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I approached this product with apprehension and unease. An unknown film of one of Lovecraft’s most celebrated stories could have been an utter disaster. Luckily it isn’t. This is a remarkably loving adaptation of an oft-considered unfilmable story. The driving force behind the film is the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and thankfully they have done an excellent job.
The genius lies in making it a silent black & white production. It does have a truly early-1900’s feel to it with a subtle placement of a few canny visual effects to reinforce the illusion. The overly eye-rolling performances of some of the actors are thankfully diluted by the period atmosphere and the brevity of most roles, as dictated by the story itself.
When they finally discover the grim secret of earthquake risen R’lyeh you’ll be favourably impressed. It is stylistically reminiscent of the 1933 King Kong and incredibly, almost as effective.
A few minor niggles are far outweighed by the good points and when you consider this is not made by a “professional” studio it’s an outstanding piece of work.
If you love the story, I heartily recommend this adaptation.
edit: my copy says “region 0″ on the back !
Rating: 4 / 5
Difficult to rate this movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Its not a popcorn movie, but if you like both arthouse films and H P Lovecraft books you will love this work. If not you should probably give this film a miss. George Lucas should really watch this film in order to understand that less can be more; this film actually benefits from being a low budget movie. Dark, atmospheric and true to the original story, this is a sublime piece of art. For the fan of the 1922 film Nosferatu.
Rating: 5 / 5
Nowadays I find that most big budget films that hit the cinema are generally all “same-old, same-old” big star (or more likely the current hyped individual) lots of flashy special effects and little or no story, the only thing keeping your interest, the explosions, special effects and the chases.
I am an avid reader of H P Lovecraft and his works, and on seeing this DVD being available I decided to buy it, I have watched several other adaptations of lovecrafts works, some enjoyable others simply rubbish.
The Call of Cthulhu, is a silent, black and white, low budget movie that does the most important thing right, it tells a fabulous story, faithfully and in what I would agree the best way possible, as a Silent, black and white movie. From the moment the film started I was impressed, from the simple yet elegantly aged appearance the film-makers have given the movie to attempt to fool the audience into beleiving the film is an authentic 1920’s made film, accompanied by a fabulous music score that hits all the right notes at the most poinient points in the story.
Although the special effects are not in the same league as a big budget Hollywood production, they hold up exceptionally well in this movie, and I have nothing but praise for all those involved for making such a remarkable piece of Cinema.
As I watched the movie on my HD DVD player I was drawn inexorably into the tale as it was told on the silver screen before me, I watched with anticipation to find out what would happen next (although having already read the story, I did actually kinda know). Some of the scenes in the movie are exceptionally well put together and the digital compositing done to make some of the outside scenes effective, as well as the Island of R’lyeh, are a marvel, my congratulations go to the the H P Lovecraft Historical Society for the fine work to create such effects.
All in all this has to be one of the best films I have seen in years, a remarkable feat by the makers and producers of the film, and will take pride and place in the centre of my DVD collection along side Ghost in the Shell and others.
A superbly made and enjoyable film, please find out for yourselves as you will not be disapointed.
Rating: 5 / 5
Call of Cthulhu is an example of a fan-film done right, where imagination has made a virtue of the inevitable low budget.
Rather than try and compete with professional, big-budget horror films the makers of CoC instead opted to present HP Lovecrafts famous story as a faux- black and white silent film as if it had been made in the 1920’s at the time Lovecraft himself was writing.
So now spare sets, basic special effects and impressionistec lighting have become a necessity of the production instead of a curse. But although the budget might have been low the amount of care and effort taken with the source material really shows through in the design of the props and especially in the set used for R’lyeh. This looks fantastic depsite being made from cardboard in someone’s back garden.
For any fan of HP Lovecraft, or of unusual cinema, Call of Cthulhu is a real treat.
Rating: 5 / 5
I was looking forward to see this film after reading the feedback from amazon reviewers. However after watching it I have to admit that I was bitterly disappointed. Ok, the people who made the film are Lovecraft fans, members of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and they really tried their best to put their love of the original material in this movie. But what they are not is filmakers or screen writers. I realise they put every last dollar of their budget in the making of this movie and probably spent ungodly hours in pre and post production. But this film is and will remain an amateur movie made by huge fans of Lovecraft. It does not do justice by any means to the poetic and haunting nature of Lovecraft’s writings. People who love filmic narrative will not find anything there for them. May Azathoth the blind curse me for my heresy!
Rating: 2 / 5