The Cast of Cthulhu

We know that we're a film podcast, but for this Halloween, our final treat is for the readers: S.T. Joshi, THE preeminent H.P. Lovecraft scholar in the entire world, takes time out of his busy schedule to stop on the podcast and take all things Lovecraft and horror.  The author, professor, and all around enthusiast talks with Jim about how he first discovered the late weird fiction author, what drew him to the texts, why he loves the horror genre, how he reconciles his love of a racist author with being an Indian-American, and --- because it is a film podcast -- his thoughts on some of the best Lovecraftian films out there. To keep up on all things Joshi is doing and has done, be sure to visit his website and read his blog! Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

We're knee deep in Spooky Season, so it's about time that we stopped tricking everyone and delivering on the treats. We loved Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham so much that we just had to bring on co-director Sam Liu to talk about his work and influences. The longtime comics and fan and director of many critically acclaimed DC animated titles talks about how he discovered Lovecraft through pencil & paper RPG games, his love of the tragedy of Batman, how to balance individual interpretation with fan service, and much more. Keep up with Sam's work on Twitter and Instagram. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

"The expendable crew of a corporate space vessel must stop a murderous shape-shifting alien organism that somehow got on board." "The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating an unknown transmission." One of those films is seminal horror film, Alien, and one of them is Japanese anime film, Lily C.A.T. Can you spot the difference? Since a discussion of one film is basically also a discussion of the other, this episode also touches a bit on the dubs vs. subs debate, including some discussion on the controversial character of Carl Macek and how he brought anime to the American mainstream in the 80s and 90s.

Who better to be the logical, unsentimental protagonist of a Lovecraftian journey into discovery than the world's greatest detective? This animated adaptation of a comic miniseries written by Mike Mignola demonstrates how seamlessly the themes of H.P. Lovecraft blend with, compliment, and --- at times -- even subvert  the age old themes and narratives that we've grown so accustom to with the Caped Crusader. 

If you're anything like us, then you saw the comments about this Portuguese-language horror film being called "one of the goriest films since Braindead" and laughed about it for the 20 or so minutes. Then they dragged Peroá's body into the cabaret in a fish net and boy, oh boy, do the blood and guts start flying! You couldn't exactly call Dark Sea a good film, per se, but with writer/director Rodrigo Aragão very clearly wearing his Sam Raimi influence on his sleeve, you can't deny that it's pretty fun (and also, yes, very gory) despite the unexpected homophobia and seemingly nonexistent internal logic. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

If you have no interest in the boys discussing theoretical outcomes for Better Than You Bay Bay, then skip ahead to 12:28. If you have no interest in a horror film with troubling sexual politics and which exploits the protagonist's vulnerability for wanting to be a mom to the point of making her a victim of creature rape, then skip ahead to the end of this film. The Deep Ones, weirdly attributed as "H.P. Lovecraft's" despite being based on no text or espousing any coherent mythology, may not be a Troma production, but writer/director Chad Ferrin certainly seems willing to live out some of its less savory traits. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Sporting a 4.6/10 on IMDb and a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, Harbinger Down hasn't exactly imbedded itself indelibly in the public consciousness nor has it earned status as a cult classic. Still, costing just a shade over $380,000 via crowdfunding and created by Amalgamated Dynamics --  the guy's fucked over by the studio on 2011's The Thing -- is an admirable accomplishment, a film brought to life by effects artists who wanted to show the world what they could do. It shamefully wears its influences of The Thing and Alien on its sleeve, but if that's what brought Lance Henriksen to the project, we're here for it. p.s. Could someone Photoshop us a movie poster for Harbinger White House Down? Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

A horror anthology demands a discussion with someone who knows a thing or two about horror anthologies, so Jonathan Inbody of Gray Matter: An Acid Horror Anthology Podcast joins the podcast to discuss the truly weird and difficult to track down Necronomicon: Book of Dead from the long ago time of the 1990s when anthology films were still in vogue.  Adapting 3 stories from Lovecraft -- very loosely -- Necronomicon is a quintessential 90s horror film filled with gnarly practical effects, troubling sexual politics, and important questions asked of the viewers such as "would you have sex with David Warner?" and "does Cthulhu want to have sex with that guy?"  Listen to episodes of Gray Matter here and follow Jonathan on Twitter @graymattercast

