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Franklin Hummel wrote on 02/15/2010:

This is the type of gay-male horror film I have long been waiting and hoping for.
Described by S.T. Joshi, the world's foremost scholar on horror author H.P. Lovecraft and his writings, as "Fabulous -- the essence of Lovecraft... maybe the best Lovecraft adaptation I have seen to date", and winner of Best Film Award at the H.P. Lovecraft Film, and receiving a rave review by the webmaster of the Cosmic Horror films' site Unfilmable.com, CTHULHU is one of the best Lovecraftian *and* gay-male horror movies yet to be made.
After Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft is considered the most influential author of horror fiction and film in the world. I have been researching Lovecraftian film and television productions for over 15 years -- in the process of writing a book on this subject -- and have found and watched over 2,000 of these. CTHULHU (based on HPL's stories "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "Dagon") stands very high.
Avoiding the gross-out "horror" that has become so commonly cliché among the vast majority of horror movies for the past 25 years, this films presents its well-produced and well-told weird tale with something the genre now usually lacks -- subtlety -- allowing viewers' own fears to increase their terror.
For gay people -- and gay men in particular -- the main character's gayness and the love relationship he shares with another man -- adds to the enjoyment of such a well-crafted film. Having also discussed CTHULHU with a number of straight Lovecraftian fans, I was repeatedly told the film was just as powerful for them without this personal connection.
If your viewing and knowledge of gay-male horror films is limited to the badly-done movies of Dead Guy Cinema or the campy ones of Rapid Heart Pictures, CTHULHU will open your eyes to the high-quality storytelling *and* production values such movies *could* have!
CTHULHU left me hoping to see many other gay-male horror film-makers learn from its excellence.

Amos Lassen wrote on 12/22/2008:

“Cthulhu”
Looking at H.P. Lovecraft
“WELCOME TO THE END OF THE WORLD”
Amos Lassen
In “Cthuhlu” a lonely Seattle history professor is drawn back to the family he is separated from when he returns to the coast of Oregon to execute his late mother’s will. He finds himself reacquainted with his best friend from when he was a child and they celebrate a long delayed tryst. As he finds himself caught in an accelerating series of events, he explores aspects of his father’s New Age cult which begin to become significant and apocalyptic.
The film which relies on Lovecraft’s work and could have been an excellent film but the script and the actors seem to have lost any of the nuances from the original work. If it had been made as a parody of Lovecraft it might have worked but the film takes itself much too seriously. What is so frustrating is that the movie almost works. There are great creepy details but for some reason they fall flat.
Based on Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, the movie takes some unnecessaty liberties. The protagonist is a gay professor which does not matter at all. In the original this was not stated but the movie spends a lot of time looking at his homosexuality and the only reason that I can figure this was done was so that the movie would appeal to a gay audience. It does not matter that he was gay and I just don’t see its importance here. This is no chilling tale of the macabre as it should have been and I have no idea where the script (or lack of one) was going.
The movie is deliberately slow paced with lots of moody photography and nightmarish imagery but nothing really happens.
From what I have read about the film it is either a “love it” or “hate it” movie. There does not seem to be any middle ground. When the movie is funny, it is funny and when it is scary, it is scary but just not enough.
Photographed as a hallucinatory nightmare, the film deals with a small town cult, the oncoming apocalypse and a plot about humankind returning to the sea. As I said the acting leaves much to be desired; the cast is made up of unknowns save Tori Spelling but there are signs of thematic relevance. The tone of the film is fine and the movie leaves the viewer disturbed.