Welcome home...to the end of the world. C'THULHU

C'thulhu (2007) Directed by Dan Gildark, Written by Grant Cogswell.  Loosely based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

I went into this movie wanting to love it, and really fearing that it would be purest schlock.  What is the verdict?  Well, let's pick it apart.

The Plot.

Russell Marsh (Jason Cottle) is the head of the History Department at a major west coast university.  He is gay, and happy, more or less, with his life in the city.  Then his mother dies, and he is forced to return home to Rivermouth.

It becomes obvious that things are not as they should be; not only is he hassled by a couple of teens who know who he is, even though he moved away before they were born.  And as he comes around a bend, he finds them flipped over.  Only one kid is there, and he is dieing.  Thus, Russ misses his own mother's funeral.

Passing the Esoteric Order of Dagon hall (a real flag for Lovecraft fans) he heads for home.

Shedding his blood stained shirt and tie, he has to go into the reception in a t-shirt and suit; very big city, and you can tell he does not like that...

His sister Dannie (Cara Buono) is charming, but his father (Dennis Kleinsmith) is like a cross between Aleister Crowley, and one of Andy Warhol's posse.  You quickly realize that things are bad between them, and that his father is the priest at the Esoteric Order.

There is the classic, "So, are you still enjoying your gay lifestyle?  When can I expect a grandchild?" conversation at dinner, and you see clearly why he left, and why he hesitated to return, and why he wants to flee.

But he can't; his mother made him the executor, so he has to remain through all the coping with the legal matters, which means he has to deal with his father, his sister, and the town.  There are memories, his times with his friend Mike, w*nking into the water at the net house.  Mike (Scott Green) is now a wrecker driver. The high point of his stay is running into Mike.

Dannie introduces Russ to Susan (Tori Spelling) who is obviously interested in Russ, and oblivious to his lavender ways...and steals Mike away to haul a car. 

Russ' life is becoming surreal; he is drinking heavily, and his sleep is suffering, his dreams are disturbing, and the people around him are becoming strange.

An old salt (Richard Garfield) tells him some things about disappearances in the town, and sends him after booze to pay for more information.  The clerk hands him a cryptic note warning him not to talk to anyone.  The old drunk has stories of his friends disappearing, of the rituals in the net house; how the names on the walls there are those who have vanished (Russell's name is there).  And how the town's wealth came from an island in the pacific, where the fertile waters provided a fortune.  And something about the missing people being in the sea....

The clerk (Amy Minderhout) is his next stop, and she, a rare outside, points out that no one moves around at night, and outsiders don't last, and she obviously knows more than she is telling.  At the end of their ride, she admits her brother was stolen five years ago.  And yet, she gets messages from him, so she knows he lives.  He is raped by Susan, with help from her husband.  The more he learns, the more confusing it gets. 

The bright spot is Mike.  He doesn't necessarily believe Russ, but he misses Russ and their time in the Net house, and even though he is straight, he reaches out to his friend.  They make love in a very tender, tasteful scene.

And that is the last moment of peace he gets....

The Analysis.

Well, is this a good film?  Not entirely.  But it is not a bad film.  It is an extremely good film, with huge problems.  This is the first film by both the writer, and the director.  They did it for just under a million.  They made huge errors, they had to change course; things they had wanted to do were impossible, and much of the footage that explained things ended up on the cutting room floor.

That said, it is a creepy little film.  It has moments of absolute brilliance. It is rough, uneven, jumps around a bit, and suffers from some poor camera angle choices, but intrinsically, it tries to create a feeling of a world and a life unraveling, and it succeeds.  It is set in a time of rising seas, polar bear extinction, of riots and disentegrating values.  It explores the often strangling bonds of family, the drive to replace ourselves, and the fear of that same drive, the fear of parenting.

One of the best things about this movie are it's gay scenes.  I can hear you know, eyeballs rolling, but no, hear me out.

The homosexual content of the movie is not gratuitous.  It does not work if the character is not gay.  He has to be childless, and have a good reason for wanting to be gone from Rivermouth, Oregon.  It builds the tension between father and son.

