An ancient evil has come to Gotham City and only Batman can save the city from its inevitable doom. Inspired by Mike Mignola’s Lovecraftian comic book mini series of the same name, this DC animated Elseworlds film feels like the closest thing we will ever get to a Guillermo Del Toro directed Batman movie. Whether it be live action or animation, this is unlike any Batman movie I’ve ever seen before, chock full of mythological creatures, otherworldly monsters, and elements that are straight out of a horror flick. David Giuntoli does a fine job at voicing the caped crusader, delivering gruff and commanding vocals, both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. We get a much older and more weary Oliver Queen in this film, as he is a drunken mess haunted by his mysterious past and it’s clear that Christopher Gorham is having a lot of fun voicing this incarnation of the Green Arrow. Tati Gabrielle is lovely as the voice of Kai Li Cain and her character gets a satisfying supporting role here. There are several surprising iconic Batman villains that pop up throughout the movie, and I’m sure some mainstream viewers will be put off by the nightmarish approach to certain characters, although I personally really dug the changes that were made, specifically to Harvey Dent and Poison Ivy. The animation style is as if Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series was set in the prohibition era and looked far more grotesque. Speaking of grotesque, I give directors Sam Liu and Christopher Berkeley props for not allowing this to become a mindless jump scare fest and instead rely on the moody atmosphere and frightening looking creatures to elicit a horror movie feel. The action sequences are beautifully animated and the score by Stefan L. Smith is fittingly haunting. There are a few twists that I admittedly didn’t see coming (probably since I haven’t read the comic it’s adapting), and I think many casual viewers may be conflicted by certain things pertaining to said twists. Overall, while Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham doesn’t always connect the dots of its ambitious story in a cohesive manner, this Lovecraftian tale of ‘sins of the father’ is a suspenseful, gorgeously animated, intriguingly detective-driven, and effectively eerie Elseworlds story that serves as a fresh mystery for fans who are itching to see a different, more horror based Batman movie.
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