The Call of Cthulhu

The Call of Cthulhu is one of Lovecrafts superb horror short stories. The action is set in the 1920's and this film does not change any details of the plot (at least as far as I can tell).

Films based on Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos are nearly always terrible. This is because modern horror films rely on gruesome shocks and all too familiar plots. Lovecraft's tales tend to be non linear (e.g. told in dream sequences or as pages from a diary and so on), and the monsters rarely make appearances. Turning 'The Call of Cthulhu' into a film is certainly no easy prospect - especially on a low budget.

The makers of this film have made a virtue out of a necessity. The home made quality of the special effects are charming. The film is presented in black and white and with no dialogue. This all helps to maintain as professional a standard as possible in this small scale production. Captions are provided to accompany the storytelling and the film has quite a striking soundtrack.

Most horror fans will find this film tedious and the special effects jerky (and sometimes home made). I enjoyed the quirky and inexpensive approach to the special effects used in this film and felt that the production imitated the techniques that may have been used in a vintage film or in a stage production.

A must see film for all real HP Lovecraft fans. Not for fans of gore-fests, or slick, expensive horror films.

Wow! This is quite good.

This is a silent movie, with dialog cards rather than sound dialog. It has a quite good, atmospheric music soundtrack.

If you're a Lovecraft fan this film is a must see. It's not long, less than an hour, after all the original material is a short story, not a novel.

The film stays close to Lovecraft's material. Special effects are minimal, but workable. After all, we're talking H.P. Lovecraft Historic Society budget, not Hollywood.

All in all, this is a worthwhile little gem.

HPLHS is at www.cthulhulives.org.

It seems that too many people have little or no appreciation for the art of film making and its history. Being a huge Lovecraft fan and been very disappointed in just about every film adaptation of his works I skeptically found this gem a refreshing change. What could have been its down fall make sit work. Of course those jaded folks who need their horror served up with heaps of blood, guts and slick CGI effects are in for a disappointment. The effects are what they are but even a stop motion of Mighty Cthulhu and classic film tricks don't take away from the challenge, a film adaptation of Lovecraft that is true, this is it. It should appeal to those of high intellect who read the works of Lovecraft in spite of the many short comings in literary style ( I love the themes but how many times can a man us "cyclopean" or "unspeakable, unnamable" "eldritch" "ichor" laden horrors and in every tale?) Better writers then me have noted that his style is ponderous yet his influence and contributions to his genre cannot be missed. Mighty Cthulhu rises from his cold deathless sleep and moves to steal mankind's soul and sanity in a film adaptation that will give a fan of the master a true tale and a good initiation to the novice of the shapes horrors that creep in unnatural geometric chasms between the depths of distant stars gnawing away at the worlds end!! So a silent film made to seem as if it was made in the time of the tale, a vehicle to keep cost down and yet disguise what could be cheesy effects into a subtle nod to the greats such as mighty Kong in all his claymation glory and Harryhausen with all his twisted vision: Cthulhu Lives in this great little treat!!

I am a bit surprised by the terrible reviews Call of Cthulhu has received. While it is not perhaps the best movie ever, or chilling and/or gory like modern horror movies are, that's not the point of the movie.

What it is, and it succeeds in, is a very faithful adaptation of the original story, following also its non-linear storytelling and describing events around the globe. The movie is also atmospheric pastiche of the 20s impressionistic silent movies. As such, it is very much worth seeing, of you are interested in how Lovecraft's stories would have been filmed when they first were written, and/or are interested in 20s impressionism in general.

H.P. Lovecraft is often credited with launching the true horror genre we know today. Many claim him as an inspiration, including the current master of dark dreams Stephen King. Difficulties in bringing his cerebral literary content to the silver screen have been mentioned time and again, and with good reason. How can you explain a man's dream experiences that even he can't explain?

When I learned that a society dedicated to Lovecraft's work decided to take on a movie version of his most famous story, THE CALL OF CTHULHU, I cringed. How could a small group of people do justice to such a magnificent piece of horror fiction?

Well the cast and crew do it justice even if the script fails a bit. The black-and-white silent picture theme went exceptionally well with the telling of a tale so old (1920s). The sets were equally impressive, especially the pivotal dreamscapes and the retelling of the Pacific Island that belonged to Cthulhu, this terrible being from the beginning of time.

Since not many of the cast were actually established actors, it was an excellent idea to do a homage to the silent film era, too. Undoubtedly, if forced to do a modern-style film of Lovecraft's story, they would've failed miserably. But as it stands here, this film pays homage and respect to both old filming styles and a Lovecraftian feel.

It's also a blessing and a curse that the film is only 47 minutes long. The blessing is that most movie watchers of today couldn't handle a 90 - 120 minute silent film (or at least few could). The curse is that the script jumps around a lot. We move back three time-frames at one point, each time adding confusion f the viewer ("Where are we again?"). I realize that the crew wanted to remain true to Lovecraft's work, but cinema often takes liberties with the written word, and I feel this film could've benefited from a bit of that as well.

Even so, this is a fresh piece of cinematic work that entertains and surprises. The special features on the DVD are also worth watching (except when the director is talking while eating a bag of potato chips), including commentaries from the cast and crew about this monumental undertaking from such a small band of dedicated Lovecraft lovers.