Delve Deeper

Thursday, September 29, 2011

JDatE one-sheet unmasked...


For well over a year, Phantasm director Don Coscarelli's adaptation of David Wong's John Dies at the End was shrouded in shadows, but over the last week or so, there has been a flood of promotional material including images, a teaser trailer, footage (as seen at Fantastic Fest), and now, a crazy new promo poster! The film, coming in 2012, stars Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Angus Scrimm, Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Doug Jones, Glynn Turman and Daniel Roebuck...

Check it out below, and be sure to check out the trailer here...


Hunters of the Dark...


Written and directed by Ansel Faraj, and inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, Hunters of the Dark is a dark Lovecraftian thriller about a series of events that build up to an invasion of the Earth by beings from another dimension, and Earth's reaction to it...

According to Ansel Faraj, a lifelong fan of Lovecraft's work, he used ideas and elements of several of Lovecraft's stories, including The Shadow Out of Time, The Dunwich Horror, At the Mountains of Madness, The Colour Out of Space and The Whisperer in Darkness, to flesh out his basic idea of monster hunters battling Lovecraftian creatures from another dimension throughout the years...

Shot in July of 2011, and scheduled for release in November, Hunters stars Linden Chiles (as The First Hunter), Mihran Konanyan (as The Monster Hunter), Luke Hollman (as The Infected, Yog Sohoth), Mayra Gonzalez (as The New Believer) and Kevin Shayer (as The Space Bender)...

Head over to the official site for further information, a gallery of images and behind-the-scenes stills, and an essay by the director. A teaser trailer is forthcoming...

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

HPLFF Portland schedule announced...


This weekend marks the return, in a shortened more streamlined form, of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon, with two nights (Friday and Saturday) of guests, films and Eldritch events! Each night features one feature film and 90 minutes of short films, on the main (downstairs) screen only, so seating is limited. As always, the festival takes place at the historic Hollywood Theatre...

Friday night starts with screenings of the short films Call of Nature by Rick Tillman, Flush with Fear by Christopher G Moore, Doppelganger by Theo Stefanski, The Ritual by Will Wright, Idol Worship by Theo Stefanski, Dirty Silverware by Steve Daniels, Ethereal Chrysalis by Syl Disjonk, Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven' by Christopher Saphire, Apartment Eleven by Mark Player and ends with a screening of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's The Whisperer in Darkness...

Saturday nights schedule includes screenings of Window Into Time by Thomas Nicol, Haselwurm by Eugenio Villani, Black Goat by Joseph Nanni, The Island by Nathan Fisher, Static Aeons by Gib Patterson, Shadow of the Unnamable by Sascha Renninger, followed by a screening of Huan Vu's stunning feature Die Farbe (The Colour)...

Check out the full schedule here, or purchase tickets here...


 
(Thanks to Brian Callahan)

New trailer, website for Andrew Jones' Doctor Glamour...


Andrew W. Jones has unleashed an amazing trailer for his Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer follow-up, Doctor Glamour, which you can check out below! The film, which revolves around a genius scientist who contacts another dimension to save the woman he loves, summoning a flamboyant rock & roll superhero, will be released sometime in 2012...

You can also check out the new, fully operational website here...


Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Countdown to the HP Lovecraft Film Festival (2011) #2

(From Plan D: The Official Website of Derek M. Koch)

When I think about the Lovecraft Film Festival, the thoughts that come to mind aren't necessarily of films. I think about the friends I've made at the festival over the years, the camaraderie, the shared community of Lovecraft lovers. It's sometimes easy to overlook the films, so I thought I'd look back at some of the features I've seen at the festival over the years.

The Attic Expedition (dir. Jeremy Kasten) - Jeffrey Combs just belongs on the big screen at the Lovecraft Film Festival, and while this movie certainly has some low budget issues, watching it on the big screen with a crowd probably made seeing the movie a better film-watching experience than it had the right to be. The direction and acting - save Combs - is a little rough, and the screenplay does suffer a bit in spots, but there's something about this production and the production design that still grabs me. I don't think this is something I would have tracked down to watch on my own if not for the festival, and now I've got it on DVD at home because of the festival.

The Fog (dir. John Carpenter) - I hope it's obvious to most that I had already seen this movie by the time I saw it at the festival, but I had never seen it on the big screen. To see this Carpenter classic at the Hollywood Theatre was an amazing experience, especially since back then, the theater ran pretty cold (it's an old building, and has been in a perpetual state of remodel/refurbishing for at least as long as I've been a Lurker, and the heating/cooling had been out of whack for years) which gave the movie experience an uncomfortable edge that played right into the visuals of the film itself.

