Cthulhu [2007] Dan Gildark

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478126/

Cthulhu is a 2007 American horror movie, directed by Dan Gildark and co-written by Grant Cogswell and Daniel Gildark. The film is loosely based on the short story The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1936) by H. P. Lovecraft.

Jason Cottle ... Russ
Casey Curran ... Club Kid
Ethan Atkinson ... SUV Driver
Patrick McKnight ... SUV Passenger
Cara Buono ... Dannie
Dennis Kleinsmith ... Reverend Marsh
Joe Shapiro ... Barnes
Ruby Wood ... Girl on Stairs
Hunter Stroud ... Teen Russ
Keifer Grimm ... Teen Mike
Rob Hamm ... Jake
Scott Patrick Green ... Mike (as Scott Green)
Nancy Stark ... Aunt Josie
Tom Prince ... Bartender
Richard Garfield ... Zadok

The film moves the story from New England to the Pacific Northwest. The film is notable for having a gay protagonist. Screenwriter Grant Cogswell explained that he and Gildark chose to exploit the metaphor for the horror faced by a gay person returning for a relatives funeral and having to face the horrors of small-town life.

The film premiered June 14, 2007 at the Seattle International Film Festival and officially opened in select theatrical venues August 22, 2008.

The indie horror flick Cthulhu takes its name from a character whos both unpronounceable and unspeakable. Cthulhu may be the signature creation of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, who specialized in memorably purple tales of unthinkable monsters, demons and aliens up until his death in 1937. His stories of malignant gods called the Old Ones are collectively referred to as The Cthulhu mythos, named for a gigantic winged thingie with a tentacled face.

Lovecraft ranks second only to Edgar Allen Poe as a writer of American horror literature, yet his work usually slips through the fingers of filmmakers. Lovecraft conjures such nightmarish images of primordial terrors that, even if a film could replicate them through a fortune in special effects, they still wouldnt be as scary as what we see with our minds eye. Stuart Gordons kinky, splattery Re-Animator and From Beyond are the best Lovecraft flicks, but derive from smaller-scale tales than the Cthulhu-related stories

Dan Gildarks enigmatic, low-budget feature Cthulhu makes a game attempt to do justice to Lovecrafts themes while touching on modern-day concerns. In an extremely loose adaptation of Lovecrafts story The Shadow Over Innsmouth, history professor Russell Marsh (Jason Cottle) returns to his hometown of Rivermouth following his mothers death. Being openly gay, Marsh would probably have had an awkward homecoming in Rivermouth no matter the circumstances. Almost immediately we learn that Marshs father (Dennis Kleinsmith) leads a peculiar religious sect called the Esoteric Order of Dagon and robed figures stalk the streets at night.

The Cthulhu Mythos is an element of Lovecrafts work that has been highly developed by writers over the years through horror, science fiction and fantasy. According to the United States Version of Wikipedia describing Cthulhu and the mythos surrounding the concept/character there exists a series of complex classifications of the mythos, one of which is using Cthulhu as a background concept for other goings on. This is the way that the film Cthulhu is approached.

Tightly wound groups of human beings always seem to react similarly when they sense someone or a group of people to be messing with beliefs they hold near and dear. Christians, as an obvious target, get bent out of shape when you might mention that the Bible is often misinterpreted and that above all, context is key when discussing how and what exactly wrote their ancient rubric. My intent is not to demonize Christians, but the words blasphemy and sacrilege come to mind as useful adjectives cinephiles use to describe rapists of the silver screen. (No, I am not going to go into a tirade about Michael Bay, Marcus Nispel, or Eli Roth). So it seems an interesting intersection of beliefs, ideals and obsessions have accumulated into the embarrassing reception a recent adaptation of horror godfather H.P. Lovecrafts work Cthulu received. If you havent heard of Lovecraft its because you dont read horror novels or watch a variety of horror films, as nearly every major modern author in the genre credits Lovecraft as an inspiration, from Stephen King and Clive Barker, to John Carpenter and Anne Rice. Cthulu is perhaps Lovecrafts greatest diabolical creature creation; first appearing in a short story titled The Call of Cthulu, it has developed into a cult figure in horror, the word itself synonymous with evil, and apparently is an octopus like creature of grandiose proportions. Cthulu also refers to an apparent system in Lovecraft lore known as the Cthulu mythos. Just to give you some perspective, Cthulu/Lovecraft has a major and intimidating cult following. It comes as no surprise that when an unknown filmmaker named Dan Gildark released his first independent feature, Cthulu, (based loosely on several of Lovecrafts short stories) and just happened to make his main protagonist homosexual, the sexual orientation of this character took center stage and seemed to be the number one mistake the filmmakers made in “butchering the work of Lovecraft—not to mention, some horror bloggers pointed to the embarrassment of possibly having to go to that special LGBT section in the video store to seek it out.

While Gildarks film may suffer from some minor budget issues, its altogether a refreshing adaptation on work thats been visited by better filmmakers with bigger budgets. Rather than turn in his grave, Im certain Mr. Lovecraft would have appreciated this film as perhaps the closest cinema might come to bringing his work to life on screen. Much of Lovecrafts work relies on an air of dread, as even he does not fully describe the image of Cthulu. You wont see a strange, moist cephalopod creature, here either. Rather, Gildarks film relies effectively on a foreboding tone of dread, creating a stifling atmosphere of ignorance and suspense that only begins to falter by the utter confusion of the original material itself. Centering around an unhappy college professor, Russ (Jason Cottle), who is forced to return to his small coastal town to attend his mothers funeral, he soon discovers that all is not right with the community, mostly due to the strange religious cult presence, led by his very own father. Yes, Russ is homosexual, an excellent plot device to explain why he has kept his distance from his small town community. But really, the homosexuality angle works its magic when Tori Spelling (yes, that Tori Spelling) enters the picture as a manipulative, nymphomaniac rapist and the plot finally reveals why Russ has been fooled into returning.

In a roundabout way, Cthulu is really about procreation. Lets take a step back and look at one of the largest themes in science fiction and horror cinema—the apocalypse. Films like Children of Men (2006) and novels like Ape and Essence deal with what happens when the procreation of human beings has become endangered. While Margaret Atwoods novel The Handmaids Tale deals with the plight of woman as an endangered fertile commodity, have you ever wondered what would happen to the LGBT community when reproduction has been compromised? And where do gays fit into the apocalyptic narrative? Pacing issues aside, films like Cthulu represent a growing force in not only representation but also examples overriding the innate taken-for-granted heterosexual orientation of our protagonists. The character of Russ happens to be a homosexual born into a family that needs him to procreate for their own devious needs—the conflict then being that one cant take for granted that their son will procreate and forcing us to realize that our sci-fi plots are forced to revolve around flimsy, cardboard plot functions.

While Cthulu will perhaps remain a denigration to horror buffs (it doesnt help that its only distribution has been from Here! Films, a gay distributor, relegating it to a gay audience) both reception and marketing have placed it into a vicious cycle many independent films with gay characters are relegated to. If youre in the mood for a film with some astounding cinematography for a small budget, a creepy mood, and an ending that should make horror fans forgive any minor defects (plus an entertaining appearance from Tori Spelling), Cthulu is worth a try, if at least for being inventive and daring enough to reinvigorate a horror legends work.