The Call of Cthulhu: The Celebrated Story by H.P. Lovecraft [DVD] [2005] by Matt Foyer

This film is clearly a labor of love. The idea of producing a low-budget fan-made black and white silent film from a story by the notoriously difficult to adapt H.P. Lovecraft seems like folly. Somehow, though, the stars were right and everything about this film seems to work brilliantly.By telling the story as a silent film, the disjointed nature of Lovecraft's narrative finds its cinematic footing in a way that other attempts to capture the great author's work on film have failed to do. A film with a larger budget certainly could have filmed many of these scenes with more impressive special effects, but the decision to produce a period-style film allowed the filmmakers to achieve equal or greater success even on their shoestring budget. It's amazing how seafaring adventures and even the city of R'lyeh itself can be captured on screen using nothing more than cardboard, glitter, and ingenious cinematic trickery. If H.P. Lovecraft would be proud of the film's storytelling, Georges Melies would be proud of the special effects.While it's clear that this film is an homage to Lovecraft and to the silent film medium, the viewer should not expect a film produced in exactly the same manner as old silent movies. Indeed, it's obvious from the first scene that the movie was filmed digitally and some of the digital tricks are evident but, rather than detracting from the film's authenticity, this could be argued to add an authentic flavor to the film in the sense that the filmmakers used the technologies available to them in the same way that silent filmmakers would have done in the past. Unfortunately, when Great Cthulhu does show up, the budgetary limitations become a bit more evident. While this adds to the film's charm as a labor of love, it does slightly detract from the horror of the scene, though fortunately not in a way that severely lesson's the viewer's enjoyment of the film.The DVD further extends the experience by bonus features that exceed the entertainment quality provided by those on most major motion picture releases. The "making of" short subject in particular captures the cast and crew's enthusiasm for the project and their love for the subject matter while providing a fascinating and entertaining glimpse behind the curtain of micro-budget film making.While this film will likely not appeal to those unfamiliar with Lovecraft's work or the Cthulhu mythos in general, Lovecraft fans will not want to miss it.

I loved this modern silent movie. Hollywood would have butchered the thing, throwing in battle scenes and love interests and eliminating the multi-layered flashbacks. Yes, there are flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks, but in silent form it works. OK, if I would change anything, I would have added at least a brief hint of the battle scene that was alluded to in Lovecraft's original story, but that's not a biggie.The story follows one's man quest to discover what killed his uncle. It's also the story of the uncle's decade-long search for the truth about multiple obscure cults around the world—all of whom seem to worship the same forbidden entity.The tale that follows shows us the breadth of the worldwide cult, from insane Eskimo shamans to rituals in the swamps of Louisiana... and to a certain uncharted island in the South Pacific. The ending is cataclysmic. Iä R'lyeh! Cthulhu fthagn!This movie is clearly a labor of love and it shows. Don't miss the making-of feature that's included!

Perfect adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's 'The Call of Cthulhu.' Stays true to the original story and is wondrously executed as a silent film. The main thing that wasn't authentic, was that nothing was shown for long enough. A real silent film would show everything good and long. So, that's not a complaint, the editing on this film was smooth, snappy, and suspenseful. The climax scene especially was fantastic. I love that we don't really get to see Cthulhu quite clearly, as it should be. The best thing was the wonderful, haunting score. Loved it!

This movie is the flagship film from the H.P. Lovecraft Society. It is an almost perfect scene-for-scene recreation of the events in the cult classic story of The Call of Cthulhu. Because this movie had a potato budget, they decided to make it look like it was filmed in the era the story takes place in; that is to say it is black and white, and silent with speech screens. The accompanying musical score is excellent and stands out above the acting. If you want to watch the original tale of horror come to life, this is the way to do it. This is where it all starts for fans, curious observers, or the uninitiated.

This is a true gem and faithful adaption of both "Call of Cthulu" and of the early silent film era. The sets of the ryleth in this film help create a simoultaneous sense of dread and wonder as its helpless wanderers traverse in the physical and metaphysical realm. The actors do a great job relaying their decents into madness and paranoia. If this crew ever wanted to make an adaptation of "At the Mountains of Madness" in the style of the original king kong talkie it would not hurt my feelings a bit. The special features are also very interesting and add a another layer of appreciation to this eldritch horror.

