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Following the massacre of a bunch of campers on a Louisiana campground, reporter Clint Harrison is sent to the area to investigate. It ties into a thought-to-be-dead family by the name of Dansen. The clan vanished years ago leaving behind an old mansion and a bit of infamy. Clint and his buddies decide to spend the night and get to the bottom of things. Well, the Dansen clan didn’t exactly die out, they just went underground and years on years of inbreeding has led to deformities and a diet frowned upon by the general public. The trio of buddies have a natural charisma that only years of friendship can account for because judging by the wooden line delivery, they’re buddies first and thespians second… maybe third. But that’s fine by me, never bothered me this far outside of Hollywood. The night they stay there, Clint’s friends and equipment go missing and the local police are thinking Clint may have something to do with it. Clint is ordered to take a paid leave and forget about the story he was working on but we all know that won’t be happening, especially when a tape from the missing camera he had set up overnight turns up in his car. It shows one of his friends being dragged off into the dark. Clint starts reading up on the history of the Dansen home and meets two graduate students researching parapsychology and the three head out to figure out what’s rotten in Louisiana. According to local legend, the awfulness concerning the home and the area around it is always proceeded by a bad thunderstorm. Damn shame that violent weather is hitting. After finding nothing but large “badger” holes they decide to wait out the storm in a camper van that belonged to a couple of the folks murdered in the massacre. One dude gets his face torn up and Clint convinces the dead man’s buddy they have to bury the body because nobody will believe them and they’d probably go to jail. Instead of just leaving it all in the past and dropping the obviously dangerous investigation, the two goofs keep digging. Tunnels under a forgotten graveyard and a big family secret bring things to the inevitable conclusion. Lovecraft’s Lurking Fear gets another uncredited adaptation but this time it’s on a budget and wearing its regional horror heart on its sleeve. Yes. That is a compliment. I’ve had a soft spot for this one since stumbling upon it years ago at the local video store I haunted for decades. It just shows what enthusiasm can bring to an obviously strapped production. Everybody looks like somebody’s uncle and the rubbery monsters are a treat along with the sudden bursts of graphic violence and unsettling nightmares that work way more than they should.
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