The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Andrew Leman

Writers:

H.P. Lovecraft (short story)
Sean Branney (screenplay)

Genre:

Short | Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Eye Patch | Secret Cult | Ship | Boat | H.P. Lovecraft

Cast

Ramón Allen Jr.	...	Louis
Leslie Baldwin	...	Greta Johansen
Daryl Ball	...	Officer Cassidy
John Bolen	...	The Listener
Aidan Branney	...	Swamp Boy
Sean Branney	...	Pub Man
Andra Carlson	...	Nurse
Mike Dalager	...	Guerrera (as Michael Dalager)
Erin Emmalee	...	Nancy
Chia Evers	...	Cultist
Matthew Q. Fahey	...	Briden
Chad Fifer	...	Henry Wilcox
Matt Foyer	...	The Man
Bruce Graham	...	Claude
Kirsten Hageleit	...	Cultist
Clarence Henry Hunt	...	Castro
Hannah Rose Jabaley	...	Swamp Girl
Ike E.Z. Jabaley	...	Swamp Baby
John Jabaley	...	Swamp Papa (as Ed Ruffin)
John Joly	...	Sgt. Bacon
J. David King	...	Cultist
Daniel Kirsner	...	Angstrom
John Klemantaski	...	Prof. Bell
Jennifer Knighton	...	Tilly
Chris Lackey	...	Parker
Andrew Leman	...	Unhelpful Bureaucrat
Carlos Linares	...	Hector
Ralph Lucas	...	Prof. George Gammell Angell
Richard Lucas	...	Thibidoux
Barry Lynch	...	Prof. Webb
Matthew Malcomson	...	Officer Langfield
Rebecca Marcotte	...	Swamp Widow
Jason McCune	...	Professor Quintana
David Mersault	...	Police Inspector John Raymond Legrasse
Dan Novy	...	Esquimaux Shaman / Cultist
Steven O'Connor	...	Tyler
Patrick O'Day	...	Johansen
Ryan Oliver	...	Cultist
Jason Owens	...	Prof. Quintana
David Pavao	...	Rodriguez
Jason Peterson	...	Officer Stanton
D. Grigsby Poland	...	Prof. Tutchton
Kalafatic Poole	...	Bartender
Vivica Prentice	...	Museum Clerk
Jonathan Putnam	...	Cultist
Ed Ruffin	...	Swamp Papa
Josh Thoemke	...	Hawkins
Aaron Vanek	...	Cultist
Noah Wagner	...	Captain Collins
Mona Weiss	...	Cultist
Erika Zucker	...	Swamp Mama
Susan Zucker	...	Landlady

Runtime:

USA:47 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish | Italian | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (HPLHS), The

Trivia:

Named an official selection of the feature competition at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the escape from the island by 2nd Mate Johansen and the other sailor (the only two surviving crew), Johansen is seen piloting the vessel, using throttles such as are only used on boats with a bell system, with the vessel responding immediately to the changes he makes in the wheelhouse. However, a bell system necessitates that another person manually throttle the engines from below decks, responding to chimes triggered by the throttles in the wheelhouse. Despite this, both survivors are seen in the wheelhouse at the same time during these changes, and it is indicated that only Johansen and (the corpse of) the other crew member were recovered from the ship.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in LovecraCked! The Movie (2006)

The first real Lovecraft adaption

"Call of Cthulhu" is the first real adaption of a Lovecraft story. It was made by amateurs with a very low budget, but they managed to produce a great movie that is better then many professional productions. It is made up as a silent movie in black&white. Usually I don't like retro-fakes, but it works perfect in this movie. There are some little mistakes that reveal it is a post.modern film; for example some cars in the background that were built in the 1930s. Another example is the the VanGogh-jigsaw; it is rather unusual for a 1920s movie to show the work of a classic modern painter. Nevertheless, some of the people (including a professor) thought it was indeed a film from the 1920s as I showed them the movie without explanation. As you see from the examples above, the anachronisms in this movie aren't to serious to spoil the fun. The scenes in the swamp and in R'lyeh are superb. There are no boring and stereotype computer-effects that you would find in every mainstream-production today. It is very difficult to make the appearance of Cthulhu not look like a scene from a video game, but the HPLS-team was able to avoid that. The dreamlike atmosphere is caught well. The acting is quite capable for amateurs; probably better then some over payed "actors" in other productions. Especially Noah Wagner as captain gives a great performance. "Call of Cthulhu" deserves a 10 of 10. It is a shame that some people try to put this great movie down with fake reviews. If the spilling-connection has to run a smear campaign against a great fan-movie to advertise their own product, they must be selling a real stinker.