The Call of Cthulhu

A horror film based on the well-known short story by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, in which a strange piece of artwork leads a young man on a journey of discovery, and stories within stories reveal the secret history of an alien god slumbering beneath the Pacific Ocean.

Oh, let me count the ways...

It's H.P. Lovecraft. Not everything he wrote was gold - even The Call Of Cthulhu, despite being his most famous work, was not his best - but he was most assuredly one of the great imaginists, period. I'm not sure there was a more influential writer in all of the 20th century...he inspired countless imitators, and modern purveyors of horror literature often speak his name before Edgar Allen Poe or Bram Stoker when citing inspiration.

Of course, none of that ensures that a movie will be any good. Many bad movies have been made out of Lovecraft's writings. In fact, I can only name a handful of decent ones. But The Call Of Cthulhu is good.

It overcomes it's ultra-low budget with a super-cool gimmick that really adds value to the film as a whole: It's done as a vintage silent film (ala the original Nosferatu) just as it might have been made when Lovecraft first wrote the story in 1926. As such, sub-par special effects are readily excused, and in fact, add to the overall atmosphere. And that's not to say that the filmmakers don't come up with some pretty cool stuff...the R'Lyeh and Louisiana swamp setpieces are standouts in my mind. Cthulhu himself is done stop-motion style, an obvious nod to King Kong and Willis O'Brien, and while I would've preferred a more visceral-looking Great Old One, their interpretation here is fun...and appropriately limited in screen time.

Also, the filmmakers hew closely to the story. They work within their constraints, keep it moving briskly, and don't try to pad their 50-minute running time. For a casual watcher, it's an effortless trip to take, and for a fan of Lovecraft's fiction, it's a real hoot.