Necronomicon

Necronomicon is a 1993 horror anthology built around the writer H.P. Lovecraft and his encounter with the legendary Book of the Dead. In a wraparound story, Lovecraft visits a sinister library and finds the Necronomicon, whose keepers allow him to read from it at a price. The tales he copies unfold on screen: a man unable to accept his lover's death retreats to his family's empty estate and finds a way to bring the dead back; a reporter investigating a missing inventor meets a woman in a freezing apartment building; and a police officer hunting a serial killer is involved in a car crash.

The film was directed by Christophe Gans, Brian Yuzna and Shusuke Kaneko. For Gans it was his first feature, followed by Crying Freeman and Brotherhood of the Wolf; for Yuzna it came after Society and Bride of Re-Animator; for Kaneko it preceded his Gamera trilogy and Death Note films. The screenplay is credited to Gans, Kazunori Ito and Brent V. Friedman, with Samuel Hadida and Yuzna producing. Jeffrey Combs plays Lovecraft, alongside Tony Azito, Juan Fernández, Bruce Payne and Belinda Bauer. Made for about 4 million dollars as a co-production between the United States, France and Japan, the 96-minute film holds a 5.8 rating on IMDb from around 7,600 votes and a 5.9 on TMDB from roughly 200 votes, a modest reception for a low-budget anthology.