Beyond the Dunwich Horror (dir. Richard Griffin) - Honestly, I almost didn't catch this at the festival. I wanted to see it, but sometimes scheduling all the movies I want to see into my own schedule was tough, but I ran into Chris from The Shadow Over Portland and he encouraged me to check it out. I juggled my schedule around, and found myself sitting in on the last screening of Beyond the Dunwich Horror, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed the film. Jeff Dylan Graham is almost always fun to watch in lower-budget horror movies, and he didn't disappoint. The movie itself has a fun 70s drive-in vibe (Griffin's proving himself to be the guerilla master of genre throwback movies with movies like The Disco Exorcist, Atomic Brain Invasion and Nun of That), which lends itself well to a movie that does play a little fast and loose with the Lovecraft material. (And I love the music in the film!)

Curse of the Crimson Altar (dir. Vernon Sewell) - I've always been a Lugosi fan. I like Karloff - don't get me wrong - but I've always been a bigger fan of the Hungarian over the British actor. Because of this, I've not been as well-versed in some of Karloff's non-Universal genre work as I should have been, and I knew nothing about this film before walking into one of the screening rooms on the second floor of the Hollywood. Karloff? He was in another Lovecraft adaptation apart from Die, Monster, Die!? And Christopher Lee is in it? Sign me up! Karloff's looking a little rough around the edges health-wise, but he still delivers a magnetic performance from his wheelchair. Lee's solid. Barbara Steele is solid. This was one of the sleepers for me the year it was played at the festival.

Dagon (dir. Stuart Gordon) - Re-Animator's a great film, but let's be honest - it's not very "Lovecraftian." It has the trappings, and, yes, the original story "Herbert West - Reanimator" was written as a parody of the Frankenstein novel, but Re-Animator film is so over the top, it's hard to think of it in the same light of Gordon's Dagon. (No disrespect to Re-Animator; it's easily one of the Top 100 Zombie Movies... !) Dagon's got a great score, teams actor Ezra Godden (who's doing his best Combs-meets-Bruce-Campbell impression) with director Gordon a few years before his excellent turn as Walter Gilman in the "Masters of Horror" episode "Dreams in the Witch-House, and gives us a touching and heart-breaking performance by Francisco Rabal as Ezequiel.

The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu (dir. Henry Saine) - Gregg Lawrence as Captain Olaf. That could be enough to sum up why I remember this movie. Lawrence is GOLDEN in this film. Fortunately, that's not all this movie has to offer. We've got the last descendant of Lovecraft and his buddy, both frustrated wanna-be comic book creators - out trying to save the world. Okay, Lawrence isn't the only this golden in this movie; the entire movie is!

Cthulhu (dir. Dan Gildark) - Yes, the one with Tori Spelling. I didn't know what to think about this one going into it. Lovecraftian scholar S. T. Joshi supported it, and it was generating a lot of attention in the Pacific Northwest, but I still had reservations, mostly because of Spelling. It turns out, I had no reason to be hesitant about the movie; it's a solid film, and successfully and seamlessly blends a modern day story with a Lovecraftian theme. This also introduced me to the film music of Willy Greer (his music also turned up in an adaptation of "Pickman's Model"), whose haunting music disappears behind the cool, bleak imagery on screen.

Alien Raiders (dir. Ben Rock) - Scott Glancy introduced this movie when it played at the festival, and summed it up as the last session of a Delta Green role-playing game gone HORRIBLY wrong. While this movie might have been telling the story of a group's last hurrah as they track down and try to stop an alien threat, the chemistry of the characters and performers made us feel like they'd been doing their job for a long time, and Carlos Bernard and company wore this "we've-got-to-save-the-world-because-that's-what-we've-always-done-no-matter-what" on their sleeves, their faces and their entire bodies, which sold the threat to the audience, and made me wish I could spend more time in this world . . . even if, in this world, things don't go as well as they could for most folks.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (dir. Edward Martin III) - If memory serves, this played at the festival the one year there was a fourth night added, and while I was at the IMDB confirming that Toren Atkinson was the performer providing the voice of the lead character, I stumbled across a review I apparently wrote about the movie at that site back in 2006: "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is an ambitious movie, striving to adapt one of H. P. Lovecraft's most fantastical fictions and succeeding in nearly every aspect. Using a unique style of animation, director Edward Martin III has created a movie that should be examined by more than the typical "Lovecraft-Crowd" - the movie is that good. The voice actors did an excellent job wrapping their mouths around the more complex "Lovecraft-isms" (Nyarlathotep anyone?) while still conveying the sense of wonder that a story like ...Kadath evokes. The soundtrack was inspired as well. If you have an opportunity to see this movie, SEE IT." Well, I'm not going to argue with myself . . .

