The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)

Good movie but grossly overrated

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

First you need to know that they made this film to look like it was made in the 30's or so... even credits, music, etc. Also, if you put budget in perspective the Effects and the Acting is very good. Some complain of over-acting... but in the 30's they all over-acted... if you seen one, or just a little bit of an old movie you will know...OK, now the story: I thought it would be impossible to make an adaptation to Whisperer in Darkess, one of my favorite HPL... I was wrong... This movie gets very good the intention, but lacks something I don't know what... Maybe the dialog by letters was better and kept me on the edge of my seat... but the movie don't have it, it is like the movie starts after they exchanged letters and all...Also, I think in the HPL story they don't tell much what the aliens are doing or purpose... in this movie it is very well explained. The ending run away too far from original, could be a car instead of a plane... would be more realistic. But I liked, in a way this ending is more "lovecraft" than the original story...The only way it could be better was if they could get the "mood", the creepy atmosphere from description in the letters of the places, situations and all... (the only way I know to do it is by flashbacks, that would get too boring after the second letter and would have the fate of "The Resurrected" movie has.)In the end I give it 9, can't get any better for the budget and I dislike the little girl part...

This movie is very good. The atmosphere of dreadness keeps rising throughout the movie, acting is coherent with the chosen aesthetics, the movie flows very nicely and adaptation of the story is interesting and builds up good suspense. It is well done.OK, I just felt like writing this because of those unfair reviews trying to nitpick and don't doing justice to the work and love put on this movie. They seem to judge this movie like it was a big budget modern Hollywood movie. The same goes to the comments about "The Call of Cthulhu" (2005). Both movies are successful attempts to make adaptations as they would be made when Lovecraft was alive just adjusting their pace to modern audiences.

I'm partly cheating here, as i'm writing the first part of my review before seeing the film - but bare with me;One of the reviewers of this film is Sandy Petersen, one of my idols and creator of, amongst other things, the famous Call of Cthulhu RPG, and he gave the film 10*. I would be most severely disappointed if this were a bogus rating, and to my defence i can say i have watched just about every Lovecraft-inspired film and short film out there and sadly, i have to say they are all mostly rubbish, except for the classic "From Beyond", and the rather good Cthulhu (2007), if you ignore the ratings. Anyway, i'm off to see the film, will let you know how it works out.Right!I'm back from the film and i was pleasantly surprised. The Whispered in Darkness is a *very* faithful adaptation of Lovecraft's novel of the same name - perhaps too faithful, even.The film itself is apparently a low-budget, amateur's production, but the results are much better than the (pretty bad) 2005 Call of Cthulhu silent film, made by what i assume is the same bunch of guys - the Lovecraft Historical Society; it's shot in black and white, of course, but the acting is much better and easily on par with Hollywood's less- than-stellar performances, sure they don't have Seymour Phillip Hoffman, but it's not Cop Out either.As for the production values, more would have been better (especially the flight sequence, but hey), but one can hardly complain since it seems that Hollywood wouldn't touch a Lovecraft story with a ten foot pole.Now, for the script; it's good, it is - after all, it's a great Howard P. Lovecraft story - but this might be its undoing; while i really liked 2007's Cthulhu, as it was more "loosely" based on and it was really just profoundly inspired by HPL's story, tWiD is too close to the story which we have all read before. And of course nobody but a HPL fan is going to watch this, nor i believe will it get any airplay.Don't get me wrong, i enjoyed this film, but i think that "inspired by" is more appropriate than "straight out copied from" since the target audience already knows everything HPL has ever written, by hearth. Also, on a final note, i like to say that i'v always felt HPL stories just don't translate well into film, or for that matter into any social setting; they are great books, but to be enjoyed alone. Even Sandy Petersen's great CoC RPG was a great read, but when played with friends, it hardly ever gave the same spine-chilling thrills. Sorry to break it to the folks at the HPLHS.Maybe perhaps, it's time to bring to the screen some of Derleth's stories.Anyway, my final vote : 6/10 - you'd be really dumb to miss this. (add up to 2 points if you like HPL)

In 1928, Miskatonic University folklore professor Albert Wilmarth enjoys debunking theories of the occult, even though he is roundly trounced – on radio, no less – by Charles Fort when they have a debate on whether certain stories in Vermont that have come to light following a flood are based in fact. He has also been carrying on correspondence with an intelligent, yet fearful, farmer in Vermont, who insists that the strange beings seen in the floodwaters are real, and are all around his farm. Wilmarth is curious, especially after he finds the original manuscript of a very rare book of folklore collected in Vermont back in the 1800s, containing stories which seem to correspond to what his farmer correspondent, Henry Akeley, has described in his letters. So when he receives a strange letter from Akeley that completely up-ends the farmer's previous fears about alien creatures and that invites Wilmarth to come to the farm to discuss the wondrous things that he has learned, well, Wilmarth can't possibly turn the invitation down. But when he arrives in the hills of Vermont, the local folk he meets all seem downright hostile, and when he arrives at the farm, he finds that Akeley himself is not well. And that is just the beginning of the discoveries that await him....This film, created by a collective called the HP Lovecraft Historical Society, is clearly lovingly made – done in black and white and in the style of the early 1930s, it tells one of Lovecraft's more evocative tales and then expands upon it. (Lovecraft's story ends at about the one-hour mark of the film, which continues for another 40 minutes or so.) The atmosphere is terrific, and the style of the story-telling really permits the audience to feel themselves back in the early 1930s, even up to the various mad-scientist gadgets that evoke such classics as the lab in the original "Frankenstein" film. The monsters are more or less what one might expect to see in an early 1930s film based on an HP Lovecraft story, but that doesn't make them any less menacing or eerie. You don't need to be a Lovecraft fan to love this movie, though it wouldn't hurt; you probably don't even need to be a fan of old movies. You just have to love movies, especially ones with great atmosphere and straight-up acting and a storyline that keeps you involved every step of the way. Highly recommended!