The Call of Cthulhu

I am a fan of Lovecraft, of the Val Lewton school of film-making, of the black and white version of The Outer Limits... essentially THE CALL OF CTHULHU would have had to be abysmal to not get at least a star and a half out of me. However, it is absolutely astonishing what the HPLHS crew has done with it! A story that could well have been stodgy and static (I've often thought it could best be realized as a one-man presentation, sans sfx!) was instead fluid, suspenseful, eerie; undoubtedly the best Lovecraft adaptation I have ever seen, far superior to all the "professional" productions of the Old Gent's work. I have very little complaint with the acting; some reviews have mentioned wooden performers, but I could not disagree more with that assessment. The scriptwriter has brilliantly solved the problems in bringing this story to the screen, beginning with the decision to make it a silent film! I recall Dan O'Bannon once stating that he couldn't get beyond Cthulhu's appearance, but Branney's framing story and finale brings the tale to a satisfying, frisson-inducing end. The Lovecraft quotes at the finish have a delightfully chilling resonance, exactly what Lovecraft himself would have hoped for, I'm sure. Cthulhu, seen only in brief glimpses and largely manifested through shadow and the reactions of the actors faced with the horror, could not have been more alien. The animation process itself makes the entity bizarre and anomalous (see Outer Limits' "Zanti Misfits" or "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" for other examples). Only the fight scenes in the swamp seemed a bit ridiculous, quite stiff, underchoreographed, perhaps... but the slow crescendo of atmosphere during Castro's grim interrogation makes up for that in spades. The Lewtonian shadows, the Ditko-esque sets, the Expressionist direction: A work of art! A must-own for any Lovecraftian or fan of the bizarre.

How or why is it that the most revered horror novelist of the twentieth century is unable to get any of his work translated correctly onto film? Oh yes, there have been some feeble attempts that credit his work but really don't truthfully follow his story line, or others that liberally borrow from this writings without really connecting with the true and horrible terror behind his work. In 'The Call of Cthulhu' we finally have an honest and trustworthy attempt to capture the true indescrible horror and nature of Lovecraft's work. Leave it to his true fans, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society to do what the large Hollywood studios have refused, or been afraid to do. It is filmed in old-fashioned silent movie fashion, which is not only perfect for the time period being depicted, but also perfectly done. There is a haunting, dream-like quality to this film that is absolutely mesmerizing. One is ultimately left to ponder whether the images being viewed are on the television screen or within the inner recesses of your mind. Truly a one-of-a-kind production! Let's be honest, the horrific images and happenings that Lovecraft's writings inspire could never be matched on film. The human imagination will always be far superior to the images that can be provided on celloid. This film made in old fashioned silent film format comes as close as anything I have seen so far. I still hold out the hope that sometime in the near future a large studio with a big budget and an inspired director will do justice to this tale like Peter Jackson did with 'Lord of the Rings.' But until then, this is the consumate work! My Highest Recommendation!

The works of venerable horror writer H.P. Lovecraft have, in some ways, become the backbone of the genre, especially cinematic horror. An astonishing number of relatively contemporary horror flicks and genre TV shows--everything from 1965's DIE, MONSTER, DIE through Rod Serling's series THE NIGHT GALLERY (1970s) to Sam Raimi's THE EVIL DEAD (1981) and beyond--have either borrowed elements from Lovecraft's literary mythos or attempted to adapt one of his stories. In spite of Lovecraft's unquestionable influence on the genre, few filmmakers have been able to accurately or faithfully translate the writer's works to either the small or large screen. At best, most attempts to adapt Lovecraft either vaguely evoke the nihilistic subtext of the author's work (e.g., Stuart Gordon's 1985 classic RE-ANIMATOR) or pay simple homage by making a reference or two (as Raimi does by building his EVIL DEAD stories around Lovecraft's ubiquitous fictional book of the occult, the Necronomicon). Until now, that is. Under the guidance of director Andrew Leman and screenwriter Sean Branney, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has filmed and released a little film entitled THE CALL OF CTHULHU (2005), based on the author's story of the same name. And it is being praised by critics and fans alike as being one of the most faithful Lovecraft cinematic adaptations ever. The film follows the three-part narrative construction of Lovecraft's original story, using flashbacks and similar devices to shift back and forth to various time frames. The story centers on a young man who has inherited his late great-uncle's research documents pertaining to the Cthulhu Cult. Intrigued by his uncle's obsession with the cult, the nephew studies the documents closely and pieces together the dread implications of the research, and soon after he himself resumes his uncle's investigation of the Cthulhu Cult. When he finally understands the dreadful and disturbing reality of what his uncle has uncovered, his own sanity begins to crumble. Unable to cope and ultimately institutionalized, he passes the information on to his psychiatrist, who in turn hears Cthulhu's call.... In a daring but clever and creative move, filmmakers Leman and Branney decided to cinematically adapt Lovecraft's influential 1925 horror story THE CALL OF CTHULHU in the form of a faux early silent film, complete with black-and-white photography, title cards for dialogue, and a classical music score. There are even artificial scratches and wear marks, making it appear as if the film were indeed made in mid-1920s--the period in which Lovecraft wrote many of his famous works--and only recently pulled from the studio vaults and dusted off for posterity. By making the film look like a product of 1925 instead of one from 2005, the filmmakers have been able to utilize old-school FX like stop-motion animation, in-the-camera trick-photography, and miniatures, avoiding the temptation to heavily rely on CGI and other high-tech contrivances that could bog the film down and cause distraction or deviation from the actual story. The result is a "vintage" film that draws the audience into another place AND another time as it faithfully unfurls Lovecraft's tale of ancient mystery and hair-raising horror. The cast does an excellent job in realizing director Leman's Lovecraftian vision and writer Branney's script. Acting in a silent film requires skills foreign to most contemporary actors, and it is consequently a dying art. Yet the performances in THE CALL OF CTHULHU are very effective. Especially good are Matt Foyer, who portrays the nephew, and Noah Wagner, who plays the captain of an ill-fated island expedition. It is obvious that, before stepping before the camera, both actors carefully studied classic silent cinema to learn the pantomime and exaggerated facial expressions required to relay emotion without the benefit of sound. Not only do they and their fellow actors do an on-target job of recreating the "feel" of a genuine film from the Silver Screen's silent era, they also do a great job of acting and thereby create a credible populace for the world of Lovecraft's mythos. In addition, the special FX by Dan Novy and crew are very well executed and totally believable within the context of the film. Dream sequences are reminiscent of the German Expressionist silent classic THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920), and the stop-motion sequences are a clear nod to the master of the form, Ray Harryhausen. True, some of the sets and FX are obviously of the low-budget ilk, but this really only adds to the overall old-school charm of the flick. The DVD edition of THE CALL OF CTHULHU from Lurker Films is well worth the price of admission. Not only does it offer a pristine digital transfer of the faux silent-era flick, it also offers a very interesting making-of documentary (with sound) that features some behind-the-scene footage and interviews with cast and crew. Even the menu screens on this disc are cool, evoking the style of the art-deco movie houses of the 1920s and 1930s. This DVD is a must-have for fans of Lovecraft, and it will make a fine addition to the film collection of any true fan of horror cinema.