There are other movies that come to mind when I think about the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival (including a number of non-feature-length films like The Yellow Sign, AM1200 and The Call of Cthulhu), and I'm sure that as I lay down tonight to go to sleep, a few more titles will come to mind.

What I'm most looking forward to, though, is this year's film offerings (feature and otherwise)!

Trolley No. 1852 by Edward Lee, review by Steve Hergina


Trolley No. 1852 is set back in Providence, Rhode Island in 1934, as H.P. Lovecraft was writing in his prime. He is requested to write a short for an erotic pulp publication, Erotesque: Tales for the Selectively Bizarre. Enclosed is a check for 500 dollars and it includes a clause for another check, of 500, upon delivery of story. Being nearly broke at the time; he comes up with a pen name, Winfield Greene, and writes Trolley No. 1852.

In the story, he recalls the travels of Morgan Phillips, a Brown professor of mythology and ancient history, and his relocation to New York. On his trip he meets Erwin, who shows him the ropes of riding the trolley for the first time, including the harlots. What ensues would make Lovecraft roll in his grave, but it is very much like one of his own stories, just add raunchy sex. It's a very graphic depiction of sex, from the very strange beings from Lovecraft's imagination. It has a great idea behind it with possible sequels (what horror movie/book doesn't), but Lee has multiple ideas of what he has in store for the future, all of which I can't wait to read. Overall a solid book, as long as "hardcore" writing is what you're looking for, I just wish he wouldn't keep using Lovecraft in his stories.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Dead Shadows promises old school tentacle horror...



There may not be any Lovecraft in Dead Shadows, but it sure as hell looks like some great old school tentacle horror! 

Currently shooting in Paris, France from a screenplay by David Cholewa, who is also handling directing duties, and Vincent Julé, Dead Shadows stars Fabian Wolfrom, Blandine Marmigère, Rurik Salllé, with a special appearance by French TV host Laurie Cholewa...

About the film: Dead Shadows tells the terrifying story of a young man, named Chris (Wolfrom), whose parents were brutally killed 11 years ago, on the same day that Halley's comet could be seen from earth. Tonight, a new comet is appearing and everyone in his building are getting ready for a party to celebrate the event. There’s even an apocalypse theory going around. As the night falls, Chris discovers that people are starting to act strange – and it seems to somehow be connected to the comet. They are becoming disoriented and violent and it doesn’t take long before they begin to mutate into something far beyond this world. In a fight for survival, Chris tries to escape from his building with the help of a gun taunting tenant named John (Fallon) – but will they make it out alive?

Check out the teaser trailer below (as well as some concept art from the official facebook page), but please note that none of the footage in the trailer will be used in the film. It was shot to get interest from buyers at the Cannes Film Festival...




(Thanks to joblo.com/arrow)

Lovecraft inspired short wins Anchorage film competition...


Woodruff Laputka sends word that his latest film, shot under the Laputka Films banner, has won the 2nd Annual Anchorage 48 Hour Film Competition! Contained, one of 15 films to compete this year, was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's The Terrible Old Man, and was made to reflect each of the following three prompts; something that is Mexican, the phrase "this isn't a game", and the Science Fiction genre...

About the film: Contained is the story of, Hope, a young woman living in an inner-city apartment building who picks up the slack of her ailing superintendent father. Longing for a better life far away from the confines of the old apartment building, and from the idiosyncrasies of her oddly eccentric tenants, she befriends an old man who entrusts to her the delivery of a strange, mysterious box. Unsure of the boxes contents, Hope needs only remember the old man’s one request: "The box must not be opened…"

Laputka Films will be releasing an official cut of the film in October...


(Thanks to Woodruff Laputka)

Updated: The JDatE trailer delivers, All hail Korrok...


As promised, writer/director Don Coscarelli, along with special guest Doug Jones, premiered the trailer for John Dies at the End at Fantastic Fest last night, and for those of us who couldn't attend, you can check it out below! Extra footage featuring Chase Williamson (as David Wong) and Doug Jones (as Roger North) was also screened, but that hasn't appeared online...

After you've checked out the trailer, head over to Cracked.com to read JDatE author David Wong's article about the project...


Update: You can also check it out below, with an introduction by Don Coscarelli and Doug Jones! Please note: The five minutes of footage they talk about has not been released online...



