Macabre Movie Mausoleum: In Search of Lovecraft
Happy birthday weekend to me! Thank you my little gravediggers and undertakers for joining me in this special birthday edition of Macabre Movie Mausoleum. HP Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors, and possibly most influential to my own writing. I will happily admit that this is the sole basis of me choosing this movie. I tend to steer clear of these ultra-low budget independent flicks, but hey it was on Netflix! It can’t be all bad, right? … Right?
In Search of Lovecraft (2008)
Director: David J Hohl
Starring: Denise Amrikhas, Tytus Bergstrom, Jeff De Lucio-Brock
The movie is about a rookie reporter named Rebecca and her team doing a fluff piece on Lovecraft and his writings for Halloween. Frustrated at the assignment and not working on a ‘real’ story, Rebecca halfheartedly attempts to complete the story. But during their reporting, they learn that the horrors Lovecraft wrote about may not be works of fiction after all.
One thing anyone watching this needs to keep in mind is that this is about as low budget as a movie can get. As I said, it was on Netflix, which was more than a little surprising to be honest. Still, it is clear that at least the author, and presumably the director (since it was the same person), are as big of fans of Lovecraft as yours truly.
The acting is subpar, but that’s to be expected when a struggling director/writer uses his friends and/or equally struggling actors to make a movie. But all things considered, I’ve seen worse in theatrical released movies (I’m looking at you Wickerman Remake). The special effects were worse than the acting though, but the director was thankfully aware of this and wisely kept the use of them to a minimum.
The biggest issue the movie suffers from is that it doesn’t get specific enough with the Lovecraftian horrors that the news team has to deal with. The writer could have really delved deep into the Lovecraft mythos and presented many more nods to the creations therein, but he didn’t. There were several good ones, and I’ll let you find them on your own, but it feels like a missed opportunity.
Anyway, the rating is…
I’m biased. I will admit that freely and happily. If this movie hadn’t been about HP Lovecraft, I possibly would have marked the grave with a simple cross (2). But this is better than most of the indie fan movies I’ve seen. With all of it’s bad acting, and worse special effects, there’s still a charm to this movie. You can feel the passion the creator has for the source material, and that alone deserves some credit. But this is certainly a movie only for diehard Lovecraft fans, or drunk groups of friends that want to laugh.
So, what do you know, a Netflix movie wasn’t all bad!
For more from the author, check out AzarRising
