From R’leyh to Beyoncé

Contrary to popular myth the Old Ones cannot be summoned by a solitary soul or by simply reciting a passage from a damned tome written in a dead language.  It takes a generous contribution of time and talent on the part of many industry professionals to really bring the eons-old badasses to life.  So, as word gets around about Casting Call of Cthulhu, in the coming weeks we will be profiling the people who helped make the nightmare a reality starting with our editor Geoff Ashenhurst.  We urge you to follow the link and check out Geoff’s reel.  You are probably more familiar with his work than you know.  Ashenhurst has edited a slew of commercial spots and several long form pieces.  He is currently cutting the Beyoncé documentary - Necronomicon Got Me Goin’ So Crazy Right Now!  But seriously, he really is working on the Beyoncé doc.

CCOC: Offal Selection of the RioFan Film Festival

We are displeased to announce that Casting Call of Cthulhu will have its world theatre debut at the RioFan fantastic film festival to be held at the end of April, beginning of May in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  If you find yourself in the area we urge you to attend the screening and laugh with terror.  But be warned, once the film is seen it cannot be unseen.

The Picture in the Post-Production House

Is this how it ends?  After months of toil, blood, sweat, and sacrifice Casting Call of Cthulhu is finished and ready for human consumption.   In the bowels of Alter Ego we tracked the last super, synced the last sound, and restriped.  My God, what have we done! 

No Filth, Some Thickets, and the Apollo Mission

Those who have danced to a dirge will be well acquainted with the musical styling of Daniel Davey and company, also known as Cradle of Filth.  In their 2004/2005 release “Nymphetamine” the boys in black recorded an orchestral ode to the Bard From Beyond entitled “Mother of Abominations.”  The track’s intro features a chant familiar to those that know what lies below.  “Iä, Iä, Cthulhu ftaghn” seeps from silence, whispered at first then rising to a cacophonous chorus belted out by a choir of well trained diaphragms.  It sounds more like something you might hear on Classical 96 as opposed to Q-107.  Clearly, behind the corpse paint Dani is well read and an extremely talented writer who treats his source material with great respect but sings with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.  We love that.  It’s that same talent and enthusiasm for the source that attracts us to Darkest of the Hillside Thickets.  But unlike the Thickets, who generously provided the music for our finale, a wall of lawyers, publishers, and record companies surrounds COF.  We intended to use the Cthulhu section of “Mother of Abominations” over our opening credits and Roadrunner Records was more than eager to help, but at the end of the day, we don’t have the money to buy the rights or time to wait for them to be approved.  We thank Roadrunner entertaining us but the show must go on.  In the meantime, Art Director Alan Lukatela and Editor Mike Tung are putting together a sweet end title sequence to the tune of Some Things Man Was Not Meant to Know and Apollo Studios will be writing a completely original piece for the opening sequence which will A, invoke a cosmic horror and B, evoke indescribable terror.  We look forward to hearing it.

Apollo Studios Produces Sound Inaudible to Humans

From the formerly submerged island of Montreal rises Apollo Studios.  Named after the Greek God of Pro Tools and the ill-fated NASA mission to discover the Great Old One’s lunar prisons, Apollo specializes in sound and music for advertising, hip-hop production and remixes, and scoring for film and television.  Not only did skilled Apollo technicians capture the sounds and dialogue of shoot day but mix-master Didier Arlot-Tovel has already composed an unearthly muzak track for the waiting room scene.  We are honored to have such a talented team tearin’ up the tracks and knobs.  Check out their Communication Arts winning site here. 

Merry Cthristmas

Even though the holiday season has come and gone there’s no reason you can’t continue to spread the dread all year long.  Start with this beautifully terrifying handmade ornament from our fiends at NifNaks.  This horror in felt is the one decoration we dare not remove from our tree - first because we were worried the great old one would be angered and second because we are lazy.  But seriously, we put the thing up at the start of post production and it ain’t coming down until we are finished.                                                                                                              

What the Moon Brings

The fields around Winnipeg are a geographically basic canvas where nature paints a repetitious pattern from a yellow and green palette.  This unforgiving flat land serves as the perfect launch pad for Spacecadet Design.  This ultra-skilled design company has metaphorically lifted-off the face of mono-topographical Manitoba to take creativity to a higher level.  Spacecadet has designed for everything from tote bags to toys to posters for the opera and postcards for rap battles.  And now they have descended from the stars to lend their heavenly hands to our submerged short.   Are we lucky or are they cursed?

The Plot Thickets

Vancouver based band The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are lending their Lovecraftian sound to Casting Call of Cthulhu.  The track “Some Things Man Was Not Meant to Know” will be featured in the film’s finale.  We are big fans of TDOTHT’s music and feel it will be the perfect note to end CCOC on.  The Thickets were happy to help out and proliferate the work of HPL.  We are especially happy ‘cause we weren’t sure if “Slow Ride” was going to work.

New Skin For an Old Ceremony

Cover your weak flesh and celebrate the short film you haven’t even seen with a sharp new shirt designed by Spacecadet Design and produced by Uptown Hustle Apparel. These nifty all-cotton T’s in various colours and styles may actually help attract evil. Each shirt bears the ancient symbol or “logo” from the film poster created by Spacecadet using non-euclidean geometrical shapes, which draw viewers in unknowingly.Buy now, quantities are unlimited.                                                                                                              

Cthulhu! Gazoontite.

“What’s a Cthulhu?” they ask. Rather than scoff at their ignorance we provide here some handy little links that will help the insolent navigate through the grand world of HP Lovecraft and offer them a terrifying glimpse of what is to come.You’ve been warned.