H. P. Lovecraft's the Old Ones

In comparison to its predecessor "The Deep Ones", this is more of a "guys night" horror film. An ex-Dagon cult leader and a young man team up to try and turn back time. They are chased by 3 Dagon cult members, one possessed by an "old one." They seek out a Lovecraft god Nyarlathotep for the time travel help. "The Old Ones" has more and better monster special effects than "The Deep Ones." "The Deep Ones", however, has more memorable scenes: weird introduction to the cult members, fire-dancer, and strange doctor house call. "The Old Ones" has more of a masculine vibe than "The Deep Ones." The one female character is the ex-Dagon cult members wife. She has a few small scenes. There is a scene with a man dressed up like a woman, but it comes across like maybe he lost a bet and had to do that.

This movie is absolutely pure Lovecraft cheese. It has great practical effects for such a low budget film, and it has a perfect Lovecraftian dark ending! It's strange, bizarre and weird. I suggest watching it with an open mind and don't expect anything past cheesy acting and clunky dialogue. But it's lots of fun and I enjoyed it. Of course, I'm a huge Lovecraft fan and will try out a Lovecraft movie as soon as I find one. I've read many of his stories, and even like most adaptations. The only actor missing from the movie is Jeffrey Combs. If you get past the first third of the movie, you'll love the ride.

After escaping from a demon cult, a man and a teen survivor find themselves targeted by the cult to continue preparing him for the cult's upcoming celebrations requiring him to be involved in the ceremony against his will and must stop their plans before it comes to fruition.

Overall, this was a fairly solid if problematic genre effort. The main factor that works here is the rather fun action and special effects that result from the confrontations featured here. The central concept of this one allows for a constant stream of encounters where the demonic creatures appear trying to kill the two of them and the means of escaping the beings allows for a solid display of practical effects make-up and gore to be delivered. While it can show its limitations with these sequences, the use of physical suits and masks is quite nice with the demonic fish-beings given a solid showcase with their presence providing plenty of decent gore throughout here. None of this is mind-blowing or amazing but the mere inclusion is enough to be the big selling point here, and with the great pacing keeping this one entertaining provides some likable factors for this one. This one does have some big issues that hold it down. Among the main issues here is the convoluted and absolutely difficult storyline that has so little sense about what's going on it feels impossible to tell what the point is. The idea of a time-traveling being from the past corrupted by the demon cult for a special ceremonial ritual who takes in a survivor of the creatures' attacking those who took the guy in and sets off on a road trip through the countryside to get back to the past where he can stop the creatures then is so over-the-top and twisted it's hard to make sense of everything. That this comes off because it keeps introducing new hurdles or obstacles on their road trip as the two try to stay one step ahead of the pursuing creatures is all fluff with new stuff added more as an excuse to reference other bits of writing than telling a coherent story. It also doesn't help that so much of this one is supposed to be a massive, sprawling epic trying to contain this time-traveling battle for the ages but is almost too ambitious for its good. The use of vicious fish-people demon creatures, body-hopping possession, interdimensional traveling machines, and occult objects all come together into a wide-ranging storyline that feels like they belong in a film with far more of a budget behind them than what's typically found in a low-budget indie like this one. While they all look impressive in design, the execution leaves little impression about what they are as there's little mixing up the emotionless, immobile masks that are typically present here. Even worse is the laughably inaudible dialogue by the distorted voice of the possessed demons where it is next-to-impossible to understand without using subtitles with how they come off, and all these end up holding this one back the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Full Nudity.

The film is actually a remake of the famous '80s "From Beyond," a former videotape hit. Of course with a much reduced budget, but instead a strange humor, and a few sequences changed here and there. It's not a badly made movie, if you compare it to other bigger or lower budget movies, for fans of the genre it's worth watching. And for those who haven't seen the original "From Beyond" yet, take the time to watch it. ("Something is coming").

The ending is predictable and leaves the impression of a hopeless situation for the "Good Samaritans", those who try to help. The funny thing is the leftovers sequence. Greatness, I have brought you gifts. What gifts? Leftovers?

Clearly made for next to nothing, this little movie still manages to effectively evoke the spirit of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos of madness and despair. It also adds a twist in the shape of a spry and dry sense of humour. Lovecraft fans will get it, even if most viewers may be bemused and befuddled.

Limited resources aside, there are some memorable scenes from the David Lynch playbook and the plot involving the Old Ones, eldritch terrors, time travel, mind control, insanity and more is creepy fun.

Drawing inspiration from several Lovecraft classics, it gets the basics right.

The script, direction and some of the performances may be evocative of Ed Wood, but a thick slathering of humour - and even occasional outright comedy - shows the filmakers do not take themselves too seriously.

Rubber monsters, dime store costumes, bizarre locations and weird set dressing (the giant fire hydrant in the scrapyard is a doozy!) give it "so bad it's good" vibes, but it's better than that. It's got an authentic atmosphere, some surprisingly decent horror effects and gore, a good ending. And could well attract a cult following...