Cthulhu, one of the most revered of horrific thriller literature, originally created by H.P Lovecraft is a creation of dark and mysterious revelations of the terrible deep we know as the open sea. The most obscure of murky scenes pictures the world of Cthulhu with a burned lense towards a full moon, it's cloudy, dirty, foggy, and cold, both in mind and physical presence. A 60:s America taking place in the most inbred of local population, these societies deep beneath the surface of human culture transpires in parallel to what lurks on the bottom of the ocean, it's gritty and malevolent, with no guarantee to reality, psyche, life or death. What we see is chaos, through the vision of people who simply end up in the wrong ally at the wrong time, swept by the waves into the most sinister of maelstroms, sucking you deeper and deeper into madness, until the total epiphany of a psychosis takes one step forward, only to have your protagonist hang himself to one unresolved suicide, with scribbled notes of cultists and watching eyes of the Deep Ones.
This is Cthulhu, a world that never ceases to twist ones mind into a reality not recognizable from the first.
In truth, Cthulhu 2007 is NOT a bad movie, per se. The very spirit of H.P Lovecraft doesn't have that much of a grip, but rather leaves the experience to the watcher, but without explaining any of it. I see how it would be confusion to people unfamiliar with Cthulhu, but probably very unnerved by taking in that puzzling terror of unexplained phenomenon. To fans of Lovecraft, it's certainly a stretch with all the chants, cults, and Cthulhu, all regarded with a very slight read-up on what these books really had in mind, which to me as a small fan appears a bit weak.
However, from a more romanticized view, this movie creates a tale of describing nature, and actually captures the origin pretty good. The very thin love story has actually caught good interest, and renders decent quality, not with any unnecessary thwarts here and there, just plain and simple, and like the movie, it takes itself seriously. As for the horror, I was getting a bit impatient at first, but as it started I could really see this as inspiring. Again, it did not bare the same familiar being to the original, but it has it's own perspective, and in regard to storytelling and emotional value, it holds up very good.
All in all, this movie is not like the books, only with pieces it introduces fright, but it poses itself from a different angle, a more human modern way, and as it reflects upon the book, I'd say it's a good tribute to Lovecrafts work.
The actual best part of this experience is that it leaves me with that exact feeling I'd hoped for, NOTHING is explained, only that there's a cult, strange creatures, and the sea. It is, in it's own sense, a masterpiece.
The only real complaint is about the mythology. The connection gets pretty vague, as Cthulhu is sometimes pronounced wrong, the language of the deep ones could've had more ambitious work, and all in all, reading the books should've been a greater study to really execute the presentation of the movies source.
It could be looked upon as a different starting point within the same universe, or an inspirational version of it's forefather (more like their own version).
As a movie, and compared to Cthulhu, I can say I did enjoy it. It left me satisfied.
