H. P. Lovecraft’s the Old Ones – 2024
The Old Ones is a tale based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Of course, the title itself is rather exciting – The Old Ones screams like an H.P. Lovecraft tale. But also the fonts in the absolute beginning of the film give me a vibe of that 70’s gothic horror kind of thing that is hard to put into words. It’s just that vibe or that feel to it. Of course, It depends on what you read into the word “gothic” as well. One may argue that the Tales of H.P. Lovecraft isn’t very gothic at all. But to me, it has that old-style romantic feel to it—a romanticist tale of the old goods, a distant past beyond paganism.
The animations that follow, kind of scare me though. Is this the way The Old Ones are going to be portrayed? Absolutely horrible. Complete rubbish. As I hadn’t investigated anything about the movie before seeing it, I was afraid that portions of it would be animated in this horrible way. I’m pleased to say that my fear was premature. I was also scared when I saw the first creature. Was this how they were going to portray The Old Ones? Something tiny and hideously made creature? I see the Old Ones as enormous beings. Hidious perhaps, but still elegant. This first creature was neither. It looked more like a rubber toy than a gigantic God. But maybe this was about to change. Maybe this wasn’t the representation of the Old Ones after all.
A few minutes in
A few minutes go by and I’m starting to feel annoyed that someone actually has the guts to associate this crap with HP Lovecraft. It’s an almost blasphemous claim. The acting is bad, there’s no emotion whatsoever acted out despite people dying and monsters appearing. At the same time, I started to feel fascinated by the story and wanted to know more. The acting is uneven and the main character isn’t that bad after all. I still think the story, or rather how it’s laid out, sucks. There are too many times the characters have to explain simple things to us in the audience as If we were idiots. To understate the intelligence of the audience is never a good sign. So, I’m left with this strange feeling of getting interested in the continuation of the crap of a movie I think it is. It’s charming.
I even start to think that the special effects as decent after a while. That is the makeup effects. The special effects where creatures float around in the air are still crappy. But in all honesty, the effects seem to be practical and that is something that is good in my book. CGI needs to be really really good to work, whilst practical effects, monsters made of rubber, and so on can have their charm even if it’s done badly.
Confusing story
But the story in The Old Ones confuses me. I’m no expert when it comes to HP Lovecraft and the universe he created for his creatures. I have seen a few films and read a few stories. But it has been a while and I can’t remember that much. There are a few names that seem familiar but I can’t really place them to belong to the Lovecraftian universe. Some I know, like Dagon of course, but some are unknown to me. The names fit the story though. They sound exotic and ancient so I guess that’s good. I don’t think Cthulhu is ever named though which might be a good thing, Or not. Neglecting to mention the one name all non-Lovecraft nerds know by heart might be a failure.
But I find myself actually wanting to know where The Old Ones is going. What are the differences between the Old Ones and the other various mothers and creatures populating the film? There’s bound to be some familiars and some “pets” as they are called at one point or another. It’s still a crap movie but I like to know where it’s going. It comes to a point where I actually care what happens to some of the characters. How is it going to end? Happy? The intensity of the movie or the story increases pace and we start to close in on the climax. I think that’s the main goal of these movies. We want something to resolve out of our invested time.
The bottom line is that it is indeed a Lovecraftian tale of sorts. I commend it for that. it doesn’t reach the standard I had hoped for. There are a lot of citations in the film, presumably passages from the stories. I recognize some of them and deduce that the other probably has the same origins. But should you see it? If you are a die-hard fan – sure!
