The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu (2009)

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that’s everything you wanted it to be. This isn’t all that common nowadays, in the Age of the Trailer (which, to the extent of my knowledge, I have just made up). Trailers deceive us into thinking that a mediocre or downright awful movie will be good or even fantastic (Looking right at you, Prometheus. Right at you.), using soundtracks, quick flashes of action, a few of their stand-out jokes, or even deleted scenes.

The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu is exactly what I wanted it to be. The trailer won me over and I had to watch it – it looked like a wacky, nerdy, irreverent jab at the entire Lovecraft mythos, one of those horror/comedies that’s really more comedy than horror. That’s what it was. I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into, and it even had the bearded guy from Bounty Killer (among my favorite films, resting gently atop the “guilty pleasure” pile) so I was sold right away.

The movie didn’t disappoint; not one bit. If I had to offer a single complaint, it would be that the ending seemed a bit on the rushed side, but considering that it was a low-budget film with an excellent build-up and enough downtime to make the characters seem real and full, I’ve decided to give it a pass on that.

Basically, the premise is that Cthulhu’s right hand dude (the Starspawn) is trying to bring the big guy back, and needs the Relic of Cthulhu to do so. An ancient Lovecraftian order of guardians, in order to keep the relic safe, give it to the last living descendent of H.P. Lovecraft himself, who, of course, ends up just being some random guy who drives a car with a cartoon squirrel on the side. So, along with his comic-relief buddy and a deliciously dorky Lovecraft expert, he sets off on a quest to, mostly, find someone else who can deal with this problem better than he can. Along the way they have to fight against cultists and creatures of the deep, and, at least to my mildly off-kilter funny bone, it’s an absolute riot.

It has a few obvious weaknesses, mostly derived from its low budget. The monsters, while they appeared to have been created with love, were certainly lacking in how believable they were, and some of the other special effects had issues as well. Mostly these weaknesses were covered up by style – such as when a brief exposition on the history of Cthulhu is given, it’s done in a simple, cartoonish cutscene and narrated in a comic-book style, rather than attempting to be mysterious or intense.

The characters are colorful and, for the most part, pretty loveable. The story is simple but kept afloat by its sense of humor and terrific dialogue. It’s weird to say that a movie like this is “well-acted” considering how seriously it doesn’t take itself, but the performers do a great job making their characters stand out. It’s one of those indie flicks that actually makes up for its shortcomings with style and wit.

So, I don’t want to go on about this too much since I don’t really have much criticism for it. I found this to be incredibly charming and highly recommend it, even if it’s, unfortunately, not on Netflix’s instant watch (though it can be gotten as a disc still, which is cool).

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