LovecraCked! The Movie

First of all I will say that the DVD release of this is very good quality for an independent film and it is packed with features that make it well worth seeking out.

Now onto the main course. This is an amusing, somewhat creepy (a few times downright horrifying) tribute to HP Lovecraft, or is that PM Lovecraft. I must say that by the end of this film I knew less about Lovecraft than I did before I viewed this film. Basically this is an anthology of short films inspired by HP Lovecraft and the whole thing is linked together by the inanely hilarious antics of an incompetent Investigative reporter played by Biff Juggernaut's very own Elias.

Overall, the films are well crafted and entertaining. There is a wide spectrum of approaches from slapstick to film noir through to an amusingly straight take on "The Statement of Randolph Carter" that brought to mind older takes on Lovecraft on early 60's TV programs such as The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone.

Highlights for me were "Bug Boy" and "Alecto" which really got under my skin and freaked me out. Not unlike late night readings of Lovecraft's Stories as I thought to myself "This is corny, how can this scare me?" but after I finally put the book down and tried to sleep every howl of wind, creak of floor, or shadow of tree limbs out side the window pulled Lovecraft's monsters to the forefront of my thoughts.

I think that the low point for me was "History of the Lurkers" but other than that one this is a good independent blast!

The concept of an anthology film project comprised of humorous adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft material never would have occurred to me but obviously someone at BiFF JUGGERNAUT Productions was "cracked" enough to give birth to such a bizarre concept. Given that this film is a collection of other filmmaker's material with varying degrees of quality, shooting formats and aspect ratios, the whole thing meshes together surprisingly well and the wrap-around segments featuring Director Elias as a kind of eccentric roving reporter delving into...something...related to Lovecraft somehow manage to tie up a few loose ends while unraveling several dozen in the process. There's something very charming about films where your roving reporter and his subjects are all completely dubbed; I guess it satisfies that Mondo movie jones that I have.

I have to suspect that some if not all of the previous five reviews are from people involved in the film. I have a hard time believing that five people all thought LoveCracked was that great with no one saying otherwise.

This is a collection of shorts from different directors/actors, all linked by an HP Lovecraft theme, and all done in different ways. In between the shorts are quick comedy segments.

For originality, you have to give it a high score. I haven't seen anything else like this or even close. Some of the shorts were pretty good, notably the "Randolph Carter" story. Some were pretty bad. That's what you get with an anthology.

The comedy in between shorts is lame. The "investigative reporter" bit got old about two minutes in and didn't get any better. It just wasn't funny. All he did was talk to people who knew nothing. That was supposed to be funny, the idea that nobody this guy interviewed actually knew anything about ol' HP; it might have sounded funny on paper. In practice, it just came off as a bad attempt at comedy.

There was a soft-core edit of "Re-Penetrator", which was totally lost on me. Since there is full frontal nudity and this is an indie collection, why bother to edit it down? Seems like they were trying to avoid the perceived stigma of porn. All they did was screw up what could have been one of the better shorts.

The production quality was good where it was supposed to be; some of the comedy bits had intentional bad production but that's as it should be. The soundtrack was OK, even good in places. The acting was better than most indie projects. Where the whole thing broke down was the comedy; they really need to find a better writer, otherwise it's just a bunch of non-funny bits added to what could have been a decent anthology.

This is cutting edge, avant-garde, underground, horror film-making. Scream XI this is not. Neither is this the next installment from Hollywood's digest of McHorror films. These are original pieces of art—like raw sugar cane. Like all things new and original there will be resistance to fully appreciate the films on this anthology. However, this is a compliment. Many of the short films in the anthology could easily be expanded into feature length films. There is no doubt many of the films will generate controversy and criticism. It's apparent the executive producers enjoyed successfully (unlike Cloverfield's gimmick) the act of unprocessed cinema. It is true that a 100 million dollar fat-cat budget would smooth out the edges—but then again look at Kevin Costner's Waterworld. One can even surmise that the producer's were satirizing the over-inflated, unnecessary budgets of Hollywood. There are hilarious flying fake bats on strings and an obviously unplugged microphone that the host absurdly pretends to talk into throughout. Alas, my only fear is that after the success of this anthology the producers may regress into another (lost soul) John Carpenter.

Lovecracked stands on its own as a fun and entertaining experience, hosting a collection of short stories tied together with an oft humorous narration, but what makes the DVD stand out even more is the addition of so much enjoyable extra content.

My fiancé and I enjoyed the extra content almost as much as we enjoyed the main future. This DVD stands as a great indication of what can be done by creative and intelligent people even when they don't have an insane budget to burn though.

If you're looking for a fun time and a great party movie, then I full heartily recommend the Lovecracked DVD.