This is how it starts with the barbarian Karkath:
And this is how it ends for him:
In the film, Indy's owner is Todd, a young man suffering from some sort of life-threatening, progressive lung condition. After a recent hospitalization, Todd gives up his apartment in New York and heads for his grandfather's house in a rural area, a house that has been abandoned since his grandfather's relatively recent death. His sister says it's cursed and we learn that apparently more than one of their relatives has died there.
Indy certainly experiences a sense of foreboding from the moment of their arrival, catching glimpses of a dark figure, moving shadows, and disturbing visions featuring Todd's grandfather's dog, who we learn has been missing since the grandfather's death. As Todd's condition worsens, and he pushes away both Indy and his siter, Indy has nightmares of being attacked by a figure drenched in thick, black mud.
The film is a bit of a slow burn, but it's only 74 minutes in runtime, so doesn't stretch things too much. Indy is an expressive and sympathetic protagonists, unprepared and alone facing the rising menace.
A spoiler but an important note for dog-lovers: Indy survives.
Now I want to get a bit more spoilery and discuss what I feel is an interesting aspect of the film. I don't think reading about this would diminish the enjoyment of it, but you have been warned...
When I first heard about this move, I assumed it was a horror film told from the perspective of the dog. And there's certainly an argument for that. Having seen it, though, I interpret it more as a film of a dog's horror. That is, it is a situation that would not necessarily be horrific (though likely traumatic) to a human but is horror from a dog's perspective.
I think the apparent horrors we see depicted are mostly in Indy's mind. They are his interpretation of his knowledge of his owner's impending death. Supporting this view is the fact that the same sorts of phenomena Indy experiences in the supposedly cursed home, we already see hints of in the New York apartment. Indy senses the approach of Todd's death, and he personifies it into a tangible thing, a darkness stalking his owner.
You could interpret the film as having no supernatural element at all but instead visually representing the psychological state of its canine protagonist. In fact, statements by Leonberg encourage this reading, not exclusively, but as an interpretation he wanted the film to permit.
My view, based on the events as depicted, is that Indy can in fact see ghosts, but there is no supernatural monster or curse, just death and the fear of the loss associated with it.
If that alone isn't enough to convince to you, Jason and I have short comic that will appear in the issue now that that stretch goal has been surpassed. It's called Spells Against Civility. Here's the pitch:
Harken to this tale of two rival wizards, apprenticed together, now alike in Art, pettiness, and vainglory...
Marzomon, once the Golden, former hero whose reputation fell under shadow of cowardice and party abandonment. He now ekes out a living trading on his former glories and hawking dubious male enhancement magics.
Hokus the Black, who sold his soul and other vital constituencies piecemeal to various diabolic entities and must stay ahead of his creditors as he seeks to overcome his rival.
Jason and I are doing this story via the "Marvel Method" where I wrote a plot, he's drawing the pages, then I'll script (and letter). Here's Jason's rough of the first page:
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If any of the above sounds cool to you--and particularly if all of it does--then head over to backerkit and give some support! Only a few days left.
