As an avid Lovecraft fan and someone who's fascinated by cosmic horror in general, I went into this movie with extremely (and perhaps unreasonably) high hopes. The film's website promoted it as a "Lovecraftian descent into madness", and while it has its positive aspects, overall, I found it quite disappointing.
To start with what Older Gods does well, the cinematography is quite nice, the acting is decent, there are moments of genuine tension, there's some good characterization (if not character development), the soundtrack is pretty solid, the (first half of) the script has some moments of real emotional poignancy, and some of the imagery, despite the filmmaker's obvious financial limitations, is suitably haunting. I also appreciated that they paid tribute to the source material without overtly referencing it, as well as their limited reliance on grotesque, gore-based spectacle. Lastly, it seems to have come from a place of sincerity and an authentic desire to create something artistic and meaningful, and for that, the creators deserve praise.
That being said, though it borrows heavily from Lovecraft's mythology in its framing, I'm sorry to say that it seems to entirely miss the point, narratively, tonally, and most significantly, thematically, and comes off more as a home invasion thriller with the motifs of cosmic horror than an unraveling mystery. The runtime is too short to let dread build up naturally, the mood shifts between that of a drama and a thriller and even into sardonic humor that borders on (if not reaches) bathos, and, most troublingly, the message is an undeniably humanistic one, something that's completely at odds with Lovecraft's pessimistic and anti-humanistic philosophy of cosmicism. Because of the way it was sold, I can't really judge Older Gods without looking at it through a Lovecraftian lens, though even with the alleged "descent into madness" being pretty lackluster, there's not much of a mystery or implied lore behind what you see on the surface, but I guess it could be entertaining if you're just looking for a slightly different shade of horror-based fun.
I'm really grateful that more filmmakers are taking on cosmic horror, however imperfectly, and if anyone is looking for recommendations, the even lower-budget Cthulhu (2007), Black Mountain Side, Gaia, The Lighthouse, The Borderlands, and the criminally underrated The Empty Man are all great. The Void, Glorious, and Underwater are also a lot of fun.
I hope that everyone who watches this finds something they like, but for cosmic horror fans, just know what you're getting into.
