The effect doesn't quite come off, mainly because the images are too sharp and the editing and camera work too modern. But the movie is endearing anyway for its fanboy ardor.

"Whisperer in Darkness" has a chiller-diller conclusion and some moments of real terror.

The filmmakers cared about every moody shadow, every slightly stodgy performance, and (of course) the dark, disturbing imagination of H.P. Lovecraft.

The pacing is unbearably slow, and scenes languish for long minutes in dialogue and suspense-free padding. Whale would never have been so wasteful.