Somewhere inside "Cthulhu" is a decent, if not good, story featuring the supernatural, the dark secrets of one coastal town, strained family dynamics and a burgeoning romance. Thanks to a tediously slow opening half hour and poor editing, the film doesn´t add up to much in the end, besides a wasted opportunity.
Upon learning of his mother´s death, Russ Marsh (Jason Cottle) returns home to a strained relationship with his father and sister. It seems as though the elder Marsh isn´t thrilled with his son´s homosexuality, leading to the rift. Even though Russ is keen on returning to his other life, he becomes sucked into the seedy underbelly of the Oregon coast, one which may alter his destiny forever.
I didn´t intend to be glib when I say "Cthulhu" carries all the hallmarks of a project from a first time writer and director (Grant Cogswell and Dan Gildark, respectively). What the film takes from Lovecraft is the titular creature and a concept from the 1936 novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." Otherwise, neither man has any real concept of how to create tension, build characters or develop an idea. The problems could stem from a hackish editing job, as I alluded to earlier, though just as much blame should be placed on the creators.
Where to start? How about storytelling fundamentals, namely character? Cogswell tries to give us complex characters to watch by providing insight in their current personalities through flashbacks. At the very least, he´s showing and not just telling. However, each flashback is such a quick snippet of an event, there´s never time for the audience to adjust to the time shift before the story moves back to the present.
Then, as if trying to throw a bone to the gay audience, there is the half-hearted introduction of familial strife over sexuality. It is these types of storylines we´ve seen dozens of times done with more panache and heart, not to mention substance. Take the obligatory dinner scene, for instance. It brings four characters together (Russ, his father, sister and brother-in-law) and begins storylines the script has no intention of wrapping up at any point. Yes, it does finally bring the family issues to the forefront, explaining why Russ has been estranged from these people for so long. But there are no long term ramifications to dinner. It´s all exposition.
The vast majority of the first forty minutes of "Cthulhu" plays in much the same way. Bringing new personalities onto the screen, trying to build a mystery. The mystery itself is another problem area. Quite frankly, we never really know in concrete terms what the stakes are. There is some mention of the sea, a creature, people disappearing and possibly a cult at work, though these elements are never explicitly spelled out. The script sprinkles information of catastrophes across the earth (wars, weather, hate) and, to be fair, they do tie in with the end result of taking over the planet.
About that mystery: who cares? We´re never given any real reason to be invested in any of the people on screen. Not even the central relationship of Mike and Russ. And certainly not by anything in the final shot of the film. To be blunt, it doesn´t make sense. What possesses Russ to turn to the dark side, so to speak, especially in light of a terribly convenient video tape? You´d think it would have made him run as fast as he can in the complete opposite direction.
I feel compelled to point out Tori Spelling has a part in "Cthulhu." Not because I´m a fan, but because Susan is involved in one of the biggest gaffes in the film. See, she lures Russ to her home under the pretense of giving him information about an object (don´t ask). Instead, she and her husband drug Russ, essentially rape him and, presumably, use his semen later in the film (again, don´t ask). You´d think this would be a major point in this film, or really any film. How many male characters are drugged and raped in the medium, anyway?
The actors do as good a job with the material as they can, but it is a battle they can´t hope to win. Cottle has the majority of the screen time, portraying a man going more and more mad as the film progresses. Even Spelling, apparently being told to be a sex kitten, is watchable in her brief scenes. Green, for his part, can´t seem to speak above a whisper most of the time, sadly.
If there had been a problem with one or two parts of the film, it´s possible the end result would have been watchable. But a combination of one dimensional characters, plot points appearing and disappearing at the drop of a hat, only the slightest hint of the creature Lovecraft originally intended-as well as some irritating music mixing, complete with an overpowering score in certain scenes-and "Cthulhu" is a disappointment on almost every level.
Note I said "almost." The look of the film, nearly completely bathed in an ice blue tone, sets a mood of uncertainty and detachment from the very beginning of the picture. It is carried through the entire production, lightened to a warm ethereal look in the flashbacks and when Mike and Russ are together. Gildark doesn´t commit many directorial sins; it is the editing (I presume) which doesn´t work, among other things.
It has been said a gay protagonist was inserted into this story in order to correlate the horror Russ faced in confronting his family with being gay against how a person feels about coming back to a small town. The analogy doesn´t work, mostly because the script won´t let it. It´s much too concerned with "solving" a convoluted mystery than it is in developing actual people. "Cthulhu," playing now in limited release, doesn´t have much going for it; a 3 out of 10. A definite strike out.