(Thanks to Don Coscarelli and cracked.com)

Friday, September 23, 2011

Countdown to the HP Lovecraft Film Festival (2011) #1

This came up on my Facebook page when I posted that my brain exchanged the word "French" for "Eldritch" when I saw a tin of General Foods International French Vanilla Cafe sitting behind my manager's desk at work. I posted that I must have Lovecraft on the brain, which makes sense because for me, this is the time of year that I start thinking about all things H. P. Lovecraft.

I've programmed myself. When Brenda and I first started considering moving to the Portland area, I went online and did a bit of research. I found the area comic book shops, the public transportation system . . . and I confirmed that The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival was happening. I knew about the festival before the move. I knew there was a loose community of amateur moviemakers who adapted Lovecraft's work when I found a Miskatonic University website (I can't find that site anymore) selling merchandise, which included the VHS releases of Lurker in the Lobby: The Best of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Vol. I and Return to Innsmouth.

I bought and watched and rewatched those VHS tapes repeatedly. Even though I was already reading Lovecraft, those tapes blew the doors open for me. There were people . . . people like ME (at the time, I was making no-budget movies of my own) . . . who not only loved Lovecraft but put his work on screen.

I had to get to the Lovecraft Film Festival. Unfortunately, our first year in Portland I wasn't able to attend (I don't remember why, but I regret it), but the next year (2002) I was there. We didn't have a car at the time, so I was taking that public transportation to the festival, and I didn't get to stay the entire time or watch The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets perform, but I still had a lot of fun. I saw some wonderful films, some outstanding shorts, and started meeting other like-minded Lovecraft fans. I met the director of Return to Innsmouth (Aaron Vanek), and a number of other filmmakers that over the years that I've come to call friends.

At least year's festival, Festival Director Andrew Migliore announced that he'd be stepping down. There was rumbling that the festival would still continue in Portland (a satellite festival popped up in California thanks to Mr. Vanek), but for a good part of this year, there was little to no talk about a 2012 H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival happening in Portland. When an announcement was made . . . I know it sounds silly, but I felt a rush of relief. For years, I've joked that "October doesn't begin for me until the HPL Film Festival," but there's a lot of truth to that. It's become a tradition for me. I get to see old friends and watch some fantastic movies in a comfortable setting (The Hollywood Theatre), although I think some of the comfort comes from the familiarity of the building and the event rather than the actual accommodations (although it has gotten better over the years!).

It is a smaller event this year (it's only two nights, and there won't be as many films shown) as the current keepers of the local Festival flame wanted to keep the festival more intimate while still giving us Lurkers a fix of Lovecraft.

I'm counting down the days.




(I wish I could get Return to Innsmouth and Lurker in the Lobby: The Best of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Vol. I on DVD. I MIGHT have the VHS tapes stashed away in a box somewhere, but I'd love to put them in my DVD folders along with my 5-disc set of The H. P. Lovecraft Collection.)

Derek M. Koch blogs regularly at his website Plan D.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

New images from JDatE...



Last week cult filmmaker Don Coscarelli tweeted that he was taking a break from editing his latest epic John Dies at the End to attend Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and today it was announced that footage from the film will be previewed before a screening of Penumbra, introduced by the man himself! The screening takes place at 9:15 pm, on Sunday, September 25th...

Images of Paul Giamatti (as reporter Arnie Blondestone), Clancy Brown (as paranormal superstar Dr. Marconi) and Doug Jones (as Roger North) were also released, which you can check out below! The film is based on the amazing novel by David Wong...

Synopsis: It's a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can't...






(Thanks to aintitcool.com and Don Coscarelli)

Monday, September 19, 2011

Pages Torn from a Travel Journal by Edward Lee, review by Steve Hergina


Edward Lee states that H.P. Lovecraft is one of greatest writers ever. His (Lee’s) writing is nothing like Lovecraft's, except for the imagination part. It is truly astounding how things work out, he wrote Trolley No. 1852, The Innswich Horror, and The Haunter of the Threshold directly with Lovecraft in mind. With all that being said, all I can say is wow. This review might be slightly biased, considering I am already an Edward Lee fan. It was a graphic depiction of life back in the early 1900's. 

Pages takes place after a train broke down in the Virginian hills near Kentucky and West Virginia, with our main character Howard, who is a starving writer, hmmm, he decides to partake in a nature walk instead of going to the local hotel establishment for the night, cause he couldn't afford it. His new "friends" told him of the creekers they were hoping to find. He really wanted no part of that, then a tall man appeared and asked to hang a poster for the carnival that was in town, in exchange he offered them free tickets. Of course, they went. 

