a review of 致命咒语

This is one that I'd literally been curious about since it originally aired on HBO back in the early 90s, but I never had a chance until the advent of streaming. I can see why this movie has such a cult following: It's a well-pitched essay on noir tropes (at least as they were codified post-Chinatown, pre-Reservoir Dogs) sprinkled with classic horror tropes. Naturally, it's catnip for Lovecraft fans because it was among the first modern productions to draw on Cthulhu mythos lore as a primary source. But ultimately I couldn't decide if it was truly a stand-alone movie or just a failed pilot for a continuing TV/film series. The metaphor of magic for postwar modernization and American hegemony, while present, seems underutilized here which is a shame. All in all, good performances by Fred Ward, Clancy Brown, and David Warner, amd some pretty fun (if perhaps a bit goofy) creature FX by Alterian. But it wasn't entirely what I was hoping for.