The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu

When the Cult of the Cthulu uncover the first of 2 pieces of a relic needed to unlock the Cthulu's prison, it's up to the last remaining bloodline of H.P. Lovecraft to protect the remaining piece from the Cult of Cthulu's possession or the Cthulu will be unleashed on the planet. For a movie about Cthulu, there's a COMPLETE absence of Cthulu. The whole film is a giant mis-step. Our main characters are extremely unlikable, the direction seems confused and the editing does nothing but squander what's left of this ultra low budget waste of time. There's nothing wrong with low budget films. I love them. This is a prime example of the kind of movies that give low budget films a bad rep. It's too cool for school attitude gets old in the first 10 minutes. "Fu@k" is said on an average of one time per sentence and feels so forced that it's uncomfortable. I shouldn't be consciously aware of how often the characters are swearing. It unnatural and completely out of place. The character of Paul is the only highlight of the whole group although since The Hangover, it seems like every fat hairy character in a comedy has to be the same person. There are a few moments of entertainment but 45 minutes in I was already calling "bullsh@t" and there was no help on the horizon. The editing takes away every comedic beat, or moment of action and pulverizes it into a helpless mess of mediocrity. This is being compared to Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer and Shaun of the Dead. That's like comparing Shark Attack 2 to Jaws and Alien. The only good thing I can say about it, is that 90 percent of the effects were done practically. That's a rare thing in movies like this these days and it's nice to see people still making an effort to do that, even if they don't look that good. I could recommend any number of other things to watch, but you're best bet is to just grab something randomly and watch it instead of this. There were two people responsible for this. One of them directed. One of them wrote it. They both produced it and edited it. There's the problem. They should've given the job to someone else and saved a lot of people an hour and a half. There aren't enough films with this subject matter. They didn't have to ruin it for everyone else.

The Last Lovecraft: Relic Of Cthulhu kicked off the opening gala at the 5th annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival last night, and also marked the film's international premiere. The film a horror comedy that sits in the same space as Jack Brooks Monster Slayer and, reaching back a bit, the original Tremors. While I'm not sure it's bound for cult classic status, the film does have it's moments, and offers a humorous take on the Lovecraftian mythos, including an opening credit sequence that was reminiscent of the 80's cult classic Re-Animator.

The basic premise is that the world H.P. Lovecraft envisioned was more fact than fiction, and the reason he could write about the nameless horrors is because of a genetic disposition that allows his bloodline to avoid going absolutely mad when confronted with the evil of the Old Ones. A secret society has existed to protect the world from Cthulhu, but now that the second half of an ancient artifact has been uncovered (coincidentally just as the starts are aligning), only the last descendant of the horror writer can save the world. That would be Jeff (Kyle Davis), a sometimes awkward office worker, who has no idea of his lineage. Luckily his best friend and room mate Charlie (Devin McGinn) is more well versed in Lovecraftian lore, and after being confronted with the initial threats, the adventure ensues.

Once the basic premise is out of the way, the story arc is pretty well tread ground. What keeps The Last Lovecraft entertaining enough is the comedy, which for the most part hits all the right notes. Some of it felt forced, but it was pretty rare, and there are a couple of stand out performances, especially from Barak Hardley as Paul, a high school friend and Lovecraft nerd who joins them on their quest, and the mysterious Captain Olaf, played by Gregg Lawrence.

If you're going to do a creature feature, you need to have some good monster effects, and on this front, the film certainly delivers. Most of the creatures ride the line between creepy and silly, with a couple of notable exceptions either way. The sucker fish creature which appears in the trailer is most definitely on the silly side, but the spawn that attack a group of camping teenagers work well in delivering some chills.

Some of the most enjoyable parts of the movie for me were the animated sequences, including a comic book style recap of the history of the Old Ones coming to Earth during the time of the dinosaurs. There are some great sequences with the animated Cthulhu fighting dinosaurs, especially notable is the point where he uses a recently decapitated triceratops head as a shield.

