HERBERT WEST: REANIMATOR has often been singled out as one of the more watchable Lovecraft adaptations. I've never felt that way, myself: it's far too THEATRICAL for my tastes, eschewing the MOOD for which Lovecraft is so justifiably famous, and is so poorly written that it bears little resemblance to the story upon which it's based. In the words of Lovecraft himself (in THE CALL OF CTHULU): "Death would be a boon if only it could blot out the memories." To do the author justice, one would have to capture the mood of Carl Dreyer's VAMPYR and do it with the expertise of a Fritz Lang (M). THE CALL OF CTHULU is a commendable effort because it's a low budget short, done by fans of the writer; had it been turned out by some Hollywood hack at great cost, it would be laughable. The stop-motion animation is the highlight of this one and harks back to the tentacled terror in Dennis Muren's EQUINOX (1971), which was Lovecraftian itself in so many ways. Maybe one day we'll see a genuine adaptation by someone of the caliber of a John Carpenter. Until then, as HPL himself put it: "Who knows the end? What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of man."
Review of The Call of Cthulhu
