As a Lovecraft fan for nearly 60 years this was a lot of fun. enough of the lore mixed with humor and the sly references to Jaws, ZuZu, and others made this an entertaining 80+ minutes. look forward to a sequel which should be a take on the "Mountains of Madness" before the big boys do a number on it
... View MoreThe Cult of Cthulhu are searching for part of a relic which is the key that will raise their master from his watery tomb and free him to rule the Earth. The Council of Cthulhu possess the other half of the relic and to stop the cult they send Professor Lake (Edmund Lupinski) of Miskatonic University to take the relic to the last descendant of H. P. Lovecraft and prevent the Cult from raising Cthulhu. This descendant is Jeff Philips (Kyle Davis) who works in a boring job in a cubicle in an office with his comic-book geek friend Charlie (Devin McGinn) and wishes there was more to life.When Jeff and Charlie get home to their apartment they find Professor Lake standing there. He tries to tell them about the Cult of Cthulhu but Jeff doesn't believe any of it. Charlie on the other hand knows far too much about it and goes into a comic-illustrated history of Cthulhu and his war with the Elder Ones. Jeff does not think this makes the story any more credible, but Lake agrees that Charlie's story is true but incomplete. He reveals that Lovecraft was disguising truth as fiction and that he seemed to have a natural immunity to the madness inducing powers of Cthulhu and his General Starspawn (Ethan Wilde). The Council of Cthulhu think that this immunity has been passed down to Jeff making him the only person who can tackle Starspawn and stop the end of human civilisation. Lake's story is interrupted when the cult get to the apartment on the trail of the relic and Lake tells Jeff and Charlie to go and he gives the relic to Jeff. Lake then pulls out a large hammer on a chain with a harpoon at the other end from his bag and starts fighting off cult creatures to give Jeff and Charlie time to escape until Starspawn comes in and kills him.Jeff and Charlie have to fight off a creature with a lamprey-like sucker mouth that fixes itself to their car window. They manage to do this with just a tire iron and then they drive off. Charlie suggests that they go see a guy they went to school with who knows all about Lovecraft. Paul (Barak Hardley) is another geek who lives with his foul-mouthed grandmother. He doesn't believe their story at first but is convinced when he sees the eyes of the relic glowing and he wants in on the adventure. He has a map from a comic-book to a Captain Olaf (Gregg Lawrence) who has told stories of his encounters with spawn of Cthulhu, the Deep Ones who live in the ocean. Starspawn has called up these Deep Ones to help him to get the relic. They come ashore next to a beach party and we see and hear them slaughtering everyone from inside a tent where a woman lies cowering in fear.Jeff, Paul and Charlie have to get to Captain Olaf who lives in the middle of the desert to see if he has any idea how to defeat Starspawn and the Cult of CthulhuA comedy based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft has potential but this was disappointing. It has a very low-budget so it really has very little in the way of effects though some of it was pretty good for the money spent. I wasn't too put off by the large amount of dysfunctional geek comedy the film has. I think I was mainly let-down by how lame the bad guys really turned out to be. Maybe they should have spread a little more madness around because apart from the Deep Ones they didn't seem any more dangerous than any bunch of mooks. And the Deep Ones had a great build-up but after their initial killing spree they were a bit crap. Lovecraft wrote about cosmic horror but there really wasn't much sign of that here. It does show some promise and if they had decent budget they may have delivered something a bit better.Rating 6/10
... View MoreThe people who say this isn't based on Lovecraft or the Cthulhu mythos are way off base, and they miss the point of this romp. Without H.P. Lovecraft's writing, this movie wouldn't exist. It isn't meant to be a "Lovecraft movie" or to be taken seriously. It's precisely what its writer and co-star intended it to be, a cinematic comic book and a tribute to Lovecraft as the father of modern horror and the progenitor of much of what we know as horror comics, both serious and humorous. The performers are all at least adequate, and the three leads are charming, portraying Regular Guys and a stereotyped comic book nerd with tongues firmly in cheek. It's obvious everyone who had anything to do with The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu had a ball, and so will you, unless you have no sense of fun at all.
... View MoreThe Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu starts as Professor Lake (Edmund Lupinski) is informed that the missing piece of an ancient relic has been recovered, Professor Lake is told that he must find the last surviving blood relative of horror author H.P. Lovecraft & give him the piece. Professor Lake tracks down Jeff (Kyle Davis) & tells him the full story, many thousands of years ago a huge war broke out between rival alien forces the Cthulhu & the Old Ones for total control of the planet Earth. The bloody & violent war was interrupted by the coming of a meteorite that hit Earth & wiped out the Dinosaur's, the two alien forces hid from the catastrophe with Cthulhu retreating to a castle at the bottom of the Ocean. However Cthulhu subliminally influenced early man & the cult of Cthulhu has sought to release the powerful alien form his watery prison for centuries, the two pieces of the relic is all that the cult need to free Cthulhu. Jeff & his comic book loving friend Charlie (Devin McGinn) are given the relic to protect as Cthulhu's mutant creatures go in search of it killing anyone who gets in the way...Co-edited & directed by Henry Saine this light hearted horror comedy borrows huge slices of the Cthulhu mythology from horror author H.P. Lovecraft's work but puts a modern self referential comic book fan geek twist on it, although silly & lightweight The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu is quite endearing & likable. At less than 80 minutes long the film starts off quickly & rarely stops, I would say the script tries to mimic the style of Shaun of the Dead (2004) with plenty of in-jokes, horror film references & homages & geeky character's. There are some amusing moments in The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu with some very funny dialogue between the quirky character's, from the geek fan-boy Paul to the fish raped Captain Olaf there's plenty of one-liners ^ dry sarcastic wit as the genre & fandom itself are made fun of although it's never in a mean spirited way & has respect for Lovecraft, comics, horror & geek fandom in general. While the film is good natured & fun the constant horror, fantasy & comic book references do wear a little thin by the end & The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu starts to feel like a collection of small comedy sketches rather than one coherent film. The plot is alright but isn't that tight & could have used a bit of work, the threat from Cthuluhu isn't really demonstrated& the evil red monster thing is killed too easily at the end.There are some very good special effects in The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu, sure some of the CGI is poor but the practical make-up effects are good with some good monster effects & a bit of gore. The film has constant references to comics & films that I am sure will go over many viewers head, hell I probably missed loads as I admit I have never actually read a H.P. Lovecraft novel. Well shot in full 2:35:1 widescreen The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu looks nice enough & there's a really cool animated insert as Charlie the comic book fan narrates a neat sequence in which the story behind Cthulhu is explained.Probably shot on a low budget the production values are good, the acting is good too with the whole cast looking like they had a lot of fun making this. Nobody seems to hold back anyway & make the most of the one-liners & material they are given.The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu is actually a pretty neat little film, sure it's not a serious film & leans towards laughs more than scares but it has a certain energy & likability. All the horror film & comic book references are sure to please fans too, just don't expect anything dark & Gothic like Lovecraft originally wrote & you'll enjoy this for what it is.
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