Sometimes you hear of a film that "reproduces the look of classic horror films" and your heart will sink. Sink because you know you'll get some badly shot on video fan film, that is only black and white because they took out the color in Adobe Premiere. It will have bad production values, none of the shadow and light contrast a real B&W movie has, and devoid of any entertainment value.
"The Call of Cthulhu" is not that type of film. THIS IS GOOD!
I went in with little enthusiasm, even though I did hear good thing from the 100 Years of Monster Movies Facebook page. It was on Netflix's "Watch It Now" feature, so it wasn't costing me anything extra. What a nice surprise this film was.
First off, this was made by fans of H.P. Lovecraft at The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society(http://www.cthulhulives.org/toc.html), but it was made not only with a love of Lovecraft's work, but with a keen creative eye. Done like a 1920s silent movie, it is shot in a surreal manner that reminds me of the German expressionist films that inspired the Universal classics. The cinematography is beautiful and eerie.
People today would take short cuts and use computer effects, this group tried to do things as they would in the 1920s as much as possible. Props and clothing, cars, and sets all looked authentic. And instead of a C.G.I. Cthulhu, we get a stop motion creature that's 100 times better than any computer generated dino critter on a made for cable SyFy crap-fest.
If you're a Lovecraft fan, a horror fan or just a film fan you should see this.
You can see it rent it or "Watch It Now" at Netflix, or buy it from The H.P. Lovecraft Histrorical Society's web site at http://www.cthulhulives.org/store/store.lasso .
http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/index.html
Until Next Time,
Stay Insane!
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