I'm partly cheating here, as i'm writing the first part of my review before seeing the film - but bare with me;
One of the reviewers of this film is Sandy Petersen, one of my idols and creator of, amongst other things, the famous Call of Cthulhu RPG, and he gave the film 10*. I would be most severely disappointed if this were a bogus rating, and to my defence i can say i have watched just about every Lovecraft-inspired film and short film out there and sadly, i have to say they are all mostly rubbish, except for the classic "From Beyond", and the rather good Cthulhu (2007), if you ignore the ratings.
Anyway, i'm off to see the film, will let you know how it works out.
Right!
I'm back from the film and i was pleasantly surprised.
The Whispered in Darkness is a *very* faithful adaptation of Lovecraft's novel of the same name - perhaps too faithful, even.
The film itself is apparently a low-budget, amateur's production, but the results are much better than the (pretty bad) 2005 Call of Cthulhu silent film, made by what i assume is the same bunch of guys - the Lovecraft Historical Society; it's shot in black and white, of course, but the acting is much better and easily on par with Hollywood's less- than-stellar performances, sure they don't have Seymour Phillip Hoffman, but it's not Cop Out either.
As for the production values, more would have been better (especially the flight sequence, but hey), but one can hardly complain since it seems that Hollywood wouldn't touch a Lovecraft story with a ten foot pole.
Now, for the script; it's good, it is - after all, it's a great Howard P. Lovecraft story - but this might be its undoing; while i really liked 2007's Cthulhu, as it was more "loosely" based on and it was really just profoundly inspired by HPL's story, tWiD is too close to the story which we have all read before. And of course nobody but a HPL fan is going to watch this, nor i believe will it get any airplay.
Don't get me wrong, i enjoyed this film, but i think that "inspired by" is more appropriate than "straight out copied from" since the target audience already knows everything HPL has ever written, by hearth. Also, on a final note, i like to say that i'v always felt HPL stories just don't translate well into film, or for that matter into any social setting; they are great books, but to be enjoyed alone. Even Sandy Petersen's great CoC RPG was a great read, but when played with friends, it hardly ever gave the same spine-chilling thrills. Sorry to break it to the folks at the HPLHS.
Maybe perhaps, it's time to bring to the screen some of Derleth's stories.
Anyway, my final vote : 6/10 - you'd be really dumb to miss this. (add up to 2 points if you like HPL)
One of the reviewers of this film is Sandy Petersen, one of my idols and creator of, amongst other things, the famous Call of Cthulhu RPG, and he gave the film 10*. I would be most severely disappointed if this were a bogus rating, and to my defence i can say i have watched just about every Lovecraft-inspired film and short film out there and sadly, i have to say they are all mostly rubbish, except for the classic "From Beyond", and the rather good Cthulhu (2007), if you ignore the ratings.
Anyway, i'm off to see the film, will let you know how it works out.
Right!
I'm back from the film and i was pleasantly surprised.
The Whispered in Darkness is a *very* faithful adaptation of Lovecraft's novel of the same name - perhaps too faithful, even.
The film itself is apparently a low-budget, amateur's production, but the results are much better than the (pretty bad) 2005 Call of Cthulhu silent film, made by what i assume is the same bunch of guys - the Lovecraft Historical Society; it's shot in black and white, of course, but the acting is much better and easily on par with Hollywood's less- than-stellar performances, sure they don't have Seymour Phillip Hoffman, but it's not Cop Out either.
As for the production values, more would have been better (especially the flight sequence, but hey), but one can hardly complain since it seems that Hollywood wouldn't touch a Lovecraft story with a ten foot pole.
Now, for the script; it's good, it is - after all, it's a great Howard P. Lovecraft story - but this might be its undoing; while i really liked 2007's Cthulhu, as it was more "loosely" based on and it was really just profoundly inspired by HPL's story, tWiD is too close to the story which we have all read before. And of course nobody but a HPL fan is going to watch this, nor i believe will it get any airplay.
Don't get me wrong, i enjoyed this film, but i think that "inspired by" is more appropriate than "straight out copied from" since the target audience already knows everything HPL has ever written, by hearth. Also, on a final note, i like to say that i'v always felt HPL stories just don't translate well into film, or for that matter into any social setting; they are great books, but to be enjoyed alone. Even Sandy Petersen's great CoC RPG was a great read, but when played with friends, it hardly ever gave the same spine-chilling thrills. Sorry to break it to the folks at the HPLHS.
Maybe perhaps, it's time to bring to the screen some of Derleth's stories.
Anyway, my final vote : 6/10 - you'd be really dumb to miss this. (add up to 2 points if you like HPL)