Out of Mind

This independent horror film actually frightened me. A moment - almost ridiculous in its banality - struck me as truly a thing of nightmare. Even without the big production polish, this film captured Lovecraft on film as if he were a damned soul under fascinated scrutiny.

Utilizing seemingly-authentic footage of an H. P. Lovecraft interspersed with period and contemporary footage, Out of Mind explores the realms of fiction, hallucination, fantasy, and nightmare. This film captured almost perfectly the way Lovecraft, as if anticipating audiences flooded with images and dulled to monsters, uses the unknown, the darkness (as his predecessor Poe) to frighten.

Like Primer, some of the convolutions, dream sequences, and flashbacks become difficult to follow, especially if you are only paying half attention. Unlike Primer, the experience still entertains that way. The watcher simply learns to accept the succession of images without struggling to solve the labyrinth.

When you have seen the thing in the darkness, when you have recognized your enemy, it has lost some power over you. You have named it, quantified it, and now you know you can imagine worse. Poe and Lovecraft (and a writer of Doctor Who) both knew this, and so they cloaked their enemies in darkness the way John Carpenter used fog. The watcher, you, are left with an enemy as horrifying as you can imagine. It doesn't usually get any scarier than that, as Stephen King knows.

The shorts, as extras, also largely worked well. These snippet stories were filmed by several different directors and companies, but I do recommend "The Music of Erich Zann", also available on youtube.