Pulpmovies Reviews

LovecracKed! The Movie is an anthology of nine films, all inspired – to a greater or lesser extent – by the writings of HP Lovecraft, and tied together with a running narrative from the world’s worst investigative journalist (Elias). As with all anthologies, some of the films work better than others but in this case the hits far outnumber the misses.

But before we get into the films themselves, the running narrative really does deserve a mention. Built around an episode of the snappily named “Obscure Writers of Supernatural Horror and Science Fiction,” the narrative parodies the sort of entertainment documentaries that spend a great deal of time telling you very little indeed – or nothing, in this case. It’s all very silly – repeatedly scaling new heights of absurdity – but consistently amusing and often very funny indeed.

So on to the films.

The Statement of Randolph Carter is a pretty much straight retelling of the short story of the same name in which Randolph Carter (Jeffrey Velazquez) explains the disappearance of his companion, Harley Warren (John Seaman). As such, the film highlights both the strengths and the weaknesses of Lovecraft’s writing. On the downside, Lovecraft did have a tin ear for dialogue and his portentous tones are faithfully, and entertainingly, reproduced in voiceover form. More positively, Lovecraft also recognised that it is better to hint at the horrors and leave as much as possible to the imagination of the audience than to overwhelm us with increasingly explicit detail; and this is something that writer/director Jane Rose has fully taken aboard. The Statement of Randolph Carter is an immensely atmospheric film that makes full use of both the setting and soundtrack to deliver a genuinely chilling climax.

For my money, however, the best of the bunch would have to be Remain. What makes this story of a painter (Mike Withstandley) driven to insanity by something in his paintings stand out is the animation, specifically the style of the animation. Everything – including the acting – is shot in stop-motion, creating a look as disturbing as it is hallucinogenic. Not only does the painter descend into madness, but he does a pretty good job of dragging the rest of us along with him.

And while we’re on the subject of insanity, now seems a good time to mention Alecto. At first sight, a psychological thriller about a violinist driven mad by a piece of music feels like a less than perfect fit with the tone and inspiration of the other films in this anthology. But given that madness was a common theme in Lovecraft’s writing, I’m not about to get too pedantic here – especially when you consider how good this film is on its own terms. With some stunning cinematography and a plot that slowly and satisfyingly comes together as the film progresses, Alecto is a very impressive piece of cinema and one that will probably get better on repeated viewings.

Honourable mentions should also go to the black and white entries, Chaos of Flesh and the gloriously messy BugBoy, both of which execute a simple idea stylishly, effectively and without any unnecessary padding. Ideal short films in other words.

And then there’s Re-Penetrator.

Within the horror film crowd, HP Lovecraft’s most celebrated story is probably Herbert West: Reanimator which Lovecraft wrote as a parody of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and which Stuart Gordon turned into a film in 1985. Re-Penetrator is the, um, adult version of Re-Animator and if hot zombie porn floats your boat, then this is the film for you.

Both History of the Lurkers and Witch’s Spring contain some good ideas which, unfortunately, don’t quite come off – due to a slightly predictable feel in the case of Witch’s Spring and a weak ending in the case of History of the Lurkers.

The whole package is rounded out with And This Was a Good Day, a cut-out animated music video, and a blooper reel that is well worth watching to the end.

There have been many attempts to turn HP Lovecraft’s stories into films and many films that claim to have been inspired by him (63 according to the IMDb) and many of these have been less than successful. In that light, Elias deserves a great deal of credit for managing to bring together a well crafted and generally entertaining collection of films – even the misses aren’t that bad – that successfully celebrate both the writer and the spirit of independent cinema.

I’m not sure how well this film will go down with the purists, but for the rest of us it’s a fine collection of films and one that really does include something for everyone.

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