the plot: As Professor George Angell (Lucas) takes his last breaths, his grand-nephew (Foyer) is summoned to the old man’s bedside. The dying man asks his young relative to continue his research into the mysterious “Cthulhu Cult,” a group of vicious, ruthless fanatics who worship an ancient, evil god. As he pores over his uncle’s notes, the young man reads of Inspector Legrasse (Mersault), a New Orleans cop who captured a number of cultists during a raid in the Louisiana swamps in 1908. Piecing together disparate pieces of information, the young man learns of a horrifying conspiracy by the cultists to raise dread Cthulhu from his dreamless sleep in the depths of the ocean and allow him to lay waste to the world. The last piece of the puzzle concerns an ocean freighter whose crew disappeared, save for one man, Johansen (O’Day). The young man attempts to track down Johansen, but he finds he’s too late: Johansen went insane and later died. But, Johansen’s journals remain and, as the young man reads them, he learns of Cthulhu’s true power.

why it’s good: Among horror fans, few names hold as much cache as H.P. Lovecraft, the early-20th century writer who elevated the genre’s literary ambitions while keeping it firmly grounded in the pulp tradition. But Lovecraft’s work was always more cerebral than visceral, relying more on an atmosphere of dread and paranoia than on outright gore and shocks to scare readers. Although Lovecraft’s writing is firmly entrenched in the consciousness of horror aficionados, his stories have never made a successful transition to the big screen, with the exception of Stuart Gordon’s slapstick splatterfest “Re-Animator.” That is, until 2005, when the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society released its ambitious, highly experimental adaptation of “The Call of Cthulhu,” one of Lovecraft’s most famous stories. Crafting a black-and-white silent film that could have easily been in theaters in 1928, the year the story was first published, director Andrew Leman and company created a Lovecraft adaptation that’s not only faithful to the original text, but also heavy with creeping suspense and weirdness. The lush soundtrack, the miniatures and the stop motion animation for Cthulhu are all neat to watch, but even without the bells and whistles, “Call” is still a solid horror film.

why you should own it: Lovecraft devotees and fans of John Carpenter’s ’80s output and “The Evil Dead” should definitely pick up “Call.” The film is only 47 minutes long, but the DVD is chock full of extras, including a 25-minute making-of feature.