Customer Reviews

In Search of Lovecraft

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Most new Lovecraft inspired movies don't adhere to the accepted "canon" created by either Lovecraft and/or Derleth, so I did not expect this film to do so, and I was not disappointed. It is, however, far closer to the original "canon" than the Reanimator films or the Unnameable films. So, I guess this is a "true" modern Lovecraft film.

As for the movie itself, it obviously had a rather small budget. The acting is adequate, but certainly not great. The lead girl is attractive and competent, but hardly a great actress. The story does move along slowly, which is much like a Lovecraft story, and the characters discover each new piece of the puzzle much as Lovecraft's characters did in his better stories. Several times, the dialogue is very stilted, as though the writer is explaining things rather than doing true dialogue. The actors occasionally seem to fall out of character, too.

Still, for all the faults, this is not a terrible film. It has moments of real Lovecraft feeling. For the price, it isn't too terribly expensive, either. If you are a Lovecraft fan, you can certainly do worse than watching this little film.

this movie reminds me of my chess skills. it started out strong, but fell apart at the end. overall, it is a likeable indie film. it is low budget. i thought the writing and editing was good. the points i don't like and hence 2 stars: 1) the cover has nothing to do with the movie. there is no nudity, though the witch is mighty fine looking. in the rating section it does say sexually explicit scenes but there are none. 2) it's full screen, not wide screen. 3) there is no depth to any of the acting. 4) the ending was bad. 5) the visual effects weren't that good. but, saying all that, i still like it somewhat and give it credit for the effort.

Since I'm getting ready to direct my first session of Call of Cthulhu on Saturday, I thought I'd rent a couple of DVDs to help get in the spirit of the thing. One of the movies I came home with was In Search of Lovecraft, a low-budget affair set in modern-day San Francisco. The acting is amateurish (barely above porn movie quality), the sets are cheap (every place has that barely-furnished look that comes when directors rent a house for a weekend and don't have enough in the budget to dress the rooms realistically), and the special effects are mediocre. On the other hand, the script is halfway decent and it's clear the writer is actually a fan of H.P. Lovecraft and tried hard to stick to the Mythos and Lovecraftian themes.

As for that chick on the cover, I have no idea who that is--she's not in the movie.

I was never a huge fan of Lovecraft. I always considered his style to be overwrought, even given the subject material. Nevertheless, he had an interesting take on the horror genre and I'm glad I took the time to read the things of his that I did.
There have been relatively few film adaptations of his work and so whenever one surfaces I try to check it out. Up to now, that approach has stood me in relatively good stead. Dagon's a fine little scare picture, and the recently done "Call of C" was so quirky as to be quite entertaining.
This movie, on the other hand, sucks. I regret descending to that level of of descriptive language, but no other word really seems to fit correctly. The sets suck. The acting sucks. The cinematography sucks. The script sucks. The direction sucks. The only suckitude I'm uncertain of is that of the end credits because I couldn't force myself to sit through the entire disaster.
I kept thinking that the opening scenes were some sort of gag reel and that the movie would transition to something worthwhile. That didn't happen.
This is one of the very few full length features I've seen where I quit watching halfway through, convinced that I could have done a better job with the same budget, which obviously was abysmally inadequate for a film of this length.
Sorry to those involved in the project to be so negative, but this one should never have been released. It's that bad.

I'm sorry, but this ain't even an interesting film school project. I might take a quirky rabid-fan homage... but wow, don't be payin' actual money for this shambler from the lame. A camera & some friends does not equal cinema... not even bad cinema... 'nuf said.

There has to be a point when the budget forces you to make so many compromises that it just isn't worth continuing. I'm watching it now and the experience is painful. Why, Mr Director whose name I've forgotten and don't expect to see again, why did you not bother to rehearse your cast, so each line sounds as if they're sight reading it for the first time? Why did you have a cheesy schoolgirl character then cast a 30 year old woman to chew up the part?

The lead actress is clearly convinced she's in a turkey (to be fair she's right, she is) and that's the only thing she's convinced by. The witch sounds like she only saw the script that morning - I'm going to hazard a guess they could only afford her for the weekend and managed to batter down her fee - she looks and acts like she's putting as little into this as she can get away with. And the occult expert clearly went to the plank school of acting. Is it right to cheer when a major character dies? Trust me I'm spoiling nothing. I cheered with sheer relief and so will you.

It's going head to head with Last Relic (flawed but great fun) and the silent Call of Cthulhu, with its imaginative nod to the German Expressionists. And it's losing hands down to both. Do not buy this movie. Rent it if it's really really cheap and you absolutely have to see it. The only horror here is the thing itself. And maybe the possibility of a sequel.

This movie was truley awful, I agree baisically with the other reviewers but it offended me because of its genuine lack of creativity and it wasn't even fun,like some of the bad mythos stories can be, it was competent,boring and made to suck cash from unsuspecting Lovecraft fans,much worse even than a "BAD" movie.(The audio WAS incompetent).

When I bought this film, I was warned by an Amazon reviewer. I should have listened. I love the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and thought I would give this film a try with an open mind. Sorry I didn't listen. It was NOT a good film.