User Reviews

This short film captures the mood and conflicted emotions of Lovecraft's original story perfectly. Writer/director Bryan Moore has great potential and an ear for dialogue. He creates a number of sympathetic characters in a very short period and thereby out does Lovecraft's original story. It is a shame this film has received so little public attention, it deserves better. I highly recommend it not simply to those fans of Lovecraft who yearn for a good adaptation to finally be made, but to anyone with an appreciation of mood and character.

This 50-minute adaptation of Lovecraft's story 'Cool Air' actually has more punch than the original story. Instead of going for any shock value that could be exploited, Bryan Moore creates a very human story about a man's desire to live...or at least avoid death...at any cost. Doctor Munoz (played by Jack Donner) is unusual for a Lovecraft character in that we don't fear him or what he does. In fact, we come to pity Munoz for how much he has lost, and how much he's sacrificed to stay alive.

'Never underestimate the power of the human will', Munoz tells Randolph Carter, and the audience comes to believe that, whatever medicine or strange science he says is keeping him alive, it is his will that keeps death at bay.

This is an excellent short film. I saw it recently at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon, and it very nearly got a standing ovation from the audience. So did Bryan Moore and Jack Donner when they had a Q&A session with the audience. Hell, we should have carried them out on our shoulders. I hope we haven't heard the last of Bryan Moore; he's a filmmaker to watch.

10/10 stars.

at the cost of sounding redundant, i have found Cool Air to the the as- of-yet best adaptation of a Lovecraft story, and a very, very worthy film in its own.

Cool Air is taken from HPL's short story of the same name, and talks about the meeting of the main character, Carter in this version, with the mysterious dr Munoz, and the resulting facts.

Bryan Moore, director and lead, is decent, but not exceptional in either role. The supporting mrs Caprezzi is very good, but Jack Donner as doctor Munoz is astounding - it's worth watching this film for his performance alone.

Also, for such a small production, the film is very well done, and the accompanying soundtrack is at times almost moving.

Having watched in my life way too many Mythos-inspired films, i have to say, this one tops them all, going well above the more complicated The Whisperer in Darkness. Cannot recommend enough. Must Watch Now!

Fully cool faithful adaptation to the original Lovecraft story. Not like most most Lovecraft adaptations,like Brian Yuzna's which are fully cool but not quite faithful. This one is down the line true as an adaptation can get... A must see for Lovecraft fans!!!!!!!

Cool air is (for once) a faithful adaption of a Lovecraft short story. The camera work is great and the mood is perfect. The actor that plays the old guy is incredible! If you are a Lovecraft fan, seek out this movie and own it, I did.

If you are familiar with the original H. P. Lovecraft short story "Cool Air", you know this is not one of the most terrifying tales he's ever written. You will not find tentacled gargantuans and chittering humanoid ocean beasts. There is still the Lovecraftian stamp of disturbing graphic weirdness, but it doesn't come in larger than life form where the fate of all mankind is on the razor's edge. The sloshes are smaller, but never fear, a-sloshing we will go all the same. Lovecraft still speaks to the fear of death and our drive to stall fate for as long as we can as well as the true-to-form bubbling and sloshing nastiness that seeps and creeps into everything he wrote.

Consider that in your average Lovecraft piece you dont necessarily care about the wellbeing of the protagonist. I daresay that most often we are waiting with baited breath for them to meet some terrible doom. A large part of the thrill of reading these stories is wondering, "Just how bad will it be this time?" while either rubbing or wringing our hands about the possible terrors ahead. With director Bryan Moore's adaptation we begin with much the same experience: when will we reach the part where someone loses their mind or becomes overwhelmed by cultists? As Lovecraft's original story unfolds we simply dont have reason to feel personal affinity for anyone. The promise of dark horror is what holds us in our seats. In Moore's Cool Air, not only do we have interest in our protagonist Randolph Carter (played by Moore), we can instantly adore the humor and vigor of landlady Mrs. Caprezzi (Vera Lockwood). But when the mysterious Doctor Muñoz (Jack Donner) enters, that is when we are given that excited expectant chill of, "Okay, someone is going to be revealed as a doppelganger alien life form soon, right?". Well, there is more to Moore's Cool Air beyond that promise of horror and a few palatable personalities.

Without revealing the full changes in Moore's work from the original, I can say that it is easy to enjoy each of these characters for their individual charms. The Doctor Muñoz of Moore's film is a figure far beyond the fellow described in the original. On his arrival to the story in both the film and the original we can immediately sense that our horror hinges on him. Unlike the character in Lovecraft's original, Donner masterfully shifts between putting us ill at ease and tugging at our sympathies with even the slightest change of his face and tone so that we are continually guessing as to Muñoz's true intentions. In the original, he is a sophisticated mad science sort and this does the job, but he's fairly one note. With Donner's portrayal and a significantly more developed story, we learn enough about him to become invested in his fate. We wonder what he is hiding and whether he is a victim or the monster itself. There is always a monster.

There is just enough insight into the lives of each of these 3 characters that we can experience empathy for each, foregoing the typical Lovecraft detachment. Although there is some kitch to their mannerisms and dialogue in the film, it's well suited for the era the film is fashioned after and is nostalgic for the old-timey character portrayals of the past. These bits could have been a distraction from the atmosphere, but the heart of the work beats strong (no doubt pumped in large part by Jack Donner's incredible performance). Although there is a gruesome end with the inevitable Lovecraftian sloshing nastiness, there is a tender innocence in the overall presentation that is rare in modern film. Even the slosh has it's tragic beauty.

Ultimately Moore's film was a standout because it was about humanness using the monstrous as a foil rather than the reverse that Lovecraft consistently employs. That someone could find sweetness in those pages is a special thing. I highly recommend it as not simply a contrast to analyze but to enjoy it as an successful piece of cinema in its own right.