hellraiser7 H.P. Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors, his stories always carried a strange allure of the unknown, and were always scary for our fear of it. Though his stories adapted into the visual medium have always been a hit or miss affair (though same can be said for a lot of other writers.) However this short film I'll admit in my book is no doubt one of the best and most faithful.The film is made in the silent film style which surprisingly fits like a glove and from a historical standpoint makes sense since the 1920's were the time when H.P.'s stories came out. I'll admit it is really surreal that I even watched this film, it really looks, sounds, and feels like a lost silent horror film.This was done on a low budget but it was used well and right. I really like the production design, most of them were stage/studio props and pieces but they were constructed well. The design of the Cyclopean civilization didn't disappoint me, some of the design obviously borrows from the German expressionist horror film "The Cabnet of Dr. Calagari". And I feel it fits just right because it really gave the Cyclopean civilization a mysterious, disorienting, ominous quality; as if the civilization was something constructed and derived from dreams or nightmares. Even liked the cinematography, not just in the use of once again black and white but that they added a granny quality to the film to make it really look and feel like something from a by gone era. Music is on cue and I think is great and memorable, really liked those tunes that evoked dread.But I really like the story structure which was slightly true to it's predecessor, where the whole thing is basically told in a sort of journalistic style from the perspective of one to several people, which gave it the mystery sensibility and a participatory sense where in a way we're the real investigators trying to put it all together.It's true we don't really see Cthulhu till about the end of the film, but Cthulhu's presence is felt throughout the whole build up of the film. You really have this sense of doom and dread not just that what we're immersed in isn't just going to lead to something bad but possibly this monster is already watching and waiting and as we discover those that investigate too deeply are doomed.If your a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's works then this is a call worth answering if you dare.Rating: 4 stars

Mikel3 We watched 'The Call of Cthulhu' late last night. It's a 2005 film made to look like a 1920s b/w silent movie. There is no sound just the dialog screens like in old movies. I do think it would have benefited from an organ accompaniment as was often used in that day. Instead it was totally silent. The actors and scenes were also done to look like a film from that era. This story is from one of HP Lovecraft's most famous. I was never a fan of his and I'm still not. All his stories I've seen made into films are basically the same, creatures from another dimension or time, whatever, are trying to enter our world and take over. Often some nuts are trying to help them. This one was different because the film was made to look like it's from 1928 the same time Lovecraft wrote the story. It only lasted 47 minutes and that was wise. The novelty of watching a 2005 film made to look like a 1920 silent was wearing off by the time it ended. For me it was worth seeing since I love old films even if I'm not a Lovecraft fan. The makers should be respected for what they tried to do here. It often really did look like an old silent film. The monster effects near the end seem right on the money for the time. Sometimes the set designs looked like something right out of 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'. See this if you appreciate silent films.

pcsarkar First things first. Silent, b/w technology, jerky monsters and actors with exaggerated facial expressions do not automatically translate into cinematographic excellence. Had it been so, all films of the silent era would have been masterpieces. Which they were not.Talented authors like Lovecraft have had the misfortune of having their works turned into cinematographic trash. Lovecraftian stories have a lot of imagery (and savagery), and its utter bunkum to state that the same cannot be converted to true cinematographic form. They can.. only the will and the budget should be there.Coming back to this piece of travesty, I would like to sadly say that I deleted this film from my computer's hard disk, as promptly as I had loaded it. Need I say more?

Lee Eisenberg Cthulhu was probably H.P. Lovecraft's most famous creation, and it's finally a movie. And a good one at that. "The Call of Cthulhu" is done like a 1920s German expressionist movie, as the characters pass through settings whose perspective looks out of shape, not to mention that it's silent. Of course, the best part is when the titular character appears: the movie might have a smaller than average budget, but they manage to make Cthulhu into one bad dude.I once read a compilation of Lovecraft's stories, and they ARE pretty horrific. To be certain, Stephen King called Lovecraft the greatest horror author of all time. The decision to give the movie a 1920s look actually strengthened it in my opinion. Too much of what passes for horror these days is just CGI and people shouting inane lines.In conclusion, this is certainly one to check out. It's not absolutely frightening in the vein of "The Shining", but it's still pretty interesting. "The Artist" (which I still haven't seen as yet) seems to have renewed interest in silent movies, and this is one that's worth seeing. You just never know when you might find some Cthulhu worshipers...