The Cast of Cthulhu will be taking a hiatus for June as Jim moves and settles into a new place, so on this episode, the podcast goes out not with a bang, but with a whimper, discussing a prequel that was so atrociously meddled with by the studio that the director retired from filmmaking for a decade. Asking questions that nobody asked, The Thing can't commit to being either a tense thriller or a creature feature and subsequently fails at both. There could have been something special and unique here, but perhaps the closest thing we'll get to the wasted potential was a crowdfunded B-movie from the creator of the covered up practical effects. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Filmmaker, podcaster, musician, and all around good guy, Tim Buel, joins to talk Prometheus, the film that actually first brought Jim and James together so many years ago. The boys all recount what their first impressions (sober or otherwise) were when seeing Ridley Scott's much-anticipated film in 2012 and how their opinions have changed -- or, in Jim's case, have remained pretty much the same. It's a hung jury when it comes to the verdict about whether this is a great or disappointing installment in the Alien franchise, but it's a great conversation about a film that everyone can agree swung for the fences. To tune in to the cool horror shorts that Tim is making online, check him out on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

A film can be forgiven of its crime of being, but it's harder to forgive a film for being boring. Imagine the Sisyphean task of forgiving a film that's both bad and boring? You don't have to imagine if you're Juan Piquer Simon, otherwise known as Spain's answer to Ed Wood and the writer/director of Cthulhu Mansion, a film that, despite its title, has absolutely nothing to do with its titular cosmic entity and, to be honest, very little to do with mansions.  Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Sorry for the unexpected delay in posting, folks - this is what happens when Norovirus rips through a household! Isn't it funny how sometimes a low-budget Italian horror film set in 1943 is written entirely in anachronistic English and stars actors from Canada, Scotland, England, and America (and also occasionally Italy)? Anyways, none of those things -- budget, language, international cast -- are the problem with Colour From the Dark; that would be adding morality and subtracting despair from Lovecraft's arguably most hopeless story.  Tubi CEO Combs Through Goodwill DVDs Looking for Movies to Upload Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

The Cast of Cthulhu goes low-budget for this episode to cover Slamdance alum, The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu. An intriguing premise is sabotaged by juvenile humor tinged with homophobia and hamstrung by a budget and scope so small that it never feels like there's a threat to anything (other than good taste). Though the filmmakers were clearly tuned into Lovecraftian lore, they were out of touch with B-movie charm. Read the PopMatters review of The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu. And better late than never, check out the Battleship Pretension 2022 year end wrap up content! 2023 BP Winners Battleship Pretension's Ten Best Films of 2022 Battleship Pretension's Ten Worst Films of 2022 Jim's Top Ten of 2022

Have you ever wondered why we take seriously people who believe in ghosts but think believers in UFOs are nuts? Did you watch and have opinions on AEW's Revolution? If you've answered "no" to either of these questions, better skip ahead to 18:24. No use beating around the bush: Gareth Evans's Apostle is not Lovecraftian in the slightest. However, the very thing that makes Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) the opposite of a Lovecraftian protagonist -- an unbeliever who journeys into belief -- is also what makes Apostle so engaging. More pagan than cosmic, Apostle explores the idea that there is something beyond humans, but it's humans that have tainted it. Tense, scary, and beautifully shot, it makes us eager for whatever films Evans does next. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

David Bax of Battleship Pretension returns for his third sleepover in the witch house where he witnesses Jim have an existentialist crisis in real time as he realizes that perhaps Mia Watkins' and Catherine Hardwicke's supremely unfaithful adaptation is not very good. Keziah Mason looks cool no doubt, but this adaptation in name only ditches the fatalism and math for spiritualism and a version of Brown Jenkins whose masterplan is just to be kind of a big jerk, I guess?  If you want your own "Fight Like a Final Girl" t-shirt, be sure to head over to Poltergeists and Paramours. And for further updates on BP's Tyler Smith, head over to CaringBridge, or GoFundMe to donate what you can to the Smith family. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

New year, new Cthulyou! The boys at The Cast of Cthulhu ring in 2023 by tackling "Pickman's Model," the first of two Lovecraft adaptations featured in the Netflix-exclusive horror anthology, Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. One of the longest entries of the anthology, "Pickman's Model" feels like a TV episode trying to be a feature film, but without enough time to commit to any one thread, falls desperately short at establishing meaningful stakes or believable character motivations. It's disappointing that for an adaptation featuring a witch's feast and people carving their eyes out of their own heads, the scariest thing may be Crispin Glover's alleged Boston accent. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Just in time to celebrate spooky season, we've got our final episode of the year talking about David Bruckner's reboot/legacy sequel, Hellraiser. Improving upon Clive Barker's original in just about ever way -- the puzzle box is an actual puzzle! -- this heart-wrenching story has some gnarly new Cenobites and one of the most emotionally mature and resonant endings in any horror film (even if a lot of it is difficult to see sometimes).  Happy Halloween, y'all! We'll see you next year!

