At the Mountains of Madness

Low budget / no budget. But, not too bad version of ole H. P's most famous story.

Ended up here from the Dark Eyes of London fanzine which covered this and other films from the director in detail - which I picked up at a horror film fest.

Nice to see they used little bits of H. P's actual dialogue. Pity the poor actor who had to get his mouth around some of the tongue twisters in the script.

The director of the film provided me with a free DVD copy of Markham the first film as well, which in some ways I prefer to this. Although there's not really much Lovecraft in the first one, apart from random bits of Innsmouth and the UK sea side setting which is pretty bleak (Staithes). The first film is almost impossible to describe, like a bad trip (if you're into that sort of thing).

Looking forward to the last in the series. These are not for everyone, but if you're looking for UK films made under the radar, and are a low budget horror fan (and UK based) these have enough art and craft to keep you entertained - even if the zero budget shows sometimes.

Decent low budget attempt to film the story that Hollywood says is un-filmable.

Script, and pared down approach works - shot in black and white, and claustrophobic at times.

Handful of unknowns in the cast (who do very well) director acted as DOP too.

The climate change angle gets us into the story - and the ending (different to the Lovecraft) kind of works.

Probably not enough blood or VFX to satisfy everyone - but there isn't the money for that here (or for much of anything I think)- what is on show, is pretty watchable - and proves that the tale can work as film (with a sensible approach to the story). Lovecraft Society online enjoyed it - it's a serious take on the story - the ambition outstrips the budget though... Part of a trilogy which is worth seeking out for fans of low budget filmmaking/horror/lovecraft - I left a review on Markham too (the first in this trilogy).

I really wish all these zero budget, low quality indie outfits would leave Lovecraft stories alone. There are too many awful HPL screenplays out there already. And so many that are just really bad...like this one.

If you're a movie purist and just want to see an HPL movie and you don't care how bad it is, you may like this one. Some people do seem to love awful indie films. I don't. They make me angry. If I wanted horrid movies, I'd watch the SciFi channel.... Which I don't.

You'd be better off watching Black Mountain Side, though. It's a really similar story, indie, low budget and watchable.