User reviews

I liked this one more than I should have. The script is good but sometimes clunky, cheap FX terrible, cheap makeup OK. But somehow I ended up enjoying it! The directing could have been a LOT crisper. Comedy needs quick beats and perfect timing. Still, after listening to the Down In Front podcast episode about "2010 Moby Dick" I now understand more about being a low-budget director and having to get to a certain film length without enough money to shoot more film. You just have to put everything you filmed on the screen or your movie won't be long enough! Still, though I'm sympathetic, I do recognize that the comic beats are ultimately in the hands of the director, and they do plod in many places.

The script had some genuinely funny stuff, but suffered a bit from an inability to go completely over-the-top when it needed to. A few more lines of the caliber of Captain Olaf's "Fish Rape" would have been welcome. Also, the lead characters suffered from inconsistency. Were they nerds or not? They acted like nerds, until they meet up with a high-school friend and suddenly HE'S the nerd and they're making fun of him, and worse STOP acting like nerds themselves suddenly. That whole part never made any sense, at least as filmed. Maybe they planned a meditation on "relative nerdiness", but if they did it never paid off.

I think ultimately the "x-factor" was the acting. Most of them did a reasonable job, and all of them brought an enthusiasm and genuine quality that won me over. And Devin McGinn as the sidekick was really a standout - I want to see him in more movies or TV work, especially if he could play a similar character. He really nailed it! So, by the end I was rooting for our unlikely heroes.

One more note: there are a couple of reviews here that say this movie has "nothing to do" with the Cthulhu mythos. I don't know what movie THEY were watching, but as someone who has read literally the entire Lovecraft bibliography, I can say that they spent a lot of time throwing in many, many references, and really made me believe they could have been in a comedy version of Lovecraft's world. There's an abundance of little nods to the Lovecraft reader throughout, and I appreciated them a lot.

Overall - well done! Go into it expecting a VERY low-budget film that's earnestly trying to entertain, and and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

When I saw this movie on shelves, I had to see how horrible it was. I figured it was either gonna be good, or so bad that it would be good.

So I read the reviews... And was almost scared away from renting it. It sounded like it was just gonna be a suckfest beyond belief. But my wife, with a similar taste in comedy as I, was adamant. So I took the plunge...

And boy was it worth it.

As others have said, it HELPS to be a gamer, it helps to be nerdy... and it helps to have a general Cthulhu mythos knowledge, and more than anything, it helps to love B-Movies and their ilk. If you like Bruce Campbell style movies, this one's up your ally even without said Mighty Chinned Wonder being present.

The one-liners have become common household usage. (This is my sex face.) My bottom line? Give it a shot. If you hate it, you hate it... But it's worth the risk.

In the vein of Shaun of the Dead, this horror comedy follows three buddies, one the last descendant of H.P. Lovecraft, trying to keep an ancient relic out of the hands of mutant fish people who want to use it to resurrect Cthulu. It's not a bad idea at all, but this film is miscalculated in just about every way possible. First off, the two main heroes, played by Kyle Davis and Devin McGinn (who wrote the screenplay), are douchebags. Davis, who plays the Lovecraft descendant, has almost no character to speak of. Virtually the only thing we know about him is he hates nerdishness and even used to beat them up in high school (note to filmmakers: who the Hell do you think is watching your H.P. Lovecraft-inspired horror movie?). McGinn has at least some nerdy tendencies (mostly a love for comic books), but he's an annoying little prick with the douchiest haircut this side of Fall Out Boy. These two soon join up with uber-nerd Barak Hardley, a bearded Lovecraft dork who has no friends and lives in his grandmother's basement, and then they constantly tease and bully him. Besides the crappy characters, it has a very lame plot that goes nowhere and ends, presumably, at the point they ran out of money. The fishy people aren't totally awful for such a low-budget film, and there is a decent animated recount of Lovecraft mythology near the beginning. Otherwise, awful. Avoid.