Jim and James were out of commission this week, so friend of the show, writer, and composer Jerry Smith steps in for this interview with Gwen Callahan, co-director of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival taking place from October 7 - 9 in Portland, OR! Fans of Lovecraft or even horror in general will want to hear all about what this year's festival has in store including online access to supplement its return to in person attendance, the northwest premiere of Benson and Moorehead's Something in the Dirt, special guest appearance by Jeffrey Combs, Brian Yuzna's personal 35mm print of Bride of Reanimator, and so much more! Visit the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival homepage for more information on films, events, guests, and tickets. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Jessica Scott returns to discuss yet another Shudder exclusive, the glory hole horror film, Glorious. What begins as a film about a sympathetic man trying to work his way through a difficult breakup becomes an often comedic and horrifying examination of a toxic man who thought so highly of himself and so little of his victims that he believed his genitals would save the universe from certain destruction at the hands (tentacles?) of a god older than creation. Oh, also, that god is voiced by J.K. Simmons. Follow Jessica Scott on Twitter @wewhowalkhere Keep up with her work at Film Cred, Daily Grindhouse, SlashFilm, and Nightmarish Conjurings. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

First and most importantly, Battleship Pretension co-host Tyler Smith needs our help. Visit CaringBridge to stay updated on his condition and to leave some support and encouragement to his friends and family and please give what you can to his GoFundMe to contribute what you can to his family. There is hope and reason for optimism and y'all can be a part of that. Any little bit helps!   Preemptive apologies to all you cinephiles out there, but this episode is for the bibliophiles. Rob Poyton and Tim Mendees from Innsmouth Book Club hop across the pond to join us for a discussion on horror literature. Leaving the smell of fish behind them, the gents bring classy English accents to go along with a discussion on what makes writing scary in contrast with film, the differences between horror fiction and Lovecraft's signature brand of "weird fiction," and -- of course -- a plethora of recommendations of stories and books to enjoy (and avoid).  If you want to check out any of the work mentioned on this episode, you can use the links below to read or purchase. Short Stories "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood "The Smoke Ghost" by Fritz Leiber "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" by M.R. James "The Last Feast of Harlequin" by Thomas Ligotti "Graveyard Shift" by Stephen King "The Tale of Santampara Zeiros" by Clark Ashton Smith "The Outsider" by H.P. Lovecraft "Supernatural Horror in Literature" by H.P. Lovecraft Books & Story Collections The Woman in Black by Susan Hill The Hole in the Moon and Other Tales (featuring "Brenda") by Margaret St. Clair The Folio Book of Horror Stories edited by Ramsey Campbell The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson The Association by Bentley Little The Auctioneer by Joan Samson Songs of a Dead Dreamer by Thomas Ligotti Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth (featuring "From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6" by Caitlin R. Kiernan) Daughter of Hounds by Caitlin R. Kiernan The Color of Evil (featuring "Sticks" by Karl Edgar Warner) The Book of Cthulhu (featuring "Fat Face" by Michael Shea) Pin by Andrew Neiderman House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski H.P. Selects: Classic Horror Stories    Hop the bus and head to Innsmouth Gold Keep up with the work of Tim Mendees, Creator of Nightmares   Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Viewed through the lens of the Lovecraft Mythos that was expanded on after his death, The Ritual is a very well written, acted, and directed neo-Lovecraftian inspired film, its jötunn serving as the Cthulhu of the Scandinavian woods. This 2017 adaptation of the Adam Nevill also serves as an inadvertent entryway into the interconnected world of early 20th century weird fiction, with the titular novel having won an award named after August Derleth, who was a correspondent of Lovecraft, who was a correspondent of Robert E. Howard, who was accused of ripping off Derleth.  Also, was Robert E. Howard racist? According to this Hugo Award Finalist, yes, he was. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Is it accurate to describe X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes as "Cyclops but addicted to drugs?" Not entirely, but it's a more accurate description than calling the pre-Haunted Castle Roger Corman flick "Lovecraftian." Featuring Ray Milland as a man of science who gets more than he bargained for when he experiments on his own eyes, this low-budget, unofficial Invisible Man adaptation could greatly benefit from a contemporary update.  Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

