![]() ![]() In a “standard three act” film, that would have been the end of the second act. In the original story, Lovecraft ended it after one particularly shocking revelation. One thing particularly noteworthy is the last third of the film. Otherwise, the movie works exceedingly well – as one would expect when you have a group as passionate and knowledgeable of the source material as the HPLHS. There are some practical effects glitches as well, but they don’t take away from the whole. There’s a lot of rain in this movie, most of it is CG and it just doesn’t look very good. My other nitpick – and yes, I feel these are nitpicks – is that the CG is a bit dodgy in more than a few spots. However, since I’m expecting the film to emulate the period style, the clarity felt out of place. One, as I mentioned before, the film is beautiful and even in standard definition the picture is sharp and clear. I have only two real gripes with the technical side of the film and they are mostly aesthetic. So, we get this gorgeous shadow-heavy, noir-style B&W film much in the style of the classic Universal monster features. As with their first film, the philosophy they have it to shoot the film in the period style of when the story was published – which in this case is 1931. “The Whisperer in Darkness” is the second film put out by the HPLHS (their first, a silent film version of “The Call of Cthulhu”). A series of letters from a man (Barry Lynch) in an isolated part of Vermont lures him out to find the truth out for himself. In that case, you get a wonderful adaptation of “the Whisperer in Darkness”.Īs in Lovecraft’s original story, we follow Miskatonic University professor Albert Wilmarth (Matt Foyer) as he attempts to disprove the existence of aliens who supposedly occupy the hills of New England. Unnameable and unshowable usually lead you straight to unfilmable. Especially since Hollywood and mainstream audiences demand spectacle from their movies: you have to show the monster. Now try filming that on a typical Hollywood budget.Īnd not even a big typical budget, but the below ten million dollar budget usually relegated for horror films – which with the current popularity of the cinéma vérité movement in horror, that number is probably closer to just one million dollars. Often, his protagonists would encounter something so mind shattering that it could not be described, explained or even named. ![]() Lovecraft’s favorite themes had to do with the vastness of infinity and how unknowable it was to mankind’s limited existence. For those who haven’t clambered aboard the Lovecraft bandwagon, please allow me to explain. There may be some of you snickering at that remark because you know the vast amounts of understatement I just used. ![]() Lovecraft are difficult to adapt to film. And while we’re on the subject, let’s add this little nugget onto that list: the stories of H.P. Be it in work, play, life or love it’s just one of those universal truths. ![]() I’m sure I’m not the first person to say that but I will tell you to carve that in stone. Albert Wilmarth (Matt Foyer) unfortunately finds "the Whisperer in Darkness". ![]()
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