Long considered unfilmable, this great short film from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society demonstrates how it can and should be done. The decision to film it as a black and white silent film in the style of the 1920's was inspired and works brilliantly. It mostly uses the kind of effects you would expect from that era as well as very effective miniature and stop motion effects. The idea of using sheets of cloth to imitate the sea sounds terrible but looks fantastic on screen and adds perfectly to the period atmosphere. The sets for the city of R'leyh looked great, reminding me of the sets for the classic 1919 German film "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari" and you would never believe that they were just canvas and cardboard assembled in someone's back yard. Highly recommended, not only for fans of Lovecraft but also fans of early cinema.

Adorei a produção e o filme E ainda tem tradução para o português 🎉

This movie was made with a little budget and unknown actors by people I never heard about - but after the first minute I completely forgot to care about it! I believe that Andrew Lenan (director-producer) and Sean Braney (scenarist-producer) were right on target when they decided to make this film silent and turn it in white and black - exactly as movies were made in 1926, when Lovecraft wrote "The call of Cthulhu". It gives an absolutely unique effect, which, I must admit, caused me to freeze before the screen for the whole 47 minutes... "The Call of Cthulhu" story, although quite short, is one of the most powerful, most disturbing and most influential things in the whole fantastic literature. Nobody ever tried to film it, because the challenge seemed too difficult - when one thinks about the CGIs necessary to make a credible Cthulhu and a credible city of R'lyeh, it is easy to understand why nobody even tried to make such an attempt. But all this difficulty was avoided by making this film in the style which both Fritz Lang ("Metropolis") and F.W. Murnau ("Nosferatu") would recognize immediately. Expressions on the faces replacing the words convey a greater sense of fear and impending doom than any special effects. The LACK of details in some scenes is more disturbing than the overdose of pixels in the best Blu-Ray - and the obviously cheap decorations in the city of R'lyeh surprisingly created (at least in my perception) more awe and shock than the best shots of Mordor in "Lord of the Rings". Bottom line, the settings in this film allowed Lovecraftian magic to play in a very powerful and pure way. The very brief and very vague apparition of Cthulhu was very well done, with the maximum use of his shadow and only a little glimpse of the Great Old God himself. On another hand, small figures of Cthulhu worshipped by his cultists are very well shown and they are REALLY scary! Actors performed wonderfully! I really had the impression that I watched a genuine film from 20s and that Doctor Mabuse would enter through that door at any moment... To conclude, I was absolutely conquered by this movie and I am really, really glad that I bought it! And I am absolutely keeping it to rewatch it from time to time!

This version of 'The Call of Cthulhu', filmed in fabulous Mythoscope, is a must for any and all H. P. Lovecraft fans. Quite rightly, and as other reviewers have observed, it would be easy enough to dismiss the idea of satisfactorily filming any of the Cthulhu Mythos stories featuring such other-dimensional horrors as Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth and of course Great Cthulhu himself, particularly if you are doing it on a tiny budget with no CGI. But the team responsible for this film have managed it splendidly, and no small part of its strength comes from it being filmed as a silent black and white movie redolent of the early horror classics, which chimes with when the story was written. It's quite possible that some 'every digital effect you can think of' version would not been as powerful. To give one example from when the hapless sailors explore the cyclopean ruins of risen R'lyeh, the sequence where one of the men falls into an "impossible angle" in the masonry and disappears utterly is chillingly effective and - as you discover from the enjoyable and informative 'extra' about the making of the film - very simply achieved. For those of us in the UK (or Europe) let's hope that the team are going to make a Region 2 version of their more recent effort 'The Whisperer in Darkness' available soon. In the meantime all those Lovecraftians out there who do not yet have this film should obey the call and secure a copy as soon as they can.

Its not often you buy a black and white silent movie on DVD and i was a bit curious about what i was getting. This is a movie produced on a budget by fans, its not a big budget extravaganza but it perfectly captures the spirit of the books and i was pleasantly suprised by it. I found myself reminded of the original King Kong movie - not technically brilliant but still fun to watch. I understand the comments on other reviews about the acting and special effects but anyone having seen cinema of the period they are apeing will know this is pretty much what it was like. I was actually more concerned by the use of blue screen in this movie which, while not offputting just felt out of place here. If your a fan you will be happily making this an addition to your DVD collection.