Rain, rain everywhere, and not a drop to drink. Rain, rain everywhere, and all the roads did shrink. At least that is the way it felt as Zombos and I hustled along the Cross Bronx Expressway in a mad attempt to reach Chiller Theatre Expo before the dealer's rooms closed at 7pm. It was raining heavily, and we were making slow progress over to New Jersey. Even the New Jersey drivers were driving with caution in the deluge. (Note to self: check list of signs of the coming apocalypse. I believe 'New Jersey drivers driving cautiously' falls between 'when hell freezes over', and 'belief that global warming is as real as Big Foot'.)
The Elder Gods were with us, however, and we made it with a little over an hour to spare. Going at such a late hour is rather beneficial, as the dealer's rooms are actually strollable. Zombos dashed off to find Zacherley, as usual, and I carried along his long laundry list of things to pick up for his closet, as usual.
One film in particular that he wanted to see is The Call of Cthulhu. This film, produced by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, is an interesting bit of amateur filmmaking. Much praise has been given for this silent film version of Lovecraft's short story, which is set in the 1920s. I definitely wanted to see it also. I quickly found a copy at the Creepy Classics dealer's table. The trailer is online.
It is an intriguing challenge — creating a black and white silent film for today's audience is a dicey proposition; just look at all the iPodded simstim-heads out there, wearing white-wired headsets as a fashion statement. Then there is the one shoestring budget for an amateur production; how do you create special effects for a hypertechno-affectualized audience (probably still wearing their iPods)? It is a hard sell, and I am sure the audience draw for this is limited. But for those who can remove their iPods for a spell, enjoy some 'how the hell are we going to do that on this budget?' styled special effects, sit down with a skull o'popcorn and allow themselves to drift into a well-directed (by Andrew Leman) excursion into classic horror, the reward is there.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
There'a a 'Tallica song with the same name.
2 - Dave Nalle
Nice to see a review of this. I was working on one as well, but haven't had time to get to it. A really intriguing film with a lot of interesting visual cleverness.
Dave
3 - Bryan McKay
I managed to catch a bit of this at the Boston Underground Film Festival this year. It really is a terrific piece - I'm glad to see it getting some publicity!