Cthulu - Seattle Gay News - Review - 0912

CTHULHU SEATTLE SEATTLE GAY NEWS! 0 -10,000 SCOTT RICE REVIEW - POSITIVE SEPTEMBER 12, 2008 COLOR PHOTO PAGE 1 OF 2

Written/produced in Seattfe, Cthulhu terrific fres"hman effort by Seot1 Rice SGN Contributing Writer CTJ-JUUJU

OPENING SF.:PTEMBER 12 M~king a liion is arduous. It is a lesson in elf-IOUllolalion and ,,' bmh. Daniel Gildark. direct,,] of the locally produced feature film Ctlrlllhu, said, "This was the hard­ eSI thing I have ~\'er done." When you speak 10 him. you know hI.' means this Iilcrully. C:hllihu is based (very) loosely on the short fiction of H.P. Love­ emf!. According 10 the press nOles. Ihese days the word is gene::,Uy pronounc.ed "ke-THOO·-loo." but feel free 10 have your way wilh it as Loveemft himsdfhad a nlJmber of differenl lakes. He said IIle hu­ man vocal appardlus couldo'l C.\­ ~clly reproduce tbe originaJ alit.n language. Mmmmmrn. Russell Marsh IJa,on Cottle) plays a Gay prof",,;or of English living in Seank" When he finds OUI his mother bas dIed. he selS orf for his hometuwn on an island off the Oregon coast 10 aMend· the funeral and senle JllS mothe,s e5lal~ He recorutect5 "'lth his childhood best fncnJ.l\·lih (SCOll Par{lck Gleen). see CTHULHU page 24

Jason Cottle In Cthulhu

CTHULHU SEATTLE SEATTLE GAY NEWSI D -10,000 SCOTT RICE REVIEW - POSITIVE SEPTEMBER 12, 2008 COLOR PHOTO PAGE 2 OF 2

CTHULHU continued from cover and makes a half-hearted attempt to ~pen,l 3 little quality time with hi~ family. Dark plot twists 3J)d complications come bard anu fast and iI's not IOlig befOle Russ<:U r~a1­ i7M the death of his mother is tile least of

his worn es, Gildark and Grant Cogswell. a local scree n wri Ie r, were coli c<:ti vel y th e dri y ing force behind the prodUClioo or Ctbulhu and they managed to pUltogether an ~press.ivc secrU-famous casl including Ton Spellwg of 90210 and TorI and Dean fame. Also on board are Cottle, accomplished theater ac­ lor with a couple of small movie roles un­ der his belt and tile ex-soo-in-bw of Duslm Hoffman, Green, actor, photographer, and longtime friend and assistanl LO Gus Van Santo Cara Buono, besl known for ber gu~ slarrin g rolt 00 The Sopranos, and {)cnols K!einsmilll. a local !.beater regular ,:,bose film career seems poised to take off Wt~ N­ CellI roles in 3 OUJJlber of small productions including a turn as Lucifer in Todd Down­ ing '5 Ordinary Aflgels. . Wben askoo aboUI working With s.ome .of the JJlore famous cast members, KlelOsnuth (Reverend Marsh) giggles ~fore. :ll1SWe~ ing. "When you're very familiar w,th som , one, it's common to ¢.at off of eacb olbers. plalcs. Wbile a completc srranger \0 us. T?" felt we were close enougb for Iter 10. pIck .~. ff our plales and take ~ bIle of somel1,rng 0 it That wouido'l have ~ert ~ bad. ex pl, if she didJl'l like it, slle d pUI l\ back on our lates," he said. Cata Buono (Danru~) linill­ y began LO hand Tori her pl.:lt~, ~~g she was fiAlshed anyway. KleinsmJlh ISn I sure

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ifTori lOOk the hin\. Thougll Cthulhu's aCling can seem un­ even, that's probably as much a result of genre as talent. Scj-fi!bol)1lr has a teudellC)' for nOforiously fial chMacters, and this can, make perfOn:na!lces seem ooe-dlmensionaJ. Kleinsmith refers to Ills own perfol'lDance by saying, '"When I look al it, all I see is bad acting." I disagree with hiln. Rever­ end Mars h oe vcr shows lIS an ything but me overly zea.lous villaio. There's DO room to screteh; Ihe characler never changes. And Gildac.k isn'l the only dir~r of the genre to fall prey to getting mMginai perfonnane­ es from good actors; George LucaJ 1I.as ~. amazing taleot for turning otlJerwise fine fi 1m s tars into wooden props in al I six epi­ sodes of the Star W=s saga.

Klei nstrnth, an established slage ac­ lor wi!.b aspirations for a film career, has been in Seattle for 9 years. He showed up for tbe inlerview wearing a cream cololed swealer, je.ans, iUld cool cowboy boots. He's 4U. some thin g aDd fi t, wi til shon -cropped g;r
coasi largely so he could care for his two dogs. Though shooling Crlrulhllwas a mix of positive and oegative ex pe rieoce:s , Klein­ smith feels it was ultimately valuable aod is happy with tile final product "Il has Ute quality of tcosioo thaI a really good horrurl mystery gives you which doeso'l come from gore or sci-fi, ~ he &aid. He also said, "It's a great ad for making film in the Northwest" Kleinsmith appreciated the opporntnity 10 wort with some of Sealllc's besl filmmak­ ers. He c:aIJs Daniel GiJdark. -a grt:at direc­ tor to work. with.... He had a gentle touch. but a vel)' gC3I',and ~lid.~~ion.". .. Kleinsmitil also had praise for cm.:matog­ raphcr Sean Kirby. "I want to work with biro 3gain.~ said Kleinsmith, "Just as LaurenC(; Olivieroould read the phone book and make it sound fascinating. Scan could shoot a oowntO""ll stree1 comer and make il in itself 3 beautiful film." As bcauliJul as the film is, CthulJru's edit­ ing is troublesome. Namui ve clements seem 10 Ix: missing here ~nd there, and the rhythm can se<:m choppy. Gildark feels this is due 10 a combination of first-rime filmmaker foibles and compromises mad.: "'i!.b Regenl Releasing aflefthe film was sold. The ncw cut is about 15 minulcs shoner than Ute ver­ sion previously .....T eenw. 31 the Stanle 101er­ Dational Film Festival (S[fF), Gildark said, "[ worked with Regent on the cut - an ex­ perience in compromise. It moves quicker, bUI il loses some of the feel I waIl1ed il [0 ha.ve." In !.be end, Gildark says be's bappy with this edit and expresses appreciation for Re­ gent aUnwing him 10 work with !.bern 00 il (mey weren'l requin:d 10 do so according '0 Ute COQIJ'aCI) and for gwing him a couple of things he foughl for. Along with .rne plOI cwists and cheap frights (and we love our cheap frighlS in a good horror movie), some of !.be best mo­ ments are filtered I.b.rough oice cinema1og;r
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