My Lovecraftian Shocktober report.

After reading I think @patrickklepek's first (I think) week of Shocktober report, I figured I should watch a bunch of Lovecraft movies this month.

That didn't really happen since I was swamped with schoolwork and midterms, but Ia did watcghh a couple. I'm still waiting on a couple I ordered so I;m saying fuck it and extending my Shocktober a week or so so i can watch those. That being said, I haven't finished watching all the movies I currently have, but here are my thoughts on the few movies I seen this month.

Grabbers

I loved the premise behind this movie the instant someone recommended it to me. Lovecraftian horrors attack a small fishing village and the only way to be safe is to be drunk? Sign me the fuck up; I'm already a six-pack down tonight. I feel Patrick was far more eloquent that I am capable of when he wrote about this film, the only thing I will say is that the romance portion didn't bother me at all. I found this film to a surprisingly legitimately good movie.

Whisperer in the Darkness

An independent film made by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. This film is in black and white and much better than their first adaptation, Call of Cthulhu. Not really scary, but I felt it captured the story very well. The only thing I can really hold against the film is that the CGI for the Mi-go looked a little too plastic. I understand why they went with CGI, I just wish the textures looked a little less shiny. Still a good adaptation even if the ending differs.

Call of Cthulhu

The HPLHS's first adaptation, done in a full silent film style complete with intertitles. This particular adaptation, while very faithful, is not at all scary, or even creepy to be honest. I can't really fault them given the budget they had to work with, but there was something off about the film that was really noticeable during conversations. I have watched quite a few silent films in the last two months and they all had a similar feel that this film lacked. I cannot name what it is that the film lacks, but it was enough to color my opinion of the film. Still an enjoyable watch all things considered though.

Dagon

What a strange movie. Isn't even really an adaptation of the short story Dagon, it's an adaptation of Shadow Over Innsmouth. I'm not gonna complain though, I like Shadow Over Innsmouth. I can't really formulate my opinion on this movie, it's just weird. Worth watching, but weird. I have to hand it to the filmmakers, they did a damn good job on the townspeople. The main character does suffer from terminal stupidity at times though.

That's all I have watched so far, I've got four more that I am going to watch tonight: The Burrowers, Absentia, the Corridor, and Banshee Chapter. I understand at least a one of those is legitimately scary.

I really liked Call of Cthulu. I think the feel of the dialogue was a bit off but nailing down that silent movie stuff is hard.

You should watch From Beyond and Re-Animator if you haven't!

Those two and Die Farbe are the movies I have ordered that haven't arrived yet. Really looking forward to Die Farbe.

Watched Last Lovecraft tonight. So fucking stupid, but in a good way.

Whisperer in Darkness was really bad.

The black-and-white effect was pointless, since they shot it more or less like a modern color film (not much creative use of light and shadow). The acting was mostly terrible, even for amateurs in some cases (Shifty McMustache). It ran about twice as long as it needed to, and thus was padded with incredibly boring scenes of dude hanging around the house and holograms talking endlessly. The little girl character hurt the tension/sense of dread, and only existed so the protagonist could have some Character Moments (because strong characters are one of the pillars of Lovecraftian fiction.) And then they made the obvious fatal error of showing exactly what the creatures looked like. The CGI was bad, sure, but good effects would not have saved that scene.

I was left unsure whether the film makers saw Lovecraft as straight horror or pulpy, dated camp material. Making it b&w, and pitching it as a throwback to 1930s monster movies, kinda suggests that they were keeping the movie at arm's length, not sure how the final product would strike people. If anything came across as goofy, they could call it "retro".

Call of Cthulhu was not great, but okay. I liked it, because it gave the impression of people who were not experts but at least "got" Lovecraft on a fundamental level, and Whisperer in Darkness did not.

@saturdaynightspecials: It's the same people. Same filmmakers, and (mostly) same actors.

Yeah I know. Which makes the disparity surprising.

Maybe the transition from silent to non-silent was what spoiled it. The silent format doesn't demand naturalistic acting or dialog.

@saturdaynightspecials: It's possible; silent films require exaggerated acting, aka hamming it up. One thing I do fully agree with you on is that they should have never shown the Mi-go, they should have stuck with shadows. It would have made the movie better IMO.

Watched Die Farbe tonight. Not really scary but man is it creepy. Currently watching Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, interesting, wasn't expecting "animation" but I am enjoying it.