The
Investigators (2002)
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The Investigators
is/was an ongoing series of short animations that may be downloaded,
free of charge, from Atomfilms.com.
Sadly, no new episodes have been released since 2002 and so the series
is left in limbo.
As far as animation goes, the series
isn't bad. Done entirely in Flash, there are limits to what can be
done, but that is fairly easy to overlook. There are four episodes
in the series (currently) with a planned fifth that may or may not
ever materialize. Still, the series is a delightful addition to any
Lovecraftian film collection, and the price can not be beat.
Episode
1 - The Curse of Sobek (part 1)
The beginning of the series starts off a little choppily, with flying
knives and a frightened woman who shows up, along with her father,
at the office of Michael Cromwell and David Woodburn. No explanation
for the pair's odd profession is ever given, but with a running time
of under 6 minutes, what can you really ask for? The storyline advances
along quickly, and is very reminiscent of a Call of Cthulhu
adventure. The character of David Woodburn provides the tough guy
comic relief that really makes this episode fun.
Episode
2 - The Curse of Sobek (part 2)
Picking up where our heroes left off, this episode is quite a bit
shorter. With a running time of 4 1/2 minutes, including into and
a recap of the first episode, this would best have been attached directly
to the end of the first episode. Still, short as it is, it continues
the feel of the series, which makes it a total joy. The solution to
the problem is one that any CoC group in the same situation would
most likely attempt.
Episode
3 - The Case of William Allen Scott
This is, by far, the weakest entry in the series to date. This episode
would obviously been better suited as a two-parter, but instead much
of the development for the storyline simply never makes it to the
screen. This episode flows in a bit of a nonlinear fashion with a
beginning and an end, but no middle. The only real saving grace of
this episode (which seems to be a vehicle for introducing a new character,
Katharine "Cat" Winchester) is the continuing humor provided
by the character of David Woodburn
Episode
4 - The Beginning of the End (part 1)
Once more we have an episode that leaves us with the feeling of coming
into the movie part way through, however unlike the prior episode
(the Case of William Allen Scott) we find that we haven't really missed
much. Starting out with an action packed beginning, this episode progresses
at a nice pace, slowing itself down after the initial action and taking
the time to explain much of what is going on. My only complaint is
that Episode 5 isn't out yet, so I can't follow the adventure along
to its conclusion...yet.
The
Investigators: Introduction
Not actually an episode in its own right, the introduction is actually
the first minute of Episode 1 and was made for a contest on AtomFilms.com
where the winner would be picked up as a featured series.
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- Bob Brinkman
