I
know I’m going to catch a lot of crap for this but, I’m not an H.P. Lovecraft fan at all. I acknowledge and understand everything he did for the weird genres of film, but I find most of his writings to be highly over-rated if not all together a snooze-fest. So when my acquaintance Cameron McCasland asked me if I wanted to review his latest short film, The Beast in the Cave – a H.P. Lovecraft adaption – I let out a bit of a sigh at the request. Luckily, McCasland has shined with almost everything he’s done – award winning short films, horror host specials, The Lashman and all those Emmy Awards and Nominations – to the point where I don’t think he can do anything that isn’t interesting or of high quality. I’d give this a shot for him.
The Beast in the Cave was written by Larry Underwood and directed by Cameron McCasland. The duo also produced the film which editing by J Kyle Kelly and cinematography & special effects by Chuck Angell. Wynn Reichert (Sorority Girls and the Creatures from Hell), Mark Greenbaum (Grave Vengeance) and Joseph Aguon Drake (Revelation Trail) star in the short that follows a man who becomes lost in a gigantic, maze-like cave only to be stalked by an unseen and nonhuman predator. It is based off of Lovecraft’s short story of the same name first published in June 1918.
One thing I love about Cameron is that he’s always learning more and getting better at his craft. It’s been a fun journey to watch his earlier works from five or six years ago and then look at his most recent works like Tailypo and The Beast in the Cave. If you’ve seen his previous feature The Lashman and all of its b-movie grittiness (I say this with love, mind you), I need to say here that he has grown as a filmmaker and his work keeps getting better and better. When examining The Beast in the Cave, it’s a supremely flawless production when noting that 90% of it takes place within a cave. The lighting and audio are absolutely perfect in this, which must have been quite the strenuous feat when filming inside a cave that was shrouded in shadow and carrying an obnoxious echo. This is an example of what true filmmaking is all about – taking a fantastic location that is an imperfect recording space and overcoming obstacles to make a worthwhile production and final product. Impressive across the board and this deserves to win awards based on that alone.
I think that some people may hate on The Beast in the Cave because it’s not in your face horror and science fiction. It’s very toned back. From what I understand, that’s always been what the majority of Lovecraft’s work have been like and I think it was a good decision on McCasland and Underwood for keeping the tone correct to the original. Often, especially now, filmmakers think that the best route to a good film is to shock the audience at every turn, but often, especially now, that makes the final product void of any real story, of any real content. The Beast in the Cave is short, sweet and to the point an would have lost some of its classic effervescence had it gone the more stereotypical route of horror. Wynn Reichert’s performance contained theatrical tones that most actors do not possess anymore. The special effects job on the beast was fantastic and the reveal left the creature’s origin up for interpretation. The wardrobe, the props… everything about this was very old school in that it takes you back to the early days of horror, even before the genre really became a hit in the 70’s and 80’s. It’s slow, but it’s definitely nostalgic for fans who have appreciated the genre and the work of Lovecraft since before it was popular.
The Beast in the Cave will be screening at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Providence, RI and the GenreBlast Film Festival in Culpepper, VA in about two weeks, so make sure you stop in to see it. I enjoyed it a lot more than I anticipated and I think that you will, too. Final Score: 7 out of 10.
