• Wide Release
• Director: Jeremy Kasten
• Written by: Rogan Russell Marshall
• Running Time: 100 minutes
• Language: English
• MPAA Rating: R - Restricted
• Cast: Andras Jones, Seth Green, Jeffrey Combs, Wendy Robie, Ted Raimi, Alice Cooper

I am the biggest Lovecaft fan! I've read and re-read all of his stories. I have H.P. Lovecraft T-shirts and posters, and comic books, and Role Playing and Collectable Card Games, and audio recordings, and video games. I have an etching of his tombstone, I even have a Cthulhu plushie. With that being said, when I hear about a movie that is based on a Lovecraft story or the Chtulhu Mythos he created, well let's just say, it goes to the top of my 'need to watch' list.

Lovecraft's influence has rippled through the horror and sci-fi genres like almost no other. So it's no wonder that often times adaptions of his work and creations make it to the screen. Unfortunately, Lovecraft's own works don't translate well into movies, it's like making an apple pie out of oranges. Still some try, and some, like Brian Yuzna and Stewart Gorden, use Lovecraft as a springboard for their movies and make them something else, but there are the few that take the themes and ideas of Lovecraft's creations and invovate something totally new. This is what THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS has done, and in my opinion, it has succeeded nicely.

So first off, I'm sure someone is going to argue with my calling this film Lovecraftian. Lovecraft fans are a curiously picky lot sometimes, and take offence when his name is applied to some things. But I've been playing CALL OF CTHUHLU and reading MYTHOS tales long enough that I feel I'm qualified to call a spade a spade. Though it's not even remotely based on anything particular that Lovecraft wrote, it does have most the elements of a Lovecraft Mythos story. There is a Magic Tome and a ritual, there's nightmares and insanity and a mental hospital and there is mention of 'the Old Ones'. And besides, it has Jeffery Combs in it...and that makes it Mythos enough for me...

So what's the story about then? Well I'm not even going to try and fully describe it. It's very non-linear and full of surprises and twists. It's disjointed, but in the end makes a twisted sort of sense, and I almost guarantee you'll watch it again (sort of like you did with Sixth Sense) and pay closer attention and go, 'oh yeah, ah ha!' Have you ever played one of those computer games, there are dozens of them (Sanitarium is my favourite, or online there is EXMORTIS or Mystery of Time and Space and there are plenty of text based others) , where you wake up in a bed (sometimes in a mental hopital) and have no memory of who you are or how you got there and the premise of the game is to figure it out... and usually what you figure out is something horrible? This is like the movie of one of those games.

Tevor Blackburn has no memory. He awakens to find he has had brain surgery and is under the care of one Doctor Ek (played by Lovecraft movie favourite Jeffery Combs). Apparently, Trevor has been committed to Ek's sanitarium and has been in a coma for 4 years after murdering his finance in some sort of ritualistic manner. As part of his therapy Trevor is sent to a group home, called the House of Love, where he meets several other recovering psychotics. And this is where it starts to get really strange as Trevor is plagued by nightmares as he tries to figure things out; but what is real and what is nightmare is the question? And what secrets lurk in the trunk in the attic which figures so promiently in his dreams; or are they dreams? Reality is purely subjective in this flick...

As I mentioned, Jeffery Combs is in this one, but also look for a stellar performance by Seth Green (of course you know who he is). It also has Ted Raimi (ya, Sam 'Evil Dead' Raimi's brother), who plays a v Psychiatrist visiting Dr. Ek's sanitarium to study his methods. This is mostly so Dr. Ek can explain what he is doing so we the audience are also informed. And look for a brief but cool appearance by Alice Cooper as, ya you guessed it, a mental patient.

If you read the IMDB comments on this movie, you will see it regarded a few times as 'the thinking man's horror film'. I'm going to have to go along with the commentors on that. If you are in the mood for some visceral in-your-face horror, you might be disappointed. Not that there isn't a quite few visceral in-your-face horror scenes. But this film reminded me of, but is not really anything like, Delemorte Delamore (aka Cemetary Man). There is horror, and a touch of humor, albeit dark, but you really have to pay attention or you will become lost and wonder what is going on. However, even if you do pay attention, you may still become lost and wonder, but at least you know it's the film makers intention, and not your fault.

So if you are in the mood for something different, something surreal, and something just a little (actually a lot) in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft, I cannot recommend this movie enough. It's that friggin' cool.