As you may remember, I had a choice between two Cthulhu indy films, and based on reader input I went with The Call of Cthulhu: The Celebrated Story by H.P. Lovecraft
I suspect that I had ended up choosing… wisely. It’s clever in its format; it works well as a silent, black-and-white short movie – better than it would as a bloated SF extravaganza. The music was well chosen, the plot is surprisingly close to the original, and while it did not scare the devil out of me it would have been hard to, seeing as I know the story so well by now. I do wonder how an impressionable nine year old would approach this movie. Or possibly a twelve year old.
The HPLHS website is here – and, spookily, they have just now decided to explain to the world what the heck is going on with their new project. Well, old project.
Something to look forward to.
Have you watched the extras?
Normally I find the commentaries and extras for any given movie to be about as interesting as, say, a story from an actor saying “this scene took seven takes because I kept stuttering on the ‘t’s.”
For some, that’s a great story that makes the movie better. For others, that’s the equivalent of listening to one’s accounting buddy explain how the New York sales tax auditor found a discrepency between first quarter Utica and second quarter Utica.
I found that the special features on this particular DVD were surprisingly interesting. The amateur nature of the production translated to everyone talking as if they were all regular (if geeky) dudes talking about hobbies and the little things they give away about working with black and white film, and shooting silently, make it feel like you’re watching something much older being remembered.
All that to say: you could do worse than have the special features on in the background while you were painting some miniatures… unless, of course, you needed the miniatures painted quickly.