H.P. Lovecraft’s stories have been made into countless of films but with a few rare exceptions, they have mostly sucked.

Roger Corman at the height of his Poe film adaptations made a film version of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in 1963 becoming the first Lovecraft film adaptation. American International Pictures named the film The Haunted Palace to keep with Edgar Allan Poe theme that Corman had started. It’s not a bad film but from there the film adaptations get worse before they get better.

But Lovecraft’s most popular story The Call of Cthulhu had never been made into a movie until the HP Lovecraft Historical Society produced and distributed this 2005 silent film. There have been a couple of films made called Cthulhu but both of them adapted The Shadow Over Innsmouth instead of The Call of Cthulhu.

The film was made on a low budget but the filmmakers decided on making the film silent. And by adapting the short story exactly as it was written, giving the film the silent treatment works in it’s favour. The film is presented in three parts, just like the story and follows the various investigations into the Cthulhu Cult. And of course the great Cthulhu makes an appearance. The end effect is a creepy faithful adaptation.