Review – Rough Magik

It’s actually a little hard to determine exactly what the title of this production is. The label on the DVD identifies it as “Dreams of Cthulhu Vol. 2: The Rough Magik Initiative.” Here I’m opting to go with what the show is called by its own title card, if for no other reason than it’s shorter. The production leads off with a disturbing bit of video of a mother and her kids getting a little too into the Cthulhu cult thing. From there it breaks with not much of a segue into the tale of a mythos-sensitive officer in the British Army encountering some evil business during the Falklands War. It’s a clever concept that unfortunately turns into a mediocre production. On the other hand, the disk also includes four shorts. “The Terrible Old Man” is a solid – and considerably less racist – version of the Lovecraft story. Likewise “From Beyond” sticks pretty close to the source story, a plus for those of us who like Lovecraft’s work but probably a minus for anyone who prefers the sex-intensive Stuart Gordon version. “Experiment 17” and “Experiment 18” are mockumentaries about Nazi tampering with the Necronomicon, not too inspirational but then not too long either. Worth seeing