"OUT OF MIND: THE STORIES OF H. P. LOVECRAFT" is a 56 minute film made by director Raymond Saint-Jean for the Canadian cable channel Bravo as a type of biography show. But it's like no biography you'll ever see hosted by Peter Graves on A&E. In fact, I'd hesitate calling it a biography at all; unless one jettisons all previous concepts of this kind of TV program and realizes that the goal here is to bring the personality and writing of Lovecraft to life by revealing the mood, the feel, the concepts and the shivers found in the author's complete works by condensing, crystalizing and distilling it all down to this one hour of programming. The viewer might be taken aback with a start as what appears to be the living, breathing H. P. Lovecraft himself talks directly to the camera in what looks like an early thirties talkie. Such a thing as a previously undiscovered film of Lovecraft could, of course, have existed and for a brief moment we believe it. But this is in fact actor Christopher Heyerdahl's absolutely brilliant impersonation of the gentleman from Providence doctored to look like an early sound film in black and white complete with huge desk microphone and scratchy soundtrack. This is an absolutely stunning opening for the film and would never have worked so well if the director hadn't found the perfect actor. And Heyerdahl is perfect physically; make-up enhances a strong resemblance to the old master with the prominent jaw, the thin almost non-existent lips and a reproduction of a prim, Rhode Island accent. Heyerdahl's impression of Lovecraft is so uncanny that it shocks me no one has similarly utilized the actor in the same capacity since 1999. Heyerdahl could make a living going around convention after convention as H. P. Lovecraft. I am immediately reminded of that old PBS show "Meeting of the Minds" in which actors impersonated famous authors of history discussing their work and philosophy in round table fashion. If that program were still around today, Heyerdahl would steal the show. This may seem an awful lot of words devoted to only the first few moments of "OUT OF MIND" but Heyerdahl's contribution is so crucial to the film's success that it cannot be overstressed. This is not the film's only strength, of course, because "OUT OF MIND" is blessed with many; among these is the fact that it provides a better dramatisation of Lovecraft's stories than most feature films have managed to do. This is accomplished in a sort-of retelling of Lovecraft's novella "THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD" with "THE STATEMENT OF RANDOLPH CARTER" thrown in for good, creepy measure. But that's getting ahead of myself.

The opening "newsreel" footage of Lovecraft has him explaining himself and his writings in direct quotes from a 1931 letter he wrote to fellow author Clark Ashton Smith; describing himself as reclusive, almost a hermit, who prefers to observe rather than participate as a kind of "disembodied, floating eye which sees all manner of marvelous phenomena without being greatly affected by them." The seated, composed HPL goes on to describe his main interests as:

"a) a love of the strange and the fantastic, b) love of the abstract truth and of scientific logic, c) love of the ancient and the permanent. Summary combinations of these three strains will probably account for my. . .odd tastes and eccentricities. I could never write about ordinary people because I'm not in the least interested in them and without interest there can be no art. Man's relation to man does not captivate my fancy. It is man's relation to the cosmos, to the unknown, which arouses in me the spark of creative imagination."

Here Heyerdahl is quoting Lovecraft's written defense of his writing in a response to certain critics of his stories. The quote comes from an essay entitled "THE DEFENSE REMAINS OPEN" in 1921. The faux newsreel then fades to a shot of a forest of trees, now in colour, and the opening credits. HPL's manner, personality and philosophy of writing is all puton display in under three minutes by this economical, descriptive device and Heyerdahl puts it over marvelously; remaining ramrod straight in his chair, never moving his head or body but, revealing in the slightly raised pitch of his voice, his inner excitement for the concepts he adores. Our attention is captivated at once.

