H. P. Lovecraft's the Old Ones

OMG!!!!! What did I just watch? A horror movie? Or a comedy?

I think they tried to make a serious movie and totally misfired.

The script is low level moronically bad. The acting is non-existent.

Early on a kid's father gets murdered and he shows little remorse. The creatures all have the worst rubber masks you can ever imagine. And they used way too much red in the Karo syrup for the blood.

It's got dialog like: "You said it was dead." "It appears I was wrong."

Who wrote this crap?

Sorry, unlike some other reviews, I just don't think this was so bad it's good. It's just plain bad. Sorry.

After escaping from a demon cult, a man and a teen survivor find themselves targeted by the cult to continue preparing him for the cult's upcoming celebrations requiring him to be involved in the ceremony against his will and must stop their plans before it comes to fruition.

Overall, this was a fairly solid if problematic genre effort. The main factor that works here is the rather fun action and special effects that result from the confrontations featured here. The central concept of this one allows for a constant stream of encounters where the demonic creatures appear trying to kill the two of them and the means of escaping the beings allows for a solid display of practical effects make-up and gore to be delivered. While it can show its limitations with these sequences, the use of physical suits and masks is quite nice with the demonic fish-beings given a solid showcase with their presence providing plenty of decent gore throughout here. None of this is mind-blowing or amazing but the mere inclusion is enough to be the big selling point here, and with the great pacing keeping this one entertaining provides some likable factors for this one. This one does have some big issues that hold it down. Among the main issues here is the convoluted and absolutely difficult storyline that has so little sense about what's going on it feels impossible to tell what the point is. The idea of a time-traveling being from the past corrupted by the demon cult for a special ceremonial ritual who takes in a survivor of the creatures' attacking those who took the guy in and sets off on a road trip through the countryside to get back to the past where he can stop the creatures then is so over-the-top and twisted it's hard to make sense of everything. That this comes off because it keeps introducing new hurdles or obstacles on their road trip as the two try to stay one step ahead of the pursuing creatures is all fluff with new stuff added more as an excuse to reference other bits of writing than telling a coherent story. It also doesn't help that so much of this one is supposed to be a massive, sprawling epic trying to contain this time-traveling battle for the ages but is almost too ambitious for its good. The use of vicious fish-people demon creatures, body-hopping possession, interdimensional traveling machines, and occult objects all come together into a wide-ranging storyline that feels like they belong in a film with far more of a budget behind them than what's typically found in a low-budget indie like this one. While they all look impressive in design, the execution leaves little impression about what they are as there's little mixing up the emotionless, immobile masks that are typically present here. Even worse is the laughably inaudible dialogue by the distorted voice of the possessed demons where it is next-to-impossible to understand without using subtitles with how they come off, and all these end up holding this one back the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Full Nudity.

In comparison to its predecessor "The Deep Ones", this is more of a "guys night" horror film. An ex-Dagon cult leader and a young man team up to try and turn back time. They are chased by 3 Dagon cult members, one possessed by an "old one." They seek out a Lovecraft god Nyarlathotep for the time travel help. "The Old Ones" has more and better monster special effects than "The Deep Ones." "The Deep Ones", however, has more memorable scenes: weird introduction to the cult members, fire-dancer, and strange doctor house call. "The Old Ones" has more of a masculine vibe than "The Deep Ones." The one female character is the ex-Dagon cult members wife. She has a few small scenes. There is a scene with a man dressed up like a woman, but it comes across like maybe he lost a bet and had to do that.

Well, at first, I struggled to stay engaged due to the seemingly subpar acting and script. However, I persevered and was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the film.

Adapting Lovecraft's stories is no easy feat, especially on a limited budget. Despite its challenges, the film managed to deliver some impressive special effects. The ending felt authentically Lovecraftian, adding a satisfying touch to the narrative.

As a fan of Lovecraft's work, I appreciate the efforts put into trying to visually capture his cosmic horrors. Kudos to the filmmakers for their ambitious undertaking.

7/10.

This movie is absolutely pure Lovecraft cheese. It has great practical effects for such a low budget film, and it has a perfect Lovecraftian dark ending! It's strange, bizarre and weird. I suggest watching it with an open mind and don't expect anything past cheesy acting and clunky dialogue. But it's lots of fun and I enjoyed it. Of course, I'm a huge Lovecraft fan and will try out a Lovecraft movie as soon as I find one. I've read many of his stories, and even like most adaptations. The only actor missing from the movie is Jeffrey Combs. If you get past the first third of the movie, you'll love the ride.