Day 12 "favorite occult themed horror film" of the 30 day horror challenge

Cthulhu

Favorite occult themed horror movie? Hmmmm...... odly enough TV movies come to mind right away - The Initiation of Sarah, I've Been Waiting For You and Satan's School for Girls. I've been meaning to get around to watching that remake of SSFG with Shannon Doherty in it for a minute now, now that I think about it! We also have icky films like Silent Night Deadly Night Part VI: Initiation. However, when it comes to the occult, I perfer my films with a bit of ambiguity as I think the occult is mysterious. So for my pick, I went with a film I caught for the first time this past year and I have to say, it was one of the biggest surprises I've seen in awhile. So without further hesitation, I give you........

Cthulhu - Based on H.P. Lovecraft's novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth, this loose adaptation finds a gay man called back from the city to oversee the auction of his mother's house after her untimely death, only to find he is the latest family member to be effected by a curse that has plagued all of the males in his family and to a greater extent has effected the small seaside town that he is from. 

Almost every director that has ever tried to take on an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation or material in that vein has failed miserably. The problem is that Lovecraft type material leaves much of the horror to the readers imagination. The reason most of these directors who have tackled his work in the past have failed is, because they have tried to visual everything. With this material, horror fans can interrupt it a million different ways and no one way is right or wrong, so it leaves so many people dissatisfied as a result. What Cthulhu gets right, that so many of these other films get wrong, is that it creates an ever growing sense of dread through a series of puzzling events that leaves viewers questioning what has happened to whom or if it even really happened to begin with. In an era, when directors have a wide variety of makeup, costumes, computer effects, etc, Cthulhu isn't afraid to be ambiguous and let the terror unfold in the viewers mind. Cthulhu takes chances. It takes risks and those risks are what makes it work. From presenting a gay main character in a very tangible relationship, to the casting of Tori Spelling in a very effective performance, to the film's overall sensibility of not spelling everything out and allowing for people to ponder over the material. Cthulhu achieves something nearly impossible, that sense of H.P. Lovecraft in the visual form of a movie. 

So which film would you have picked? ....to take part, the rules are below, or you can check out the Facebook fan page and interact with everyone else that's taking part by visiting: 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/30-Day-Horror-Challenge-by-Big-Daddy-Horror-Reviews/198282733537709?sk=info

Or feel free to start your own blog posts on your site! (You can start on day one or you can feel free to join me on day we are currently at). Or just feel free to leave us a little comment so we know which film made the cut for you! The rules are simple, just pick your favorite horror film for each day! However, you can't pick the same horror film more then once. So once you pick say The Exorcist for your favorite horror film involving the powers of Hell, you can't repick it again for any other day what so ever including favorite horror film. And for once, I am opening up the comments section so that, yes, you can comment each day along with me on your favorite picks! So let's get to it! This is the 30 Day Horror Film Challenge!

Day 01 - A horror film that no one would expect you to love, but you do
Day 02 - The horror film that you relate most to
Day 03 - Your favorite slasher
Day 04 - Your favorite werewolf film
Day 05 - Your favorite monster movie
Day 06 - Your favorite vampire movie
Day 07 - Your favorite supernatural horror film
Day 08 - Your favorite anthology
Day 09 - Your favorite exploitation / grind house type film
Day 10 - Your favorite psychological horror film
Day 11 - Your favorite science fiction horror film
Day 12 - Your favorite horror film involving the occult
Day 13 - Your favorite horror comedy
Day 14 - Your favorite zombie film
Day 15 - Your favorite horror film involving serial killers
Day 16 - Your favorite childhood themed horror film
Day 17 - Your favorite horror film remake
Day 18 - Your favorite foreign horror film (outside of your country of origin) Day 19 - Your favorite horror film involving the powers of Hell or Satanism
Day 20 - Your favorite horror film involving a killer animal
Day 21 - Your favorite medical horror film
Day 22 - Your favorite horror themed TV show
Day 23 - Your favorite made for TV horror film
Day 24 - Horror film in which you prefer the edited version over the director's cut
Day 25 - A horror film that you used to hate, but now like
Day 26 - Your favorite horror film to watch as a child
Day 27 - Your favorite guilty pleasure
Day 28 - Your favorite horror film that no one's ever heard of
Day 29 - Your least favorite horror film of all time
Day 30 - Your favorite horror film of all time