The people who say this isn't based on Lovecraft or the Cthulhu mythos are way off base, and they miss the point of this romp. Without H.P. Lovecraft's writing, this movie wouldn't exist. It isn't meant to be a "Lovecraft movie" or to be taken seriously. It's precisely what its writer and co-star intended it to be, a cinematic comic book and a tribute to Lovecraft as the father of modern horror and the progenitor of much of what we know as horror comics, both serious and humorous. The performers are all at least adequate, and the three leads are charming, portraying Regular Guys and a stereotyped comic book nerd with tongues firmly in cheek. It's obvious everyone who had anything to do with The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu had a ball, and so will you, unless you have no sense of fun at all.

The Last Lovecraft: Relic Of Cthulhu kicked off the opening gala at the 5th annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival last night, and also marked the film's international premiere. The film a horror comedy that sits in the same space as Jack Brooks Monster Slayer and, reaching back a bit, the original Tremors. While I'm not sure it's bound for cult classic status, the film does have it's moments, and offers a humorous take on the Lovecraftian mythos, including an opening credit sequence that was reminiscent of the 80's cult classic Re-Animator.

The basic premise is that the world H.P. Lovecraft envisioned was more fact than fiction, and the reason he could write about the nameless horrors is because of a genetic disposition that allows his bloodline to avoid going absolutely mad when confronted with the evil of the Old Ones. A secret society has existed to protect the world from Cthulhu, but now that the second half of an ancient artifact has been uncovered (coincidentally just as the starts are aligning), only the last descendant of the horror writer can save the world. That would be Jeff (Kyle Davis), a sometimes awkward office worker, who has no idea of his lineage. Luckily his best friend and room mate Charlie (Devin McGinn) is more well versed in Lovecraftian lore, and after being confronted with the initial threats, the adventure ensues.

Once the basic premise is out of the way, the story arc is pretty well tread ground. What keeps The Last Lovecraft entertaining enough is the comedy, which for the most part hits all the right notes. Some of it felt forced, but it was pretty rare, and there are a couple of stand out performances, especially from Barak Hardley as Paul, a high school friend and Lovecraft nerd who joins them on their quest, and the mysterious Captain Olaf, played by Gregg Lawrence.

If you're going to do a creature feature, you need to have some good monster effects, and on this front, the film certainly delivers. Most of the creatures ride the line between creepy and silly, with a couple of notable exceptions either way. The sucker fish creature which appears in the trailer is most definitely on the silly side, but the spawn that attack a group of camping teenagers work well in delivering some chills.

Some of the most enjoyable parts of the movie for me were the animated sequences, including a comic book style recap of the history of the Old Ones coming to Earth during the time of the dinosaurs. There are some great sequences with the animated Cthulhu fighting dinosaurs, especially notable is the point where he uses a recently decapitated triceratops head as a shield.

When making a low budget movie of this nature, it's very often a labour of love for everyone involved, and that love comes across on film. That's because the budgetary constraints mean making sacrifices that larger films don't have to worry about, and as someone who who's got a soft spot for these types of moves, it's tough to be critical. There are problems though, mainly in the pacing and the editing. There were a few points, such as the camping teenagers scene mentioned above, where just knowing when to cut would have made a difference in how things played out.

Even with some of the largely technical problems that come with an indie film, The Last Lovecraft is a fun horror-comedy romp with some great moments, and makes for a great popcorn flick. It manages to evoke notes from other horror-comedy classics while remaining it's own beast, which is something tough to pull off at any budget, when it comes to genre films.

At the end of the film, Devin McGinn, who plays Charlie and also wrote and produced the film, took to the stage, along with director Henry Saine, for a Q & A session, and were joined by other cast members. It's clear that they all enjoyed working together, and if all goes well, we'll be seeing the sequel sometime down the road. Let's hope it'll be making it's premiere at Toronto After Dark sooner as opposed to later.

This review originally appeared at http://www.rgbfilter.com/?p=8607

Who is the target audience? You might be tempted to think it is the bookish type who like Lovecraft's work of suspense and psychological horror. But this movie is not for geeks or readers. The main character says "bro" in nearly every sentence. There is no suspense, no thrills, and the only "nerds" in the movie are the butt of the jokes, not the heros.

