Preview: Calling All Cthulhu-philes

by J. Michael Bestul, That Crazy Guy Who Sleeps in Theater #13

Freed from the constraints of my thesis, I emerge with a few gray hairs and a unforeseen worry. It is a worry that festers in my ulcer-ridden stomach like some horribly gelatenous protoplasm. The question is: How will this worry emerge from my bowels? Will it emerge as a dark god, terrible and beautiful to behold, or as some mere mindless spawn that nibbles away at your sanity?

Let me back up. The subject of the aforementioned thesis, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, creates many a fine Lovecraftian product. Their latest endeavor was a short, silent-film version of the HPL classic, The Call of Cthulhu (highly recommended viewing). During the course of thesis-writing, I wanted a model of how to explain Lovecraftian weirdness to academic readers. To that end, I looked up the Wikipedia entry on "Cthulhu."

At the top of the article was this statement: "For the unreleased film, see Cthulhu (film)." Wait a minute... what?! Did they mean the HPLHS film? Nope. There is, in fact, a film currently in production entitled Cthulhu. And this is where the worry started gestating in my gut. After all, naming your movie after the chief entity in Lovecraft's Mythos takes some serious chutzpah.

Ever the researcher, I visited everyone's favorite study in pastel blue and gold, IMDb.com. The entry for Cthulhu was on the edge of a nightmare; alarm bells were ringing at the first glance. The director and writer have no listed credits (could be good indicator, could be very bad). The producers' only other common credit is Police Beat, a Sundance movie which garnered mixed reactions. Again, this could go either way.

But scrolling down the cast list, I see a name: Tori Spelling. Now, I know she's not the main character, but... Tori Spelling. Ack. Not to mention that the movie is loosely based off "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," a Lovecraft tale that barely mentions Cthulhu. The worry grew.

Seeking more unhallowed knowledge, I pored over the official movie site, the production blog, and an interview with the Horror Channel. And now I'm torn. I had already set my expectations low, usually a necessary thing when preparing for a Lovecraftian film. But this interview intrigued me; it gave me a little bit of hope. And that can be a dangerous thing.

The writer and director seem to know their source material. The ideas of environmentalism and self-destruction are tied to the destructive tendencies of the Mythos. The issue of homosexuality is tied to the alienation and self-discovery from "Shadow." Honestly, these attempts at a multi-layered interpretation of Lovecraft's story could either be insanely effective... or a train wreck waiting to happen. There's no in-between.

So here I sit, waiting for a movie that has the potential for schlock or greatness. Will the stars be right, or am I just getting my hopes up for another mind-numbingly bad Lovecraftian film?