The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu

I liked this one more than I should have. The script is good but sometimes clunky, cheap FX terrible, cheap makeup OK. But somehow I ended up enjoying it! The directing could have been a LOT crisper. Comedy needs quick beats and perfect timing. Still, after listening to the Down In Front podcast episode about "2010 Moby Dick" I now understand more about being a low-budget director and having to get to a certain film length without enough money to shoot more film. You just have to put everything you filmed on the screen or your movie won't be long enough! Still, though I'm sympathetic, I do recognize that the comic beats are ultimately in the hands of the director, and they do plod in many places.

The script had some genuinely funny stuff, but suffered a bit from an inability to go completely over-the-top when it needed to. A few more lines of the caliber of Captain Olaf's "Fish Rape" would have been welcome. Also, the lead characters suffered from inconsistency. Were they nerds or not? They acted like nerds, until they meet up with a high-school friend and suddenly HE'S the nerd and they're making fun of him, and worse STOP acting like nerds themselves suddenly. That whole part never made any sense, at least as filmed. Maybe they planned a meditation on "relative nerdiness", but if they did it never paid off.

I think ultimately the "x-factor" was the acting. Most of them did a reasonable job, and all of them brought an enthusiasm and genuine quality that won me over. And Devin McGinn as the sidekick was really a standout - I want to see him in more movies or TV work, especially if he could play a similar character. He really nailed it! So, by the end I was rooting for our unlikely heroes.

One more note: there are a couple of reviews here that say this movie has "nothing to do" with the Cthulhu mythos. I don't know what movie THEY were watching, but as someone who has read literally the entire Lovecraft bibliography, I can say that they spent a lot of time throwing in many, many references, and really made me believe they could have been in a comedy version of Lovecraft's world. There's an abundance of little nods to the Lovecraft reader throughout, and I appreciated them a lot.

Overall - well done! Go into it expecting a VERY low-budget film that's earnestly trying to entertain, and and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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.

This isn't a perfect movie, at places the acting and writing are a bit weak, but it's obvious that most of these people aren't hardened actors and that most of their effects are on a budget, and with that in mind, it's a damn good presentation.

It's not a movie for hardcore Lovecraft fans who'll cry if someone gets their mythos a bit wrong, as the movie(which largely loyal to the concept) isn't particularly about madness and does take its chance to have a bit of fun with the silliness inherent in just about any horror situation.

The start's a bit stuttering and not ideal, but by the end of the movie I was genuinely in love with it.

Ultimately, if you approach this movie without expecting a big-budget Hollywood execution, but instead a competent indie/student movie, you won't be disappointed.

The people who say this isn't based on Lovecraft or the Cthulhu mythos are way off base, and they miss the point of this romp. Without H.P. Lovecraft's writing, this movie wouldn't exist. It isn't meant to be a "Lovecraft movie" or to be taken seriously. It's precisely what its writer and co-star intended it to be, a cinematic comic book and a tribute to Lovecraft as the father of modern horror and the progenitor of much of what we know as horror comics, both serious and humorous. The performers are all at least adequate, and the three leads are charming, portraying Regular Guys and a stereotyped comic book nerd with tongues firmly in cheek. It's obvious everyone who had anything to do with The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu had a ball, and so will you, unless you have no sense of fun at all.

When I saw this movie on shelves, I had to see how horrible it was. I figured it was either gonna be good, or so bad that it would be good.

So I read the reviews... And was almost scared away from renting it. It sounded like it was just gonna be a suckfest beyond belief. But my wife, with a similar taste in comedy as I, was adamant. So I took the plunge...

And boy was it worth it.

As others have said, it HELPS to be a gamer, it helps to be nerdy... and it helps to have a general Cthulhu mythos knowledge, and more than anything, it helps to love B-Movies and their ilk. If you like Bruce Campbell style movies, this one's up your ally even without said Mighty Chinned Wonder being present.

The one-liners have become common household usage. (This is my sex face.) My bottom line? Give it a shot. If you hate it, you hate it... But it's worth the risk.