50th Post

            Well my readers, it's my 50^th post.  At over 3,000 views and three subscribers after five months, The Illusive One’s Reviews it's doing better then I honestly ever expected, although I hope to greatly expand on my views and subscribers in the near future.  I held off on doing my 50^th post, thinking to do something special with it, but opted to go with a look at my biggest disappointment of the month. 

            As you may remember, last month I did reviews on the H.P. Lovecraft stories At the Mountains of Madness and The Call of Cthulhu and I mentioned that a film was in the works for the former.  Well, I found out earlier this week that the plug has been pulled on it.  That's right.  The film adaptation for At the Mountains of Madness is no more.  “By why?” I asked and I did a little digging and found out why.

            As it turned out, Guillermo del Toro had been working on a film adaptation of Mountains since 2004, but had a hard time getting any studio to finance to film.  Why is this exactly?  Well, anyone who has read At the Mountains of Madness and watches films today should be able to tell you.  For starters, it would have been a period piece, set in the late 20s, early 30s and period pieces are hard to get produced.  And then there are the big issues.  Hollywood studio heads are, in essence, business men, only interested in making money and are not the artist film makers are.  As a result, most films these days have to have some kind of love story involved and a happy ending.  At the Mountains of Madness has neither so you can understand why it was so difficult for del Toro to get the project off the ground.

           In 2010, however, fresh off his success with Avatar, James Cameron approached del Toro to produce the film.  The two were then able to get funding for pre-production, creature designs and such and for a while it seemed like the film would eventually see the light of day.  Unfortunately, with all the factors mentioned above in play and del Toro wanting to go for an 'R' rating, the plug was finally pulled on it for good.  I personally find the whole thing very disappointing and hate the studio heads for getting my hopes up for nothing. 

            Something very similar happened a few years ago with a planned film adaptation of Halo.  Originally, Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings films was signed on as producer and Niell Blomkamp, (before directing District 9), as director but, like Mountains, had the plug pulled on them after a few pre-production stages.  This is only the latest of disappointments like this, and it shows just how little control film makers have over their films before actual filming.  But unfortunately, there is nothing the fans or the film makers can do about it.

            Until next time, this is the Illusive One saying...awe screw it.  I'm too upset to think up anything cleaver.      

The Call of Cthulhu

            Well it's time for another Lovecraft review.  As you may remember, I did a review on At the Mountains of Madness earlier this month and stated that it was one of Lovecraft's best known stories.  While this is true, it's not his best known work and it's his best known work that I'm going to address today.  This is the Illusive One's Reviews and this is The Call of Cthulhu.

            The Call of Cthulhu was published in February, 1928 and I guess you could say it started the Cthulhu Mythos.  The Cthulhu Mythos is more or less a universal term for Lovecraft's stories that have the same characters, locations, organizations, or creatures.  Even if you've never heard of Lovecraft, odds are you have heard of Cthulhu or the Cthulhu Mythos in some form of media or another.  The Mythos' influence had reached beyond Lovecraft's stories and has been featured in film, video games, T.V. series, various forms of merchandise, and, believe it or not, actual cults that follow the Mythos' creatures and ideas.  But was the story that started it all really that good?  Well here's my opinion.

            The story takes place in New England during the 1920's and is told through the point of view of Francis Wayland Thurston, (although I'm not entirely sure they ever say his name).  After the death of his great uncle, he discovers that he, at the time of his death, had been looking into a mysterious cult that worshiped a creature known as Cthulhu.  Thinking he may be able to uncover more about this mysterious organization, Thurston picks up where his uncle left off but finds much more than he ever expected.

            On the positive side, it was a well written story with good pacing and kept you intrigued with the cult and what Thurston would find at the end of his road.  Oddly enough, he never actually sees any of the things described in the story and only tells what other people had written down or told. 

            There were quite a few negatives to this story however.  What some people may or may not know is that Lovecraft was incredibly racist during much of his early life and this transit to many of his early stories, especially Call of Cthulhu. 

