Older Gods

I think it has some nice points to this film, but in some ways it missed the mark to have the right tone for a Lovecraften horror. The set up was great, investigation of what happened to a friend when investigating some cult like activies works.

But it had to much drama, and not enough horror. Some moments had good tension, but overall it wasn't there as much as it could have been. Some of the dream stuff was pretty cool though, and the cinematography was nice. There were some beautiful locational shots too.

I also think with it being cult linked there could have been more cultists stalking the lead. But one guy messing with you isn't really as scary as it could be.

As an avid Lovecraft fan and someone who's fascinated by cosmic horror in general, I went into this movie with extremely (and perhaps unreasonably) high hopes. The film's website promoted it as a "Lovecraftian descent into madness", and while it has its positive aspects, overall, I found it quite disappointing.

To start with what Older Gods does well, the cinematography is quite nice, the acting is decent, there are moments of genuine tension, there's some good characterization (if not character development), the soundtrack is pretty solid, the (first half of) the script has some moments of real emotional poignancy, and some of the imagery, despite the filmmaker's obvious financial limitations, is suitably haunting. I also appreciated that they paid tribute to the source material without overtly referencing it, as well as their limited reliance on grotesque, gore-based spectacle. Lastly, it seems to have come from a place of sincerity and an authentic desire to create something artistic and meaningful, and for that, the creators deserve praise.

That being said, though it borrows heavily from Lovecraft's mythology in its framing, I'm sorry to say that it seems to entirely miss the point, narratively, tonally, and most significantly, thematically, and comes off more as a home invasion thriller with the motifs of cosmic horror than an unraveling mystery. The runtime is too short to let dread build up naturally, the mood shifts between that of a drama and a thriller and even into sardonic humor that borders on (if not reaches) bathos, and, most troublingly, the message is an undeniably humanistic one, something that's completely at odds with Lovecraft's pessimistic and anti-humanistic philosophy of cosmicism. Because of the way it was sold, I can't really judge Older Gods without looking at it through a Lovecraftian lens, though even with the alleged "descent into madness" being pretty lackluster, there's not much of a mystery or implied lore behind what you see on the surface, but I guess it could be entertaining if you're just looking for a slightly different shade of horror-based fun.

I'm really grateful that more filmmakers are taking on cosmic horror, however imperfectly, and if anyone is looking for recommendations, the even lower-budget Cthulhu (2007), Black Mountain Side, Gaia, The Lighthouse, The Borderlands, and the criminally underrated The Empty Man are all great. The Void, Glorious, and Underwater are also a lot of fun.

I hope that everyone who watches this finds something they like, but for cosmic horror fans, just know what you're getting into.

Ok, this goes out to all of you movie ppl. Car alarms are wicked fn annoying. Set the thing off, then shut it off. There's no need to let it run for a minutes. There's nothing going on there but you annoying the shite out of your audience. Seriously. {facepalm} Otherwise, the concept was good. I love a good alternative history jont. Good actors, good story, directing could have been better {see facepalm}. What I don't get is, you get these producers to back you and you have the time and ability to make a movie, and 95/100 times, they suck. But this one on its slim budget was good. Thanks for the trip!

This had a couple of decent scenes but was overburdened with inane dialogue and far too much exposition that didn't actually expose anything. The dialogue from the friends narrative is long slow tedium. This did have potential but needed a few more rewrites to pare it down to just the useful and interesting an eliminate the pseudo pretentious drivel that only serves to lengthen the film. The ancillary characters who appear as voices don't come across as realistic at all but as amateurish. There is just too much chatter that seems like padding the run time. This may have been suited to be a 30 minute short.

This is an indie film, with a low budget, but the talent behind the project is evident. As you can guess from the title, it was heavily inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's stories and mythos. The film has a great start, building tension slowly but steadily, with a fantastic photography, especially in the dream sequences (which reminded me a lot of another, superior, lovecraft-inspired movie, The Void). No unnecessary action sequences, like many other modern horrors. After the first half I was sure it was going straight to my list of favourite movies...finally, a Lovecraftian story done right! Alas, it began to lose momentum and in the last half hour crashed miserably, with a series of unfortunate choices that, besides being decidedly out of place in a Lovecraftian worldview, also completely ruined the atmosphere cultivated up to that point.

I give it a six and not less for the first part only; give it a chance but do yourself a favor and skip the atrocious ending.