The pacing. The movie is only 78 minutes long (thankfully) and about 50 minutes of that is introduction. By the time the premise has been set up, and the action starts, the movie is two-thirds over.

The humor. The humor seems aimed at the kinds of teenage boys who post homophobic comments on YouTube. The lame, unfunny "jokes" poke fun at rape and gay men, and that's about it.

There are no female characters. The only two women in this wonderful piece of cinema are sexy tramps who have one line each.

The lead actor. The two supporting characters are affable dorks who make bad jokes. Fine. But the main character has no charisma. At the start of the movie they present him as bland and boring. But the movie forgets to evolve him. Every second he was on the screen I found myself looking at my phone. Not a talented actor, either.

I was bored. The movie suffered from a complete lack of direction; in the terrible script and in the sluggish pace. It is too slow and boring for a Bad Movie Night, so don't even bother.

This isn't a perfect movie, at places the acting and writing are a bit weak, but it's obvious that most of these people aren't hardened actors and that most of their effects are on a budget, and with that in mind, it's a damn good presentation.

It's not a movie for hardcore Lovecraft fans who'll cry if someone gets their mythos a bit wrong, as the movie(which largely loyal to the concept) isn't particularly about madness and does take its chance to have a bit of fun with the silliness inherent in just about any horror situation.

The start's a bit stuttering and not ideal, but by the end of the movie I was genuinely in love with it.

Ultimately, if you approach this movie without expecting a big-budget Hollywood execution, but instead a competent indie/student movie, you won't be disappointed.

OK, first off, if you're not into Lovecraft or the Cthulhu Mythos, you won't get all of the references and jokes, but that's not to say you won't have fun with this movie. Underneath its rough exterior lies a film with plenty of wit and charm, and a "deep" (pun intended) love of all things Lovecraft.

The delivery, as said, is a bit rough, but after only a short period I found myself easily forgiving any of the film's minor shortcomings. No expensive, top-of-the-line special effects, an excess of foul language that probably should have been scaled (ha!) back a bit, and a couple of performances that weren't anything said performers would want to put on their demo reel (read: stiff).

Still, those things aside, the story is fun and silly, and maintains a nice balance between the humor and drama, avoiding any awkward or jarring transitional moments between scenes (if nothing else could be said, at least take note of that element, which I found refreshing, as I've seen quite a few "blockbusters" of late that failed at it, unable to decide whether they're action or comedy vehicles).

A somewhat imperfect analogy would be to reference the TV series "Chuck." Take any old Lovecraftian Hammer film and drop Chuck & Morgan down in the middle of it as the protagonists and you've got a good idea of what I believe this movie was intended to be. I wouldn't go so far as to say it completely succeeded, but in the end I think it worked well enough to make the movie enjoyable.

Ultimately it's a light-hearted Cthulhu Mythos comic book on film, with nods to geeks, gamers and Lovecraft fans everywhere. Will it necessarily be everyone's cup of tea? Nah. What movie is? But if you're in the target audience, and can go into it with a smile on your face and no Cameronesque expectations, there's a good chance you'll have a good time and even find yourself later talking about it with friends over your Mt. Dew and Funyuns as you prepare to toss the percentiles and hope your character doesn't go insane.

The fanboy dorkiness just pervaded this film like the worst stench from the bowels of Hell. I got so sick of the homie-speak and the unnecessary foul language, I just wanted every character dead within the first 15 minutes. The lamest and laziest trick in the book if you can't be bothered to write intelligent dialogue or develop your characters.

I love low-budget films, and labour of love this film may have been, but the heart was definitely the only organ involved in the writing.

If you want to see an homage to Lovecraft, check out the beautifully and imaginatively done "The Call of Cthulhu".

