https://yogwiki.cthulhueternal.com/wiki/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Montauk_%282011_short%29Montauk (2011 short) - Revision history2026-06-11T14:48:14ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.8https://yogwiki.cthulhueternal.com/wiki/index.php?title=Montauk_(2011_short)&diff=30049&oldid=prevYwhateley: Page created.2018-10-24T05:12:35Z<p>Page created.</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>==Summary==<br />
<!-- <br />
(Short, Spoiler-Free Summary; tag-line or elevator pitch.)<br />
--><br />
<br />
"A missing boy, a nearby military base conducting experiments on children, and a monster from another dimension that looks like a toy - sound familiar?" For years, conspiracy theories have surrounded the Montauk area - from government projects to something deeper and more supernatural. Now, using files unearthed from the archives of the Suffolk County Police department, bear witness to the latest - and most shocking - incident in the history of the area, via an amateur found-footage short film.<br />
<br />
==Details==<br />
[[File:Montauk 2011short.png|thumb|200px|right|Screen capture from ''Montauk (2011 short)''...]]<br />
<!--<br />
This list of details is partly intended for those films produced by<br />
film-makers, performers, producers/studios, etc. that tend to make<br />
"Lovecraftian" films, for ease of finding related or similar films.<br />
This list is also partly intended to make it easier to identify a<br />
specific film out of many with the same name, to make them easier to<br />
tell apart - some stories have been adapted numerous times by different<br />
amateur short film makers! Some films have a "TVTropes" page, which<br />
will often detail obscure "Lovecraftian" elements of a film that this<br />
wiki misses, and, if a TVTropes page exists, it can be a useful<br />
resource. Feel free to remove any sections that are irrelevant, <br />
unknown, or unnecessary.<br />
--><br />
* Release Date: 2011<br />
* Country/Language: USA, English<br />
* Genres/Technical: Horror, Fantasy, Short, found footage<br />
* Setting: [[Modern]] [[USA]] [[Delta Green]]<br />
* Runtime: 8 min <br />
* Starring: Kelly Deadmon, Lauren Hodges, Phoenix List, James McCaffrey, Terry Serpico<br />
* Director: Charlie Kessler<br />
* Writer: Charlie Kessler & Kent Sanderson (co-writers)<br />
* Producer/Production Co: Charlie Kessler, Kerry Orent<br />
* View Trailer: ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7wop3347G0 link])<br />
* IMDB Page: ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2083265/ link])<br />
<!--<br />
* Film Website: ([URL link])<br />
* View Film: ([URL link])<br />
* TVTropes: ([URL link])<br />
--><br />
<br />
<br />
==Ratings==<br />
===[http://www.mpaa.org/film-ratings/ MPAA Ratings]===<br />
<!--<br />
I've been including this information for those of us who like to watch<br />
Lovecraft movies with family, including younger children, and want to<br />
avoid any awkwardness.<br />
E.G., "Rated: R (Violence, Nudity, Language....)" <br />
--><br />
* Rated: not rated (equivalent to PG for Violence, Profanity)<br />
<br />
The trailer contains some mild CGI gore/violence and profanity; I can't imagine it gets much heavier than that in the full 8-minute short film.<br />
<br />
===Tentacle Ratings===<br />
<!--<br />
(Use one of the following lines, and edit it as appropriate. Follow it with an<br />
explanation/description of how it qualifies as "Lovecraftian", such as any<br />
name-dropping of Lovecraft's creations, whether it's based on a Lovecraft story<br />
and if so which one, whether it's simply "feels" kind of Lovecraftian, etc.)<br />
Some examples: one tentacle only if the mood and atmosphere are right but it's <br />
not based on a Lovecraft story and contains no specific Lovecraftian elements even<br />
in spirit; one tentacle only if it mentions specifically Lovecraftian elements but<br />
isn't based on Lovecraft story and doesn't have the right mood; one tentacle only <br />
if it has some tentacle monsters but the mood isn't very Lovecraftian and specific<br />
Lovecraft creations aren't mentioned by name; if the film is based on a recognizable<br />
Lovecraft story it automatically gets two tentacles, and may get a third or more<br />
depending on if Lovecraftian monsters are present, the mood and atmosphere are<br />
suitably Lovecraftian in tone, and if the work is particularly accurate and true to<br />
the spirit of the original story.<br />
* _____ (Zero Tentacles: Unrated for Lovecraftian Content)<br />
