The Call of Cthulhu

This film was a great filler for the afternoon. It's the sort of thing that only fans of Lovecraft would actually enjoy. It's black and white and silent, the way a film actually would have been made at the time Lovecraft published his first work featuring Cthulu. The effects are done in a similar manner, looking old fashioned. They're not embarrassingly bad, though. You see no strings or unintentional shadows from off stage. It's not quite an hour long, so don't plan an evening around it. Also, there's no nudity, foul language or awful gore, so if you want, you can watch it with your kids and explain to them the mythology of Lovecraft's Old Ones.

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.

This is my first review on IMDb. I was so pleasantly surprised (in such a twisted way) by this film that I felt almost obligated to comment on it.

I've always loved H. P. Lovecraft's stories and have read pretty much everything he produced. Unfortunately, his work must not translate well to film because most movies based on his stories are pretty regrettable. Many excellent and unique movies have incorporated elements and themes from his stories (The Ninth Gate, Cast a Deadly Spell, The Evil Dead movies, In The Mouth of Madness etc.), but many of those taken literally from his writings (The Dunwich Horror, Beyond The Wall of Sleep, The Curse, etc.) just don't work.

This film contains many elements that also generally don't work, at least for modern audiences. It's a silent movie filmed in black and white. The acting is consistent with old silent films or stage, with exaggerated expressions and movements and is even comical at times. It is clearly a very low budget affair with outmoded special effects. The strange thing is that all of this works very well with the story, making it perhaps the best screen adaptation of a Lovecraft story that I've seen to date.

Because of its format, TCOC takes a little patience but overall it's a lot of fun to watch and manages to build a fair amount of suspense and tension even as it amuses.

Making a story by H.P. Lovecraft into a silent film in 2005 may not have been the most obvious move, but it turned out to be a major artistic success. I was a little skeptic myself about this weird approach, but I have to say that Andrew Leman's "The Call Of Cthulhu" is the best Lovecraft adaptation I've seen so far.

The beautiful, dark pictures and the old-fashioned score along with the over the top acting and the make-up of clown-proportions - the whole ancient feel of a silent movie - create a haunting atmosphere. Not only does the viewer feel as if he himself was in the dark about the spooky ongoings, he seems to be taken back to an early age long before mankind could rely on science.

If you're familiar with Lovecraft's novella, you might think that it's impossible to make this rather complicated and possibly special effects demanding story into a silent movie with only 45 minutes running time. Leman somehow pulls it off, though, and proves that less is more. His characters only "say" the most important things we need to know to follow the storyline. A lot of it is explained by facial expressions, newspaper clippings or diary entries. Special effects wise, Leman stays true to the silent film genre without making Cthulhu look ridiculous. The monster is only hinted at in shadows and quick cuts. This may sound weird again, but you have to watch the movie to see how it works.

"The Call Of Cthulhu" remains faithful to both, the original Lovecraft story and the silent movie genre (one little complaint I have would be that the camera-work on the first boat scene looks a little too improved for a silent movie, but that's really being nitpicky). As old-fashioned and reduced as this movie might be, it's still spooky as hell and more effective than most modern popcorn horror flicks.