Sick Product of a Sick System

Beautiful, moving film.

Absolutely Brilliant!

The first must-see film of the year.

It is difficult to translate Lovecraft to film, both because of the fake introspection motif of a character who is by most standards completely obsolete and because H.P. rarely wrote books, instead being content with writing short stories.That is why this format, by no means original, works very well with "the master"'s writing. It combines several ideas from various stories and creates a movie that doesn't cover any of them, but manages to capture the feel of Lovecraft's writing.It is not a masterpiece, but as Lovecraft films go, it is one of the best, probably because Christopher Heyerdahl really manages to channel Lovecraft very well.

I'm a Lovecraft fan for a couple of years now, reading the most of his books and stories, and viewing several films based on them. This one is by far the most satisfying. The film leans heavy on the acting instead of monsters or great filmsets. They only use one monster which is the worst scene of the film since it looked like a bad operated rubber doll. They could've easily cut that out or better: make a suggestion of the monster instead of showing it. Other than that, it's a thrill to see this film because the acting is really good. Heyerdahl is spectacular as H.P. Lovecraft himself. The rest of the cast is also very convincing except maybe for the character of Warren who was making it more of a stage play. The storyline is actually a combination of a couple of stories from Lovecraft, and it really works very well within this film. Sometimes i caught myself smiling just because it was so much fun to see all those stories touched with such integrity. If you like mystery and fantasy: try to get a hold of the DVD.

The film is not really a documentary.The movie was voted as the best film of the festival by a large margin. (And there were some excellent entries this year.)As far as I am concerned this is the best Lovecraft adaptation I have ever seen.The film is an adaptation of a number of H.P. Lovecraft's storys intercut with some very realisting looking film footage of "HPL". (Actually an actor who does a remarkable job with the part.)The film is an exploration of Lovecraft's motivations behind the stories, why he wrote, and what he thought of his own efforts -- intertwingling with his own stories and themes. (Especially the dreamlands stories of Randolph Carter.)All of this sounds kind of hokey, but it works. Through the Dreamlands, the film mixes modern day and Lovecraft's 20s, among others. (One scene has Lovecraft meeting a modern fan and wondering why his face is on a t-shirt.)If you can find this playing somewhere, by all means see it! It is an impressive piece of film making.

Unfortunately, this documentary isn't all that well known. Truly a pity, because Raymond St-Jean as Director & scriptwriter shines, Serge Ladouceur's photography in the film is fantastic, & Christopher Heyerdahl as H.P. Lovecraft is *very* believable.The film attempts to show the relationship of American gothic-horror writer,H.P. Lovecraft, and the stories he wrote. Blending the most characteristic themes & characters [watch out for Cthullu!] from his novels/stories with his life, a whole new story is created in of itself. It almost seems written by Lovecraft himself.I saw this movie in 1998 in Montreal at a friend's house, & have been trying to get a hold of it since! If you come across it, get it! [then email me & tell me where you found it, for I want it too]