The Call of Cthulhu
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The HPLHS' motion picture of The Call of Cthulhu raised the bar for independent Lovecraftian filmmaking. We offer the movie itself and other great products relating to this modern classic take on Lovecraftian terror.
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From first unwrapping, the new owner is presented with a highly tactile experience, thanks to the elaborate, shimmering, darkly-colourful, strongly-embossed box cover. Opening it continues that impact, with the feel of the lightly-embossed, Spawn-hide-bound books (tougher than Shoggohide!), plus the scent of printer’s ink, bindings and general “new books” aura. Even the large envelope containing the Miskatonic University props isn’t ordinary paper, but thick, translucent paper, with an embossed Miskatonic U seal. It wouldn’t be an HPLHS creation without at least a few convincingly-made, period props! The “Reader’s Guide” presents a pleasingly useful commentary on some of Lovecraft’s more iconic works, for both novice and more elder Lovecraftians. It might have benefitted from including one of Lovecraft’s numerous, early, Dunsanian tales, perhaps even “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, to enhance the Experience most fully, although the two volumes of collected fiction make up for that, in providing an authoritative set of Lovecraft’s prose works, presented in order of writing (where that can be established, at least). A few items here have only rarely seen print in modern times, so even the more avid Lovecraft readers may find one or two new to them in this collection. This is simply a beautifully-produced boxed set that has to receive the highest recommendation!
Transforming Lovecraft’s original claustrophobic solo narrative of “The Temple” into something suitable for a classic DART ensemble production might have seemed unlikely, which is perhaps why it came into being so relatively late in the sequence. This reworking is of a different character to Lovecraft’s, far more pulp-action in nature, which may not suit all tastes, although it makes for a very lively presentation. As other reviewers have commented, some of the accents are less convincing, including the almost-always American pronunciation of the military rank “lieutenant”, something which should have had three distinctive variants in American, British and German usage. While distracting, these are likely minor concerns for all but native British listeners (as I am!), so it seems unfair to criticise them too harshly. The new characters, added plot elements and events provide fresh angles to the tale, expanded by the props and information on the HPLHS’ website. Some perhaps weren’t essential to the revised plot, such as the American warship and William Beebe’s deep-diving suit, although they are among the more interesting additions. As expected, the technical production quality is excellent, in another fine, if unusual, addition to the DART stable.
My friends and I had an excellent time watching all together! The cinematography and performances are impressive and evocative, the practical effects are an absolute delight, we really enjoyed it! My fiancé and I were already fans of Whisperer, but our friends weren't familiar yet, all parties came out of the experience with some good laughs, some good thrills and all feeling quite inspired.
More than anything you can see everyone having a good time with this. I would strongly recommend!
For years, the HPLHS has offered numerous editions of Lovecraft's fiction by *other* publishers. An edition of their own has been long overdue. Not surprisingly, quite a lot of careful thought and effort was put into creating this set with the usual creativity and extra touches that we've come to expect from our beloved Society. This is not merely an edition of the complete fiction. It's called the H.P. Lovecraft Experience for a reason. And weighing in at 8 pounds, it's massive!
The two volumes of Lovecraft are a perfect size for holding comfortably and reading. They are beautifully made with flexibound covers, edge staining, and placemark ribbons. By the way, possibly unbeknownst to the boys at the HPLHS, they are a perfect companion match to the Barnes & Noble edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Classic Stories which is the same size and with a similar flexibound cover! (see photo). Plus, it is nice to see that these books have sewn bindings. If there is any doubt, open up the book and look down inside the middle of one of the "signatures" (the booklets that are sewn in), and you will see the stitching (see photo). Not only that, but the Reader's Guide also has a sewn binding. Quality everywhere.
The Reader's Guide is a valuable and very welcome part of this set, featuring Branney and Leman's insightful analyses of ten of Lovecraft's stories. As usual, they've come up with another way to add to the experience of enjoying Lovecraft. I am very happy that they chose to include something like this.
Adding to the overall experience are the lovingly crafted ephemera. My favorites are the Orne Library Card and the leatherette bookmark (I'm a sucker for cool bookmarks).
And of course everything is housed in a frightening vault that even features lifting ribbons for extracting the hideous tomes from their encasement. That's if you can get past the terrifying visage on the outside! This set is totally a winner and well worth acquiring.
If you don't have a full set of HPL works, this is a great set to have. If you already have the complete works, you'll have to decide if another copy is worth $100.
The Reader's Guide itself is worthy of purchase, if that comes up for sale on it's own, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
The quality and presentation are very well done. It looks great, it's solid, and the straps are a welcome addition.
The Miskatonic extras are cool, but I wish they would have all been different pieces from what is already available in other kits.
The 2 books are well done. The font is perfect for HLP's writing. I would have preferred the books to be hard-cover, but that's just me.
Overall, I really like it, and I'm going to use this set to replace my HLP Anthology books.
