The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

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)

This may be the most appropriate adaptation of an H. P. Lovecraft story ever!

This is my first review on IMDb. I was so pleasantly surprised (in such a twisted way) by this film that I felt almost obligated to comment on it.

I've always loved H. P. Lovecraft's stories and have read pretty much everything he produced. Unfortunately, his work must not translate well to film because most movies based on his stories are pretty regrettable. Many excellent and unique movies have incorporated elements and themes from his stories (The Ninth Gate, Cast a Deadly Spell, The Evil Dead movies, In The Mouth of Madness etc.), but many of those taken literally from his writings (The Dunwich Horror, Beyond The Wall of Sleep, The Curse, etc.) just don't work.

This film contains many elements that also generally don't work, at least for modern audiences. It's a silent movie filmed in black and white. The acting is consistent with old silent films or stage, with exaggerated expressions and movements and is even comical at times. It is clearly a very low budget affair with outmoded special effects. The strange thing is that all of this works very well with the story, making it perhaps the best screen adaptation of a Lovecraft story that I've seen to date.

Because of its format, TCOC takes a little patience but overall it's a lot of fun to watch and manages to build a fair amount of suspense and tension even as it amuses.