The podcast. You downloaded it. We came.  On this episode, we discuss Clive Barker's feature film directorial debut that rubbed all sorts of Reaganites the wrong way with not only its depictions of chains, leather, and torture, but also with its ideas that the lines between pain and pleasure are blurred in the eye of the beholder. While the franchise would eventually devolve into an incoherent and inconsistent quagmire of mythology and philosophy -- the seeds of which can certainly be found here in the initial installment -- Hellraiser is a remarkably insightful film, raising questions about morality and certainty brought about on a Lovecraftian quest into forbidden knowledge and experiences. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Battleship Pretension's David Bax returns almost two years after his first appearance to talk about yet another adaptation of "Dreams in the Witch House" (and also his latest podcast, The One Where I Met Your Mother and also his thoughts on NHL free agency). Basically everything from the production quality to narrative logic in Bobby Easley's H.P. Lovecraft's Witch House (based on the novel Push by Sapphire) is severely lacking, but gosh darnit, at least it feels like they're trying. Sure, the ending muddles the entire journey and the story plays up too much Judeo-Christian mythology and the math literally adds up to nothing, but at least they're trying something beyond straight titillation.  Follow David on Twitter @daveypretension Listen to The One Where I Met Your Mother Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

There are some real life horrors manifesting in the world today - horrors that mean many women are not sleeping soundly at night out of fear for themselves and future generations. The Cast of Cthulhu finds the recent SCOUTS ruling on Roe v. Wade to be as terrifying as any eldritch creature that Lovecraft imagined and we dedicate the opening of the show to discussing both it and why we won't be bringing back the episode on Richard Stanley's The Color Out of Space anytime soon. At 16:20 the discussion begins on 2020's Castle Freak, the film that dares to ask the question, "What if Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak was both hornier AND dumber?" Probing this topic is returning guest Stephen Foxworthy of Disenfranchised Pod, who suffered the cyclopean task of sitting through an adaptation that was intended to launch a new Lovecraft cinematic universe despite being too unfaithful for established fans and too brainless for new ones.  Listen to Disenfranchised anywhere podcasts are available and follow Stephen on Twitter @ChewyWalrus and @DisenfranchPod   If the recent SCOTUS ruling on Roe v. Wade has enraged you as well, you can support the National Network of Abortion Funds and the Center for Reproductive Rights. In addition, here are 10 regional abortion funds around the country that you can support with donations. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Not really sure what one should expect from a movie whose genesis began with the premise "there's a castle and there's a freak", but prepare yourself for a pretty emotionally mature exploration of loss, grief, and inescapable fate handed down through a cursed family's bloodline propped up by admirable performances from Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton. But since it's a low-budget Stuart Gordon film produced by Charles Band, also prepare yourself for ham-fisted exploitation that undercuts a lot of the film's emotional maturity and an adaptation of Lovecraft's "The Outsider" that is tenuous at best. And click here if you want to listen to the Post-Mortem with Mick Garris episode in which he interviews Charles Band.   Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.    

Spring has sprung, so what better time to cover Benson & Moorehead's Spring than right now? There is no better time, obviously. Silly question. How foolish of you to ask. Anyway, Corinne Corrosive returns after The Shunting to discuss arguably the most emotionally mature film from the directing duo and to join the boys as they wade into a discussion about the horror of immortality and ultimately reveal that all 3 of them dislike the ending for entirely different reasons.  Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Just like the titular John, we didn't die at the end! We return from an entirely unplanned lengthy hiatus to (hopefully) get back to regularly scheduled programming with the cult horror/comedy John Dies at the End, which currently stands as the last feature directed by Phantasm creator Don Coscarelli.  The 2012 adaptation of Jason Pargin's webserial turned novel is schizophrenic, unfocused, difficult to describe, a testament to 20-something slacker culture of the early aughts, and also...kind of perfectly emulates the framework of an H.P. Lovecraft short story? Cheap looking at times and often losing something in its adaptation from print, John Dies at the End nevertheless still captures -- in its own peculiar way -- what it feels like to first experience that existential numbing that results from accepting that you have no control over your life. Skip to 24:23 if you want to avoid brief discussions on Moon Knight, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the movie games Jim has been playing on a daily basis: Framed, Moviedle, Actorle, and the Box Office Game.   Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Is Gareth Edwards' directorial debut Lovecraftian? Not in the slightest! Did the 6-person crew have a shooting script? Absolutely not! Do the effects, direction, and performances still hold up after 12 years? You betcha!  Entirely improvised and largely featuring locals and non-professional actors, Monsters may leave Lovecraft fans yearning for more nihilism or existential madness, but the love story with monsters as window dressing is a testament to a filmmaker whose big budget studio offerings haven't served him as well.  Jump to 15:18 to avoid a discussion on why The Book of Boba Fett is bad and to 29:18 if you have no interest in hearing about AEW Revolution.  And be sure to listen to James' appearance on Disenfranchised Pod talking about Flash Gordon. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Friend of the show, Thomas Campbell, returns to The Cast of Cthulhu to discuss his latest creative endeavor spawned from the pandemic, the indie Lovecraftian comic, Abyssal Albion. Half Lovecraftian horror and half The Road, Abyssal Albion is currently crowdfunding for its third issue, which you can support on Kickstarter. Want to get caught up on the horrors confronting the siblings navigating their way through a post-apocalyptic wasteland? The first two issues are also currently available to purchase as well. Follow Tom on Twitter @Party_Lard and keep up with the comic @AbyssalAlbion. Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

