Reworked movie poster by Lovecraftian artist Lee Moyer
DVD cover by D. Tutchton and A. H. Leman
For Christmas, I got Brendan two films by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.
I wish there was something like them for Poe! These guys are the greatest! I like Poe more than Lovecraft, but these guys make the most amazing...funness that any author has ever received. Poe should get this treatment!
The two films were The Call of Cthulhu and The Whisperer in Darkness. Naturally wanting to watch Cthulhu first, we did.
The Call of Cthulhu was made in what HPLHS calls "Mythoscope." What that means is that it was made like it might have been when the story was written. So it is silent and black and white - but it is nothing short of amazing. For those of you who are unlike me and do not like silent films, you will not even remember the film is silent at all.
It is very short - 47 minutes make up the full film.
It may be one of the better films I have seen in my life, particularly among silent ones (and I've seen my share of them). It is also the (unchallenged) most faithful adaptation of a Lovecraft tale to date and probably the best one ever made. We all know Stuart Gordon's classics, but this is very good!
I have not seen Whisperer yet. That was made in black-and-white, but with sound (the story was written in the time of the first "talking" pictures). It looks pretty good, and is about eighty...say ninety minutes long.
They also sold props from the film. You can get the Cthulhu tupilak and the Alert's Cthulhu idol. The ultimate prop is the Angell Box - containing Wilcox's bas-relief, boxes, manuscripts, letters, calendars, and notebooks - but it's a thousand freakin' dollars.
All in all, more great quality from the masters of great quality.
And now, a photo gallery!
Cyclopean dreams.
Opening titles.
Inspector Legrasse (David Mersault) investigates the Cthulhu cult in the bayou.
Matt Foyer as the Man - protagonist.
Title card.
R'lyeh risen!
Castro (Clarence Henry Hunt) relates his terrible tale.
Cthulhu emerges...
The primal horror reaches it's hand toward the screen.
So it's a puppet. So what? This film was made with 25 cents in it's pocket. For an independent film, it is pretty astounding!
We glimpse the face of Cthulhu.
Ancient evil towers over the Alert.
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Hello! Brian here.
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BRIAN