That is where Howard met Bliss, his dumbfounded self, couldn't understand his attraction to such an odd "performer in a carnie, but her beauty bewitched him. He fell head over heels, and had to help her escape her father/husband, who owned the carnival. 

The depiction of everything is in great detail, the good and the bad. If you have ever read an Edward (Ed) Lee novel, you understand completely what I'm saying. He uses very descriptive words, which is sometimes good, sometimes very nasty. This book offers up everything an Ed Lee novel has and delivers it with a solid blow to your face. His writing is very "hardcore", and is not for everyone, but I love it. Don't say you weren't warned. Enjoy!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

And the winner is...


The winners have been announced for this weekend's H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in San Pedro, including best screenplay, best short film and best of fest...

The Old Man & the Box, written by Bill Barnett won for best screenplay, and Death Wind by Jim Pinto & Travis Heermann was runner-up...

The best short film, as chosen by Guillermo del Toro, was a tie between Static Aeons by Gib Patterson and Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven by Christopher Saphire & Don Theil III, with Unfilmable.com favorite Black Goat (by Joseph Nanni) coming in second...

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's The Whisperer in Darkness, directed by Sean Branney and produced by Andrew Leman, was voted best of fest at the 2011 HPLFF...

Congratulations from Unfilmable.com to all the winners and runners-up...









(Thanks to Aaron Vanek)

HPL Film Fest Los Angeles 2011, write-up by Michael Tice...


I drifted (slowly through Friday rush-hour traffic) down to San Pedro for the start of the second Los Angeles-based HPL Film Fest [here's what little I wrote about the first one down here]. Any annoyance at the traffic was alleviated by being ushered into the VIP reception hosted at the Grand Vision Foundation's digs near the Warner Grand Theater itself. Got to hobnob with friends old and new, and drool over the props and things from Whisperer in Darkness. Sean and Andrew brought a ton of stuff along, and it looks as good in person as it does on screen. Also had a chance to try out some Bowen's Whiskey before it's available in stores. They served it in some ice shotglasses that were a little better in concept than execution; it forced you to drink fast as your beverage and container rapidly turned into a puddle in the middle of your hand. So I didn't linger over the bouquet or taste, but it was pleasant and a bit on the sweet side. I also had one of their whiskey-ritas. It sounded like an abomination -- clearly perfect for a Lovecraftian gathering -- but the combo of whiskey and basil-infused lemonade was surprisingly good.

Oh, and I suppose there were some films, eventually.


First up, Whistle and I'll Come to You, based on MR James's similarly named story. I love James' tidy little antiquarian ghost stories, and this BBC production captures the charm and the spook factor pretty well. That... thing on the beach is no doubt made on a BBC budget, but after the slowly building set-up, it's freakin' eerie. [And while I'm linking things in my mind, the one great James film adaptation is Night/Curse of the Demon, based on "Casting the Runes", which makes a cameo of sorts in Cast a Deadly Spell, which screened the second day of the fest.]

A tribute to Roger Corman, with his video'd acceptance of the Howie award, followed by Haunted Palace. Roger talked a bit about how the production went from an adaptation of HP Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" to "THE HAUNTED PALACE... based on a poem by Edgar Allan Poe... and a story by howard philips lovecraft.
The film holds up reasonably well. It's not the best of the Corman/Price collaborations, but it's certainly not the worst either. Interesting to see how much screenwriter Charles Beaumont added to really make it *more* Lovecraftian, at least in a name-check way. It's set in Arkham rather than Providence/RI, and even the big C gets a mention. I wonder where Cathie Merchant's character shopped for her revealing outfit in Puritan New England. Not that I'm complaining. Also kind of funny that Ward's resemblance to Curwen is not so surprising, inasmuch as all the residents of Arkham look just like their ancestors. Which reminds me... does Elisha Cook Jr. ever win? Even crippled newsies can get the better of him.

Then Aaron's big coup, a screening of a newly restored print of Berkeley Square with Leslie Howard. A film that Lovecraft saw several times and inspired the Shadow Out of Time (and a bit of Charles Dexter Ward as well). This is probably the first time the film has been screened publicly in 50 years, and it was great to hear the director's grandson give a little introduction, and to hear Aaron Vanek stand on a stage and thank the Academy.
The film is a pretty early talky, so sadly some of the dialogue was a bit difficult to hear -- one of those jobs where they hide a microphone in a potted plant in the middle of the room and hope they get the sound they need as people walk around and act. But it's easy to see how it would have punched Lovecraft's buttons; L. Howard being transported from the horrid Jazz Age back to the Georgian period Howard L. loved so well. Leslie Howard's Oscar-nominated performance is excellent; some nice subtle details as he negotiates the different protocol of an earlier age. The love story/resolution is a bit mawkish, but really it was such a treat to enjoy this film.

