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Movies => Bad Movies => Topic started by: Wicked Nick on October 03, 2007, 08:48:11 AM



Title: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Wicked Nick on October 03, 2007, 08:48:11 AM
 Im excited that Del Toro is turning "At the mountains of madness" into a movie, I'd like to hope this could do well enough to spark more Lovecraft adaptations. What adaptaions would you like to see?
 Id like to see "The dream quest for Unkown Kadath" made into a movie. Its one of Lovecrafts most epic storys and has a lot of action including large battles with monsterous armys. It would be cool to see what they could do with the imagery of that story.
Id also of course like to see a big screen adaptation of  the "Call of Chutulu".


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: nshumate on October 03, 2007, 09:23:50 AM
Im excited that Del Toro is turning "At the mountains of madness" into a movie, I'd like to hope this could do well enough to spark more Lovecraft adaptations. What adaptaions would you like to see?
 Id like to see "The dream quest for Unkown Kadath" made into a movie. Its one of Lovecrafts most epic storys and has a lot of action including large battles with monsterous armys. It would be cool to see what they could do with the imagery of that story.
Id also of course like to see a big screen adaptation of  the "Call of Chutulu".


I don't know that there could be a better adaptation of "The Call of Cthulhu" than the silent-movie version.
http://www.coldfusionvideo.com/c/callofcthulhu.html (http://www.coldfusionvideo.com/c/callofcthulhu.html)


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: AndyC on October 03, 2007, 10:07:09 AM
Those would be the two biggies for me - At the Mountains of Madness and Call of Cthulhu.

The problem with Lovecraft's stories is that the most effective ones generally don't have enough material for a feature-length movie. Lots of atmosphere, very clever and creepy, but not a lot in the way of plot or characters. I think that's one of the reasons there are so many crappy adaptations out there - you design a set and costumes, and there's not much more to work with. That's not a criticism of Lovecraft. It's just that his style isn't the most suited to movie adaptation.

At the Mountains of Madness, at novella length, is at least longer, and should work better, although much of the length is due to Lovecraft's vivid descriptions. Come to think of it, that might be why HPL doesn't translate well into film. His style stimulates the imagination to produce scary images. He describes the indescribable and stirs up disturbing thoughts in the reader. You can't just show something to people and expect to get the same result.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Khaz on October 03, 2007, 11:09:20 AM
Those would be the two biggies for me - At the Mountains of Madness and Call of Cthulhu.

The problem with Lovecraft's stories is that the most effective ones generally don't have enough material for a feature-length movie. Lots of atmosphere, very clever and creepy, but not a lot in the way of plot or characters. I think that's one of the reasons there are so many crappy adaptations out there - you design a set and costumes, and there's not much more to work with. That's not a criticism of Lovecraft. It's just that his style isn't the most suited to movie adaptation.

At the Mountains of Madness, at novella length, is at least longer, and should work better, although much of the length is due to Lovecraft's vivid descriptions. Come to think of it, that might be why HPL doesn't translate well into film. His style stimulates the imagination to produce scary images. He describes the indescribable and stirs up disturbing thoughts in the reader. You can't just show something to people and expect to get the same result.

Ahah, therein lies the rub in the nubbin. Most movie-goers today demand a clear look at the monster and do not like to have to rely on thier imagination, which is very unfortunate. I found that the most firghtening movies for me were the ones where the monster/badguy were NOT shown clearly. You were given descriptions and perhaps a quick shot of something amphorous and slimy perhaps. Mix that with some really good atmosphere and perhaps some sub-monsters that are disturbing and you really have something. I cannot really remember a specific film where this is done off the top of my head but the movie in the mouth of Madness (1995) by Clive barker comes close. In that movie, you don't really get a clear look at the monster(s) but what you DO see was enough for me to get my imagination going... I really do think it could be done, and done well with some carefull planning.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Neville on October 03, 2007, 03:43:34 PM
I'd love to see a good adaptation of "The mound". It's one of his lesser known works, about a conquistador who deserts from his expedition and finds the gate to an ancient civilisation. It's around 100 pages, if I recall properly, and there's enough material for several movies in there.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: nshumate on October 03, 2007, 04:17:16 PM
I'd love to see a good adaptation of "The mound". It's one of his lesser known works, about a conquistador who deserts from his expedition and finds the gate to an ancient civilisation. It's around 100 pages, if I recall properly, and there's enough material for several movies in there.

...mostly describing their social structure.

That's the problem with a lot of Lovecraft's longer works, at least as far as movie adaptations are concerned -- he goes off on social treatises about the non-human civilizations and cultures.

Me, I'm just waiting for a GOOD version of The Lurking Fear -- three versions filmed so far, and none of them much good.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: AndyC on October 03, 2007, 06:55:40 PM
Actually, I was just considering what good Lovecraft adaptations there are, and the Brian Yuzna films came to mind - Reanimator and From Beyond. What makes them work is that they don't try to adapt the stories as much as borrow a premise and some characters, then have fun with it. Necronomicon was another one I didn't think was too bad, because it was an anthology. The stories do lend themselves better to short segments.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Andrew on October 03, 2007, 07:26:59 PM
How about one of his soul and civilization-destroying stories.  Done right, it could be a frightening study of a city's descent into darkness.  "The Doom that Came to Sarnath" or "Nyarlathotep" could be a basis for such a film.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: indianasmith on October 03, 2007, 10:48:10 PM
THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP  or maybe
THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS . . . .

those creeped me out big time!