This week the boys chat about their peripheral interest in the Winter Olympics and their excitement about what's potentially going down in AEW* before getting into a discussion on Spiral, the film adaptation of Junji Ito's manga, Uzumaki.  Skip ahead to 17:48 to avoid all the rasslin' talk and get straight to the discussion of madness brought about by geometric patterns. Written and filmed before the manga was complete, Spiral has too much in common with Dragon Ball Z, which similarly spun its wheels while waiting for the source material to catch up. Tonally weird, narratively disjointed, and very 2000s, Spiral nonetheless does conjure up some pretty creepy atmosphere and allusions to inescapable fate in ways that remind viewers of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse and also Lovecraft's work.  Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Since our Pateron now sleeps with dead Cthulhu in his house in R'lyeh, we can unleash this fresh madness onto the world. Recorded last summer and only previously available on the Patreon feed, we're releasing this conversation with Starfish writer/director, Al White, for the main feed's enjoyment! This laid back and wide-ranging conversation touches on everything from COVID anxiety to anime that we discovered when we were too young to least favorite John Carpenter films to how the ending and emotional beats of Starfish fuck with the standard hero's journey.  Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Well, it's our first episode of the new year and boy, do we have a kick ass guest to help ring in 2022! Stopping by to drop some knowledge on us about Mycenaean architecture and Lovecraftian horror is author, film critic, and desktop game designer, Josephine Maria Yanasak-Leszczynski! Dark City may not seem like your standard Lovecraft-inspired genre film at first, but Josephine lays out the case for how it effectively the 1998 sci-fi/noir film incorporates Lovecraft's penchant for pulling from multiple sources and how it plays with the concept of cyclopean environments. It's easy to forget that Dark City after came before The Matrix, seeing as how oddly similar the seminal and influential film from the Wachowskis was whereas Dark City was just kind of...forgotten (unless you're Roger Ebert). Sure, the city may be one of the most poorly thought out science experiments in the history of movies brought down by a half-baked Neo, but it was great to think that studios once spent money on weird, original ideas -- even if they did ultimately end up tinkering with them too much. Follow Josephine on Twitter @JMYales and check out their website where you can find their prequel to "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," "A Coven in Essex County." Check out The Cast of Cthulhu on Facebook or Twitter and email any questions or comments to moviesofmadness@gmail.com.

Need some light in the Winter Solstice? Some merry for your Christmas? Some Guillermo del Toro for your life in general? Then The Cast of Cthulhu has the perfect gift for you! Joining Jim and James are a fantastic collection of writers, podcasters, and just all around awesome horror fans to present a virtual table reading of Guillermo del Toro's unproduced screenplay for At the Mountains of Madness adapted from the H.P. Lovecraft novella of the same name. Stick around afterwards for a discussion of the script and reactions to the news that del Toro may be revisiting & rewriting it in hopes of it being picked up by Netflix.  Follow and show some love to the wonderful collection of readers: Leeman Kessler (Website, Ask Lovecraft, Twitter, TikTok) Josephine Yanasak-Leszczynski (Website, Twitter) Brian Muldoon (Happy Harvest Horror Show) Stephen Foxworthy (Disenfranchised, Twitter) Brett Wright (Disenfranchised, Twitter) Sean Meehan (Website) Jessica Scott (Website, Twitter) Brian & Gwen Callahan (H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon) And, of course, you an always email us at moviesofmadness@gmail.com.  Happy Holidays from The Cast of Cthulhu!

It's a bit of a shame that there's no James on this episode seeing as obscure foreign horror films are right up his alley, but we've got a Brian Muldoon from the Happy Harvest Horror Show to make up for it! Who is Mariano Baino, the co-writer and director of the somewhat incoherent and possibly maybe blasphemous Dark Waters? Allegedly he's the "unholy hybrid of Bergman and Argento" according to, uh...him probably? Anyway, as evidenced by this film, he's clearly more interested in film as a visual medium than as a storytelling medium, leading to many haunting visuals, but many more "what the hell is happening?" moments. Check out Happy Harvest Horror Show on Instagram. And if you're curious, found out  more about Baino from his website that looks like it hasn't been updated since 2002.

