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The Call of Reviews: Reviews by Matt Sanborn
Pickman's Model
a short film by Gary Fierro, starring Conor Timmis
Review by Matt Sanborn
This is a retro-review, as this item is no longer available at such outlets as Amazon. However, copies may be available on Ebay from time to time.
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By their very nature, the stories of H.P. Lovecraft do not translate well to film. His stories lack well developed characters, ear-catching dialogue, and most of the excitement, especially the climax, happens "off camera" away from the reader. Yet, year after year, especially since his works are in the public domain, Lovecraft's name is slapped onto titles of films in hopes his legion of hardcore fans will check out the newest attempt to capture the macabre master's work on celluloid. More often than not, his fans are disappointed.
For decades large studios have failed to bring forth H.P.'s subtle, un-named terrors to the screen: Die, Monster, Die! (1965) (based on The Colour out of Space), The Dunwich Horror (1970), From Beyond (1986), The Un-Namable (1988), Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Necronomicon (Rats in the Wall, Cool Air, Whisper in the Darkness) (1993), Beyond Re-Animator (2003), head the list of failures.
Those films that have been successful eschew the Puritan ethos of the writings, and go completely over the top, adding much flesh and blood, and using just the most basic framework of the stories: Re-Animator (1985), Dagon (2001), top this list. Other enjoyable films such as Hellboy (2004) and the Japanese classic Uzumaki (Spiral) (2000) are based on the general tone and theme of the writer's work, not any story in particular.
The very few that have really hit their mark were lower budget, independent films created by true fans and students of the writings. Christian Matzke directed the most excellent adaptation of the short story Nyarlathotep in 2001, capturing the feel and dismay of Lovecraft's vision of the harbinger of the end of time. The HPL Historic Society did a tremendous job in 2005, with little cash, tackling Lovecraft's masterwork The Call of Cthulhu, with a silent film shot in faux-grainy stock. Both films proved you don't have to have a lot of financing behind the project to deliver the right tone, feel and themes.
The climax of Pickman's Model
Gary Fierro's 2008 H.P. Lovecraft's Pickman's Model, at least the sixth time the tale has been brought to the screen, is a low budget indie affair based on one of Lovecraft's greatest short works. It stars Conor Timmis (Kreating Karloff) as Pickman.
The story is an unnerving tale of a painter, the hauntingly talented Richard Upton Pickman, who terrifies the Boston art community with his macabre visions of dog-like creatures committing atrocities on an unsuspecting world. So unnerved are they by these paintings that the artist is ostracized. However, Thurber finds the reclusive artist, and is invited to his underground studio/lair in Boston, where not only is it revealed the Pickman very well might not be human, but also that he creates his paintings from real life scenes of monstrous terrors the world should never see.
| This poorly paced film bogs down almost immediately as we see Thurber, as in the book, explaining to his friend Eliot that he had located the missing Pickman. For almost four minutes of this nineteen minute piece, two actors -- Jesse Murphy (Thurber) and Derek Meinecke (Eliot) struggle through clunky dialogue trying to set up the story. Neither is a good enough actor to pull off the exposition, forcing their lines and emotions. The scene is more difficult to watch as the director decides to use the same three shots, (two fairly straight on and one over the shoulder), in a monotonous loop. |
Derek Meinecke as Eliot
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It is apparent each line was shot individually, creating a feeling that neither person is really speaking to the other. Too often we see the lights in Meinecke's glasses, or a cat enter and leave over the shoulder of Murphy. Their struggles are also augmented by a script which seems to rely on some of Lovecraft's more laborious, esoteric references to obscure artists, and then comes in with dialogue not from the story which seems out of place.
Jesse Murphy as Thurber |
It is like watching an acting class practice tape which the teacher will surely evaluate harshly.
After nearly one third of the film, we are brought to the Victorian style home in which Pickman dwells. After a minute of watching Thurber waiting for someone to answer the bell, he lets himself in, discovering Pickman smoking at his office desk. One is almost immediately unsure how to take Conor Timmis as the eponymous character. |
Using a forced Boston accent and almost comical facial contortions to try and relate the sloppy dialogue, Timmis' portrayal of a man who is supposed to be not only close to madness, but close to becoming something other than human, is not convincing at all.
Conor Timmis as Pickman |
After another painful two-actor scene, the two men then descend into the tunnels under Boston. Three anachronistic problems arise here, as the screenplay/Thurber's narration goes back to Lovecraft's writing, naming off Boston subway stops which no longer exist. The men then enter the underground, and for some reason eschew the more practical, safer use of the flashlight for a kerosene lantern. |
The camera in the tunnels also looks to be from the late 1970s or early 1980s, making one wonder in what decade this piece is supposed to be set.
The two travel through some very cob-webbed tunnels to the painter's work area. In a bizarre scene boarding on unintentionally and almost comically homo-erotic, Pickman presses himself to the back of Thurber and shows him a painting. Timmis forces out a laugh which is meant to be haunting, but comes off more as a volunteer at your local charity haunted house trying to his best Vincent Price Thriller imitation.
| The tiny bit of tension is also cut with the director's decision to flash back to the opening scene with unnecessary dialogue which adds nothing to the mood. It is here that we see what is probably the best part of the film: the paintings. Although they lack the genius the true Pickman would have possessed, they are indeed passable pieces which would have been able to convey the proper message in the story, had the company been capable enough to deliver it. |
Pickman attempts an eerie behind Thurber |
The climax comes. Upon hearing movement near their chamber, Pickman disappears and discharges a gun, He returns, blaming rats for the ruckus. In the story, Lovecraft is subtly able to tell the reader that it was more than likely ghouls responsible for the intrusion. The closest we get to this is a bizarre shot at the end of the movie with a human hand reaching down to a "ghoulish" hand, reminding this viewer of a poorly done attempt to convey Michelangelo's Conversion of Saint Paul.
The film ends as abruptly as it began, and the viewer is no closer to understanding the story, relating to or caring about the characters, than they were 19 minutes ago. We are then treated to the comic laugh of Timmis trying - and failing - to scare us. The music here, and throughout the movie, is predictable, tired, and unable to resonate with the viewer on any level.
It doesn't take a lot of money to make a very good Lovecraft movie. Fierro's Pickman's Model however is not a good, or even passable film. The acting is bad with the directing entirely uninspired and derivative. Moreover, the screenplay seems to miss the general themes of the story. This is just another very poor film with Lovecraft's name on it, hoping to once again draw his fans to the screen.
Admirers of Lovecraft, forget this film completely, and fill 19 minutes of your viewing time with a very good short HPL film - Christian Matzke's 2001 Nyarlathotep.
Final Art
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