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: horseshoe crab on October 03, 2007, 11:41:55 PM
His stories are incredibly uncinematic (not a complaint) so I think the best bet would be to combine a few stories or just use a few concepts as a launching pad, a la In the Mouth of Madness.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Trevor on October 04, 2007, 02:49:59 AM
I'd like to see some of his short stories filmed such as The Festival and The Evil Clergyman, The Tomb is also a good one to consider.

I had a HP omnibus a while back but lost the thing in a move: I hate losing books.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Joe the Destroyer on October 04, 2007, 02:52:36 AM
I wouldn't mind seeing a well directed version of Shadow Over Innsmouth.  Apart from that, I really can't think of too many others.  I've seen some of the other ones that were translated to film, and they were all pretty painful. 


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Allhallowsday on October 04, 2007, 07:05:24 PM
I'd like to see three tales of Lovecraftian Horror:
The Rats In The Walls or The Shadow Over Insmouth;
In The Vault;
The Colour Out Of Space...


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: MoronBoy on October 04, 2007, 07:09:16 PM
Wasn't "The Shadow over Innsmouth" what they based most of the movie version of Dagon on? or am I thinking of another story?


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: AndyC on October 04, 2007, 07:26:01 PM
I'd like to see three tales of Lovecraftian Horror:
The Rats In The Walls or The Shadow Over Insmouth;
In The Vault;
The Colour Out Of Space...


The Shadow Over Innsmouth would make a creepy movie.

Adaptations have been done of The Rats in the Walls and The Colour Out Of Space. The Rats in the Walls was the basis for one of the stories in Brian Yuzna's anthology film, Necronomicon. The Colour out of Space has actually been adapted a few times, as The Curse with Wil Wheaton and Die Monster Die with Boris Karloff most notably. The bit in Creepshow with Stephen King sprouting moss also owes something to the story.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Andrew on October 04, 2007, 07:40:42 PM
Wasn't "The Shadow over Innsmouth" what they based most of the movie version of Dagon on? or am I thinking of another story?

"Dagon" is probably about 60% "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."  There is a little bit of "Dagon" in it and the rest, I guess, is creative additions.  Its not bad at all.  I don't think it is as good a movie as some other Lovecraft-inspired films, but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.  It's above the middle of the pack.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: RCMerchant on October 04, 2007, 07:47:21 PM
 I read a story years ago in a Lovecraft collection called "the TOMB and other tales"  about an astronaut on Venus...-lost in some weird maze...I'll be damned if I remember the title...but karma to any body who can! That would make a great movie-if done by the right director.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Andrew on October 04, 2007, 08:00:31 PM
I read a story years ago in a Lovecraft collection called "the TOMB and other tales"  about an astronaut on Venus...-lost in some weird maze...I'll be damned if I remember the title...but karma to any body who can! That would make a great movie-if done by the right director.

In the Walls of Eryx.  It is one of his stories that stands out for being more science fiction focused.  That would be a pretty good one and a tale of helplessness and despair.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Shadow on October 04, 2007, 08:06:01 PM
It strikes me that the the Masters of Horror series, with the hour long time limits for each movie/episode, would be the perfect place to adapt a Lovecraft story.


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: RCMerchant on October 04, 2007, 08:14:40 PM
I read a story years ago in a Lovecraft collection called "the TOMB and other tales"  about an astronaut on Venus...-lost in some weird maze...I'll be damned if I remember the title...but karma to any body who can! That would make a great movie-if done by the right director.

In the Walls of Eryx.  It is one of his stories that stands out for being more science fiction focused.  That would be a pretty good one and a tale of helplessness and despair.

 THANK YOU!!!! That story has stuck in my head for YEARS!!! I read it in about-gee-1974-and not since...and it still stands out in my mind as a creepy,claustropbic nightmare!!!!  :thumbup:  :thumbup:  :thumbup:


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Allhallowsday on October 04, 2007, 08:15:38 PM
The bit in Creepshow with Stephen King sprouting moss also owes something to the story.
Doesn't everything STEPHEN KING has written owe something to another writer...?   :teddyr:  Frankly, any number of his stories and novels are exceedingly close to well-known, and obscure, Horror writers (one thing to be said of KING, he's well-read...)  That doesn't mean I didn't like several of his books (I think The Dead Zone and Misery are extremely well written).


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: nshumate on October 04, 2007, 08:24:30 PM
Wasn't "The Shadow over Innsmouth" what they based most of the movie version of Dagon on? or am I thinking of another story?

No, you're right.  There were some elements of the story "Dagon," but mostly it was an adaptation of "Innsmouth" (a story Stuart Gordon had been trying to film for almost 20 years).


Title: Re: What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie
Post by: Neville on October 05, 2007, 03:08:40 AM
Wasn't "The Shadow over Innsmouth" what they based most of the movie version of Dagon on? or am I thinking of another story?

True.