Note: Cthulhu will play at the following venues:

• 09/12/08, Plaza Theatre, Atlanta, GA
• 09/12/08, Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR
• 09/12/08, Landmark Metro, Seattle, WA
• 09/26/08, Starz Film Center, Denver, CO

Cthulhu is the best horror film I've seen this year.  It's also one of the best Lovecraft films ever made.  The movie is an apocalyptic nightmare that resonates with an increasing hum until it finally shatters at the end, leaving us to pick up the pieces and wonder about what it all meant.  Of course, it might've all meant nothing, which was always the dark undercurrent of Lovecraft's stories: the notion that for all our passion and hope, the scope of the universe renders us inconsequential.

Maybe the problem with all those other Lovecraft works is that they depend too much on the man's words.  The most successful director of such films remains Stuart Gordon, but his affairs are mostly black comedy, using Lovecraft's bizarre bestiary for stories that are goofier than they are frightening.  By using Lovecraft's collected works as a slight backbone, director Dan Gildark is free to create a story that keeps his own interests without losing the spirit of the master.

Gildark's story, credited to co-producer Grant Cogswell, revolves around a gay college professor named Russ (Jason Cottle) who returns home upon news of his mother's death.  As executor of her estate, he's forced to stay in the small town he was only too happy to leave behind.  During his stay, an accumulation of details, from a mysterious rock to strange disappearances, suggest that this small town, like all horror movie small towns, has a dark secret.

This is not a fast film, but viewers who give it their attention will be rewarded.  Gildark and Cogswell emphasize the characters at the beginning of Cthulhu, developing their relationships with real emotional heft.  Russ resents his father, who only wants him to forsake his homosexuality and join the family.  His sister Dannie can't get pregnant; she hides behind a too-cheerful smile.  Russ has deep feelings for Mike, a local man he remembers from school, but Mike insists he isn't gay.

That attention to character anchors the movie, lending its gradual revelations the real drama they rightly deserve.  When answers come, they are fast and fleeting: a shocking image lit by photo-flash, or a brief memory of rape.  And when those various threads merge together at the conclusion, it's not just satisfaction we feel, but sympathy, and a deep sense of sadness.

None of this would be possible without the tremendous work of Jason Cottle, who takes a character that must've seemed frightening on a the page and made him into a sympathetic leading man.  His homosexuality isn't hidden in the film, but it isn't exploited.  Hell, most heterosexual relationships in horror don't feel as genuine or careful as this one, which allows Russ and Mike the time to actually grow toward each other.  If such stories aren't your thing, grow a pair of balls and get over yourself.  Clive Barker's been doing this for years, and he's one of the all-time greats.

Against the characters and the story lies a film that is executed with remarkable, precise control of mood.  Cinematographer Sean Kirby has soaked the film in heavy hues of blue, and his steady control of handheld keeps the film poised somewhere between the elegance of The Shining and the immediacy of 28 Days Later.  Helicopter shots give us wide views of a film that increases in scale, successfully evoking the idea of the end of the world.  Etta Lilienthal, the production designer, creates ominous settings out of the simplicity of an abandoned alley, or an overly warm household, or an old boathouse with spiraling writing on the wall.

I feel compelled to mention all these names because Cthulhu is so damned good.  When I see a horror film that compels and involves and challenges, right up to the maddening (and perfect) conclusion, I'm thankful.  It's easy to remake a classic with shock cuts and young actors, or to go with the blood-and-guts crowd who take the scraps like starving pups.  This was clearly a hard film to make, from the topical issues to the handling of its inspiration, but Cthulhu makes it look easy.  It's the type of horror movie that reminds me of why I fell in love with them.

P. S.  Possibly irrelevant, but fun to note: the crate in the poster is a callout to Michael Whelan's classic diptych, Lovecraft's Nightmare.