The Music of Erich Zann
Tags: paranormal

Plot synopsis:
A university student is forced, by his lack of funds, to take the only lodging he can afford. In a strange part of the city he had never seen before, on a street named "Rue d'Auseil", he finds an apartment in an almost empty building. One of the few other tenants is an old German man named Erich Zann. The old man is mute and plays the viol with a local theater orchestra. He lives on the top floor and when alone at night, plays strange melodies never heard before. Over time, the student gains Zann's trust, and eventually learns of his secret, that the old man has discovered melodies and rhythms of sound of an almost otherworldly nature. Zann plays these sounds to keep back unknown and unseen creatures from Zann's window, which is said to look out into a black abyss, most likely another dimension. One night, Zann's music reaches a crescendo, and the student, staring out the window in hopes of seeing the normal world outside, instead stares into an infinite abyss. The window shatters, and an unnatural wind sweeps through the room, carrying away all of Zann's music notes into the darkness, despite the student's attempts at catching them. Fleeing the house after he finds Zann seemingly dead despite his body still playing the violin, the student escapes not just the house but the neighborhood entirely. Years later, he writes down his accounts, and tells that he has never been able to find Rue d'Auseil again, as it does not appear on any maps, and no one else seems to ever have heard of it.

Review: Weird fiction, well adapted.. This is a good example of how well things can turn out when a good little story is interpreted as a movie by dedicated artists on a tiny budget.  It helps that the tale takes place in filthy little one-room apartments and that the action is pretty character driven, until the unknown vistas of space and time begin to make themselves felt.  The special effects are not likely to amaze everybody, but the build-up to them will help you use your imagination to best advantage.  Sticks really close to the story as I remember it, so this movie could lead the curious reader into the strange and varied world of one of the great pulp fantacists.. A Beautiful Film. This is an outstanding production of one of Lovecraft's best stories. I never would have thought it was possible to translate the story onto film, but John Strysik and his cast succeed with wonderful results. After years of obscurity the film has recently been shown at a few genre film festivals and appears on the first of the Lurker in the Lobby video compilations, meaning it is finally available for a wider audience to enjoy. I highly recommend seeking it out and seeing for your self how well Lovecraft can be adapted.. Lovecraftian darkness.. 'Then one night as I listened at the door,I heard the shrieking viol swell into a chaotic babel of sound;a pandemonium which would have led me to doubt my own shaking sanity had there not come from behind that barred portal a piteous proof that the horror was real—the awful,inarticulate cry which only a mute can utter,and which rises only in moments of the most terrible fear or anguish..."I always loved Howard Philip Lovecraft's short story "The Music of Erich Zann".This low-budget adaptation by John Strysik truly scared me.It easily captures extremely dark mood that Lovecraft is so famed for.The acting is exceptionally good and the conclusion is terrifying in its suggestive cosmic horror.8 out of 10.. Well...... It wasn't bad for a ultra-low budget movie, but disappointing none-the-less. The acting was adequate, but the special effects to show the horrors seen were god-awful.  I hate to bash a movie, but unless you're a die hard Lovecraft fan (and even if you are), this film may disappoint you, too. There are a few better HPL adaptions out there, but sadly fewer than there should be.