[CALL OF CTHULHU
and THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS
screen Friday August 31st at 6:15 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
The goals that the
filmmakers responsible for THE CALL OF CTHULHU
and THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS
set for themselves would be ambitious even for a major studio
production. First and foremost, they mean to be faithful adaptations
of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, a writer whose stories generally
involve concepts not easily translated into cinematic form. Secondly,
these adaptations are meant to appear as if they were made at roughly
the same time as the stories were published. In the case of CALL
that's 1928, necessitating a silent film; for WHISPERER
it's 1931, the same year that Universal Studios was beginning their
horror cycle with DRACULA
and FRANKENSTEIN.
That they manage to be largely successful in these goals while
working with incredibly small budgets (we're talking well under a
million) is even more remarkable.
