From the perspective of story progress and value core, this is not a very Cthulhu story, but it definitely contains a lot of Cthulhu elements. However, before going into details, let’s talk about one that has nothing to do with the plot, but it still reflects the film’s very Cthulhu's place:
This movie is adapted from a novel published in May 2014. The novel is also called BIRD BOX. The primary classification of the original is Horror, not thriller, YA, general, SF or Fantasy (although it can also be regarded as Post-Apocalyptic in Fantasy/SF , But considering the author’s own writing direction as described below, it is undoubtedly a horror). The author Josh Malerman later wrote five novels, all of which are absolutely right Horror, so this author can be stamped as a horror writer, and definitely not a science fiction writer or suspense writer.
So, here comes the syllogism. Josh Malerman is a modern American horror fiction writer; a modern American horror fiction writer writes a Cthulhu story; Josh Malerman writes a Cthulhu story.
Of course, the above sentence is actually a joke, but readers who know contemporary American horror fiction know that even if the American horror fiction world is not under the absolute rule of Ke Zongfa Tang, it has been changed to a large extent by it. From the well-deserved top of the pyramid, Stephen King, to the literary Joyce Carol Oates, to the strongest cult writer Thomas Rigotti (Thomas Rigotti). Ligotti), Ke's worldview has changed the North American horror literature forever. Therefore, since the film was adapted from the beginning of the novel, it has been more or less contaminated with the color of Cthulhu.
Let’s get to the main topic below:
From my own perception, I think there are some places with Cthulhu characteristics. Some of them may be far-fetched, or they may be missed. I hope everyone can discuss them together.
1. Monster body
In this movie, the monster did not show up directly from the beginning to the end, which is very Cthulhu in itself. Because in other types of horror movies, monsters are going to show up after all (whether they are demons, ghosts, aliens, monsters, zombies, or mental patients), not showing their faces is a problem in itself. There are many ways to understand: Under the general view of the world, the fear of human beings is "unknown". If the monster itself is not expressed, the biggest fear of the unknown will be expressed; monsters are often "unexplainable" and cannot be expressed; Cthulhu is the existence of other dimensions, without "spiritual vision", it may be invisible.
2. Monster image
The above mentioned that if the monster itself is a Luo-style evil god, then why is it not directly shown in the movie, then this article is about what kind of image the monster is in the indirect display.
The most explicit indirect description is undoubtedly Gary who broke into the refuge. He drew the image of the monster he saw. The characteristics include the tentacle monster, the chrysanthemum-shaped (head?), and the octopus head (this is no longer a hint. Okay), star-shaped objects (life?), these are basically the scary image of Rockwell, there is no doubt about it.
In addition, the movie implies that the monster is huge, such as being able to walk through the car, and leaving a huge shadow when walking through the house.
What can reflect the above-mentioned bulkiness is that the trees will be overwhelmed when you walk by, and why the trees are overwhelmed, not cars or anything else. Besides the scene itself is in the woods, I have another explanation. It is a tribute to the "Terrorist Incident in Dunwich." In this novel, after the son of Cthulhu finally left the house, there is a description: "It smells of thunder and lightning, and the bushes and small trees on the roadside are all falling to one side, like a house along the road. It was dragged past there."
Finally, people who see "it" can also provide us with some clues: on the one hand, those people's eyes will change, which provides us with hints for guessing the scenes they might see. "Detailed in this article. On the other hand, if you see "it" you will be crazy. If nothing else, this one is really very Cthulhu. Anyone who knows the myth of Cthulhu knows that this part is explained in detail in the "Crazy" section below.
3. Believers
In the movie, the expression of this element is relatively indirect. It only shows the lunatic and not the believer directly, but we can understand it as a believer.
In the movie, people who see "monsters" will go crazy and commit suicide, but some people who are crazy are still crazy and will not commit suicide. Some people who are not crazy will go crazy but will not commit suicide. Instead, they will. Say "it will purify the world", "I have seen the truth", who do people say that when they are talking about? They would say this when talking about God and faith. So these "lunatics" can be understood as "believers", and this concept is also an indispensable and important part of Rockwell's style.