When the Cult of the Cthulu uncover the first of 2 pieces of a relic needed to unlock the Cthulu's prison, it's up to the last remaining bloodline of H.P. Lovecraft to protect the remaining piece from the Cult of Cthulu's possession or the Cthulu will be unleashed on the planet. For a movie about Cthulu, there's a COMPLETE absence of Cthulu. The whole film is a giant mis-step. Our main characters are extremely unlikable, the direction seems confused and the editing does nothing but squander what's left of this ultra low budget waste of time. There's nothing wrong with low budget films. I love them. This is a prime example of the kind of movies that give low budget films a bad rep. It's too cool for school attitude gets old in the first 10 minutes. "Fu@k" is said on an average of one time per sentence and feels so forced that it's uncomfortable. I shouldn't be consciously aware of how often the characters are swearing. It unnatural and completely out of place. The character of Paul is the only highlight of the whole group although since The Hangover, it seems like every fat hairy character in a comedy has to be the same person. There are a few moments of entertainment but 45 minutes in I was already calling "bullsh@t" and there was no help on the horizon. The editing takes away every comedic beat, or moment of action and pulverizes it into a helpless mess of mediocrity. This is being compared to Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer and Shaun of the Dead. That's like comparing Shark Attack 2 to Jaws and Alien. The only good thing I can say about it, is that 90 percent of the effects were done practically. That's a rare thing in movies like this these days and it's nice to see people still making an effort to do that, even if they don't look that good. I could recommend any number of other things to watch, but you're best bet is to just grab something randomly and watch it instead of this. There were two people responsible for this. One of them directed. One of them wrote it. They both produced it and edited it. There's the problem. They should've given the job to someone else and saved a lot of people an hour and a half. There aren't enough films with this subject matter. They didn't have to ruin it for everyone else.

I got into Lovecraft when i was 13, and as a fan i have watched every single Cthulhu-inspired film, cartoon, video game or what have you, and Last Lovecraft isn't the worse of them. But it certainly is the worst comedy..

An ancient relic is the key to the rebirth of Great God Cthulhu (which is not in the film), and a group of *keepers* brings the relic to the last heir of Lovecraft who must protect it at all costs.

LL is a (very)crappy comedy-slash-horror film, and if you saw Shaun of the Dead and think that these two genres can go well together you'r in for a bad surprise. Add to this that LL is a low budget film - and whatever moneys they had, they spent on bad makeup - and it suffers from every possible film fallacy you can name: bad directing, bad photography, bad acting, bad everything. Any pretence of this being a horror film expires after the first 10 minutes (with the special effects also going AWOL), and as a comedy is just *not funny*.

I would be more forgiving if there was any inspiration, any inventiveness in LL, but there is really nothing good to say about it; not funny, not scary, and not Lovecraft-inspired in any way.

Purists beware - LL has NOTHING to do with the Cthulhu mythos, go and watch any of the Innsmouth' remakes, they are all better than this waste of time.

Final vote 2/10 - why, why , why oh why!

I'll make this short and too the point, as there are some really good reviews on here, which offer all the needed details.

First, don't go in to this expecting a well done, highly cinemagraphic film. It is a total B-movie intended for and made by fans of the Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos. The writers are obviously fans, as there are a few subtle details of the mythos they included which would not be noticed by a casual fan. It is intentionally written in a comical vein, not taking itself too seriously...and neither should you, as the viewer. Expect lots of cheesy one-liners, some over the top (intentionally) acting - meaning, it lends itself to the flick instead of being just crappy acting by actors trying to be discovered - and even a few recognizable faces.

The fx are cheesy, though done in a way that is acceptable for this film. In other words, the blood and limited gore is not "red paint and lunch meat," but at least a step up, in order to lend just enough credibility to the scenes in question.

All in all, I really enjoyed the flick. It moves at a decent pace and is just good fun from start to finish. If you're:

• looking for blood and gore
• well developed characters
• a good script
• good fx
• don't have a genuine love for the Cthulhu mythos,

then this movie is NOT for you.

If you:

• dig all things Cthulhu
• can enjoy a flick of said theme without expecting serious film-making qualities
• enjoy a good laugh
• can handle a LITTLE bit of blood and gore,

then this is DEFINITELY worth a watch.

Don't take it too seriously...nobody making the movie did.

