"Three times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvelous city, and three times was he snatched away while still he paused on the high terrace above it." Thus begins H. P. Lovecraft's epic tale ... Read all"Three times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvelous city, and three times was he snatched away while still he paused on the high terrace above it." Thus begins H. P. Lovecraft's epic tale of the courageous dreamer Randolph Carter and his search for the mystical sunset city by p... Read all"Three times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvelous city, and three times was he snatched away while still he paused on the high terrace above it." Thus begins H. P. Lovecraft's epic tale of the courageous dreamer Randolph Carter and his search for the mystical sunset city by petitioning the gods of Kadath. During his journey, he travels deep into the world of dream... Read all
Photos
- Randolph Carter
- (voice)
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- Black Galley Cook
- (voice)
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- Inganok Villager
- (voice)
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- Grandson Kitty
- (voice)
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- Inganok Sailor #2
- (voice)
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- Inganok Sailor #4
- (voice)
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- Oriab Innkeeper
- (voice)
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- Hostage-Minded Cat
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- Wine Ghoul
- (voice)
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- Atal
- (voice)
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- Cat Leader
- (voice)
- Celephais High Priest
- (voice)
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- Zoog 1
- (voice)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
Nyarlathotep: Shun, then, the outer hells and stick to the things of your youth.
- ConnectionsReferenced in The Other Gods (2006)
- SoundtracksTrust
/ Opening Loop & prelude
Cyoakha Grace O'Manion
Mark Brown / Equinoxe
Land of the Blind
Originally "Trust" by Land of the Blind
from Ordinary Magic
Original Violin: Aryeh Frankfurter
Additional Violin / Kadath: Alison Bailey
Montage by Cyoakha Grace O'Manion
With that out of the way, let's talk about what the movie is rather than what it isn't. It is a (slightly inelegant) solution to the problem of how to actually make a movie out of a sprawling and extremely fantastical story. "Dreamquest" is an almost quintessential 'unfilmable' piece. The budget necessary to film a live-action version capable of doing justice to the material would be astronomical, especially for such a niche story with limited general appeal. A traditionally animated one would be less onerous, but once again we hit the issue of budget to appeal ratio. What this movie is is an attempt to bring the story to life through visuals using the best means at the disposal of, well, a creator with virtually no budget. And that's definitely worth appreciating. Fans of the original story might crave a world where it could get the same cinematic treatment as 'Lord of the Rings' or 'Harry Potter,' but the realistic ones know this simply isn't feasible. What we have here is what *is* feasible, and it's very obviously a labor of love. If you set aside preconceptions (which I know can be difficult) and take this movie on its own merits, it can be quite a fun watch. Perhaps more than most cinematic adaptions of beloved stories, this is going to appeal mos to people who are intimately familiar with the source text and the mythos of the Dreamlands over the range of Lovecraft's entire bibliography. But those unfamiliar with the source text can still enjoy the watch, though ready access to Google and the various Lovecraft fan sites would not be amiss.
One complaint I have centers on the voice work. Not the quality of it (as a couple other reviewers have focused on) but on the fact that the Lovecraft text had no dialogue and only a single instance of (lengthy) monologue toward the end. This was, I feel, done by Lovecraft to enhance the dreamlike nature of the story, to keep the more mundane practical phenomena out of the text so the reader is drawn along with the story rather than subjected to reminders of real-world behavior. It's this very dreamlike aspect that makes the story so addictive to read, and I find the creation of dialogue to express what was only described in the text itself jarring and not in keeping with the mood the text was trying to instill. Personally, I feel a skilled narrator doing occasional voice-over would have been a much better choice. Luckily, I know the story by heart, so I could watch the music-only version without losing anything, but most people don't remember the story so thoroughly, if they've even read it at all. But that's a personal complaint, though I suspect many others have the same appreciation I do for the the dreamlike qualities of the text.
All in all, though, I do appreciate this movie and appreciate the fact that somebody cared enough about the story to go to all this effort to film it.
- GreyHunter
- May 9, 2018
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $5,000 (estimated)