20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

[4wd]

I just hope it turns out better than the plot summary.

-4wd (June 30, 2010, 06:41 PM)

That shouldn't be too hard.

-Deozaan (June 30, 2010, 06:55 PM)

I'd almost believe you if it wasn't for the fact I've seen plot summaries that read better than the movie

[Deozaan]

I just hope it turns out better than the plot summary.

-4wd (June 30, 2010, 06:41 PM)

That shouldn't be too hard.

-Deozaan (June 30, 2010, 06:55 PM)

I'd almost believe you if it wasn't for the fact I've seen plot summaries that read better than the movie

-4wd (June 30, 2010, 08:34 PM)

That wasn't a guarantee. I just said it shouldn't be too hard. Especially considering how bland the plot summary is for the movie on IMDB at this moment.

[JavaJones]

What about Silence of the Lambs?

Spoiler

Lecter kills a bunch of people, escapes, gets off scott-free, gets to eat Chilton the prison Dr. who he hated. Forget about the sequel, it's irrelevant, no one knew they'd make one at the time. Sure Clarice lives too, and they kill the "real" bad guy Buffalo Bill, but Lecter kills innocents too, just because the movie paints him as some kind of odd anti-hero doesn't mean he's not real, true human evil...

- Oshyan

[40hz]

OK, I do know one Hollywood movie where human evil triumphs in no uncertain terms at the end of the picture:



In this case, human evil extends far beyond the individual to become manifest in the whole of society.

Human evil can't score a bigger win than that.  

↓ This will be me the day that scenario becomes true:

[f0dder]

In this case, human evil extends far beyond the individual to become manifest in the whole of society.

-40hz (July 01, 2010, 06:32 PM)

Oh, but it's not evil, you know - it's the greatest good for the greatest number!

[Deozaan]

Speaking of which, is that movie (1984) any good? Or are there any good film adaptations of the book?

While I'm at it, are there any good movies based on the Cthulhu mythos that are also relatively clean? As in rated PG-13 or below? I don't mind violence and gore so much (to a point) but I find sex and profanity in films to often be just unnecessary and detrimental.

And to further narrow the options, are any of them available on Netflix's Instant Watch in the USA? (I'm not sure if Netflix is international.)

[mwb1100]

Speaking of which, is that movie (1984) any good? Or are there any good film adaptations of the book?

-Deozaan (July 02, 2010, 01:13 AM)

I recently watched the John Hurt version of the movie, "Nineteen Eighty-Four", and I think it's good (depressing, but then again so is the source material).  I think that it follows the book pretty faithfully, but it's been a long time since i read the book, so I might be off base there. It is quite bleak. Note that (since you mentioned PG-13 later in your post), the movie does have R-rated nudity and sex.

The only other movie version of 1984 that I'm aware of is one made in 1956 starring Edmond O'Brien (http://en.wikipedia....wiki/1984_(1956_film)).  I watched it many many years ago in college, and don't remember too much about it.  For some reason it's not readily available on DVD, but you can search around for bootlegs.

While I'm at it, are there any good movies based on the Cthulhu mythos that are also relatively clean?

-Deozaan (July 02, 2010, 01:13 AM)

There's a really good DVD called "Call of Cthulhu".  It was made by a more-or-less amateur group of Lovecraft fanatics (I don't mean amateur in an insulting way, but they're not Hollywood pros - which I think was an advantage in this case).

Note: it's a silent film! I think they did this both for artistic value and atmosphere with probably some budget/technical reasons as well. Anyway - it works really well to give it a Lovecraftian feel.

I think it's a fantastic film - I think the encounter on Cthulhu's island is nicely staged to give it a feel of 'unworldly dimensions'.  If you've seen "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and liked what was done there with the angles and perspectives of the sets you might have an idea of what I mean.

It's not rated, but the closest to anything racy in the movie is a dance ritual by a bunch of cultists wearing loincloths.

No idea if it's on Netflix's Instant Watch.

[Deozaan]

Wow, it's even Black & White?

And it looks like the same people are making The Whisperer in the Darkness, which I just read the other day. Another Black & White.

When referring to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, are you referring to the remake (2005) or the original (1920)? I haven't seen either of them, I'm just curious.

[40hz]

+1 on Call of Cthullu.

I was incredibly impressed by the production quality and faithfulness of the script to the original story. I personally felt its being shot in an antiqued-look B&W added to the vintage vibe of the movie. But I don't expect everyone will agree with me on that point. Probably a good idea to watch the trailer here to see if the "look" works for you before you purchase.

The Whisperer in the Darkness is one of Lovecraft's better stories and the  H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's newest adaptation also looks good.

