Review of Cthulhu (2008) by Darrin B — 09 Dec 2009

This was an interesting little film. It's probably the best looking Mythos adaptation to date, and the fact that they were able to make a Gay film out of the works of an infamous racist and prude is commendable. What's more, the gay romantic subplot is actually relevant to the main thread: our protagonist is the son of a preacher (cult leader) who needs a grandson before he can move forward so to speak, but his son is a homosexual. Naturally, he runs into a childhood friend and rekindles a relationship that will prove to be the only thing he can fall back on as the events unfold. Returning to his home town for his mother's wedding, inadvertently on the dawn of certain great cosmic events, he finds himself pulled back into everything he tried to flee from in the first place.

The plot however, seems to forget what it's trying to do in the last 30 minutes as allusions to a number of monsters and deities seem to spring up in succession when the story only properly concerns the Deep Ones of "the Shadow over Innsmouth". Was this fan-service or were they genuinely trying to make their apocalypse and chaotic and incomprehensible as possible?

This is definitely a labour of love however, and for its budget, you have to give it some respect. Like the stories themselves, this film builds a great deal of atmosphere and its photography and sound design will definitely peak your (preexisting) fear of small towns, the ocean, and strange offshoot churches with names you've never heard of before.