The Call of Cthulhu
09-11-06, 11:15 PM
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The Call of Cthulhu
Over the past couple of years, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society put together an authentic silent film of the Call of Cthulhu, and I received my copy today. Now, I'm not terribly familiar with Lovecraft's stories, but I enjoy silent movies and this looked like such a labor of love that I couldn't pass it up. Turns out that they did a fantastic job with things, and while there were a few things that I'd have changed (production-wise), the look and feel is remarkably faithful to the era. Fancy intertitles, two orchestrated scores -- a very nice stereo mix and the scratchy, tinny "Mythophone" version that's meant to replicate that '20s picture show experience. 
-- imaginative sets (the boat scenes are amusingly obvious), and the requisite stop-motion animation for Cthulhu him(it?)self.
It's not a very long movie, only about 50 minutes, but there are some decent extras and it's always nice to support independent filmmakers like this.
http://www.cthulhulives.org/store/st...?1=product&2=8
I'm strongly considering one of their bee-yooo-teeful posters, too:
This has, of course, gotten me interested in other Lovecraft-related film. Edward Martin has done one on the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath that's based on still artwork with voiceover and music that sounds really neat. There's a short film on the DVD with his version of Cthulhu, to boot, and a teaser for Flesh of My Flesh that he's working on currently.
-- imaginative sets (the boat scenes are amusingly obvious), and the requisite stop-motion animation for Cthulhu him(it?)self. It's not a very long movie, only about 50 minutes, but there are some decent extras and it's always nice to support independent filmmakers like this.
http://www.cthulhulives.org/store/st...?1=product&2=8
I'm strongly considering one of their bee-yooo-teeful posters, too:
This has, of course, gotten me interested in other Lovecraft-related film. Edward Martin has done one on the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath that's based on still artwork with voiceover and music that sounds really neat. There's a short film on the DVD with his version of Cthulhu, to boot, and a teaser for Flesh of My Flesh that he's working on currently.
09-12-06, 12:39 AM
#2
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Some website called DVDTalk gave that a pretty good review. 
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=19599&___rd=1
As far as Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath goes, I hate to rip on something that was obviously a labor of love, but damn it was boring. It took everything I had to stay awake for the full 100 minutes. Some of the artwork was kinda nice, but not really something I want to look at for an hour and a half. The story's all over the place; I haven't read the original story to compare, but they either needed to take more liberties with the story or less. The Lovecraftian dialog and descriptions seem pretty hokey when they're read out loud especially by amatuers. Also, the music made me want to hurt myself.
Also, the Call of Cthulhu short-film on the DVD is kind of a joke. It's about 60 seconds long, and features a guy getting a telephone call, and the screaming and falling over dead.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=19599&___rd=1
As far as Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath goes, I hate to rip on something that was obviously a labor of love, but damn it was boring. It took everything I had to stay awake for the full 100 minutes. Some of the artwork was kinda nice, but not really something I want to look at for an hour and a half. The story's all over the place; I haven't read the original story to compare, but they either needed to take more liberties with the story or less. The Lovecraftian dialog and descriptions seem pretty hokey when they're read out loud especially by amatuers. Also, the music made me want to hurt myself.
Also, the Call of Cthulhu short-film on the DVD is kind of a joke. It's about 60 seconds long, and features a guy getting a telephone call, and the screaming and falling over dead.
Last edited by Joe Molotov; 09-12-06 at 12:41 AM.
