The Whisperer in Darkness (film)

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The Whisperer in Darkness
Whisperer-poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed bySean Branney
Written bySean Branney
Andrew Leman
Based on The Whisperer in Darkness
by H.P. Lovecraft
Produced bySean Branney
Andrew Leman
David Robertson
Edited byDavid Robertson
Music byTroy Sterling Nies
Distributed by H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society
Release dates
  • March 12, 2011 (2011-03-12)(Athens Film Festival)
  • May 19, 2011 (2011-05-19)(United States)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Whisperer in Darkness is a 2011 independent horror film directed and produced by Sean Branney, Andrew Leman, and David Robertson and distributed by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Based on the H. P. Lovecraft short story of the same name, it was shot using Mythoscope, a blend of vintage and modern filming techniques intended to produce the look of a 1930s-era film. According to the film's website, the filmmakers intended to capture the look of "classic horror films of the 1930s like Dracula , Frankenstein and King Kong ". [1]

Contents

Plot

For the first two acts, the plot largely follows the short story. The third act consists of entirely new material in which the Mi-Go are revealed to worship Shub-Niggurath, and the protagonist, Wilmarth, uncovers an attempt by cultists to open a gateway between Yuggoth and Earth. He foils the plot with the help of Hannah, the child of one of the collaborators. His escape is unsuccessful and at the end of the film the audience discovers that Wilmarth has been narrating from a machine attached to the cylinder in which his brain now resides. This differs from the original story in which Wilmarth flees in the middle of the night and safely returns to Arkham.

According to Sean Branney on the making-of featurette "The Whisperer Behind the Scenes," Lovecraft was better at set-ups than endings. From a dramatic standpoint, Lovecraft's story brought the writers through what would be "Act Two" of a standard movie structure and felt incomplete. The character of Hannah and opening of gate to Yuggoth were introduced in order to "[make it] a good movie". Branney and Leman intended to make Wilmarth's world "more emotionally complicated" because Hannah's future caused him to be "invested in more than just himself". The characters of Wilmarth's three friends at Miskatonic University were developed from Call of Cthulhu role-playing characters created years before by Branney, Leman, and a friend. Regarding the introduction of a biplane, Leman commented, "If you have monsters that fly, you have to have a dogfight with a biplane." [2]

Cast

In order of appearance: [3]

Production

The filmmakers used Mount Holyoke College to represent Miskatonic University. [4] Pasadena City College is used for interior scenes of the school. [2]

Sandy Petersen, author of the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, contributed financially to the film in order to finish its production. [5]

Release

The Whisperer in Darkness did not have a theatrical release but appeared at dozens of film festivals in over a dozen countries. [6] It was then released on DVD and Blu-ray in early 2012.

Reception

The Whisperer in Darkness received highly positive reviews. It holds 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On the Internet Movie Database it has 6.6 out of 10 stars. John J. Puccio of Movie Metropolis said "The atmospherics are in place, and the filmmakers catch the essence of Lovecraft's expansive horror with efficiency. The film is entertaining without attaining greatness." Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com said "'Whisperer in Darkness' has a chiller-diller conclusion and some moments of real terror."

Awards

The Whisperer in Darkness was nominated at Oaxaca Film Fest.

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Nyarlathotep is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft. The character is a malign deity in the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared universe. First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem "Nyarlathotep", he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers. Later writers describe him as one of the Outer Gods, an alien pantheon.

Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham, a fictional town in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River. After first appearing in H. P. Lovecraft's 1922 story "Herbert West–Reanimator", the school appeared in numerous Cthulhu Mythos stories by Lovecraft and other writers. The story "The Dunwich Horror" implies that Miskatonic University is a highly prestigious university, on par with Harvard University, and that Harvard and Miskatonic are the two most popular schools for the children of the Massachusetts "Old Gentry". The university also appears in role-playing games and board games based on the mythos.

Arkham Fictional city in H.P. Lovecrafts works

Arkham is a fictional city situated in Massachusetts. An integral part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft, Arkham is featured in many of his stories and those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers.

Mi-Go Fictional race in H. P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu Mythos

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H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness was a three-part comic book mini-series published in the USA by Millennium Publications. It followed a group of investigators, the Miskatonic Project, as they confronted the Mi-go, the cunning Fungi from Yuggoth.

<i>The Whisperer in Darkness</i> Novella by H. P. Lovecraft

The Whisperer in Darkness is a 26,000-word novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to The Colour Out of Space (1927), it is a blend of horror and science fiction. Although it makes numerous references to the Cthulhu Mythos, the story is not a central part of the mythos, but reflects a shift in Lovecraft's writing at this time towards science fiction. The story also introduces the Mi-Go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.

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References

  1. Official Site Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 The Whisperer in Darkness. Dir. Sean Branney. 2011. DVD. Fungi, LLC, 2012. Special Features disc. "The Whisperer Behind the Scenes."
  3. "Official website cast page". cthulhulives.org.
  4. "Lights, Action, Horror at MHC". MHC News & Events. 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
  5. "The Whisperer in Darkness - The "Making of" Blog". Cthulhulives.org. Archived from the original on 2009-06-07. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
  6. "Official list of film festivals at which it appeared". cthulhulives.org.