Cthulhu (2007)

After spending the day Saturday attempting to get some work done and failing miserably, I decided that I wanted to dive into some of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. After a search of my streaming services, I was a bit shocked at the lack of material available from this horror master. After some time, I settled on the 2007 indie entry Cthulhu. 

Plot/ A Seattle history professor, drawn back to his estranged family on the Oregon coast to execute his late mother's estate, is reacquainted with his best friend from childhood, with whom he has a long-awaited tryst. Caught in an accelerating series of events, he discovers aspects of his father's New Age cult which take on a dangerous and apocalyptic significance. 

When I saw this one streaming on Amazon Prime, I was excited. I was in the perfect mood for some Lovecraft and hoped this would hit the spot. Unfortunately, this one never came together in a way to quench my desire for something from the Cthulhu Mythos. While not terrible, featuring a few moments of creepiness, some bizarre moments that worked well, and a story that made the perfect vehicle to bring this to life, still, the movie never took off or came together in a way that made it entertaining. The performances were uneven, as was the cinematography, the political and sexual overtones weighted too heavily inside the story, and the scripting left the atmosphere behind. It really played more like a flawed comedy than a horror movie. In the end, if you are a fan of Lovecraft and anything from the Cthulhu Mythos, stay away. I know there are much better choices out there.

Wisdom From Beyond - A Lovecraft Themed Transmedia Journey

Uncle, what did you do? Did you accidently summon Nyarlathotep, the faithful servant of Azathoth, who rose to power during the reign of the evil pharaoh Nephren-Ka? In my research into this mysterious stone, that is the only thing that would make sense when comparing the information to your somewhat incoherent ramblings in your journals. Yes, you had to have awakened the Crawling Chaos, but how?

This is an opening paragraph on one of the blog posts from Wisdom From Beyond. Wisdom From Beyond was an extremely detailed transmedia project that my group built for class and has created a tremendous journey into the world of H.P. Lovecraft. This immersive, interactive, transmedia story based on H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark,” was designed and produced by students of Full Sail University's Creative Writing for Entertainment BFA program and I am proud to say that I was the project manager for this story.

If you are unfamiliar with transmedia writing, that is OK. It is a rather new literary form that sets out to create Alternative Reality Games (ARGs), using multiple storytelling techniques and platforms. In our case, we used Blogger, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, Google+, and Gmail to accomplish our goal. In the end, I feel that we created something that is creative, entertaining, modern, and most importantly, stays true to the source mythos. Honestly, if you are a fan of Lovecraft, you should enjoy it.

I would love to hear your feedback on the project, especially the content. I honestly have fallen in love with this type of storytelling and am considering venturing into my own project. If you want to get started follow this link to the first YouTube video and follow the prompts left inside the videos, descriptions, and blog.

Writing Updates - October

Being a creative writing for entertainment major, I know that I should submit more of my works for publication to help build my portfolio for the future. Unfortunately, I often blow that off, and lose focus when I see a cool call for submissions. That has changed some in the past month now that I have realized that I am less than a year from graduation.

Last week, I actually submitted three works for potential publication to some different literary outlets. Last night, I got word back that two of them were accepted for publication, one to Z-Composition (zombiepoetry.com/) and another was accepted for the anthology Lovecraft After Dark.

Hopefully, these are the first of many.

Cthulhu Surge, et libera nos,

Since this is National Poetry Writing Month and there was a mention of a cult today, I ask, is there any more famous literature cult than the mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu? Personally, I think not. While I may never reach a point of anywhere near the creative genius of Lovecraft, it is sometimes fun to try.

Cthulhu Surge, et libera nos,

The murky depths surround me

The sea of life poisoned by the uninitiated

Virtuous beliefs, now forbidden

The ancient temple crumbles

Darkness and despair abound

The cult leader rises in front of the mass

His followers prostrate to the false idol

Mocking the godliness of the Great Old One

Defiling ageless texts

Alas, the Necronomicon burns

The echoes stir the seas

Earthquakes touch the mountains; shake Innsmouth

Voices join the chorus of thunder

Lightning dances

Vocate ad Vetus Ones

ut resurgat

Da nobis absolutio

nos tibi cthulhu

R'lyeh calls, oh great and righteous one

Rise again and walk among us

The dying embers of life call to you

Your golden sanctuary tainted by the malefactors

I may not be as pious as thou art

My sins sentencing me to an eternity in exile

Yet, my faith in thy greatness never wavers

Protect me from the unrepentant

Free me from the despair
Cthulhu, I call to thee

Arkham Sanitarium: Soul Eater (2014)

WOW, yesterday was a crazy weather day complete with whiteout conditions, blowing snow, and temperatures dropping to sub-zero chills. Of course, all of that was easy to overlook while watching the West Virginia University High School honors band and my talented daughter Genesis. Once I got back, it was time to find something to watch, and after some thought I decided on 2014s Arkham Sanitarium: Soul Easter.

Plot/ Arkham Sanitarium was vacant for years after a sex and death cult was arrested for committing heinous acts on patients. Today paranormal investigators are trapped and battling malevolent forces as they grapple with the very creatures created by H.P. Lovecraft.

As I have said, the found footage genre is definitely saturated. However, every once in a while something different pops up and adds something to the mix. While Arkham Sanitarium is not a great flick, it does have some original moments, and is a lot better than one would expect from the low budget. The storyline is interesting (although there is some clichéd moments), the performances are sound, and the special effects are decent. Yes, there are some minor pacing issues, and the lighting is all over, but honestly, it is better than many of the no-budget entries that have popped up over recent years. In the end, this is in no way a perfect movie and it has some down moments, but it also has some bloody and entertaining moments (and the killer cult storyline works), and is definitely watchable. If you have not seen it, give it a shot.

Happy Birthday H.P. Lovecraft

Today was an interesting day. While my class was going over some practice solder boards prior to building their fiber optic voice link, I was reminded that it was H.P. Lovecraft’s birthday. Next to Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft is one of my biggest influences in my creative process and is a literary genius. While some of the adaptations of his movies have not been great, his influence can be seen all over horror cinema.

During the viewing of The Thing (2011) for my last review, I was reminded of that influence, as many of the creatures depicted in that film had many Lovecraftian traits. Honestly, I would prefer the aliens in this world being more Reptilian than Lovecraftian, as we would have a chance against the Reptilians.

Of course, the realm of Cthulhu is one of many different paths, and the ancients of the mythos are some of the most interesting ever created. But, were they created, or did they come from some lost part of history? Could Cthulhu be the ancients legends talk about from Planet X? Yes, that may be a stretch, but the fact that the Necronomicon made its first modern appearance in the works of Lovecraft, may be an insight to some other power and understanding at work.

Sure, I am speculating with this thought, but there is truly so much that we do not understand with history and science, that links are sometimes ignored that should be seen differently.

Now I can move onto one other topic that came up in class, a recent UFO sighting near Pittsburgh. One of my students captured an interesting red glowing orb moving erratically in the sky on Sunday night and captured a couple of images. While there is not a ton of detail, the fact that these sightings are on a semi-regular basis, does add some evidential proof. Couple that with the fact that this is a student at an aviation school, and the notion of a mistaken craft identity can be somewhat dismissed as well.

While the idea of UFOs and H.P. Lovecraft may be somewhat unrelated to most observers, to me, both have origins that lie at the heart of what is most likely Forbidden History.