...Even now I absolutely refused to believe what he implied about the constitution of ultimate infinity, the juxtaposition of dimensions, and the frightful position of our known cosmos of space and time in the unending chain of linked cosmos-atoms which makes up the immediate super-cosmos of curves, angles, and material and semi-material electronic organisation.

Never was a sane man more dangerously close to the arcana of basic entity--never was an organic brain nearer to utter annihilation in the chaos that transcends form and force and symmetry. I learned whence Cthulhu first came, and why half the great temporary stars of history had flared forth. I guessed--from hints which made even my informant pause timidly--the secret behind the Magellanic Clouds and globular nebulae, and the black truth veiled by the immemorial allegory of Tao. The nature of the Doels was plainly revealed, and I was told the essence (though not the source) of the Hounds of Tindalos. The legend of Yig, Father of Serpents, remained figurative no longer, and I started with loathing when told of the monstrous nuclear chaos beyond angled space which the Necronomicon had mercifully cloaked under the name of Azathoth. It was shocking to have the foulest nightmares of secret myth cleared up in concrete terms whose stark, morbid hatefulness exceeded the boldest hints of ancient and mediaeval mystics... -Whisperer in the Darkness

They're blogging it here and have a trailer for it here.

After watching the trailer, all I can say is: I want it!  

----------

Outside of these two films, there's not much worth seeing that purports to be based on Lovecraft's works. Most are so-so horror flicks that use some Lovecraftian terminology or characters in an attempt to make things seem like more than they are. Most aren't worth the film they're printed on.

Of all of the Lovecraft influenced films out there, about the only one really worth watching is an oddball John Carpenter effort entitled In the Mouth of Madness

The efficient and skeptical freelance insurance investigator John Trent is hired by the publisher Jackson Harglow to find where the famous writer Sutter Cane might be. After writing a series of best-sellers in the horror genre, affecting the reason and causing disorientation, memory loss, and paranoia in readers, Sutter has simply vanished near the release of his new novel, "Horror in Hobb's End." There is mass hysteria of his anxious fans waiting for the new release, and John believes that his disappearance is a marketing strategy. John follows his instincts and travels with Cane's editor, Linda Styles, to New Hampshire, seeking for the apparently fictional town of Hobb's End...John discloses that Sutter Cane has unleashed a powerful evil force in the black church of the mysterious town, and his twisted imagination is changing the reality and perception of those who read his novels.

High production values, a fairly good plot, and a few "name" cast members ( Sam Neill, Charlton Heston, Julie Carmen) distinguish it from most of what's out there.



There's a few very effective scenes and concepts found in the picture that will earn smiles from Lovecraft fans. The exterior shooting for the "Black Church" is particularly well done. Other parts of the movie are a little hokey however. And some of the "special effects" (especially those in one important pre-climax scene) are more laughable than scary. Fortunately, they're not so bad that they'll seriously detract from most people's overall enjoyment of the picture. Amazon has it for $12 on DVD and it's also available from NetFlix.

----------
Note: This movie is not based on any specific Lovecraft story, but it still borrows extensively from his works. Serious HPL fans are divided on this picture. If you're big on story fidelity, stick to Call of Cthullu and The Whisperer in the Darkness. But if you're more the type of fan who simply enjoys seeing Lovecraftian elements show up on screen, it's well worth a watch.



 

[mwb1100]

When referring to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, are you referring to the remake (2005) or the original (1920)?

-Deozaan (July 02, 2010, 09:42 PM)

The 1920 original - I haven't seen the remake.

[mwb1100]

The Whisperer in the Darkness[/i] is one of Lovecraft's better stories and the  H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's newest adaptation also looks good.

-40hz (July 02, 2010, 11:58 PM)

Thanks for the heads up - I hadn't heard about this.

I also agree that "In the Mouth of Madness" is a pretty good Lovecraftian-themed film.  I also liked "From Beyond" - but that's definitely **not** even close to being a PG-13 flick.

[40hz]

I also liked "From Beyond" - but that's definitely **not** even close to being a PG-13 flick.

-mwb1100 (July 03, 2010, 01:36 AM)

Um, no. Not by a long shot, although it's still considerably cleaner than many budget horror flicks.

----------

To get away for H.P. Lovecraft for a moment, there's an in-production indie sci-fi movie from Finland that looks promising. It's a riff on some of those crackpot stories you see on the web that maintain there are secret Nazi military bases which have been on the dark side of the moon since the 1940s.

It's almost like Steampunk meets alternate military history.  



Some people are already calling this subgenre Dieselpunk.

