The Atticus Institute (2015 film)

Something sinister happens on found footage for The Atticus Institute (2015 film)...

Summary

In the early 1970s, Dr. Henry West creates an institute to find people with supernatural abilities. When Judith Winstead comes to the facility, she exhibits a bizarre change in personality and amazing abilities that the military wants to use as a weapon.

Details

• Release Date: 2015
• Country/Language: USA, English
• Genres/Technical: Horror, "Found Footage", "Mockumentary"
• Runtime: 1 hr 23 min
• Starring: Rya Kihlstedt, William Mapother, Sharon Maughan
• Director: Chris Sparling
• Writer: Chris Sparling
• Producer/Production Co: The Safran Company, Poznan Film Group
• View Trailer: (link)
• IMDB Page: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: PG-13 (Violence, Adult Content)

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• S____ (One Tentacle: Debateably Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)

Very little about this film is directly "Lovecraftian"; however, Lovecraft did dabble in "possession" horror fiction more than once, and the essential story (a woman is studied by a secret government program for study after a mysterious change in personality accompanied by exhibition of astonishing supernatural powers) would be easy to adapt to a Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green scenario (in a Lovecraft story, this would essentially be signs of a personality exchange with an alien intelligence or a "wizard").

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Scott Dorward at Blasphemous Tomes (link) - "...The scientific approach its characters take the subject of demonic possession... is more Nigel Kneale than [The Exorcist's] William Peter Blatty...."

Synopsis

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)

In the early 1970s, Dr. Henry West creates an institute to find people with supernatural abilities. When Judith Winstead comes to the facility, she exhibits amazing abilities that the military wants to turn into a weapon.

Notes

Associated Mythos Elements

• Lovecraft dabbles in "demonic possession" fiction in at least four of his stories:
  • fiction: "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (fiction)"
  • fiction: "The Thing on the Doorstep (fiction)"
  • fiction: "The Shadow Out of Time (fiction)"
  • fiction: "Beyond the Wall of Sleep (fiction)"

Keeper Notes

• Lovecraft dabbled in "possession" horror fiction more than once (in a Lovecraft story, what the scientist and military characters observe in this film would essentially be signs of a personality exchange with a cultist "wizard" or any of Lovecraft's bewildering varieties of strange alien intelligence), and the essential story (a woman is studied by an unscrupulous secret government program for study after a mysterious change in personality accompanied by exhibition of astonishing supernatural powers) would be easy to adapt to a Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green scenario.