LovecraCked is Very Strange, Disjointed and Difficult to Watch…The First Time.
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After the second viewing of LovecraCked, however, some flashes of brilliance shine through.
Review by: BHM Editor Don Sumner
November 16, 2006
Release: 2006
Written and Directed by: Elias
Starring:
Elias as The Journalist
Joanna Angel as Corpse Girl (segment "Re-Penetrator")
Adam Armstrong as Carter Ward (segment "Chaos of Flesh")
Nick Basile as H.P. Lovecraft
Brian A. Bernhard as Sci-fi Nerd
Chad Bernhard as 70's Journalist
Many others…
I just got finished with my second viewing of LovecraCked, the Movie. I’m not exactly sure what to think really. Perhaps it is that I am a bit stunned. More on that later.
LovecraCked is a series of film shorts designed to explore the life and works of H.P. Lovecraft. Oh, and make fun of him too. The elements of complete psychosis and images of erotic deviant acts intermix with over-the-top humor, imaginative animation, gritty music and camp.
The film starts out slowly with “The Journalist” (played by Elias) trying
just a bit (a lot) too hard to portray a second-rate bumbling investigative reporter.
Then we begin the first film short, The Statement of Randolph Carter. Although there
are some funny gags the scene is not particularly professional looking. In fact, I got to this
point and was asking myself what the heck I was doing watching it…
Then The History of the Lurkers started up, and my attention was again focused. I had always wondered about the origins of those creepy guys that hang out in porn video arcades. But really, this segment was done with wit and a cleverness that led me to suspect that LovecraCked had something to say.
The film shorts from this point were progressively better and more interesting. Well acted,
interesting angles and lighting, and even some stop-action photography and animation that
compels you to keep watching. Each is disturbing, shocking and in some cases even touching.
Then there’s Return of Re:Penetrator. Those fans of Re-Animator will certainly recognize the scene, complete with glowing green syringes and a spectacled crazy doctor determined to create life. What you won’t recognize is what follows. Can anyone say “Zombie Sex”? It is truly disturbing. And…each moment of the bloody love scene gets more and more deranged and, well, gross. It must be seen to be believed. This is the segment that earned the descriptor “stunned”.
Overall the short films are arranged to take the viewer on a ride through the deranged
minds of both H.P. Lovecraft and film creator Elias. The Journalist is meant to bring a
common theme to the film segments, ever seeking to create a documentary about the life of
an “obscure Sci-Fi Horror writer. LovecraCked comes very close to the mark on several
occasions, but doesn’t stay there consistently.
The Journalist, as stated earlier, is played by film-maker Elias himself. The performance is meant to be funny, and to portray the Journalist as a clueless bumbler. That’s the problem…the character was played that way…to the extreme. Elias over-did the clueless qualities so much that The Journalist becomes an annoying distraction to the shorts instead of being the yarn that weaves the individual films into a quilt that is a finished movie.
The net result of my multiple viewings of LovecraCked is that I am now a certified Elias
fan. I will likely watch this film several more times, turn my friends on to it and anxiously
await the next product from this developing and talented film-maker. I have no doubt that his
craft will mature and improve over time. I just hope that next time Elias is satisfied
playing just a bit part.
Questions or comments about LovecraCked, The Movie? Contact us!
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