The Call of Cthulhu (2005) is an ambitious adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's 1926 story of the same name. The story concerns a man who inherits a mystery from his great uncle putting him on the trail of a great winged, octopus faced being that turns up across the globe, and is finally unleashed on a hidden island.
Though not perfect, this 47 minute movie, does what others said couldn't be done -- make a successful movie out of an allegedly unfilmable story. The film is shot and presented as a silent black and white movie, but uses modern technology to achieve many of its effects, from era appropriate cars driving through Providence streets, to depicting the monolithic city where Cthulhu lies waiting. The movie is nicely paced and looks a lot bigger than its meager budget would suggest. The only mistep, for me, was the performance of Cthulhu himself. Portrayed as a stop motion animated puppet, his moves are too swift (especially his writhing tentacles) to effectively convey a being as immense as he's meant to be. I have no problem with his design, or that he's a stop motion animated creature, just that his movements aren't convincing and draw attention to it being unreal in a manner it's not meant to be.
Otherwise, I wholeheartedly recommend this movie. I'm looking forward to catching up with the further Lovecraft movies made by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.
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