Locally produced ‘Call of Cthulhu’ film to debut at Carrollwood Cultural Center
Tampa Bay Newspapers / tbnweekly.com
By LEE CLARK ZUMPE, Tampa Bay Newspaper
TAMPA — This month, Tampa Bay area horror fans will have a rare opportunity to catch the world premiere of a brand-new film based upon H.P. Lovecraft’s ambitious classic weird horror tale “The Call of Cthulhu.” The film will make its debut at an in-person screening Friday, Oct. 15, in the main theater at the Carrollwood Cultural Center, 4537 Lowell Road, Tampa.
Doors will open at 7 p.m., as attendees experience a bit of red carpet treatment. The screening gets underway at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10. Call 813-269-1310 or visit carrollwoodcenter.org or ci.ovationtix.com/35845/production/1073949.
Adapted for film by Mackley Fogarty, Kyle Brady, and Brian Petkash, and directed by Fogarty, “The Call of Cthulhu” features several local actors including Craig Ruska, Benjamin Gregory, Pete Zalizniak, Diego Rosado, Keith Eisenstadt, Jessica Duncan, Terry LaRosa, Hippie Griswold, Mary Lee Bellis, Christopher Kadonsky-Grant, Natasha Infante, and Bill DeMare. The film was produced by the Carrollwood Cultural Center’s film studio. “The Call of Cthulhu” is a continuation of the center’s new film program that started during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Fogarty, a fan of both literature and horror cinema, was drawn to Lovecraft’s work.
“One thing that helped bring H.P. Lovecraft to my attention was the influence his stories have had over the horror genre, especially in film,” Fogarty told Tampa Bay Newspapers in a recent interview. “‘The Call of Cthulhu’ specifically has always been a favorite of mine due to the fact that Lovecraft manages to create a solid atmosphere and was able to tell a story that spans across so many different characters in a really short span of time and this tale really contains some really solid lines littered throughout.”
This entire project is being produced by the Carrollwood Cultural Center, a nonprofit in the Carrollwood area that specializes in the arts. Working with limited resources was both a challenge and a source of innovative thinking.