            With that aside, there were a number of plot gaps that existed in this story that most hard core critics would use to tear it to pieces.  For example, at the very beginning of the story, Thurston says that he hopes that no one will ever again gain the knowledge he now has.  If that's true then why the hell is writing about all of his discoveries concerning the Cult of Cthulhu?  Another had to with the way he discovers the last piece of information he finds.  He didn't look it up.  He didn't spend weeks on end obsessing over this cult.  He just happens to see a newspaper article in a museum that a friend of his just happens to be the curator of.  If that isn't a major stretch I don't know what it.  The final plot issue had to do with the ending.  I won't spoil the actual ending but it ends with Thurston just waiting for death.  And once again, why is he writing this story if the information is dangerous?           

            All around though, it was a good story.  Despite all of its flaws, it was well written, well paced and kept you wondering what would happen next.  I'm still not entirely sure how so much stuff could have spawned from this simple short story series but it is what it is.  It's not perfect but absolutely worth reading.

All Around

8.5/10

            Until next time this is the Illusive One saying, In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...

           

At the Mountains of Madness Review

         While most of my book reviews have consisted of fantasy I do read a large variety of fiction that includes most of the main genres of books.  The book I want to go into today is a novella by H.P. Lovecraft, one of the greatest horror authors of all time.  While completely unknown during his life time, H.P. Lovecraft is now considered to be one of the greatest authors of the 20^th century and has inspired countless horror authors including Stephen King and Clive Barker.

            While I had heard of Lovecraft and his stories before, until recently I had never actually read any of them.  Three things finally led me to his work in November/December 2010.  The first was a desire to read something better than all the crappy fantasy novels I had been reading at the time.  The second were the three South Park Episodes where B.P. unintentionally releases Cthulhu upon the world, (don't ask, just see the episodes for yourself).  And the third and final was a recommendation from a friend. 

            Now that I have read some of his stuff, I'm going to give you my take on one of his most famous stories.  It's time for my review of At the Mountains of Madness.   

            The story deals with an expedition of scientists who go to Antarctica and find a huge mountain range that even dwarfs the Himalayas.  Within and beyond, they find an ancient prehistoric city and ancient prehistoric creatures of untold horrors and mystery that defy logic and explanation.  But the less said about the plot the better as saying just a little can and will spoil everything.

            While it is a great story there is a lot to complain about.  The pace of the story is where most of my criticism comes from.  At least half of the words in the book are lengthy descriptions of things I personally didn't care about nor can imagine anyone caring about.  These include incredibly detailed descriptions of the gear they take with them to Antarctica, the earlier parts of the expedition, and of the city itself where the more suspenseful parts of the book take place.  Often the suspense of the story will build up only to have it break off and cut away to an infuriatingly detailed description of some arch in a tunnel.  Ok, maybe that's not entirely accurate but it should convey my point.

            What makes the entire story worth reading, however, is what the scientists find in the city.  What they find within the city is something I could talk about for hours and could write about for pages but I'll spare you that horror.  Once again, the less said the better, but be ready to have your minds blown away.

            While I'm on the subject of this story, I can't help but feel I have to mention that there is a movie in the works.  Right now it's in its pre-production stages and is set with Guillermo del Toro to direct and James Cameron to produce and I can see how both of their styles could work in a film adaptation.  Granted, there would have to be a lot of changes and much of it would have to be flat out rewritten but it could still make a great movie.  Still, it will probably be several years before this movie is made, (if it's made at all), so don't hold your breath waiting for it.  The only reservations I have about it is that it's suppose to be done in 3D and just hearing that makes me nervous.  Don't ask why.

            All around the story and the things it contained were good but the pacing was bad.  It doesn’t at all read like Lovecraft's other stories and that may catch some off guard.  The story is public domain so it shouldn’t be too hard to find and I would recommend reading it as long as you have some patience.  If you can read through other long and boring books like Moby Dick or the Scarlet Letter then this one shouldn’t be a problem.

All Around

7/10