After a long delay caused by the non-zero chance that the boys were marooned by weather in an eldritch beacon, the boys found someone who likes their lobster in Stephen Foxworthy, co-host of the Disenfranchised podcast! 2019 was a banger of a year for films - The Farewell, Parasite, Uncut Gems - and the fact that the claustrophobic, tense, paranoid, nightmare sophomore entry from Robert Eggers is included amongst conversation with those masterpieces is a testament to how firmly of a grasp the writer/director had on how to balance the Lovecraftian inspirations with his own unique story. It's a little bit of Greek mythology mixed with madness and just a touch of tentacles. To read more about Eggers' Lovecraftian inspirations, read the full article referenced in this episode over at IGN. And listen to Jim discuss National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 over at Disenfranchised.

After basically two months of tricks, boy do we have a treat for you! The Cast of Cthulhu presents its first ever commentary track: 1988's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Watch along with the boys on Shudder, the perfect streaming service for the spooky season, as they poke fun of a mad Dr. Loomis' return to Haddonfield, sympathize with the innocent, bullied Jaime Lloyd, and anoint Rachel Carruthers the worthy heir to Laurie Strode. Is Halloween 4 the best sequel of the franchise? Hardly, but it's a hell of a lot better than Halloween Kills. To listen to the Halloween 4 episode of Best Movies Never Made that was referenced in this commentary, be sure to listen to that here. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Quick episode here to update you on why there's been radio silence from CoC, the expected planned hiatus for September, and assurance that we'll be back in mid-October once things settle down.  As CoC awaits dreaming in the depths of R'lyeh, just a reminder that we've got a few cool things on our Patreon including an interview with Al White, the writer and director of Starfish. Just $3 a month will get you access to that as well as a bunch of cool stuff that we're planning for the future when we rise again in time for Halloween. Enjoy your September, everybody! See you in October!

Okay, first off, we're sorry that there's been such a gap between episodes. Life happens. Second off, we launched a Patreon! Our first exclusive episode for patrons is an interview with friend of the show, BJ Verot, as he talks about directing his feature film debut, the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival Best Feature winner, The Return. After getting that big news out of the way, The Cast of Cthulhu rises again like so many essential salts to discuss the hard to find The Resurrected, a film that stars Chris Sarandon is dual roles as Charles Dexter Ward and his doppelgänger ancestor, Prince Humperduhh...sorry, Joseph Curwen. Arguably the most faithful adaptation of any Lovecraft text we've ever covered, it's also, by default, arguably the biggest argument against faithfully adapting Lovecraft. Also, could there be a connection between The Resurrected and The Princess Bride?* Subscribe to our Pateron here: https://www.patreon.com/CastCthulhu The Return is available to rent or purchase on both Amazon and iTunes. And here's the real house that inspired Ward's fictional abode. *No, there isn't

First and foremost, we have to pour one out for Lovecraft Country, which was officially canceled by HBO, robbing us of the vision Mischa Green would have unleashed untethered from the source material. But if you're not the sentimental type, skip ahead to 11:32 to get to the discussion of The Unnameable, a bizarre, tonally mixed, low-budget adaptation that somehow expands on the short story without actually adding anything substantive. Perhaps it's because Howard is a milquetoast protagonist or because the film shoehorns in every awful 80's teen trope or because the titular Unnameable is utterly nameable and generic, but either way, the end result of Jean-Paul Ouellette's efforts are as slight as the source material.  If you disagree with us, perhaps you'll find solidarity with Massimo Berruti.

Well, now that it's actually summer we can talk about a film that actually deals with summery things and we've got not only the perfect film, but also the perfect guest! Jessica Scott joins The Cast of Cthulhu to talk about Jeffrey A. Brown's feature directorial debut, The Beach House and boy, oh boy, does this film dive deep into Lovecraftian themes of mankind's insignificance amongst an ancient creation (and also, tentacles).  The performances are engaging and the practical effects make us cringe and scream, but arguably the film's most effective tool to deploy is an aesthetic and philosophical depiction of the vastness of an ocean that taps into primordial fears and causes deeply buried emotions to bubble to the surface. If Cassavetes made a horror film, maybe it would look something like The Beach House. Follow Jessica Scott on Twitter @WeWhoWalkHere And visit here to read up on her writing work

