pipkecollin

The title of the movie speaks true in that the only motivation for the main character is that she cares a lot about herself and has no other factor which makes her redeemable, relatable or meaniningful. There is nothing to celebrate about her or any other character in this movie.

The style here is honestly the aspect that drew me in the most for this adaptation of the seminal literary classic "The Call of the Cthulhu". The black and white, while giving the film a clean look (almost unrealistic at points), does what it was meant to do in conveying THAT necessary tone for a story of this type. A nice added touch is that it is fully silent and for most in today's day and age, that would be enough to turn some off of it - at only 47 minutes though the director did a great job at keeping the viewers attention despite no audible dialogue.

Visual effects were not terrible and some of the set designs were very nouveau being reminiscent of the German expressionism found in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Robert Weine. Which I was enamored with as it both visually arresting and incomprehensible at the same time - lending itself to being unabashedly Cyclopian. A style of which is pure Lovercraft. Some of the cinematography was nausea-inducing at points though and the script cards in a handful of instances could have been on screen a few seconds longer. Those are just small, nitpicky things though that can come with more time doing of film of this type.

All in all, Call of Cthulhu does a decent job of bringing the story to life and is woth the 47 minutes of your time if you at all have an unquenchable thirst for Lovecraft adaptations.

There is no question that this is one of this best, if not the best, example of bringing Lovercraftian horror into the visual spectrum. HP's stories are hard enough on their own to decipher what the characters are seeing and experiencing throughout their descent into madness or as a horrified listener of a tale spun by a veteran of Eldritch terrors. However, Huan Vu has done an amazing job at interpreting and presenting The Colour Out of Space. A story that is arguably one that is the most nebulous! The CG, while hokey at times, does what it needs to - but it doesn't detract much from the presentation itself given that this is not a Hollywood budgeted film. The choice of shooting in black and white for 2010 was a really good choice, especially in trying to convey the madness and atmosphere without specifically mentioning how horrible the situation is becoming for the Garteners. Stop motion also plays a nice role in showing decay and adding a subtle grotesqueness to scenes in which it is utilized. I really enjoyed all of the characters and especially the representation Mrs. Gartener's descent into madness as portrayed by Marah Schneider..very creepy and very affecting.

Honestly, if you have an reverence for this story I would give this movie a chance. I would highly recommend reading the story first before seeing the movie as to have a good anchor point. Overall, it stands high above other adaptations such as Dagon, Call of Cthulhu, Castle Freak and Re-Animator in it's cohesion and narrative justice.