"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."
The Call of Cthulhu (2005) is an independent film featurette created and distributed by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, based on the short story by the same name by H.P. Lovecraft. The film was created as a silent film in attempt to show what the film would have looked like if it was created the year the story was first published, in 1926.
This film is about man's attempt to understand his uncle's obsessive research around a recent cult and the journey it takes him on.
I really like the concept behind these types of movies, the (for lack of a better term) "new classics." Usually it has a high chance of failure but they always catch my attention, and I think it's because these types of movies are born out of passion and love for the old mediums and film techniques that have been lost and abandoned over time. Unlike most of those other ones though, I think this film is very successful and worth watching.
Normally a big flaw or give away in these types of films that they weren't created in the past and are in fact very recent is the production design. But I've got to do a shout out to the production design in this film because even though it's a low budget and independently funded, it's really pretty spot on here. Then of course I looked up the director and it turns out he's done props on several big Hollywood films and suddenly this made sense that he'd be looking at that!
I also really liked the cinematography in this film. It's more of a modern style of camerawork than anything that was made in the 20s' but it really works here. Nothing is too advanced that wouldn't have been possible in the 20s' but they're following camera rules and techinques established after this time. This was a smart choice integrating a modern style of camera work in the silent, black and white format is really effective.
For better or for worse, the creators of this film set out to make the most faithful film adaptation of a Lovecraft story and I gotta say, I think they really nailed it. After all the films I've gone through in the past week this is by far the most accurate and truthful adaptation.
The bad thing about choosing this story to make into a very accurate film adaptation is that the story doesn't easily lend itself to film storytelling at all. There's a reason this story was considered "unfilmable" and that is because it jumps around in time with multiple stories told by multiple narrators. And on top of that, trying to present this story as a silent film can be a little rough and hard to follow at times. There was definitely a couple parts I had to re-watch just to fully comprehend what was going on.
Most of the effects in this film were done right (a film full of practical effects is so refreshing in today's CG-obsessed world) but the "claymation" Cthulhu didn't fit the rest of the effects, I felt. I'm not saying I wish it was CG, but I wish it was a stop-motion model that was made of something a little more detailed or solid because it really sticks out. Luckily the film doesn't show too much of it but they could have gotten away with showing more... if the model looked better.
Another big thing that doesn't work in this film is the actors. The reason we had such big stars from the silent film era is because they had a real screen presence, great expression and pantomime and amazing looks. They needed these because without voice all they had! It's painfully obvious the difference between those stars and the actors that were hired on a modern day independent film budget, who have never had the opportunity to work in the silent medium before.
And the best thing about this film is the soundtrack. The score really works in this film and adds a ton to every single scene in this film. There was plenty of times where what I was watching on screen didn't move me as much as what I was listening to did. There's multiple names listed in the credits for music so I'm not sure if this was a collaboration or the songs were split between different composers. But whatever they did, it works.
The Call of Cthulhu (2005) is the product of an intense love for the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Instead of just paying tribute to his work by dropping references and mimicking his storytelling style, like in In the Mouth of Madness (1994), this film strives to be as truthful to the original story as possible and I think it succeeds because of that love and need to do the story justice.
4/5 Stars.
Happy watching!
Tomorrow we finish our 6-decade long Lovecraft film streak as we move on to the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's follow up film to this one, The Whisperer in the Darkness (2011) here on the 31 Nights of Macabre Movies.
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