There's something ironic about reviewing a film due to its titular tie in to beaches only to discover upon viewing that it takes place almost entirely in snowy Colorado. After Jim apologizes for that, he implores the Internet to help him stop getting Twitter notifications about The Snyderverse (4:18) and delves into the world of hurt people hurting people with a discussion of his recent obsession, Vice TV's phenomenal Dark Side of the Ring (12:43). At 26:39 comes the discussion of A.T. White's Starfish, a film that Jim initially wrote off because of "how hipster it is." This episode is a rarity in the lifespan of The Cast of Cthulhu, one in which Jim actually walks back a few of his criticisms in real time after listening to James's interpretations! Unlike so many starfish with severed limbs though, he doesn't emerge from this episode newly formed since Starfish's meager budget and half-baked world building lead to a film about an emotional journey that is oddly emotionally muddled and not at all Lovecraftian. Are the creatures real or imagined? What does the voice on the radio want? Is Aubrey's journey across town real or metaphorical? Is the giant creature in the sky an inadvertent callback to the discussion of The Snyderverse because it's actually DC supervillain Starro? Listen to our mixtape to find out!

We're covering a weird, ambitious movie, so it's only fitting that we've got a weird, ambitious episode. Jay Alary from Grumpire and Daily Grindhouse joins The Cast of Cthulhu to discuss Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce, the first of a 3-picture deal and a weird, ambitious failure of a sci-fi film that may have signaled the beginning of the end for Hooper's marketability and dependability as a director. Of course, those 3 pictures were all made for the notorious(ly beloved) low-budget studio, The Cannon Group, so the review can't begin until James takes us down a meaty tour of Cannon's history and reputation from Cannes to Sunday afternoons on WPIX 11.  If you're anything like Jim, then you see Lifeforce as a messy, exploitative genre film in which a beloved The X-Files character actor elicits unintentional laughs from portraying the sweatiest, most pathetically love sick astronaut in history. And if you're anything like Jay and James, then that's probably why you love it. And if you're anything like The Space Vampires author Colin Wilson, well...why are you even listening to this? Follow Jay on Twitter @JuliusBarthelme

We went into The Empty Man expecting a subpar knockoff of the Slender Man story and were we delightfully surprised to see that it was anything but! Receiving a similar fate to another overlooked horror film that Disney unceremoniously dumped after acquiring Fox, this "rough edit" release - as writer/director David Prior considers it - foregoes jump scares and traditional horror tropes in order to craft a moody, dreadful story chock full of surreal and impressionistic imagery.  No tangents, prefaces, or distractions in this episode - just an enthusiastic discussion of a criminally under-appreciated horror film that would make H.P. Lovecraft stand up and cheer (before quickly bowing down in exultation of The Empty Man). Thank God Prior didn't stay faithful to the source material, eh? Here's where to read the article we quote from Film School Rejects, "How David Prior's 'The Empty Man' Survived the Perfect Hollywood Storm." And here's where to read the full review of The Empty Man from RogerEbert.com.

Sincerest apologies for both the episode delay (life stuff) and audio quality of Jim's vocal track (forgot mic due to life stuff), but if you're able to forgive us for those hiccups, we are excited to have Council of Zoom's Kieran Fisher join us to discuss Clive Barker's third and final directorial effort, Lord of Illusions! The delayed release also means a delayed review of Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so skip ahead to 20:25 if you're so over all the wokeness in the MCU and just want to hear a review of a horror/noir/thriller featuring a young, attractive Famke Jansen and a young, arguably more attractive young Scott Bakula. Harry D'Amour may be the perfect Lovecraftian protagonist, but he's the lead in a film that doesn't give him a worthy antagonist and that also isn't nearly as illusioney as it thinks it is. The practical effects are pretty effective, but making us believe that a cult leader with 8 followers in the middle of the desert is capable of destroying the world is not. Follow Kieran on Twitter @haireverywhere_

Seeing as Jim made his triumphant return to the movie theater for the first time in well over a year, it's only fitting that the boys spend a little time talking about the (very dumb) film ushering people out of the pandemic, Godzilla vs. Kong.  Skip ahead to 26:30 to avoid spoilers and a discussion of all things related to large beings destroying tiny cityscapes and to get to the main event, the discussion on Brian Yuzna's directorial debut, Society. Joining to discuss the film that only gets grosser as it gets older is James's partner in life and crime, Corinne Corrosive!  The film's narrative logic - or lack thereof - may not hold up any better than its 1980sness, but man oh man are those practical effects from Screaming Mad George still nauseating and it's scary how the film's themes of the rich feeding on the poor have become all the more relevant today. Perhaps if Trump runs again in 2024, he should be honest with everyone and run on the Shunting Party card.

