THE CALL OF CTHULHU

Directed by: Andrew Leman
Released: 2005

i hate it when really good ideas are ruined by poor execution. this film, which was shot in my hometown of providence, RI (i only know this because i recognized a neighborhood right near where i work.. oh, and it's lovecraft), tells the H.P. lovecraft story of cthulhu. the story was good, if you like lovecraft. but what's really interesting about the film is that, although it was filmed in 2005, they tried to make it look like it was shot in 1925. and they did a fairly good job; the makeup the actors wore was caked on their faces, there was a good use of intertitles, vignettes were used to highlight important details, etc.. just like a film from the 20's. however, the real downfall was the fact that they shot on video, not film. i imagine this was probably a budgetary constraint, but it really, really took away from the feel of the movie. you can add as much film grain as you want in post, it's still gonna look like video. despite all the lengths they went to ensure an "old time feel," shooting on video was massively distracting, and it killed it for me. the whole thing reminded me of something guy maddin would do (and has done), but he does it better. 4/10.