Cthulhu-Iagh, etc...

The Cthulhu Mythos, ever heard of them? They are the invention of a writer named Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who created his unique horror in the early twentieth century. Though he is long gone, his writings have continued to garner fans among laymen and professional horror writers alike. The Mythos have inspired many to try to translate his creations to other mediums as well, including games, music and film. It's interesting to ask the question why Lovecraft's writings are so engaging, why his concepts seem to inspire such devotion. He called his approach "cosmic horror", that is, the universe is utterly alien and inhuman, and the entities that rule the cosmos are equally so. Mankind in this venue is seen as a brief candlelight, beautiful, but fragile and ultimately short lived, doomed to burn out or fade away, or to be snuffed by something that may not even be aware that it did it. If it is aware, it does not care. Have a nice life!

Why would such a bleak scenario appeal? The protagonists in Lovecraft's tales, mostly academics, but others as well, are those who have stumbled across the truths of the universe. Rather than recoiling in terror, their academic curiosty and desire to know is engaged. And though they come to know the scale and scope of what's out there, or at least get a good enough idea of it to know just how big it may be, they stand against it, nonetheless. They are doomed most likely to ugly death or insanity, or even worse, yet they forge on, and the masses know not of this secret crusade. For their own good, they cannot know.

Hopeless heroism. Can't help but grab the romantic's heart, y'know?

Anyway, Cthulhu is an adaptation of Lovecraft's "A Shadow Over Innsmouth", a story which dealt with a New England coastal fishing village being slowly taken over by dark forces. Cthulhu starts out showing news reports and glimpses of a world in desperate straights. Instability reigns, politically, economically, environmentally, things are not going well at all on planet Earth, and no one is really sure why. Russel heads home to attend the funeral and estate affairs of his mother. He's a department head at a university, successful in his academic calling. He also has embraced his orientation as a gay man. He doesn't make a big deal about it, but it is what it is. But he knows that it will be something of a scandal in his conservative home town, especially with his father, who is a big wig in the local church.

Sure enough, when Russel gets home, the strangeness starts almost immediately, with lots of people around him just acting...weird. His father's church has changed it's name, calling itself the "Esoteric Order of Dagon". At dinner one evening, the conversation gets very awkward and intense as his father goes on a rant about his lifestyle and his need to produce a next generation. He is very blunt about the fact that Russel's sister and brother-in-law aren't getting it done.

Weird.

He also runs into a local girl played very well by Tori Spelling (surprisingly so) who comes onto him with both barrels, never mind his well known inclination. Another local girl gives him shrill warnings about the locals and how they are "watching". Also, a mysterious piece of pottery falls into his posession. For the price of some liquor, a local bum gives him background on the artifact, saying it is a fetish associated with the worship of Dagon. He then talks about some sailors he knew who discovered a mysterious city risen out of the ocean many years ago. He is one of the few who survived that doomed expedition, or so he claims. Liar or unfortunate survivor, he comes across a bit of a nut. Is he making all this up...or is something out there in the ocean making it's presence felt?

But the weirdest, or creepiest for me, as the evidence begins piling up, was when Russel runs into a strange kid in an apartment complex, sitting there watching a TV screen filled with static. Russel asks him what he's doing. The kid says he's waiting. Russel says, "Waiting for what?" The camera closes in the kid's face as he utter's one word.

"Cthulhu."

In sunken Ryleh dead Cthulhu lies dreaming. He awaits the day when the stars are right.

Strangeness is afoot in Rivermouth. Bizarre behavior. Bizarre creatures. And the Esoteric Order of Dagon expects great things of Russel, of which he has no idea, except for that "heir" thing, which is, of course...madness.

Right?

The world holds it's breath in the expectation of something coming...

Cthulhu.

HP Lovecraft's works are hard to adapt, but this one is a very good attempt.