And what little love scenes there are moves the story forward.  They are handled with taste and discretion.  They are tender, and beautiful, and the best emotional content of the movie.  The performances are brilliant.  Even my straight friend agrees, the gay treatment of the movie is the best part of it, simply because it is not gratuitous.

The film may be called C'thulhu, but it is actually much closer to The Shadow Over Innsmouth.  They just wanted something Iconic to draw the HP Lovecraft fans.

And it should work; while the movie is flawed, it is not schlock; it is insightful, moody, well acted, and genuinely inspired at points.  Fans will love it.  They will sit around and complain about what they did wrong, but they will still talk about it.

The commentary track is an education; the writer and director go through it as a cautionary tale for future film makers, telling in detail what they were shooting for, and what went wrong.  Deeply informative, and candid.

So, if you are a serious HPL fan or a horror guru, it will be worth your while to check this out.

Gay Movies:

La Mission***Burnt Money***8: The Mormon Propo$ition***In The Flesh***The Sensei***The 24th Day***Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon***ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction***East Side Story***Dorian Blues***Creatures From the Pink Lagoon***Satyricon***Ice Men***Richard O'Briens Rocky Horror Tribute Show***Prom Queen***The Kids are All Right***Between Love and Goodbye***The Mudge Boy***That Man: Peter Berlin***A Single Man***Almost Normal***Outing Riley***Outrage!***Law of Desire***Love is the Devil***Cowboy Junction***Horror in the Wind***Bedrooms and Hallways***Cut Sleeve Boys***Big Eden***For A Lost Soldier***Midnight Cowboy***Redwoods***The Massuer***Boy Culture***Breakfast With Scot***The Fluffer***Flesh***Little Ashes***L.I.E. ***Dorian Gray***9 Dead Gay Guys***Shank***I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry***Beautiful Boxer***Bangkok Love Story***Schoolboy Crush***Shelter***Back Soon***Dog Tags***Theft***The Mulligans***The Velvet Goldmine***Swashbuckler***Smoke Signals
***C'Thulhu***Milk***The Picture of Dorian Gray***Brideshead Revisited***Notes on a Scandal***RocknRolla***Mamma Mia!
***Priscillia: Queen of the Desert***The History Boys***Brokeback Mountain***The Broken Hearts Club*** Yaji and Kita: Midnight Pilgrims ***Surge of Power ***In & Out ***Mambo Italiano ***Touch of Pink ***To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ***Wolves of Kromer ***Rocky Horror Picture Show ***Taboo ***Deathtrap 


Gay Themed Series:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Dante's Cove
Hex
Carnivale Season One
Carnivale Season Two
Rome Season One
Rome Season Two
True Blood
True Blood: Season Two
The Book of Daniel: The Complete Series
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Torchwood: Season One


Gay Animation:

Pirate's Booty***Sensitive Pornograph***Loveless: The Complete Series***Loveless: Hope on the Run***Loveless: Soul of Chains***Loveless: Lost and Found***Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter***Embracing Love: Cherished Spring ***Stonewall & Riot***Drawn Together Movie: The Movie***Drawn Together: Season 2***Drawn Together: Season 3

The Master of the Macabre: H. P. Lovecraft

The Whisperer In Darkness
The Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft (A Kindle Audible Book)
The Shunned House
The Last Lovecraft: Relic of C'Thulhu
Pickman's Muse
C'thulhu (2000, the bad one.)
Colour from the Dark
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Dunwich Horror.
Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Shadow Over Innsmouth
Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: At the Mountains of Madness
H.P. Lovecraft Collection III: Out of Mind
H.P. Lovecraft Collection I: Cool Air
Dagon
Die Monster Die!
The Dunwich Horror
From Beyond
C'thulhu
H.P. Lovecraft's Haunt of Horror
The Call of C'Thulhu  (A Masterpiece!)
Dreams in the Witch House

Inspired by the Master's Hand:

The Courtyard by Alan Moore
Hellboy
The Mist
In the Mouth of Madness
Cloverfield

Recommended: