’s a Lovecraft story but it’s got the aesthetics of a Hallmark movie or a daytime soap. It looks like a tv ad for blood pressure medicine combined with the vibes of a non-erotic erotic thriller of the 90’s. It looks awfully plain and cheap, and at times it even feels like the focus puller is asleep at the wheel. On the plus side, Heather Graham is a trooper who does what she can with the subpar material and production. She does not come across as a psychiatrist though. At least not a professional.
There are fun references to Cthulhu lore all over the movie, and there’s a strong Stuart Gordon presence throughout — in addition to the movie being dedicated to the auteur behind films like Re-Animator and From Beyond, it was written by Dennis Paoli who also wrote several of Gordon’s movies, it co-stars Barbara Crampton who starred in a couple of them, and of course Gordon was a big Lovecraft nut. ”Filmed in Cthulhuscope.” Dr. Runtime approved (98 mins).
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