And now a word for our sponsors . . . Casting Call of Cthulhu would like to thank a long list of people who have, against their better judgement, made our little blemish on film so big in such a short time. The film premiered at the Riofan Film Festival on May 11 and managed to snag a key screening slot before the ever-popular The Call of Cthulhu. At the same time the film had its web premiere on Yog Radio , who have been fulfilling our Lovecraft fix for the last ten years, and within weeks the film saw 6000 downloads and hundreds of hits trafficked to this location. Now the film is infecting the inter-web as bloggers and news-feeds pimp our content to the world. One good click deserves another so what lies below are links to the various sites that have sited us:
 
www.yog-sothoth.com
www.zaeega.com
www.ectomo.com   
www.sfcrowsnest.com
www.gleefulgecko.com
www.evilbastard.net/bastardblog
www.ogrecave.com
www.spinthecat.blogspot.com
www.thickets.net
www.thickets.net/toren
www.gamingreport.com
www.shadowworld.co.uk
www.cthulhulcg.com
www.cthulhu-forum.de

We’ve also been unlucky enough to have some Lovecraft luminaries curse our offering with quotes and incantations. Here’s a distaste of what they have said:

“Most amusing! That cone-shape creature was quite a triumph of special effects.”
S.T. Joshi, Leading Authority on Lovecraft

“A great piece of work, witty and inventive, very impressive animation too.”
John Coulthart, Illustrator, Designer, and Author of “THE HAUNTER OF THE DARK
AND OTHER GROTESQUE VISIONS”

” A great little Lovecraftian short that is sure to be playing at the HPL Film Fest this year.”
Toren Atkinson, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

“Absolutely Gibbous! MONOLITHIC, AND I MEAN THAT IN THE MOST CYCLOPEAN AND NON-EUCLIDEAN WAY!! EIGHT TENTACLES!”
Paul Carrick, Illustrator

“An Amazing Tale, I’m sure old HPL would approve!”
Paul of Cthulhu, Yog Radio

“Brilliant…has Lovecraft rolling in his grave, from laughter!”
Craig Mullins, Unfilmable.com

Thanks again to everyone. We’ll keep making them as long as you give us your eyes . . . and keep watching.

Casting Call of Cthulhu needs your support.  Contrary to popular belief, one cannot produce a short film on evil thoughts and unwell wishes alone.  It takes a camera, some actors (who demand food for sustainance), and monsters, which we chose to create rather than summon, using make-up and CGI.  And now the price must be paid.  For as little as $19.00 you can support the production of CCOC and have a killer T-shirt (note:  the shirt will not actual harm you or anyone else nor will it transform the wearer into a killer when adorned).  Visit UptownHustle and choose from a wide variety of styles for men and women.  Buy now and we will include your name in our weekly arcane incantations.

If you are looking for the highest quality version of Casting Call of Cthulhu on the world wide internet then Yog Radio is the key and the gate.  Yog was kind enough to distribute our film through their website and iTunes to its base of loyal Lovecraft fans and Call of Cthulhu gamers.  As this entry is written the film has already been downloaded 6000 times - that’s some serious bit-rate build-up as the short comes in around 114 megs.  To share the band-with burden and show our support Bad Advice for Good Times has made a donation to Yog and paid their service cost for the last month.  If you’ve got a virtual fiver burning a hole in you pocket support the unspeakable and make a donation yourself.  And while you’re at it why not help out your favourite short by buying a shirt and helping us pay the production cost for our film.  Laughter isn’t free, people. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.                                                                                                              

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?