Movie Details
| Title: | The Whisperer in Darkness | |
| Director: | Sean Branney | |
| Year: | 2011 | |
| Genre: | Science Fiction | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.10.19 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.10.19 | Blu-ray | This Screening is part of event: DVRfest 2019 I've been getting back into Call of Cthulhu for the past year or so, reading the source books and revisiting some of the original writing in preparation to run a few games for my work group. It's fun. I think maybe Lovecraft's fiction lends itself best to RPGs rather than movies in terms of adaptation. This one, by the "HP Lovecraft Historical Society" who made the silent-era Call of Cthulhu, a stellar prop kit for Masks of Nyarlathotep, and a sweet set of period fonts and stationery to use for prop creation, was supposedly pretty good. They present this as an early-30s talkie the same way they made Call of Cthulhu as a silent, but the resolution and acting easily mark it as a contemporary low-budget project. That, along with the main actor's passing resemblance to Alton Brown, gave the whole movie a vibe like it was a Good Eats sketch that I had trouble shaking. Still, it's nice to have the source material (which I have never gotten around to reading for whatever reason) feel faithfully adapted. Certainly the tone feels right... lots of talking in the beginning followed by an isolating trip to the country where bad things happen... a fitting ending... all these things feel 100% Lovecraftian to me. In that regard I suppose this is a success, although I'd hesitate to recommend it to anyone not already a fan of the author (or RPG). These guys now produce radio plays based on other Lovecraft stories. I haven't heard them but i bet they're great. I definitely applaud the amount of work that went into this. Period cars and visual effects and even a plane! I just wish it was a little softer focus, lower resolution. I guess in a perfect world they would've shot it like The Lighthouse with vintage lenses and special stock but who can afford that. Next up is... a bit of inventory as I see what from my list is available on which platform. It's nice to just write a list of movies to see and feel confident that I can get them, but I should've done this legwork before the fest started. oops. |
