Weekly Cinemeh

Here we are once again and this week's theme is a doozy: Lovecraft. We here at Kinda Whatevs love us some horror, and Lovecraft is a titan of horror. H.P. Lovecraft is an author from the early 1900s, who created a universe in which terrible things from beyond the stars as well as in our deepest, darkest oceans, would come and destroy humanity. Its awesome. The inevitability of death and/or madness (I tend to view his stories as metaphors for entropy in the universe) is a common running theme in his stories (and other peoples stories in his universes since his work is not copyrighted). So with that said shit is about to get strange.

1: Re-Animator
This movie was a great start, though I feel kind of odd about it. Re-Animator is about a guy who has found a way to bring the dead back to life, and the shitstorm that follows. I don't know if this movie was supposed to be hilarious, but intentional or not, it was fucking hysterical. The special effects where kind of bad, the premise opened itself to some very funny situations (except for one, very disturbing, rape scene), and the acting is pretty terrible. One exception to that last point is Jeffery Combs as Herbert West (He has taken part in several H.P. Lovecraft films, so I think he throws a lot into his roles because he is a fan of Lovecraft). He plays the creepy/probably crazy necromancer part perfectly. The last shot of the movie was also very well done, and capped the film off very well. I don't wanna spoil it so you will have to watch it to find out what it is. Its easy to see why this movie is a cult hit, watch it not expecting a serious movie, and you will have a good time.

Eshi: Re-Animator is one of the most famous adaptations of Lovecraft's work and rightfully so. While the more nuanced cosmic/ineffable terror that pervades the Mythos isn't very well represented the slow, inevitable descent into madness is present in spades. It's super funny in some parts (especially in relation to a cat) and, other than an attempt to grossly redefine "getting head", is a highly enjoyable film. 

2: The Whisperer in Darkness
I loved this movie. It did the original story justice (it had a great story to work with in the first place) and was actually well acted. The story follows a professor of folklore going to Vermont to investigate rumors of monsters roaming the hills and a cult of people who worship them. The movie is shot in black and white, trying to reinforce the feel that this movie was from the 1930s, and it works well, though the CGI crab people tended to take me out of the story. If you have not seen a Lovecraft based movie before this is a great place to start. It captures the feel of being helpless against a superior force very well as well as the need to at least try to fight back, regardless of the odds. This is one of the things I love about Lovecraft. People will often fight even if it seems hopeless (unless they go crazy first).

Eshi: This was easily my favorite movie this week. This film is one of several created by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, of whom I completely approve. With the exception of the aforementioned crab folk and some unconvincing but financially necessary effects, The WiD was surprisingly immersive and engaging. The HPLHS does good work and is, by and large, highly faithful to the source material.

3: In The Mouth of Madness
This is the second time I have seen Sam Neill go crazy thanks to beings from another world. In the Mouth of Madness is a movie about an insurance investigator trying to find an author of horror stories who went missing. This is another movie that I don't want to give to much away, so I won't say a lot more about its story. Sam Neill is a good actor, and does well with the role. Much like Jeffery Combs in Re-Animator, Sam Neill has done a couple of Lovecraftian movies and appears to enjoy the roles. John Carpenter is clearly a fan of Lovecraft and his type of work, not just for making several Lovecraft movie adaptations, but because of the horror movies he makes in general. They have a lot in common with Lovecraftian tales: enemies that are overpowering and hard to escape, views of reality that get called into question, and a focus on how small humans are in relation to the universe. He always does a good job with this kind of material. It is a good movie, and a must see for horror fans in general, not just Lovecraft fans.

Eshi: In the Mouth of Madness is one of the best Lovecraftian films set in the modern day. John Carpenter plays very well with practical effects as usual and there are parts of this movie that are genuinely disturbing, and without relying on the sexual grotesquery that Re-Animator and so many other horror films try to play upon. Sam Neill is really, really good at falling fucking hard. He goes from confident and relaxed to batshit fucking broken with a rare clarity. You can see every step he takes down the path to insanity and it sells the character. This is a great late night popcorn movie, and I recommend it highly.