Dieselpunk would cover the time period between 1918 and 1945 or thereabouts. The primary difference would be that the Dieselpunk era has electricity, more advanced industrial sciences, and mass production capabilities. First generation fission weapons are also a possibility in this timeframe.

Many moons ago I remember reading in one of those UFO conspiracy paperbacks about something called Operation Blindspot. According to the story, the Nazis once operated advanced secret bases in the Antarctic with the intent of developing technologies for space travel and moon colonization. It was called Operation Blindspot because it was meant to be utterly secret, and act as an emergency fallback in case the war didn't go the way the Third Reich planned. The idea was to conduct secret moon launches from the most remote part of the world in order to keep their activities completely hidden from hostile observers. The moon's dark side was chosen for the location of the moon base for the same reason. Once established, Blindspot would rebuild the Nazi war machine, repopulate its SS ranks - and when the time was right - this new spacefaring Fourth Reich would begin its conquest of the planet Earth.

Supposedly, Operation Blindspot was successful and it's only a matter of time before their nuclear weaponized armada shows up in our skies.

I guess somebody else read that same whacked-out book.  

Here's the plot synopsis from the Iron Sky website:

Towards the end of World War II the staff of SS officer Hans Kammler made a significant breakthrough in anti-gravity.

From a secret base built in the Antarctic, the first Nazi spaceships were launched in late ‘45 to found the military base Schwarze Sonne (Black Sun) on the dark side of the Moon. This base was to build a powerful invasion fleet and return to take over the Earth once the time was right.

Now it’s 2018, the Nazi invasion is on its way and the world is goose-stepping towards its doom.

If the two trailers are anything to go by, the visuals should be quite impressive. But I'm not 100% sure about what they're up to with the script. The official website bills it as a "comedy" which seems surprising considering how dark the subject matter is.

Either way, it should be out sometime in 2011 if things stay on course. They're pursuing fan financing (via a humorous Buy War Bonds! campaign) so it may take longer than expected to complete.





I'm guessing that when you're making a film revolving around subjects which still make a lot of people very uneasy (even if it is fiction) it's a lot more 'challenging' to secure mainstream financing.

Anyway, here's some stills:



Animated movie poster link is here.

Link to Teaser #1 here.

Link to Teaser #2 here.

The Iron Sky Official Website can be found here.

Be interesting to see how it plays out if they ever get it finished.

[Renegade]

It's hard not to love Lovecraft~!

A personal favorite of mine is "Memory":

Memory
By H. P. Lovecraft

------=-O-=------

In the valley of Nis the accursed waning moon shines thinly, tearing a path for its light with feeble horns through the lethal foliage of a great upas-tree. And within the depths of the valley, where the light reaches not, move forms not meet to be beheld. Rank is the herbage on each slope, where evil vines and creeping plants crawl amidst the stones of ruined palaces, twining tightly about broken columns and strange monoliths, and heaving up marble pavements laid by forgotten hands. And in trees that grow gigantic in crumbling courtyards leap little apes, while in and out of deep treasure-vaults writhe poison serpents and scaly things without a name.

      Vast are the stones which sleep beneath coverlets of dank moss, and mighty were the walls from which they fell. For all time did their builders erect them, and in sooth they yet serve nobly, for beneath them the grey toad makes his habitation.

      At the very bottom of the valley lies the river Than, whose waters are slimy and filled with weeds. From hidden springs it rises, and to subterranean grottoes it flows, so that the Daemon of the Valley knows not why its waters are red, nor whither they are bound.

      The Genie that haunts the moonbeams spake to the Daemon of the Valley, saying, “I am old, and forget much. Tell me the deeds and aspect and name of them who built these things of stone.” And the Daemon replied, “I am Memory, and am wise in lore of the past, but I too am old. These beings were like the waters of the river Than, not to be understood. Their deeds I recall not, for they were but of the moment. Their aspect I recall dimly, for it was like to that of the little apes in the trees. Their name I recall clearly, for it rhymed with that of the river. These beings of yesterday were called Man.”

      So the Genie flew back to the thin horned moon, and the Daemon looked intently at a little ape in a tree that grew in a crumbling courtyard.

It's prose, but it reads like poetry.

I also love August Derleth. There are many others that have picked up the torch to carry on foretelling the doom of mankind with the rise of things best left unspoken, e.g. Robert Bloch.

[Innuendo]

Lovecraft was a genius. If you can get past his writing style you'll wonder what people see in Stephen King and Clive Barker. The man created from scratch a mythos and religion so vast & rich in detail that it actually spawned the real-world literary publication of a book that was created in Lovecraft's head & purely imaginary.

Oh, almost forgot....go, Miskatonic U!!!