When making a low budget movie of this nature, it's very often a labour of love for everyone involved, and that love comes across on film. That's because the budgetary constraints mean making sacrifices that larger films don't have to worry about, and as someone who who's got a soft spot for these types of moves, it's tough to be critical. There are problems though, mainly in the pacing and the editing. There were a few points, such as the camping teenagers scene mentioned above, where just knowing when to cut would have made a difference in how things played out.

Even with some of the largely technical problems that come with an indie film, The Last Lovecraft is a fun horror-comedy romp with some great moments, and makes for a great popcorn flick. It manages to evoke notes from other horror-comedy classics while remaining it's own beast, which is something tough to pull off at any budget, when it comes to genre films.

At the end of the film, Devin McGinn, who plays Charlie and also wrote and produced the film, took to the stage, along with director Henry Saine, for a Q & A session, and were joined by other cast members. It's clear that they all enjoyed working together, and if all goes well, we'll be seeing the sequel sometime down the road. Let's hope it'll be making it's premiere at Toronto After Dark sooner as opposed to later.

This review originally appeared at http://www.rgbfilter.com/?p=8607

This is a light-hearted "nerd-based" film about two friends, one of whom is a descendant of the actual H.P. Lovecraft who get wrapped up in a conspiracy about cultists wanting to wake Cthulhu using a magical amulet. The go on an adventure together, later meeting amusing characters and Lovecraftian monsters all done in B-grade level effects.

The characters are somewhat bland and simply fill out their allotted roles. The comedy is rather in the light-hearted area rather than seriously funny. The effects are a mixed bag - not convincing but full on B grade like you'd expect from a low budget film. It has some amusing points but yeah, nothing amazing.

5/10 because it's average.

OK, first off, if you're not into Lovecraft or the Cthulhu Mythos, you won't get all of the references and jokes, but that's not to say you won't have fun with this movie. Underneath its rough exterior lies a film with plenty of wit and charm, and a "deep" (pun intended) love of all things Lovecraft.

The delivery, as said, is a bit rough, but after only a short period I found myself easily forgiving any of the film's minor shortcomings. No expensive, top-of-the-line special effects, an excess of foul language that probably should have been scaled (ha!) back a bit, and a couple of performances that weren't anything said performers would want to put on their demo reel (read: stiff).

Still, those things aside, the story is fun and silly, and maintains a nice balance between the humor and drama, avoiding any awkward or jarring transitional moments between scenes (if nothing else could be said, at least take note of that element, which I found refreshing, as I've seen quite a few "blockbusters" of late that failed at it, unable to decide whether they're action or comedy vehicles).

A somewhat imperfect analogy would be to reference the TV series "Chuck." Take any old Lovecraftian Hammer film and drop Chuck & Morgan down in the middle of it as the protagonists and you've got a good idea of what I believe this movie was intended to be. I wouldn't go so far as to say it completely succeeded, but in the end I think it worked well enough to make the movie enjoyable.

Ultimately it's a light-hearted Cthulhu Mythos comic book on film, with nods to geeks, gamers and Lovecraft fans everywhere. Will it necessarily be everyone's cup of tea? Nah. What movie is? But if you're in the target audience, and can go into it with a smile on your face and no Cameronesque expectations, there's a good chance you'll have a good time and even find yourself later talking about it with friends over your Mt. Dew and Funyuns as you prepare to toss the percentiles and hope your character doesn't go insane.

THE LAST LOVECRAFT: RELIC OF CTHULHU is a movie for the fan of H.P. Lovecraft with a sense of humor, which, well, seems like an oxymoron. However, this is one funny movie!

When the titular totem is uncovered in Egypt, a descendant of the late-great author must be located, before Cthulhu's minions arise to seal mankind's doom. Of course, said descendant is... a total idiot. Luckily, his friends are... er, also idiots. How will these three boobs possible stand against the dark hordes?

Sort of SHAUN OF THE DEAD for lovers of Lovecraftian lore, TLL:ROC pits shiftless slackers against marauding monstrosities to hilarious effect! For a low-budget affair, the creature costumes aren't bad at all, and -hallelujah- the CGI is kept to a minimum (at least until the finale).

FACT: One has not truly lived until experiencing the history of Cthulhu told in animated comic book fashion!...