Older Gods

This is an indie film, with a low budget, but the talent behind the project is evident. As you can guess from the title, it was heavily inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's stories and mythos. The film has a great start, building tension slowly but steadily, with a fantastic photography, especially in the dream sequences (which reminded me a lot of another, superior, lovecraft-inspired movie, The Void). No unnecessary action sequences, like many other modern horrors. After the first half I was sure it was going straight to my list of favourite movies...finally, a Lovecraftian story done right! Alas, it began to lose momentum and in the last half hour crashed miserably, with a series of unfortunate choices that, besides being decidedly out of place in a Lovecraftian worldview, also completely ruined the atmosphere cultivated up to that point.

I give it a six and not less for the first part only; give it a chance but do yourself a favor and skip the atrocious ending.

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.

Ok, this goes out to all of you movie ppl. Car alarms are wicked fn annoying. Set the thing off, then shut it off. There's no need to let it run for a minutes. There's nothing going on there but you annoying the shite out of your audience. Seriously. {facepalm} Otherwise, the concept was good. I love a good alternative history jont. Good actors, good story, directing could have been better {see facepalm}. What I don't get is, you get these producers to back you and you have the time and ability to make a movie, and 95/100 times, they suck. But this one on its slim budget was good. Thanks for the trip!

Come on that gem deserves more than an average 5.

I almost skipped this one, after some reviews bashing the supposed fake - which i dont really think they are - what a shame. I, like a lot of us, have plenty of movies to watch everywhere but i really enjoy a good sci fi or horror movie. I liked this one a lot. Yes of course this is about Lovecraft but quite well executed.

If you liked The Void and In the mouth of madness (that one is really a must see), you may enjoy this one.

Small budget, and the credits... almost 4-5 talented guys that did this gem. Kudos to you.

I give it a 8/10 and i think it deserves it.

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.