Although the "Cthulhu" does not regard humans as the same thing, it does not prevent humans from worshiping them fanatically. In the Cthulhu mythology novels, the cults worshiping evil gods can be described as diverse, including the Karoline Islands who believe in "deep dives", the residents of Innsmouth who accept the Dagon esoteric religion, and those who are dominated by the old days. Crazy believers who drive mad through the messages sent through sleep and find joy in the act of serving the highest existence, as well as witch groups who believe in Asathos, and druid monks who believe in Sab Nicholas. These evil god worshipers often have prominent violent tendencies, making people of sound mind feel very crazy: "At that time, only two prisoners were sober enough to be sentenced to death, and the remaining prisoners were sent to different lunatic asylums. ."
Therefore, we can understand the "crazy" in the movie as the "Cthulhu", that is, the believer of the "monster" in the movie, which explains why they have to force others to watch "them". They saw "truth" and "beauty", and they worshipped with all their hearts.
4. Spirit Vision
This concept itself is not present in Low’s novels, but inspired by the novel. In Lovecraft’s novel From Outside, Crawford Dillinghast produced a The machine can see evil gods in other dimensions. He said, "It is indeed invisible-but you can see it now, and now you can see many other things that you couldn't see before." And in the movie. People don’t seem to need to go through the machine. My own understanding is that when they look at the “monster”, they are affected by the opponent’s “power”, which causes the “SAN value” to drop, and the spiritual vision is turned on. You can see the "monster", and you can't see what you don't see.
"From the Outside" has such a description after seeing it: "At this moment, I am in a vortex of sound and movement, and my eyes are full of chaotic images... submerged in a sea of illusory rays of light, and that piece of light The sea cast a dazzling beam of light along the column of smoke clouds I saw before. Then, the scene was ever-changing, and in the chaos of various scenery, sounds, and indefinable sensory impressions, I felt that I was about to be lost. Disintegrated, or I am about to lose my own entity in some way... I seem to see a strange night sky, dotted with shiny and spinning spheres, but when this scene fades, I saw another star cluster or galaxy composed of a number of dazzling stars." These descriptions are also the same as "exploiting wisdom", "enlightenment", and seeing "truth", that is,-"open up a little about the real world." Horror scene...By then, we will either be driven mad, or run away, escape the light, and escape into a new dark age to seek peace and safety.” (From "The Call of Cthulhu") and the audience From the eyes of the people he saw "them", it seemed that he could feel the kind of "changing", "mixing" and "constantly rotating".
I want to emphasize here that we must use Cthulhu’s world view to understand, not realistic logic. Under this world view, human beings will go crazy after being enlightened-or suicide, or original ignorance (which can be understood in the movie It’s dark/blind, probably...) This place would like to add another explanation about the “believer” part above, which is why you will worship if you go crazy. Have you noticed that not all people who went mad have believed in the cult, but most people committed suicide, and some people did. The excerpt from "The Call of Cthulhu" is actually a very good answer. People who cannot accept this cruel reality commit suicide. Those who accept the Supreme Being can only worship the Supreme Being (because human beings are so small in front of them). Ants are not as good as), and furthermore, just run away without knowing the truth.
5. Crazy, "SAN value"
In the Cthulhu mythology, seeing indescribable objects or hearing strange sounds will reduce the SAN value. When the SAN value is zero, people will go crazy, lose their minds, and the original worldview will collapse, and they will never be saved. , There is a high chance of suicide (such as "The Temple"), as long as you face the evil god, people will return to zero (this is the setting, don’t tell me how scary seeing a big octopus can be), so this description It's not like the people in the movie go crazy and commit suicide! It makes people crazy and inspires the dedication of worship. This is the typical grammatical madness, and it is exactly what happened in this movie.
6. Escape
This is also the basic routine of Rockwell’s horror. Faced with an invincible opponent, the only way out is to escape. There may be action scenes during the escape. The most typical case is "The Shadow of Innsmouth."
The above is the Cthulhu element that I think is reflected in this movie, welcome to add and discuss!
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