Fantastic Silent Film,Of Unspeakable Horror. This Is An Amazing Silent Rendition,Of Incredible Horror,That Comes To Life,In An Ages-Old,Sunken City;In The Form Of The Monster Cthulhu. The Looks Of Horror,On The Faces Of The Protagonists,As They Behold The Manifestation Of Cthulhu,Is Particularly Effective,with The Film Being Silent. As The Story Unfolds,with An Incredible Dramatic Musical Score,The Building Sense Of Inevitable Catastrophe,and Impending Terror,Is High-Lighted By The Sub-Titles,and The Gesticulations Of The Characters,In One Spine-Chilling Sequence After Another. A Great Depiction,Of What Is Said To Be LoveCraft's Most Famous Work.

I have been trying to do my own version of this story for three goddam years using action men and Barbie dolls and wasted several thousand pounds on cameras, lighting and sets. I am giving up. This is the definitive film in my opinion and Hollywood would be hard pressed to better it.Also have “whisperer in darkness” by the same crew so I won’t be wasting my time on making my own version of that either as it is awesome and I’m 73 so time has run out. Cthulhu bless you all.

This movie was made with a little budget and unknown actors by people I never heard about - but after the first minute I completely forgot to care about it! I believe that Andrew Lenan (director-producer) and Sean Braney (scenarist-producer) were right on target when they decided to make this film silent and turn it in white and black - exactly as movies were made in 1926, when Lovecraft wrote "The call of Cthulhu". It gives an absolutely unique effect, which, I must admit, caused me to freeze before the screen for the whole 47 minutes..."The Call of Cthulhu" story, although quite short, is one of the most powerful, most disturbing and most influential things in the whole fantastic literature. Nobody ever tried to film it, because the challenge seemed too difficult - when one thinks about the CGIs necessary to make a credible Cthulhu and a credible city of R'lyeh, it is easy to understand why nobody even tried to make such an attempt.But all this difficulty was avoided by making this film in the style which both Fritz Lang ("Metropolis") and F.W. Murnau ("Nosferatu") would recognize immediately. Expressions on the faces replacing the words convey a greater sense of fear and impending doom than any special effects. The LACK of details in some scenes is more disturbing than the overdose of pixels in the best Blu-Ray - and the obviously cheap decorations in the city of R'lyeh surprisingly created (at least in my perception) more awe and shock than the best shots of Mordor in "Lord of the Rings". Bottom line, the settings in this film allowed Lovecraftian magic to play in a very powerful and pure way.The very brief and very vague apparition of Cthulhu was very well done, with the maximum use of his shadow and only a little glimpse of the Great Old God himself. On another hand, small figures of Cthulhu worshipped by his cultists are very well shown and they are REALLY scary!Actors performed wonderfully! I really had the impression that I watched a genuine film from 20s and that Doctor Mabuse would enter through that door at any moment...To conclude, I was absolutely conquered by this movie and I am really, really glad that I bought it! And I am absolutely keeping it to rewatch it from time to time!

A film of the unfilmable Lovecraft story, this effort is a real cracker. Made to represent the type of production which would have been around in the late 1920s, the film is a faithful rendering of a classic tale of cosmic terror from beneath the sea (and beyond time and space). The use of unknown (to me at least) actors and actresses, gives the production a real period feel and cleverly reproduces the sort of effects which would have been available at the time.Very cleverly done, with neat, economical sets and good use of green screen effects.A great idea, very well filmed. Probably the best rendition of a Lovecraft story to date.(I must see about getting "Whisperer" next!)

This is simply awesome. Made by a film club of enthusiasts, it knocks nearly every studio attempt at Lovecraft for six. Wonderfully melodramatic, filmed in a real 1920's style and with some real passion for the material, it offers the best glimpse yet of how to put Lovecraft on screen. Some ropey stop motion aside, the production values are really amazing considering it was made on a shoestring budget. Everything from the silent movie approach to the excellent score has been so lovingly crafted, you quickly see past the limitations and become immersed in the story. I love everything about this release and the guys that made it should be proud.

A modern black and white silent film? Normally this would put me right off, and I'd take no notice of reviewers who said it was good because I'd suspect them of just being too up themselves and arty for me. But this was recommended to me by a fellow Lovecraft fan so I gave it a try. And my verdict is that it's really good - gives an excellent Lovecraft flavour, true to the story and very atmospheric. Such a change from the latest crop of commercial "horror" films where even Dracula is some kind of kung fu or matrix style villain!