Just as we think that our glimpses of HPL will only be confined to these fake newsreel interviews, director Saint-Jean pulls the rug out from under us by now showing us a technicolor Lovecraft wandering through this same forest practicing his pronunciation of the word "Cthulhu". This is a charming, funny scene which HPL writes he actually did do on his walks through the woods. And I must say that Heyerdahl's pronunciation of "Cthulhu" is the finest I've ever heard. I'm confident that's how HPL would have pronounced it and I will forevermore try to say it in the same way. The name is drawn out slowly; not quickly as we usually say it. Back in the fake newsreel, HPL explains how human throats and organs cannot possibly pronounce it but an approximation can be made. Heyerdahl almost spits the initial hard-K "CH" sound. The second syllable is drawn out in a guttural, subdued and breathy howl-like "thoooooooooooooooolllll". A momentary pause separates the final "Huaugh" as if punched in the stomach by a shoggoth.

Heyerdahl in technicolor is no less believeable than he is in black and white; strolling through the forest with his notebook, hat and brown suit. The actor is truly uncanny. We next see HPL in his home reading aloud a passage from "THE CALL OF CTHULHU" which he has just written. The scene shifts unheralded to an artist working in metal with a blowtorch. We soon find out this is Randolph Carter (Art Kitching). The film routinely switches back and forth between HPL's fictional work and the real author's life (sometimes surreally mixing the two). Carter receives a letter from a lawyer who informs him his long-dead uncle George Angell has willed him a small packet to be given to his descendant on his 27th birthday. Naturally, inside the package is the Necronomicon: Lovecraft's demonic tome. It is also revealed that Angell had disappeared without a trace years earlier.

Carter takes the bundle home and reads from the Necronomicon. Aloud. Not a good idea. But unfortunately, Carter has never read H. P. Lovecraft (nor presumably has he seen Bramwell Fletcher in 1932's THE MUMMY) so he doesn't know any better. Inside the packet is a letter addressed to Professor Henry Armitage containing mysterious symbols, a photograph of George Angell (also played by Art Kitching) and a photo of H. P. Lovecraft (although Carter doesn't know it yet). Carter sleeps and dreams (or does he?!?) that he is George Angell and encounters the odd Harley Warren ( a moderately unhinged Peter Farbridge) on the street; Warren had lost a leg at Verdun in World War I and Angell saved his life. Of course, Angell is Carter and he doesn't know what Warren is babbling about. Warren sends Angell to see his brother: "You won't believe what he's gotten up to!" Warren's brother (also played by an even more unhinged Farbridge) is doing something behind a hospital curtain that involves a lot of blood, monstrous roaring and growling, and an amputated arm! "You remember the book? The Necronomicon?", this new Warren says, "It can keep these creatures alive. And I know where to find it." In his dream, Carter is reliving his ancestor's past life. Warren emerges with a slime-dripping arm. "Did you sculpt that?" asks Carter/Angell innocently. "Can flesh be sculpted?!?" Warren retorts. "That can't be alive!" "Not yet, George. Not yet."

A snickering Warren returns behind the curtain to the sound of unearthly growling and tearing. "Keep your eyes on the curtain, George!" Warren giggles. "Watch the curtain!" Suddenly, all sound and movement ceases. Carter slowly approaches the curtain in patented horror movie style, rips the curtain aside and wakes up in bed in the present.

Unnerved, Carter visits his friend Blake (Farbridge once again -- they sure save money on cast) at the Goth store in which he works. Blake (like all the characters in this film, are named after characters in HPL's fiction) is wearing a Lovecraft T-shirt. "Who's that guy?" Carter points to Blake's shirt. "Lovecraft," Blake explains. "He's a writer." Blake doesn't know too much about Lovecraft but gives Carter a paperback and a T-shirt. "I saw one of his movies once," Blake continues. "It wasn't very good." "What was it about?" Carter asks eagerly. "I don't know," Blake quips, "Hairy squids from outer space." On his walk home, Carter walks down a tunnel and senses some "thing" at the far end; he turns and runs.

