Review of The Unnamable

I had never heard of this movie when a friend and I, back in the late 80's, found it while hunting for something to watch at ye old video store (yes you actually drove to a store to rent movies on VHS back then, it was all the rage). I remember we had no idea what to expect, but the creepy looking creature on the cover sold us on it. We watched it in the dark that night and were freaked out. I've always remembered it and now 30 years later I found it on a streaming service and rewatched it. Needless to say it did not have the fright factor I recall in my youth, but taking into account the dated nature of the movie, it still holds it's own. The creature is extremely well done. It looks realistic and is a uniquely authentic monster. The shots of it in the dark and at a distance accentuate the outline of the creature and make it even more horrifying. At the end you see it in its full glory. The make up artist that created this creature made it looks so real, that even 30 years later it is better than most creatures in horror, rivaling IMHO even Alien. I've also always loved the nostalgic Hammer films and even though this is not Hammer it reminds me of many of those. Like typical Hammer films it starts out many years prior giving you a glimpse of the creatures origin and then moves to present day where one of the characters reads from a diary and ancient magic books as the film progresses. There is blood and gore of 80's class special effects and the acting is middle of the road, both not unlike a Steven King movie of that era. I did find it funny though that with the exception of one of the female leads who is totally freaked out by all this (as anyone would be), none of the other characters seem quite as horrified. in fact they appear to deal with the situation as some sort of challenge they need to work through vs being scared out of their Witts. I'm not familiar with hovercraft beyond this movie, but overall I found the movie very enjoyable even the second time around.