As an enthusiast of Lovecraft's mythos and Lovecraft's work, I sat down to watch this movie with a good amount of skepticism, and my fears came to life when I was watching the movie. In my honest opinion, I found this movie to be somewhat of a slap in the face of Lovecraft's work and his fans everywhere.

Now, don't get me wrong, the movie isn't all bad. There were some good elements here and there. I liked the Deep Ones, they actually looked cool, though the were lacking facial movements. They just had one face, guess it was too difficult to actually make their faces seem more real and life-like. But in overall, the Deep Ones looked cool. But what was up with that Star Spawn? He looked like a reject from "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace". Like he had auditioned for the role of Darth Maul but got rejected, and then ended up in this movie. That was so bad. And the t-shirt he was wearing? That just made it even more impossible to take him serious.

The story was easy to follow, but it suffered from being ridiculous and downright stupid. I am sure the people making the movie meant well, but come on.

As for the acting, well there were both good, bad and mediocre performances throughout the movie. Kyle Davis (playing Jeff), Devin McGinn (playing Charlie) and Barak Hardley (playing Paul) were actually doing a good enough job, and they were the ones carrying the movie.

The effects of the movie, well they were mediocre, but the film guys tried. I honestly think they tried their best with whatever funding they had available. Sure, this is not a huge dollar project, and the effects were sufficient for the movie.

One of the better things in the movie was Captain Olaf, and his term "fish-raping". That made me laugh.

Based on the words of H.P. Lovecraft is written in the beginning of the movie. I would have to say that, that particular phrase should be taken very lightly. The story is only slightly related to any of Lovecraft's work, such as by using names, places, icons, items, gods, etc. And in my opinion, the movie was a bit too weak to actually be referring to a man of Lovecraft's caliber.

There are much better attempts at putting Lovecrafts visions on the screen out there. "The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu" came off as a half-hearted attempt to make something in the footsteps of the forefather of modern day horror. Now, I am sure the director meant well enough, but for the hardcore fans of Lovecraft, this is not a movie to associate with his work. It might be good enough entertainment for your every-day-pop-cultist/fanatic, but it is far from enough for real fans.

As a Lovecraft fan for nearly 60 years this was a lot of fun. enough of the lore mixed with humor and the sly references to Jaws, ZuZu, and others made this an entertaining 80+ minutes. look forward to a sequel which should be a take on the "Mountains of Madness" before the big boys do a number on it

This is a light-hearted "nerd-based" film about two friends, one of whom is a descendant of the actual H.P. Lovecraft who get wrapped up in a conspiracy about cultists wanting to wake Cthulhu using a magical amulet. The go on an adventure together, later meeting amusing characters and Lovecraftian monsters all done in B-grade level effects.

The characters are somewhat bland and simply fill out their allotted roles. The comedy is rather in the light-hearted area rather than seriously funny. The effects are a mixed bag - not convincing but full on B grade like you'd expect from a low budget film. It has some amusing points but yeah, nothing amazing.

5/10 because it's average.

This movie proves you don't need a big budget or expensive special effects to make a fun and entertaining movie. I laughed more during this film than many high budget comedies with famous stars. I also found the all the characters played very well by all the actors. How often can you say that? Not a major production but every bit as entertaining as any so called "A List" film, in fact more entertaining that many. Did I say that the movie was fun? I did. I just wanted to say it again.

Jeez, I wanted to really like this as it has a clever concept (Lovecraft's last living relative in unwittingly brought into a battle with the returning Old Ones) but the execution is 100% terrible in my eyes. Not the film making itself as they do have some great camera-work, good FX for the budget and some clever animation bits. I'm laying the blame right at the feet of the leads. Jeff (Kyle Davis) and Charlie (Devin McGinn, who also wrote this) are so annoyingly portrayed and the first scene with the two will be a litmus test for you as a viewer. I was cringing and thinking, "This is going to be a long one" (and the film only runs 73 minutes). To make matters worse, they team up with a Lovecraft geek who is like Judiah Friedlander 2.0. It wants so bad to be the SHAUN OF THE DEAD of the Lovecraft genre, but falls flat on its tentacled face.