Older Gods

Older Gods is a cool little movie that seems to me to be more of a drama piece than a flat out horror.

Not saying its not creepy, there is a nightmare scene that really freaked me out as well as a couple of other really dark scenes but its more of a study on survivor guilt and loss.

Rory Wilson did a lot by himself, hes pretty much in every scene, most of the time by himself, and its a really great performance and it will be really interesting to see what projects he does in the future.

Its not the type of horror I usually watch but I watched it on my phone on a journey and I liked how weird it was.

It would have been interesting to see what the film would be like if it had a larger budget.

The final shot has a great 'oh s**t' moment.

As an avid Lovecraft fan and someone who's fascinated by cosmic horror in general, I went into this movie with extremely (and perhaps unreasonably) high hopes. The film's website promoted it as a "Lovecraftian descent into madness", and while it has its positive aspects, overall, I found it quite disappointing.

To start with what Older Gods does well, the cinematography is quite nice, the acting is decent, there are moments of genuine tension, there's some good characterization (if not character development), the soundtrack is pretty solid, the (first half of) the script has some moments of real emotional poignancy, and some of the imagery, despite the filmmaker's obvious financial limitations, is suitably haunting. I also appreciated that they paid tribute to the source material without overtly referencing it, as well as their limited reliance on grotesque, gore-based spectacle. Lastly, it seems to have come from a place of sincerity and an authentic desire to create something artistic and meaningful, and for that, the creators deserve praise.

That being said, though it borrows heavily from Lovecraft's mythology in its framing, I'm sorry to say that it seems to entirely miss the point, narratively, tonally, and most significantly, thematically, and comes off more as a home invasion thriller with the motifs of cosmic horror than an unraveling mystery. The runtime is too short to let dread build up naturally, the mood shifts between that of a drama and a thriller and even into sardonic humor that borders on (if not reaches) bathos, and, most troublingly, the message is an undeniably humanistic one, something that's completely at odds with Lovecraft's pessimistic and anti-humanistic philosophy of cosmicism. Because of the way it was sold, I can't really judge Older Gods without looking at it through a Lovecraftian lens, though even with the alleged "descent into madness" being pretty lackluster, there's not much of a mystery or implied lore behind what you see on the surface, but I guess it could be entertaining if you're just looking for a slightly different shade of horror-based fun.

I'm really grateful that more filmmakers are taking on cosmic horror, however imperfectly, and if anyone is looking for recommendations, the even lower-budget Cthulhu (2007), Black Mountain Side, Gaia, The Lighthouse, The Borderlands, and the criminally underrated The Empty Man are all great. The Void, Glorious, and Underwater are also a lot of fun.

I hope that everyone who watches this finds something they like, but for cosmic horror fans, just know what you're getting into.

I think it has some nice points to this film, but in some ways it missed the mark to have the right tone for a Lovecraften horror. The set up was great, investigation of what happened to a friend when investigating some cult like activies works.

But it had to much drama, and not enough horror. Some moments had good tension, but overall it wasn't there as much as it could have been. Some of the dream stuff was pretty cool though, and the cinematography was nice. There were some beautiful locational shots too.

I also think with it being cult linked there could have been more cultists stalking the lead. But one guy messing with you isn't really as scary as it could be.

I was surprised how much I liked this but I did!

I doubt that friday the 13th / freddy / scream slasher horror fans will like it that much as its thoughtful and slower paced. It replaces gore with mystery and emotion. Its basically a drama with horror elements as its very creepy in a couple of scenes.

I think it was pretty ambitious for a low budget and I was always intrigued.

I thought Rory Wilson did a great job as the lead, its difficult to essentially be the only person who talks through an entire film but I thought he carried the film well.

I think if you go into this understanding knowing what it it (slower, thoughtful, creepy) rather than expecting a monster movie or something, you'll like it.

My girlfreind found this on amazon as we try to find low budget gems and we were pleasantly surprised wit this one. I thought it would be monsters etc but it was a good story with a few scary scenes and the acting was good. Lots of good shots and the nightmare scenes we nicely weird. Its all about atmosphere rather than a million monsters jumping out on you. Like how all the questions werent answered. Be interesting to see a prequel of what happened to his friend as the backstory there was interesting. Think im going to watch it again as like to see if it gave away some clues earlier in the film.