Director: Andrew Leman
Starring: Sean Branney, adapted from H.P. Lovecraft’s short story
Screenplay: Matt Foyer, John Bolen, Ralph Lucas, Chad Fifer, Susan Zucker
Release Date: 2005
THE CALL OF CTHULHU is a neat little experiment in recreating the filmmaking techniques of the silent era, utilizing the limitations of the format in order to create a faithful adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s seminal work. It is a testament to the creativity of those involved that, using very meager resources, they were able to successfully convey the tales’ epic scope and atmosphere of cosmic terror.
The short film is an almost note for note retelling of Lovecraft’s story, in which a nameless narrator frantically recounts to his psychiatrist how, while tending to his deceased great uncle’s estate, he discovered a journal written by his uncle detailing an obsessive quest to uncover the mystery that lie behind a series of ominous events, including a ritualistic sacrifice by demonic cultists, a strange totem carved out of an unearthly stone, various earthquakes and other natural disasters, and the predilection of certain artists and painters to report dreams of a strange other world full of fathomless terror. As the narrator digs deeper and his obsession grows, he embarks on a global quest that leads to the piecing together of certain knowledge that sheds a horrifying light on man’s insignificant position in this vast and terrible cosmos.
Lovecraft’s story, dealing as it does with creatures and concepts that are beyond man’s capability to grasp, relied more on suggestion and subtle hints of the terror contained therein, and director Andrew Leman here takes full advantage of that intentional vagueness in order to stretch his obviously miniscule budget to it’s limits. The Cyclopean nightmare-scapes of Cthulhu’s residence in R’lyeh is achieved through the use of landscapes drawn on canvases, with the actors optically superimposed into the environments. The effect is very artificial-looking, but the addition of the black and white photography lends these scenes an eerie unearthliness that corresponds perfectly with the themes of the creeping unknown that Lovecraft dealt in.
Being a silent film the quality of the performances is impossible to ascertain, but that doesn’t matter as atmosphere is the order of the day, and this flick is drenched in it. From the creepily backlit bayous of Louisiana and the hellish mass of cultists around a fire contained within, to the stormy Atlantic seas that contain the formidable secrets of the Elder God Cthulhu, every frame of THE CALL OF CTHULHU is full of an unknowable dread that would have made Lovecraft proud. At an incredibly brief running time of 46 minutes, if you are a fan of H.P. Lovecraft’s work at all then there is no excuse for not checking this one out.
My Rating: 8/10
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