Jeffrey Combs Back on the Cthulhu Trail

Actor Jeffrey Combs, renowned and reviled for his roles in cult films based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, is reportedly returning in an adaption of "The Dunwich Horror." As Dread Central reports, Combs is picking up the role of Wilbur Whateley in "The Darkest Evil," currently beginning production from Bullet Films. For fans upset about the death of the latest Stuart Gordon "Re-Animator" project noted earlier this year, the resurrection of Combs in a new Lovecraftian picture should be welcome news. The actor is perhaps best known across the Lovecraftian community for his role as the cold, but unintentionally humorous Dr. Herbert West in all three "Re-Animator" based films.

Combs' placement in "The Darkest Evil" signals the continuation of his return to the horror realm in recent years. After significant involvement in voice work and science fiction (Combs has played several characters throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s in multiple "Star Trek" series), Combs recently threw himself back into the horror ring in movies like "Return to the House on Haunted Hill" and "Abominable." He even scored a position as Edgar Allan Poe in Stuart Gordon's 2007 mini-movie, "The Black Cat," produced as an episode of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series.

It's no secret that the presence of Combs can stir strong emotions. Most Lovecraft admirers love his work, through the thick and thin of his past productions that often mix the serious and the humorous. However, a smaller segment despise the actor, unfairly (in this blogger's opinion) targeting him as a cause of the B-grade like failures of early Lovecraft film adaptions. Whatever his involvement in less than successful mass media representations of H.P. Lovecraft, there's little denying Combs' standing as a cult actor is grounded in some reality. His flexible skills cross the lines of genre and mood--from science fiction to horror, and from the dramatic to the comical. I'm not the only observer who would argue Jeffrey Combs' talents have also experienced a spike in recent years, especially in the horror field. His casting as Edgar Allan Poe yielded a quality portrayal of the troubled weird writer, even with the liberties taken by Stuart Gordon when incorporating Poe himself into elements of one of his own stories.

In a word, Combs is at his best when he is used properly. Likewise, he is at his "worst" under poor writers and directors. It would still be difficult to count his appearances as Dr. Herbert West under "worst," except among those who utterly abhor all elements of humorous Lovecraftiana. "The Darkest Evil" will probably hold no exception to the boundaries of Combs. Let every Lovecraft admirer hope his performance will be stellar, along with the rest of this forthcoming movie.

-Grim Blogger