“H.P. Lovecraft’s The Old Ones”
Day 14 of the 2024 31-Days of Horror
For more information follow this link.
Russel Marsh was possessed by an ancient entity for 93 years, committing horrific acts for a cult. Now free, he seeks to travel back in time to undo his dark deeds, while the cult vows to eliminate him.
This indie horror film is the sequel to director Chad Ferrin’s H.P. Lovecraft’s The Deep Ones (2020), which I haven’t seen yet, but I’m very curious about it after seeing this film. This, too, was shown at The Sawdust City Fright Fest, to a very positive audience response.
Robert Miano, as Russell Marsh, is absolutely outstanding and really “legitimizes” the entire story and film. There are a few great scenes that are a creative mixture of CGI and practical effects. I love the entire sequence with Tillinghast (Elli Rahn) and the resonator machine. I also love the entire sequence with Nyarlathotep (Rico C. Anderson) and that portal.
My favorite gimmick that wasn’t actually a gimmick but just something worked so very well because the actors were just amazing, was the cook, Phillip Morita (Kurt Bonzell), and the server, Nadine (Jon Budinoff) in the restaurant. Apparently the server, Nadine, was written for a female character and when Budinoff was cast, he just wore the waitress costume and rolled with it. And kudos to him and Bonzell for just going with it. They had great on-screen chemistry and both gave Miano a run for his money in every scene they were in. Honestly, I’d love to see a little something that was just with those 2 characters in that restaurant, because there was plenty more happening in that restaurant connected to the story.
I’ve heard mixed reviews from die-hard Lovecraft fans. I don’t consider that a bad thing. Some of the best Lovecraft interpretations have been either super cheesy and/or super derivative. As I’ve already mentioned, this entertained me enough that I’ll be looking for The Deep Ones and I’ll probably revisit this again.