* S____ (One Tentacle: Debateably Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)<br />
* SS___ (Two Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; vaguely similar in tone, could be a very loose adaptation)<br />
* SSS__ (Three Tentacles: Lovecraftian, was probably written by Lovecraft himself.)<br />
* SSSS_ (Four Tentacles: Unusually Lovecraftian; written by Lovecraft, a remarkably faithful adaptation)<br />
* SSSSS (Five Tentacles: definitively Lovecraftian; everything you'd expect from a Lovecraft adaptation and more)<br />
--><br />
A rough [[Tentacle Ratings|measure]] of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:<br />
* SS___ (Two Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; vaguely similar in tone or content)<br />
<br />
I've not seen the short in its entirety; based roughly on its ancestry in urban legend/"creepypasta" territory, its origin in a "true story" about secret government projects to open portals to other dimensions and allow monsters to enter our world, and the supposed similarity between ''[[Stranger Things (2016 series)]]'' and this short film (leading to a lawsuit in 2018), I'm assuming two-tentacle "vaguely Lovecraftian" tone/content, which might be revised on actual viewing.<br />
<br />
''Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of <br />
how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.''<br />
<br />
===Reviews===<br />
<!--<br />
(A list of reviews for the work, along with the review's rating (for example, "4/5 Stars") <br />
* Author_andor_Location, ([URL link]) - RATING <br />
--><br />
Review Links:<br />
* (review needed)<br />
<br />
<br />
==Synopsis (SPOILERS)==<br />
<!-- <br />
(Should be an objective, unbiased, detailed synopsis of film's plot and themes.<br />
The following optional spoiler code apparently works badly on smart phones.) <br />
--><br />
{{spoiler|<br />
An 8-minute-long found-footage thing following the usual bickering jerks with a video camera as they stumble into a supernatural urban legend, ''Blair Witch Project'' style; in this case, an scared-and-angry-sounding cameraman follows a scared-and-angry mother looking for her lost child, who seems to have been a human guinea-pig in the Montauk experiments which, according to urban legend, involve psychic government tests on human subjects which tear a hole into another dimension, allowing a monster resembling one of the child's toys to enter our world; the mother is torn apart on screen, the cameraman panics and curses a lot, and the usual supernatural hilarity ensues. I've not seen this sort film, but supposedly the plot of ''Stranger Things'' was "stolen" from it, based the synopsis "missing boy, a nearby military base conducting experiments on children, and a monster from another dimension that looks like a toy", though based on what I've seen of the trailer, that synopsis sounds like it might have been stretched pretty far to make the claim.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
<br />
===Comments, Trivia, Dedication===<br />
<!-- <br />
(Optional; describe anything known or reported by experts about the <br />
origin of the story or inspiration for elements of it; list dedication, <br />
trivia, images, anything else of note <br />
--><br />
* Trivia: In April 2018, filmmaker Charlie Kessler filed a lawsuit against the Duffer Brothers, claiming that they stole his idea behind his short film Montauk for Stranger Things. Kessler's Montauk featured a similar premise of a missing boy, a nearby military base doing otherworldy experiments, and a monster from another dimension.<br />
<br />
<br />
===Associated Mythos Elements===<br />
<!--<br />
(A list of notable Lovecraftian creatures, tomes, Great Old Ones, characters, <br />
etc. that appear in the film/show/etc. It helps to specify if it just takes<br />
the form of general "name-dropping" (someone mentions "Yog-Sothoth!", but <br />
Yog-Sothoth doesn't actually appear; a random creepy tome in the background<br />
is labeled ''Necronomicon'' but never actually appears, a character is wearing<br />
a Miskatonic University sweatshirt but the school never makes an appearance...)<br />
Remove any sections that do not apply. Note that some unnamed monsters may be<br />
considered "stand-ins" that are effectively the same as specific Lovecraftian<br />
monsters, though the film never makes that explicitly clear - for example, a<br />
standard-issue Gill-Man from "Creature from the Black Lagoon" might be labeled<br />
