The Call of Cthulhu — A Review: Hello, Retro

23rd July, 2018.

OK, that’s the intro video done with.

Leaving me with something of a a conundrum.

Do I take five, or ten, minutes … to jump into the shower?

Actually?

It’s not a conundrum, at all.

I’ve just jumped in the shower.

Frankly, with a figure like mine, and on the hottest day of the year, a day when the Met Office has released an Amber Alert?

Washing off the sweat, makes sense.

Either way?

Can you blame a body for getting overheated?

I don’t think you can, to be blunt.

Especially not on a day like this.

Frankly?

It’s enough to make you stay in, it really is.

The only thing with that, of course?

Is having something to watch

Frankly, I did.

The 2005 film that is … 

The Call Of Cthulhu.

And, even this long after reading the original HP Lovecraft short story?

I stil don’t know how to pronounce Cthulhu … !

~≈§≈~

The Call Of Cthulhu opens in an unnamed room: where an unnamed young man tells his listener about how — some time ago — he visited his dying great uncle.

And, after his great uncle passed?

Became the executor of his uncle’s estate: including a box of obscure papers.



Papers that tell of his uncle’s interest in the uncanny work of a local artist.

And of a visit paid by a police inspector to an archeology meeting.

The artist has been dreaming of a weird island inhabited by something called Cthulhu.

A thing that resembles the statue the police detective took to the archeology meeting …



Seventeen years earlier.

The fact the artist forgets his dreams, after the second of April, 1925?

Is something our narrator can only lament.

Until he finds out about a ship called the Alert.

A ship that escaped from something … 

On the other side of the planet: 47º 9’ 0” S, 126º 43’ 0” W

On the second of April, 1925.

You can bet something nasty’s happening, can’t you … ?

~≈§≈~

Now … 

I thoroughly enjoyed The Call of Cthulhu.

There’s upsides and downsides to the thing, though.

The only real downside?

Simply the length: at just over forty-six minutes, it’s a length I usually associate with a modern TV episode.

For a film?   The Call of Cthulhu seems a little short.

On the other hand?

Although it’s been a while since I read the original short story version, this particular film version captures the story, well.

Making it a silent film, instead of something a bit more modern?



Having a stop-motion Cthulhu, instead of a CGI animation?

Having that short length: and having a pace that fit the story in with no loss of plot elements?



Made it very watchable.

There’s also the simple fact that — in going for a silent film — the producers have managed to keep the era’s feel, front and centre: making good use of a look reminiscent of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari.

That?

Made The Call of Cthulhu a beautifully made piece.

I’d happily suggest you see The Call of Cthulhu … 

You’d be seeing something beautiful and unique.

The Call of Cthulhu
★★★★