I skipped out on the afterparty at the Whale & Ale, but I was back bright and early to earn my keep as a VIP next day as part of the author reading and discussion alongside fellow scribes Denise Dumars, Jenna Pitman, Ted Grau, C Courtney Joyner, and Cody Goodfellow, who ably moderated and participated. I was so anxious about my own reading that I could hardly pay attention to a word anyone said in their own readings. I can well understand the wisdom of Ted's solution to have his wife read for him. I was glad Denise offered her nonfictional musings about possible mythological antecedents for Cthulhu, since I started off in a nonfictional vein myself. I was inspired by seeing Vincent Price burned as a witch the previous night, so I dug out my bit of Lovecraftian almost scholarship on the identity of Pickman's witch ancestor. This dry scholarship I characterized as giving the audience its vegetables, but I followed it up with some dessert, a reading of a few of the Eldritch Quintuplets. They went over well, though I fear I permanently dispelled any possible mood of cosmic dread. Indeed, in the ensuing discussion, I managed to reach the height of hypocrisy by decrying most modern Lovecraftoid fiction and the rise of plush Cthulhus and other Lovecraftian kitsch. Bad Mike. But I must not have come off as too much of a jerk, as our kind host, Jerry at Williams Book Store managed to move a half dozen copies.

Back at the theater, we started off with Cast a Deadly Spell. If you haven't seen it, it's a lot of fun. The bizarre anachronistic videogame analogy that comes to mind is that, just as Red Dead Redemption had the Undead Nightmare version, Cast a Deadly Spell is the Lovecraftian Nightmare version of LA NOIRE. Raymond Chandler meets HPL, with Fred Ward as our gruff non-magic using gumshoe in a 1940's Los Angeles where everyone uses magic. And Julianne Moore as his old flame/femme fatale. The screenwriter and an actor were on hand for some lively Q&A.

During the all-too-brief dinner break, I strolled down to the San Pedro Brewing Company for a quick quesadilla and a beer. Good stuff, and they have free tours of their brewery Fridays at 4:30. Aaron randomly popped in to get some change, and I'm afraid I stole some of his precious time, though that may be the only time he sat down all day.

I couldn't remember if I'd seen La Sombra Prohibida before. The description seemed familiar, so I dawdled a bit and chatted with a few people. When I drifted in, it soon became clear that I hadn't seen it. So I missed the first twenty minutes or so, but got caught up in the action, though it's kind of a downer... the darn Earth gets saved again! What is it with that?

Next up the shorts:
First the short shorts:
Call of Nature: a quick joke
Ritual: a quick nonjoke
Pickman's Model: a quick shock

Black Goat at least ended the string of happy endings. That lack of happiness made me happy.

Static Aeons shared the prize for best short, but it left me pretty cold. The visuals were computer animation... it was sort of like watching someone play a creepy version of MYST. Accompanied by a poetical voiceover that I couldn't seem to focus on... I think film burnout was setting in.

Idle Worship started with some really really beautiful stop motion as a skeleton comes to life. I confess I am a sucker for animated skeletons, but unfortunately the animation in the rest of the short is merely good. If it had all been as lovely as the opening sequence, I'd overlook the fact that the story isn't much of one. But I still enjoyed it.

Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. Yes, I know, I know. Another frickin version of the frickin Raven. But this was really a great surprise and well worthy of being the other cowinner for best short. I was dubious when I read that it updates the setting to the 1950's, but really it's a well-conceived reimagination and beautiful as well.

Shadow of the Unnameable - This almost worked for me. The title sequence was inspired and awesome, as you sort of emerge from out of a pulp magazine. In the main story itself, some of the composition of live action and CGI elements was a little clumsy, but I think it actually gave the piece a more dreamlike fantasy feel that worked in its favor. Maybe their clumsiness was intentional, in which case it was genius! A little different acting, a lot different denouement, and this coulda really been something. I blame the source material, which is not one of HPL's finest.

Curse of Yig. Another one that I wanted to like more. Some uninspired acting and uninspired presentation. A story that could use more condensing. And the most important thing.. I really like the ending of the story. You are led down a garden path, and then Zap, a final revelation that makes it all worse. But it has to be ZAP. One quick line and cut to black, and let the audience think about it for three seconds and all go "EW!" at each other. This got stretched out to Zzzzzzzzaaaapppppppp. And if you try to stretch out a P, it just sounds like fffffft. [Looking at the original story, they filmed the dialogue of the last paragraph exactly as written, but I think you really only need the first sentence. The speed of reading and the speed of listening to filmed dialogue are a little different.]