a "Deep One" for the purposes of this Wiki, even though any resemblance is<br />
probably unintentional. Vaguely/generically "Lovecraftian" elements might <br />
include [[Human Cultist]]s, [[Tentacle Monster]]s, ''[[Necronomicon Ex-Mortis]]'',<br />
and the mysterious outer/astral dimension we might call the [[Other Side]]....)<br />
--><br />
* film & television: compare/contrast with ''[[Stranger Things (2016 series)]]''<br />
* film & television: compare/contrast also with...<br />
** ''[[The Philadelphia Experiment (1984 film)]]''<br />
** ''[[Firestarter (1984 film)]]''<br />
** ''[[Kolchak: the Night Stalker (1975 series)]]'', episodes including "They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be..." (AKA "U.F.O.") - in which Kolchak is witness to a bizarre manifestation of an unseen force that destroys buildings and kills human and animal victims; Kolchak traces the disturbances to a government cover-up of a mysterious invasion from another world....<br />
** ''[[Outer Limits (1963 series)]]'', episodes such as "Production and Decay of Strange Particles", in which an accident at a nuclear research facility creates a dimensional doorway in which aliens need to widen to invade our world.<br />
** ''[[Blair Witch Project (1999 franchise)]]'' and other found-footage films<br />
* setting: [[Delta Green]]<br />
* race: [[Tentacle Monster]]<br />
* location: [[Other Side]]<br />
<br />
<br />
===Keeper Notes===<br />
<!-- <br />
(Optional. Notes to Keepers on using this for film for scenario ideas. <br />
Heresies and Controversies: this is also a good place to include non-canon <br />
and controversial aspects of the film's mythos. Suggested Alternative Theories <br />
include: Derleth's elemental scheme; pseudo-science interpretation; "fanon" <br />
interpretations; unofficial humorous or eccentric versions; identification with <br />
"Real Life" mythological, religious, folklore, natural, and historical phenomena; <br />
rumor and speculation contribute some flexibility and ambiguity to the mythos. <br />
* Alternative_theory. ([[source]]) <br />
This section is more commonly used on YSDC Wiki pages for suggesting ways to<br />
adapt the film to use as a Call of Cthulhu scenario; the Keeper Notes section <br />
might include multiple such suggested adaptations.<br />
* (One/two sentence story inspired by the film, starring investigators.)<br />
TIP: Film plots are often difficult to adapt into RPG scenarios; try having<br />
the investigators arrive after the events from the movie have started happening<br />
or have already happened to NPCs, and leave the investigators to piece together<br />
the clues to find out what happened. Adaptations of film plots to RPG scenarios <br />
almost always benefit from changing cosmetic details around until the exact story<br />
is no longer easily recognizable, by changing the setting, descriptions of monsters,<br />
character names, and that sort of thing.<br />
--><br />
* A desperate mother asks the investigators to help her find her missing child, who may have wandered onto a nearby military base where the mother believes tests were secretly conducted on the mite; the child is found outside laboratory buildings on the base, but not before portals to a mysterious monster-filled dimension are opened, allowing an eldritch horror to invade our world and threaten the safety of the mother, child, and investigators....<br />
<br />
<br />
<!--<br />
(Add any of the following categories that apply to the end of the page; <br />
the first (DEFAULTSORT) is used to sort the film by something other than <br />
a leading The/A/An so that it alphabetizes correctly. A "Short" is <br />
less than an hour long (perhaps an episode of a TV anthology program, music<br />
video, or short-subject amateur film); "Film" is a longer feature-length movie<br />
(longer than an hour), "Series_or_Serial" may include TV programs, serials, <br />
and mini-series; "Franchise" is a series of Films, perhaps including feature-<br />
length Films, Short films, TV Series/Serials/Programs, and other media.)<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unsorted, The}}<br />
--><br />
[[Category:Film:General]]<br />
[[Category:Film:Short]]<br />
[[Category:Film:SurrealHorror]]<br />
[[Category:Film:Portals]]<br />
[[Category:Film:WildernessBackwoods]]<br />
[[Category:Film:HospitalLaboratory]]<br />
[[Category:Film:DownerEnding]]<br />
[[Category:Film:ScienceFiction]]<br />
[[Category:Film:Two-Tentacle Media]]<br />
<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__</div>Ywhateley