Call of Cthulhu 2005: The horrors of Lovecraft presented in black and white

June 28, 9:58 PMSalt Lake City Horror ExaminerMike Benedict

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Call of Cthulhu: The Definitition of style and substance

H.P. Lovecraft is one of the most influential horror and fantasy writers of all time. In fact, some of the authors that cite Lovecraft as an influence have themselves become prolific horror authors in their own right. Some of these authors include Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Joe R. Lansdale. One of Lovecraft’s greatest accomplishments is creating the intricately woven “Cthulhu Mythos” which outlines a very complex universe of gargantuan alien monsters, alien races, and ruthless and uncaring gods that lay in wait until it is time for them to return and bring devastation to humanity.

Lovecraft was known for his reuse of certain themes throughout his works. One theme that was utilized was the inability for humans to gather and comprehend the forbidden knowledge that they weren’t meant to understand. For instance, if a human were to truly understand the implications of what lay before him, as it relates to the Cthulhu Mythos, he would eventually go mad. Ironically, many characters in Lovecraft’s works are not only seeking out this knowledge, but their thirst for this knowledge is insatiable.

One short story by Lovecraft that follows this theme was published in 1928 and was entitled The Call of Cthulhu. This is a three part story of fantastical events. The story begins with a man finding the manuscripts and research papers of his great uncle who had passed away. In this collection of papers was found a small bas-relief sculpture of a humanoid with the face of an octopus and had characteristics of a dragon. Needless to say that it was eventually learned that this carving was a representation of Cthulhu himself. He came to find out that this sculpture was created by a design student and based on dreams that he had been having. These dreams eventually led this student into a state of delirium, but not before he had documented his dreams and shared them with the great uncle.

The story continues telling the story of others who have come into contact with clues and buts of knowledge of Cthulhu. In each experience, the more the characters learn the closer to madness they come. It is a very interesting and dark story that is only one small part of the Cthulhu Mythos.

In 2005, the HP Lovecraft Historical Society distributed a film adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu which was produced by Sean Branney and Andrew Lehman. With a running time of around 47 minutes, this film recounts the events in the story with few deviations from the original story. Interestingly enough, Branney and Lehman chose to shoot this film in the style of a 1920’s silent film with text boards and grainy black and white visuals. The film’s website explains that they chose to film it in this manner because it would be a great way to film such a “huge, sprawling story”. The overall style adds a lot of charm to the film, but it hits its stride when, in the last part of the story, we are given a full representation of Cthulhu himself. The monster is shown in stop-motion animation trudging through the deep ocean.

After getting used to the idea that a film that was created in 2005 was filmed as if it were created in the 1920’s, the film really takes the audience into a dark and fantastic narrative. It does a great job of telling a story and does so while oozing with art and charm that will keep the audience captivated. The art direction and cinematography is not perfect, but the story is so engaging that it is easy to overlook the lack of budget that was involved in the production of this film.

In summary, this film does a great job of telling a very interesting story. With a running time of only 47 minutes, there is not any filler in this film. Even though, the producers realized from the beginning that this wouldn’t be for mass-market, megaplex consumption, they still didn’t fall to the temptation of adding fluff to the film in order to make it have a traditional running time for a feature film. This film is definitely worth your time!