Delta Green--Lovecraftian horror with an X-files/conspiracy vibe.

Confabulat: I know it's not a Lovecraft adaptation exactly, but Frank Darabont's "The Mist" came pretty close, from a "man on the street" POV.

This. I'd add "The Descent" as well. It had that whole 'devolved humans' thing that Howard was so fond of.


Sadly, Lovecraft is a like Stephen King. Most of his stories work on a gut level, and are more about atmosphere. Damn difficult to capture on film using cgi and rubber monsters.

Ghostbusters had an underlying element of Lovecraftian horror.

It starts with low level Sanity Point eaters like human-looking normal ghosts (NYPL ghost), then moved up warped-bodied ghosts (Slimer) to a pastiche of Elder God minions (Zuul and Vinz Klortho), then finally do battle with an Elder God pastiche (Gozer). Mentions of forbidden tomes (Tobin's Spirit Guide) and cultists who perform human sacrifice (Ivo Shandor) and other unidentified creatures in Gozer's bestiary (Torb, Sloar, Shub).

This general idea was drowned out and became background noise because of the jokes, and the misleading and limiting title "Ghostbusters".

The New Conan bombed, John Carter bombed, The Lady in Black bombed and this Edgar Allan Poe thing with Cusack will bomb, so no you won't be seeing a Lovecraft flick anytime soon. Which probably for the best. Nobody in Holly wood wants to make a horror movie unless it's franchised to a series of tweener books.

What you will see more crappy 80s TV series tuned into crappy comedies. I hate to say it, but that dumb ass 21 Jump Street flick will be the number one movie next week, bank on it.

There is a Call of Cthulu DVD that came out in 2005 that's a 47-minute short shot in B&W and silent. It's on Netflix and worth catching if you're a traditional Lovecraft fan.

I've got Francis Stevens's (Gertrude Barrows Bennett) Nightmare: And Other Tales of Dark Fantasy on my night stand right now and just re-read Karl Edward Wagner's "Sticks" the other night (very Lovecraftian). I've also got the June 1937 Weird Tales which has "The Black Kiss" by Robert Bloch and Henry Kuttner, both Lovecraft disciples, and "The Ocean Leech" by Frank Belknap Long, one of The Lovecraft Circle. It was published shortly after HPL died and has short tributes by Manly Wade Wellman, Seabury Quinn, and Robert Bloch in the Eyrie column. So I'm really getting a kick...

Hopefully, I can get my hands on this collection of Kuttner's early horror soon Link (new window).

Soon.....

Flappyhead: I am Wee Todd Ed: Anyone know the name of this Lovecraft(?) movie....?

I think this is an english movie based on one of Lovecraft's books and it came out about 5 years ago but I am unsure. The premise is that this young man's father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc., all die on the same birthday with none living past a certain age, and the guy is trying to figure out why because the age that they all died is his next birthday. The mystery is linked to a small english(?) town and this mansion. It feels like a Lovecraft book made into a movie by a small independent film company. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Thanks!

Yep, it's simply called Cthulhu. Link (new window)

I think that's it!!!! Thanks! I don't know why I thought it took place in England but I saw only one trailer a couple of years ago and that's I all I can remember.

If you like good sci-fi films check out "I Sell the Dead" and "Time Crimes" on Netflix. You won't be disappointed. "I Sell the Dead" is a comedy about grave robbers and stars that one guy who was one of the hobbits and was also in the LOST tv show. Time Crimes is a foreign film about this guy that stumbles upon a time machine and the horrifying results of messing with time. Thanks again!

Lovecraft also ghosted for a number of lesser known authors such as Hazel Heald and William Lumley. Anyone here ever read 'The Horror In The Museum'?

Lernaeus: Never got around to reading any Lovecraft ... anyone have suggestions on how to get started?

I really haven't read a lot of horror; more of a hard sci fi Baxter/Clarke reader. I read a few King and Koontz books, but really didn't like them. I love Dan Simmons's horror books, though.

I would just recommend H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction Link (new window)

It's the cheapest way to get all his stuff and Barnes and Noble has it quite often. The annotated stories by ST Joshi is also good but better after you've read them once and have decided to geek out on it.

And for everyone in this thread I'm going to recommend Manly Wade Wellman, especially his Silver John stories. They are simply fantastic.

There have been no 'good' Lovecraft movies ever made.

Ever.

My point is proven by the fact that we have not found whole audiences driven insane by the sheer horror of a true Lovecraft movie.

Or perhaps it is because the movies can't get to be good because the cast and crew go insane working on it.

danvon: Re-animator and From Beyond. I don't recall how much they follow the stories, but they are based upon H.P. Lovecraft tales.

Or, y'know, Call of Cthulhu, which has been made into a movie at least twice, or the Dunwich Horror which has been made at least once.

Confabulat: Lovecraft could suffer the same fate. We've all seen portals of evil and giant horrible monsters living under the ice by now. Something like "In the Mouth of Madness" would have trouble with comparisons to "The Thing" after all. It would be a shame to get an excellent adaptation and have people just think they've been there, done that already.

Um, "In the Mouth of Madness" isn't a Lovecraft story, it's a John Carpenter movie, which is a "spiritual sequel" to the Thing, but actually isn't very similar to the Thing at all. It's based generally on Lovecraft, but more the Color Out of Space or one of the earlier investigator-based stories than anything involving Antarctica.

If you're talking about "In the Mountains of Madness", that also makes no sense as it has about as much in common with "The Thing" as "Escape from New York" has with "My Dog Skip". Being set on the same continent is where the resemblance ends.

//For reference, "The Thing" is based on "Who Goes There?" By John Campbell, who published in some of the same magazines as Lovecraft, but that's about as far as the connection goes. Different prose style, different plot style, significantly different characters, and, honestly, different genres entirely for the most part.

There have been plenty of Lovecraftian films, and most of them have been bad.

Thank the elder gods for the good folk at the HPLHS.

Re-animator and From Beyond. I don't recall how much they follow the stories, but they are based upon H.P. Lovecraft tales.

Lovecraft, A. Merritt, Manly Wade Wellman, just to name a few from that era. Also, Howard's Steve Costigan,stories would make a great movie. There's so much great untouched stuff from the pulp years.

Do we really want Hollywood to ruin this for us too? I prefer the film in my mind to anything they could throw up on the screen.

Example: John Carter

HPLHS also recently made The Whisperer in the Darkness, and that was a fine film as well.

Wolfen067: Only if Benicio Del Toro writes and directs...but I wouldn't mind seeing what Peter Jackson could do with the source material. I'm not sure if there's any other writer/director out there who could do justice to Lovecraft's imagination.

I think you mean Guiliamo del Toro and if so I agree with you