The writings of Howard Phillips Lovecraft have inspired adaptations on film for decades. Directly or obliquely, his tales of ancient evil and creeping madness have had a profound impact on horror cinema. With a very few exceptions (“In the Mouth of Madness” comes to mind), most of these have been low-budget affairs.
In that spirit comes “LovecraCked! The Movie,” a series of nine short films based to some degree on Lovecraft’s stories. The different stories are a little all over the place in terms of both quality and tone. At their best, they’re fine examples of indie horror, at worst, they’ll have you fidgeting with the stop button on your remote.
Examples of the better efforts include “Chaos of the Flesh:” a very brief case of extreme mistaken identity, “Remain:” which should serve as a cautionary tale for all painters, and “The Statement of Randolph Carter:” a nice updating of Lovecraft’s classic short story. The movie ends on a low point, with an animated (and pointless) music video that goes off on Lovecraft’s alleged sexual proclivities.
Defying cateogrization is the Burning Angel produced “Re-Penetrator,” starring the inimitable Joanna Angel. Taking the ideas of “Re-Animator” to their logical conclusion, the clip’s softcore elements nonethel;
It’s unfortunate that Elias and co-director Tomas Almgren decide to link the various stories with a poorly conceived “mockumentary” involving Elias himself as an ersatz investigative journalist doing a story on Lovecraft’s life. The writing for these skits are on par with a high school comedy production and don’t fit in at all with the theme of most of the shorts.
