Filmed In Genuine Mythoscope
June 25, 2010 8:13 AM   Subscribe

The Whisperer in Darkness, the new film by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (and the follow-up to their 2005 adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu), finally has a release date: October 1st.

Filmed in the style of a 1930's horror movie, (new trailer, original trailer) TWID has been a labor of love for filmmakers Sean Branney and Andrew Leman for several years. You can follow their progress on Facebook.

(Full disclosure: I interviewed the filmmakers about this project back in 2008.)
posted by hermitosis (20 comments total) 36 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ia! Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat with a Thousand Young!
posted by Artw at 8:18 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh man this is aweseome! This is the Lovecraft story I always wanted to do/see as a film the most. Mountains of Madness could be pretty epic, too, but TWID is by far my absolute favorite Lovecraft story ever.
posted by jnrussell at 8:23 AM on June 25, 2010


[this is good]
posted by Busithoth at 8:36 AM on June 25, 2010


All of my contacts with Branney suggest that he's a nice guy and fairly awesome. Call of Cthulhu shone in the careful detail work. Granted, there's only a couple of people with whom I can watch the film, but it is quite enjoyable. This latest offering ought to be equally pleasing.

Now I just have to make an AskMe about this strange image I am almost certain is related to a very old Call of Cthulhu RPG book.
posted by adipocere at 8:57 AM on June 25, 2010


\(;,,;)/ fhtagn!
posted by stringbean at 8:59 AM on June 25, 2010 [8 favorites]


For those of you who are fans/followers of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast (previously here and here, you might be interested to know that hosts Chris and Chad worked on this film, as well. Also, fans of the podcast will definitely recognize the name of director Andrew Leman, as he's one of their regular readers (and my personal favorite).

Everyone involved in the project is really excited about this movie; they've learned a lot since the filming of Call of Cthulhu, which was itself a very impressive endeavor, and they're putting what they've learned into Whisperer.

Disclosure: I'm friends with several of the people involved in this project, although I haven't worked on it myself.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 9:01 AM on June 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


I know a few of the guys involved with this, and they are very smart people. Not only are they able to make very cool movies, but the old-school methods keep their budgets low enough to make the movies profitable.
posted by Bookhouse at 9:02 AM on June 25, 2010


HPLHS is wonderful.
posted by gurple at 9:02 AM on June 25, 2010


'AI'NG'NGAH
YOG-SOTHOTH
H'EE-L'GEB
F'AI TRHODOG
UAAAAH

This is gonna be so ill. I'm not too crazy about Lovecraft but he's inspired so many of my favorite artists and writers. Ann
posted by christhelongtimelurker at 9:26 AM on June 25, 2010


Hurray! I loved Call of Cthulhu and it's welcome news that they're making another Lovecraft movie. Especially The Whisperer in Darkness, which I always thought would make the coolest movie. Thanks for this post.
posted by S'Tella Fabula at 9:35 AM on June 25, 2010


Rented CoC last year... really enjoyed it.

Back in the day when this it was in the news I wanted to do a 'Try telling the Fungi From Yuggoth that Pluto is not a planet' t-shirt

Cthulhu kisses
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:35 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


It will most likely premiere at the HP Lovecraft Film Festival, held every October in Portland, OR (now with mini-fests in LA and Seattle).
posted by asfuller at 9:39 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Can't wait to see this film.
I've gone to the last two HPL Film Festivals and had a really wonderful time. Looking forward to going again this October.
posted by bstreep at 9:56 AM on June 25, 2010


FUCK YEAH!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:33 AM on June 25, 2010


Argh, probably can't make it to this year's HPLFF. Why does everything happen in October?
posted by JoanArkham at 10:37 AM on June 25, 2010


The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast just did an awesome 3 parter on Call of Cthulhu (1, 2, 3) with Andrew Leman as a guest star. There's plenty of cool stuff about the Call of Cthulhu movie in there as well, including that a lot of the prop newspapers are basically copies of real newspapers covering real events in the correct time period, and that Chad Fifer and Chris Lackey, the presenters of the podcast, are actually in it.
posted by Artw at 10:40 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'm blown away. That trailer was perfect. I never realized that if there was one of HPL's stories that would survive perfectly a filmed version it's The Whisperer, but after that I am sold. I hope these guys find a way to sell/distribute it online so us living far will not have to recourse to certain naughty methods of getting it and watch it. (I'd gladly Paypal these fellows a few pesos, there's nil chace that this is going to appear here in DVD.)
posted by Iosephus at 12:25 PM on June 25, 2010


Great news; The Call of Cthulhu was much more fun than I expected it to be - a brilliant idea executed really well (except for the claymation Cthulhu at the end, which was a too-obvious letdown after some wonderful hinting at a vast unknown horror). Whatever you do, though, don't confuse these folks' first film with 2007's dull, terribly acted Cthulhu, whose only good idea - what if a decaying town's loathsome Lovecraft priests looking to create the next generation of eldritch horror find the family tree ends in a gay guy? - is smothered in awful writing and filmmaking.
posted by mediareport at 4:02 PM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


It will most likely premiere at the HP Lovecraft Film Festival, held every October in Portland, OR (now with mini-fests in LA and Seattle).

Meetup sense tingling.
posted by Artw at 6:12 PM on June 25, 2010


Get this, from the blog post:
One of the interesting developments in making this movie is that we started running low on funds. Several aspects of production went horrifically over budget, but we were able to limp by for a while. But making it to the end of production was looking like it would be difficult without the infusion of more capital. To our tremendous delight and gratitude, Sandy Petersen decided to put up some capital to help us finish the picture.

What an awesome guy. I keep hearing cool things about him.
posted by JHarris at 10:02 PM on June 25, 2010


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