Product Description

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 03/31/2009

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23338 in DVD
• Brand: RYKODISC
• Released on: 2009-03-31
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Features

• Tori Spelling stars in 'Cthulhu', the terrifying reinvention of theic HP Lovecraft tale. When Russell (Jason Cottle), a gay college professor, returns to his small hometown to rectify his late mother s estate, he discovers the town embroiled in a sinister plot to take over the world, and his own destiny entwined with their plans. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R

Amazon.com
The Oregon coast is a wild, rugged place of beauty and danger--and the unsettling backdrop for the film version of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu. Creepy and unsettling things lie just beyond view in the picturesque fictional town of Rivermouth (actually Astoria, where the film was shot entirely on location). For those who take solace in visiting the seaside, the film is even more unsettling. The story is based on Lovecraft's novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth, though the script takes a few liberties, including making the lead character, Russ (Jason Cottle) gay--which in a small insular town can be a quiet horror show of its own. Russ is called back from the big city to Rivermouth after the death of his mother to be executor of her estate. While there he meets up with his best friend from school, and sparks fly. But there's a dark thread running through the reunion, as Russ learns he's but the latest to be affected by a particularly gruesome form of a family curse. "My son," Russ's father intones--and not in that good way, "this is your rightful place." The film is uniformly well acted (including Tori Spelling as a townie with a really perverted side; when she says, "I'm not going to die without you," you might want to start running), and the scares and shocks more than a little unnerving. Cthulhu takes its rightful place alongside Jaws as the film that won't make you feel safe to go back in the ocean. --A.T. Hurley

Customer Reviews

Gay drama (very) thinly disguised as classic Shadow over Innsmouth and misrepresented with title 'Cthulu'
Disgracefully disappointing attempt to infiltrate the, revered literary artist, H.P. Lovecrafts domain.

The first offense was to name the film Cthulhu when this appears to be (at first anyway) primarily based on the classic 'Shadow over Innsmouth'. The second mistake was to adhere to the obvious request of the film distributors to consistently insist upon gay drama instead of focusing on the intriguing mythos that H.P. Lovecraft so brilliantly hinted at throughout most of his stories

I would like to make it clear that I do not resent or disapprove of either artistic license or gay drama but there does have to be a limit and I, personally, do not appreciate the feeling of insistence upon the viewer that they need to take an interest in the relationships of a sexually confused writer with anger issues delivered throughout as opposed to spending more time focusing on H.P.L and the universe that he created for us.

Now to the third - what happened to the story? What are you trying to do to H.P.Ls work? The first hints of tension appear and wha? ...what's this? 'The Shadow over Insmouth' now appears to be integrated with snippets from the rest of H.P.Ls canon. Please do tell me ...What exactly was the writer thinking about when creating this script? I firmly belive that the writer may have suffered what some may call 'Needus Moneyous Badlius' or "Please sir can I have the funds for this film if I write a part for your sibling and change anything that you don't like?"

The final disappointment was the acting, while professionally delivered, there is a very distinct stiffness from all of the actors with the exception of Tori Spelling who (again nothing personal) played a predictable flirty college girl wow!!!!!! hold me back I haven't seen that before - let's put that down to either poor direction or atypical scriptwriting to acquire the "company's" approval and retrieve the funds they needed to make their film.
Note to the film crew Next time please ensure that the appropriate respect is reflected should you choose to make a film based on an H.P. Lovecraft story instead of succumbing to the temptation to take money for a project as opposed to maintaining the integrity of the story and the film project.
The film does not deliver a sense of menace until the film is almost over and that sense of terror\fear is extremely diminished by the preceding focus on what seemed to me to be akin to a gay dawsons creek drama as opposed to a tension building drama (e.g. Ringu)
That having been said I won't deny that there was spectacular scenery filmed.

If you were expecting any further praise prepare for dissapointment (at least you have recieved a warning - those of us that purchased this film had none)

Final comment ..I don't even approve of one star to rate this film but didn't have a choice - not quite Dreadful cac but only a few steps away (not even clever enough to at least come off as pretentious) ..don't waste your money on this drek

If you want good H.P. Lovecraft oriented films then look up Director Stuart Gordon for better artistically transposed goodies such as the incredible 'Dagon','Re-Animator' and 'From Beyond' and if you're a hardcore H.P.L purist you will truly enjoy the astounding 'The Call of Cthulhu'

Absolutely not recommended viewing for the H.P. Lovecraft fan but might be good fodder for those looking for a little bi-sexual titillation and approximately five (count 'em) outbursts with the main protaganist repeatedly spouting fbombs every other word of his dialogue, again I don't really have any issue with profanity but give it a rest after one or two fbombs don't write one in after every single word for a 40 word speech (know your bloody limits) ...not really very clever chaps, better luck next time and leave H.P.L to the professionals.

A great Lovecraftian movie
I say "Lovecraftian" because I don't feel that this movie is a direct adaptation of any Lovecraft story; it has a passing resemblance to "Shadow Over Innsmouth", but it is not a movie treatment of this material. Instead, I found this film has a wonderful Lovecraft "feel" to it. The plot is a bit choppy in places, but the tension builds nicely throughout the film; there are also several genuine jolts, which rather suprised me. When I found that the lead character was gay, I was pleased to find that it fit right in with the story rather than standing out in any glaring sort of way. For the most part, the writing and acting were quite good, and the movie as a whole is beautifully filmed. I would recommend "Cthulhu" for those who prefer a more sedate, stylish horror movie as opposed to one with graphic gore.

Approaching The Awkwardly Uncanny
The scariest experiences I have ever had have all come from my own bad dreams. The scariest ones are usually the awkward, odd, off-putting ones that resemble reality and depart from it in odd uncomfortable ways. In cinema horror films rarely even scratch the surface of what my own head can produce. Usually in cinema horror is approached simply as the threat of death to the protagonist and their peers. The better horror films depart from the simple and get awkward and uncanny. There are only a handful of such films. The Shining, Videodrome, The Exorcist, just to name a few, address the uncanny more and deal with the threat of death less. The threat of death is replaced with the uncanny, the bizarre, the unknown.

I feel that as humans our fear of the unknown is more frightening than the threat of death. I feel all horror is an attempt to capture and bring this fear of the uncomfortable unknown to the forefront and tease and scare us with it.

This film while being low budget and having flaws still approaches this uncanny unknown fear and comes very close to being very very scary. It's successful on many levels too. We experience the film through the protagonists point of view. We know as little as he does which works well in this film. The main character is gay and the film has an overall homosexual feel to it. I did not mind this and felt it actually added a nice juxtaposition between the fringe element he is uncovering and the way he exists within one of societies fringe social groups. Gay for me is not a marketing tool, but since there are so few mainstream films with gay protagonists i did feel it was interesting. I was reminded of some Gus Van Sant films like My Own Private Idaho. I enjoy watching films that are not run of the mill. This film was not. It was done artfully and with as much care as possible given it's obvious budget constraints. For what it was working with it was way above par. I would love to see what this director could have accomplished with a bit more money and a few better actors. The acting did not stink but it was obviously below par at points.

Ultimately i enjoyed this and will now re-read some Lovecraft. I recommend this film for anyone with the patients to give it a chance and see something that is not mainstream. It will require a few viewings for me and that is always a good thing. perhaps it will grow on me as some films need time to sink in to become beloved. For now i just think it was done very well. 4 out of 5 stars.