Review: Lovecracked: The Movie
The fan service film Lovecracked! The Movie, a play on words featuring the works of H.P. Lovecraft is representative if what can happen when you get a lot of people together to try and meld together short stories and “inspired by” takes on the works of a particular author and turn them into a semi-successful full length film. I say “semi-successful” because there are parts of Lovecracked! which really stand out as something extraordinary and others that, well, not so much.
The film starts out presented its way of linking all these stories together (loosely). We are witness to the filming of a faux TV show focusing on H.P. Lovecraft, his works, who he was, and what he was about. In between segments of the show, which has the roving reporter querying people such as oblivious businessmen and a snowman, we are sometimes treated to interpretations of Lovecraft’s work. Each segment is done by a different director and a different cast which gives the overall film a sense of freshness as things will change nearly a dozen times in Lovecracked!’s 87 minute runtime and if you don’t enjoy a particular segment, a new one is on tap.
Stand out bits include “The Statement of Randolph Carter” which seems like the most direct interpretation of a Lovecraft short story and “Remain” which brings back an old school Tool music video like feel as well as possessing the film’s greatest special effects in the stop motion animation.
Passable segments include the semi-cliché “Witch’s Spring” where a femme fatal seduces a young man only to harvest his heart and soul and “BugBoy” which comes up short in the story department but shines in its excellent special effects.
The rest of the segments, including the soft-core porn “Re-Penetrator” come up decidedly short in more ways than one. “The History of the Lurkers” is a dialog-devoid chasm of dull which doesn’t seem to end as soon as it should. The aforementioned “Re-Penetrator” is gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous and leaving out all the humor one would expect given its premise and start.
A lot of the films jokes feel forced and recycled from other works (such as the TV show host appearing, sans-pants, in the middle of a segment). There are times when you feel yourself laughing out loud, but after a well done title introduction the jokes are few and far between for what you feel is a horror/comedy in the same vein of Troma’s work (whose co-founder Lloyd Kaufman is featured in the film).
Fans of Lovecraft may be mixed on where they stand after viewing the film. Several of the segments seem to perfectly channel the aura of Lovecraft’s work while others may only bare a passing resemblance to the original written material, or reference it in name only. With a mixed bag of good and bad bits chained together with a semi-funny, semi-original on-going bit Lovecracked! is an average endeavor.
