CIN3MA

Have you ever said “Jesus” so many times that you’ve automatically become an ordained priest? Or repeatedly uttered “holy sh*t” that you actually hallowed some unidentified animal’s dung on the side of the street? Lovecracked! will do this to you…

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I ripped the shrink wrap off Elias’ horror offering, but I progressively understood what I got myself into—a quirky investigative journalist delving into the life H.P. Lovecraft and his mysterious mindset, basically trailing his footsteps and seeking his aura, perhaps delusively. His mumblings and weird interviews bridge several mini films supposedly inspired by the weird science fiction author, ranging from the sad to the incredibly disturbing, meant to either strike a sensitive cord or simply induce a twisted smile or laughter.

I’m no big horror fan. In fact, I’m not even familiar with H.P. Lovecraft’s works such as Macabre, Dream Cycle and Cthulhu Mythos. However, he has had many adaptations in television, radio and film such as Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator. While I didn’t necessarily fall in love with the overly oozy Lovecracked! as a whole, I did find three of the short films appealing on many artistic levels (both high and very, very low):

Chaos of Flesh

A wanderer in the woods notices a giant lumberjack carrying an innocent blonde girl to an unknown location. As intrigued as he is puzzled about the young girl’s fate, he starts to follow them. He does so until he realizes that the giant is about to ax her head off. The wanderer acts on sheer guts and sympathy as he attacks the giant with a knife rescuing the soft-haired girl. Tripping and getting trapped under the giant’s dead body, the wanderer desperately tries to break free but fails. Finally, the moment of joy comes when the blond awakens, dragging the ax toward the dough-like formation of the two males. However, when she reveals her disgusting zombie face and raises the ax to chop her savior’s head off, the moment turns into an irreversible scarring of the soul. This is an extremely short tale that brings hope, gratification and encouragement until everything comes crashing down; in other words, effectiveness to the max.

Alecto

A story about a violin musician whose music teleports him to a painful past. He has his own ways of dealing with the pain, but things get out of hand when a student fan plays his sparking piece and unintentionally forces him to project his violent tendencies upon her. What I liked about this one was the stylistic photography and music showing the most tact and professionalism.

It’s Alive

It’s Alive—a watered-down version of Re-Penetrator, is a Re-Animator inspired pornographic short. A mad scientist discovers an intravenous potion that brings fully-composed, hot, naked corpses back to life. His experimental subject is none other than the punkish porn star Joanna Angel. Mixing zombies and sex—I never saw that one coming. Then I thought the idea of mixing the two would make me detest either sex or zombies for the longest time. I was wrong. My annual subscription card is in the mail, Necrophilia Monthly. Thank you.

To conclude, Lovecracked! contains a collection of visually pleasing and mentally frightening films that show multiple levels of creativity, talent and potential by the filmmakers. It truly emphasizes the saying “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” It also brings to the fore another saying: “Don’t F*ckin’ Eat While You’re Watching This” because I did while watching the slimy BugBoy short, and I now have a yellowish lifetime reminder on my newly purchased sofa.