Then the Whisperer in Darkness. I've already talked a little about it, but I think I'll withhold further spoiler-y comment til more people have had a chance to see it. But another great piece of work from the HPLHS, who well deserve their best in show prize. Getting to be a VIP gave me a swelled head, but nothing like the size of my big melon on the screen of the Warner Grand in the debate scene.

I schmoozed a bit at the afterparty, and then away home.

[Used with permission...check out the original post here.]

(Thanks to Michael Tice)

The Haunter of the Threshold by Edward Lee, review by Steve Hergina


The Haunter of the Threshold is an Edward Lee proclaimed sequel to The Haunter of the Dark by H.P. Lovecraft. I say in name only, as this novel shares very limited ideas with the Lovecraft story. Without the sexual overtones (or acts performed within), this book would be all of ten pages, stretching it out. Edward Lee has brought his very "hardcore" writing style to another Lovecraft story, his other one; The Innswich Horror (review forthcoming) is about other Lovecraftian ideas.

The story itself revolves around pregnant college professor Sonia Heald, an English literature professor, her fiancé Frank Barlow, a mathematician, an academic wiz, his recently deceased college professor, (retired) friend Henry Wilmarth and Sonia's closet friend Hazel Greene (whom wants to be lovers with Sonia). Sexual overtones already, you should read how that unfolds...

Sonia and Hazel travel up to meet with Frank at Henry's cabin, in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire. Henry asked Frank to destroy all the work he and Frank's father were working on over the years, because Henry believed he solved the math problem that hounded them for years, only to discover how it would bring about a new world.

Some of the Lovecraftian beings are here; The Old Ones, tentacled people in robes, and Yog-Sothoth, but the majority of the novel revolves around sex and many fetishes. From the backwoods redneck hillbillies and their strange ways of getting by, to all the weird mystical ideas that Lovecraft came up with, butchered by an author (whom I like to read) who uses his perverted ideas of sexual overtures where they don't belong (this time, you don't mess with Lovecraft in that way). He writes a lot of stories, but unfortunately his style doesn't fit with Lovecraft. He proclaims Lovecraft as one of his faves in the author's notes and confessed that this novel is "a damnable one" as far as a sequel goes, and in the end says "And May God and Lovecraft Forgive Me". He can only hope they do, cause I can't.

Friday, September 16, 2011

The Window Into Time...


Currently playing the festival circuit, writer/director Thomas Nicol's The Window Into Time "seeks to bring the essential style of HPL to the screen in an original story, inspired by his work." The short film, co-written with Ryan Collins, stars William Kephart, Stephanie Swearingen and Michael Kilcullen...

About the film: Dr. Lawrence Schenker, Man of Science, is contacted by an old classmate with an intriguing problem, setting him on a mission to recreate a substance described in an ancient manuscript...with no thought to the possible consequences...

Check out the teaser trailer below...




(Thanks to Tangeant Productions)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

H. P. Lovecraft at the Seattle Art Museum...


For Immediate Release:

The Seattle Art Museum presents: HPL@S.A.M. - Lovecraft's Visions

Lively discussions and some of the best cinematic interpretations of the works of H. P. Lovecraft will be presented, as well as an art show curated by David Verba! Guests scheduled to appear include Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi, speculative fiction author Greg Bear, writer/filmmaker Jason V Brock, science fiction author Marc Laidlaw and Whisperer in Darkness director Sean Branney, with more to be announced...

Panels include "H. P. Lovecraft's Life, Work, and Influence" (S. T. Joshi [Moderator], W. H. Pugmire, Philip Haldeman, Maryanne Snyder, Greg Bear) and "Lovecraft in Film" (Sean Branney, Andrew Leman, Marc Laidlaw, Jason V Brock [Moderator], Justin Giallo)...

Films set to screen include the Lovecraftian classics; Re-Animator, Out of Mind, Bryan Moore's Cool Air, The Music of Erich Zann by John Strysik, The Ancestor (the unreleased director's cut of Dan O'Bannon's The Resurrected), and the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's The Call of Cthulhu...

Other screenings include The Haunted Palace, H. P. Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown by Frank Woodward, The Dunwich Horror, Night of the Demon, The Last Wave and The Whisperer in Darkness by the HPLHS...

Click here for ticket information and a full schedule...