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - H.P. Lovecraft "Adding a Lovecraft quote to your film doesn't make your film Lovecraftian." - The Cast of Cthulhu So, we're talking about The Endless, a film that pays lip service to Lovecraft, but we're also talking about so much more than that, so check out the timecode notes below if you want to get straight to the discussion of a film that raises more questions about its world in its attempt to give us answers and that fundamentally misunderstands the term "Lovecraftian" (if that's even what the filmmakers were intending in the first place). We don't get into that discussion until 42:03 though as we first spend some time to encourage listeners to pick up Battleship Pretension's 101 Best Movies of the 2010s at 1:13, discuss our thoughts on #TheSnyderCut at 3:45, and discuss the horrific allegations against Richard Stanley and why we support his "canceling" (and also why we hate that term) at 19:18. For more information on AAPI organizations to support in the wake of the horrible actions of a white supremacist, check out this link and let's all contribute to stopping Asian hate.

The first episode in the Benson/Moorhead back-to-back is here with this review of Resolution, though as we're wont to do, there's a fair bit of banter before the episode begins, this time on beer and breweries and pouring one out - figuratively - for the bankrupt Alamo Drafthouse (jump ahead to around 10:19 to skip over it - you'll know the discussion is about to begin when James says "let's talk about meth"). Jumping from abuse of one substance to another gets us into the discussion on Benson & Moorhead's directorial debut, the (extremely) low-budget feature that has basically everything you've come to love about a Lovecraft story - a character who recognizes and accepts his unchangeable fate, another who doesn't and suffers for it, and a seemingly cyclopean entity that cannot be described or depicted - despite the fact that the filmmakers had no idea who Howard Phillips Lovecraft was. Another thing of which the filmmakers had no idea? Good taste in humor! Does it distract from the effectiveness of the film? Not greatly, but it also shouldn't make anyone eager to check out the film's cringeworthy special features. Click here to read the interview with Benson & Moorhead from Medium.com that was quoted in this episode.

Before you ask or complain, no - WandaVision has absolutely nothing to do with H.P. Lovecraft and we don't even make an attempt to connect the two. Instead, this is just an episode to dive into our thoughts on the recently wrapped WandaVision with a very special guest, Jim's lovely wife, Emma Aarnes! From our shattered expectations to our satisfaction with the ending, there's a lot of ground to cover and a lot of tangents to get lost in, including how Donald Sutherland still weirdly brags that he had actual sex with Julie Christie while filming Don't Look Now and frequently objectifying Chris Evans' ass. WandaVision was a show that led to a great deal of speculation on where it was going - most of it gloriously incorrect - and the reactions to its conclusion were divisive, but we salute Jac Shaeffer and Matt Shakman, the risks they took, the story they told, and the fun they brought back to weekly TV viewing. Also, here's Anthony Mackie quoting Shakespeare while eating hot wings.

A fair bit of dillydallying on this episode before the discussion on Alex Garland's criminally underseen Annihilation including a (very) lengthy discussion on WandaVision and the Disney's grey morality as a content/art provider, a less lengthy discussion at 27:46 about why we'd rather fight with Cthulhu than Haku, and the least lengthy news at 34:32 that Spike Lee is producing a Cthulhu film for Netflix. At 36:54 we get to the main event, a discussion on Annihilation, a sci-fi that was so brilliant in its existential musings that Paramount had no idea what to do with it, dumping it into a late February 2018 release with little fanfare. With gorgeous cinematography from Rob Hardy and marvelously understated writing and direction from Garland, Annihilation was one of the best films of 2018 and is arguably the best adaptation of "The Color Out of Space" you'll ever see - even though, ostensibly, it has nothing to do with the classic Lovecraft sci-fi/horror story.

Gavin Mevius, co-host of The Mixed Reviews joins us to talk about Cast a Deadly Spell, the made-for-TV movie from 1991 that asks us all to imagine a world where anyone can use magic, but with one hard-boiled detective named Harry Philip Lovecraft (Fred Ward) who chooses not to for...reasons? Perhaps it has something to do with his backstory, which is...never brought up? Or the rules of magic, which are...absent? Or the societal order, which is...never mentioned? Alright, you know what? You dig just a little bit into this HBO original and you'll discover that its film noir roots are deep, but its Lovecraftian influence is superficial at best. But hey, what it lacks in substance it makes up for with jokes about racism, transphobia, and statutory rape! Maybe there's a reason Joseph Dougherty isn't a household name. The discussion ends around 59:35, but feel free to keep listening on after that for Jim's crazy Batman Returns theory and a poll as to whether watching the Super Bowl or The Snyder Cut inspires more dread. Follow The Mixed Reviews on Twitter @TheMixedReviews Follow Gavin Mevius on Twitter @FriendlessMean