Back to the B&W HPL who describes a childhood nightmare "in which a monstrous race of entities called by me the Night Gaunts. . .I don't know where I got hold of that name. . .They used to snatch me up by the stomach. . .probably indigestion. . .and carry me off through infinite leagues of black air over the towers of dead and horrible cities." He describes them thus: "The NIght Gaunts were black, lean rubbery things with horns and barbed tails, bat wings and no faces at all." This description of the Night Gaunts reminds me a little of the creature who menaced Coffin Joe but that's another story. Carter reads a short biography of Lovecraft in the paperback describing the author's life, mythos and Necronomicon.

Carter then visits Dr. Henry Armitage (played by the John Houseman-like Michael Sinelnikoff) who tells him about the Necronomicon and its author the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred who, shortly after writing the dread book in 738 AD "...he is said to have been seized by an invisible monster and devoured in broad daylight before a terrified mob." Armitage asks Carter to leave the Necronomicon and the letter from his late uncle with him to be translated by the next morning. After a disturbed night of hallucinations and nightmares, Carter returns to find Armitage's brain being eaten by a slimy, tentacled monster. Carter grabs the book and runs. He attempts to destroy the book but finds he cannot. A nice juztaposition of scenes occurs when the director dramatizes HPL's short story "THE STATEMENT OF RANDOLPH CARTER" next. We see HPL dreaming the story itself while Kitching's Carter dreams he is reliving his Uncle Angell and Harley Warren finding the Necronomicon in the same story. Layered realities gel into the one narrative. Warren ventures into a dank, underground crypt at night with a portable primitive telephone system as Angell listens back on the surface. He listens as Warren screams and is killed by unearthly creatures. Angell ventures into the crypt and is presumably never seen again. Or is he?

Carter awakens from this dream to find the Lovecraft paperback he was hugging to his chest in sleep has turned into the Necronomicon. He telephones his friend Blake (who is played by the same actor who plays Warren, you remember) only to hear Blake killed by a monstrous, demonic creature who roars into the phone: "You fool! Blake is dead!" This is a neat paraphrase of the original short story's ending which is altered to fit the film and works well.

As the slight onion skins of reality melt down, Carter and Lovecraft come upon one another while both walking in the woods and have a nice little chin wag. The meeting between the two is marvelous. A confused HPL sees his own face on Carter's chest and asks "What am I doing on your shirt?" Carter smiles and replies: "It's difficult to explain." "Please, " HPL coaxes, "Try." Certainly the gentleman from Providence is more well equipped than most to grasp the strange realities at work here. "I think you're dreaming," sighs Carter, then reconsiders. "No. . .I'm the one who's dreaming." Of course, HPL quickly grasps the situation and rolls with it. "Ah, yes," he muses, "It is possible. Just a moment. Wait!" HPL leafs through his notebook and reads what he had just written yesterday: "All life is merely a set of pictures in the brain among which there is no difference between those born of real things and those born of inward dreaming." When Lovecraft is told Randolph Carter's name, he replies understandingly: "Yes, of course! One of my characters. Randolph Carter: the traveller in the world of dreams!" "Yes," Carter nods. "Yes!" The character and the author shake hands.

It is here I choose to stop writing about the film even though ti goes on for a while longer. The basic idea of the film has, I think, been made plain and the reader of this is certainly advised to seek out the film itself which is available on DVD as part of Lurker Films' H. P. Lovecraft Collection. "OUT OF MIND" is remarkably engaging to all fans of HPL and his cosmic horrors. The film by Raymond Saint-Jean artfully expresses the essense of Lovecraft's work in a new and original way while Christopher Heyerdahl's portrayal of HPL is a true gift to all fans of the Mythos. This small TV project succeeds on all levels. The recurring use of the forest all through the film is particularly fitting not only because HPL himself often enjoyed a walk in the woods but also because the forest (always shown here in daylight) is nevertheless evocative of the folkloric, the mysterious, the fairy tale, the quest and the reclusive loneliness of the man who practically single-handedly created the concept of cosmic horror and unleashed it onto a shivering world. And the Great Cthulhu still waits. . .and sleeps. . .and dreams.