(Thanks to Jason V Brock)

Another look at the Unnamable...


Press Release:

The short film "Shadow of the Unnamable" by Sascha Renninger is a film adaptation of a short story by H.P. Lovecraft which has its world premiere at the 17th of September 2011 at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival® in San Pedro, Los Angeles, USA. The judge of the nine films spanning short film block is Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy I and II, Blade II).

The story plays in New England in the 20th of the last century. The American actors Robert Lyons and Jeff Motherhead play the two friends Randolph Carter and Joel Manton. Carter tells one of his usual horror stories, a legend about a creature ...

The German production in English language was shot on film with enormous efforts in production design whereas the post production was done completely digital. Not only fans of Lovecraft but also friends of subtle horror will be completly pleased with it. The release on DVD-Video is planned for 2012.

Official homepage: www.the-unnamable.com

Joel Manton (Jeff Motherhead) listening the words of Randolph Carter. 
Randolph Carter (Robert Lyons) talks to Joel Manton.








Randolph Carter (Robert Lyons) and Joel Manton (Jeff Motherhead).
Joel Manton (Jeff Motherhead) does not believe in spooky tales.
Randolph Carter (Robert Lyons) talks about a legend of a strange old man.
Tombstone in the twilight
All photos are film stills by Wilfried E. Keil

(Thanks to Wilfried E. Keil)

The stars are right in San Pedro...


The 2011 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival is upon us, and while Unfilmable.com will not be in attendance, we are pleased to see that the festival continues to survive and grow! We know that there will be many of our loyal readers in attendance, so we invite you to share with us any film reviews, festival write-ups or interesting stories or events...anything submitted will be published in these pages! Please send them to: unfilmable@yahoo.com


This year's festival continues to see a wide variety of guests and films (both short and feature length) from all over the world proving that H.P. Lovecraft's influence knows no boundaries, in this dimension, or any other! Feature films scheduled to appear include; Berkeley Square, Cast a Deadly Spell, Die Farbe (The Colour), La Sombra Prohibida (The Forbidden Shadow), The Haunted Palace and new fan favorite, The Whisperer in Darkness! Some great looking short films are set to screen including Black Goat and The Curse of Yig (both featured heavily on Unfilmable.com), Call of Nature and Idle Worship (both stop-motion films!), Pickman's Model and the previously mentioned Shadow of the Unnamable, Static Aeons, The Ritual, Whisper and I'll Come To You and the Poe film, The Raven...


Guests slated to appear include; Andrew Leman and Sean Branney (of the amazing H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, artist Mike Dubisch (see: Pickman's Models) and many more...

Head over to the official HPLFF site for the complete schedule, and click here for ticket information...


(Thanks to Aaron Vanek)

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and Other Stories...


Working on Edward Martin's feature-length animated adaptation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is something that I'm extremely proud of, and I've always wished that I would have been aware of Jason B. Thompson comic book series on which it's based, but sadly, it was sold out before I even knew it existed! Self-published in the late 90's, the series was a 122-page, five-issue all-ages adaptation of Dream-Quest, drawing inspiration from underground comics and classic children's books and the "naive fairy-tale wonder-spirit" that Lovecraft, in his own words, was trying to capture...

Now all these years later, Jason has announced his intentions to re-release the comics as a graphic novel including all five issues along with his adaptations of the Dreamlands stories Celephais, The White Ship and The Strange High House in the Mist! It will also include a map of the Dreamlands and concept art...176 pages all told... 

You can read the new comics; Celephais, The White Ship and The Strange High House in the Mist at mockman.com...

Jason is currently trying to raise funds for the project on Kickstarter, which you can check out here...


(Thanks to Jason B. Thompson)

The Unnamable arrives on the big screen...


The long awaited premier of Sascha Renninger's Shadow of the Unnamable takes place this weekend at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in San Pedro, with an encore screening at the Portland, Oregon HPLFF! As previously announced, the official site has been revamped and the final teaser trailer has been released, which you can see below...

Bonus materials for the eventual DVD release are being edited, and a short making-of teaser will hit YouTube soon, according to the director...


(Thanks to Sascha Alexander Renninger)

Richard Stanley talks the making of Toads...


Cult filmmaker, writer, and world traveler Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil) tells the story behind his latest project, The Mother of Toads (based on the story by Clark Ashton Smith) over on the Terra Umbra - Empire of Shadows blog! The film, which is part of the Theatre Bizarre anthology, is enjoying a successful festival run...

Check it out here...

Mother of Toads concept art by Ivan de Castries

(Thanks to Richard Stanley)