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!

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.

If you love independent cinema, or H. P. Lovecraft, definitely check this movie out. It shows that you don't need to be associated to with a huge studio to make a witty, well made film.

Elias as the hapless journalist leads us through a compilation of shorts which embody the spirit of Lovecraft, but at the same to are quite humorous. And what other movie can boast having aliens, zombies, and snowmen?

The only thing I would say is if you haven't read Lovecraft, I think some of the references and jokes which I enjoyed may be lost on you, but nonetheless I would still say to check it out!

Some years ago I heard about this movie and thought it sounded kind of interesting. I could not find it anywhere else, so I had to order it from the production companies website. For some reason, I don't really remember, I could only get the full package (the DVD, a poster, a T-shirt and a card signed by someone involved), which was of course more expensive than just the DVD. I was still going to school back then and for me it was a lot of money for a movie I didn't know much about. I eventually ordered it anyway and I have not regretted it.

It's certainly not for everyone. It's an independent movie and it shows. The movie consists of different short films, loosely based on H.P. Lovecrafts work, connected by a story about a journalist, who is researching Lovecraft. Some of the segments were a little...experimental. They are all quite different and I did not like all of them equally as much, but the good thing about films like this is that if you don't like one part you might like the next. I ended up liking most of them in one way or the other

I think it is not necessarily a horror movie in the traditional sense, some moments were rather funny or just plain weird.

Although I gave the movie 8 stars, I would not recommend it to everyone, but if you like Lovecraft, independent cinema or weird short films (or better yet, all of those things), give it a chance.

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.