WHY CAN'T THEY JUST LET LOVECRAFT BE LOVECRAFT???????????

[indianasmith]

I rented H P LOVECRAFT'S THE TOMB last night.  For the love of B, spare yourself this piece of dreck.  It bore no resemblance to any Lovecraft story I have ever read - they managed to work in his name by using a couple of his character names, and reading three lines from one of his stories.  The movie itself was a cheesy ripofff of SAW with very fake gore and a villain whose tagline was "Eight nails - who will fail?"  The storyline was nonexistent, the acting wooden, and  . . .

just yuck! 

Why can't they just do a straightforward adaptation of a Lovecraft story?  They are so wonderfully creepy, they don't NEED a bunch of rewriting!  The best adaptation I've ever seen was DAGON, which was a fairly straightforward retelling of THE WEIRD SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH.

[Zapranoth]

The story is actually just called "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

Agree with you -- I have yet to see a Lovecraft adaptation that had the restraint and pace of a Lovecraft story.   But then again, subtlety and slow pace are NOT Hollywood's forte.

Maybe a Bollywood adaptation.. yeah, I can see it now...  brightly dressed, kinda froggy-looking shopkeepers...  suddenly bursting brightly into song and falling in love with each other...

[Vultur]

Bollywood ...


Somebody should do "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath."  I think they have the CGI to do it now.  That would be a crazy movie ... lots of action, freaky monsters.  Much more cinematic than most of Lovecraft's work.

"The Mound" (Lovecraft/Zealia Bishop collaboration, but Lovecraft did all the actual writing) could be adapted to a cool movie.  The "framing story" might have to be changed or gotten rid of, though.

"At the Mountains of Madness" would be great!
Those three would have to be big-budget movies, though.

One thing about Lovecraft's "revision" work - it's often more visual, more lurid (and thus more cinematic) than his completely solo work.  "The Curse of Yig" could be adapted (changing the framing story, to have the asylum part end it) to a cool low-budget flick (that could be VERY low-budget, only, say 3-4 main actors, very few if any extras, cheap settings, if you could get snakes cheaply).  "The Horror in the Museum", too, though it'd need a much bigger budget.


I think the best for a low-budget attempt would be "Curse of Yig".
 

[ulthar]

"At the Mountains of Madness" would be great!

I agree...IF it is done with the retraint necessary to build the tension.  Carpenter shows great patience in his style, like in THE THING, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 and IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS.  If someone went after Lovecraft with that sort of slow deliberation, it would work.  At least that's my opinion.

Carpenter's films are also notable for their lack of sub-plots.  You've got one story old folding, so he can work it very carefully.  I think the same would have to apply to a Lovecraft adaptation.  But can Hollywood resist throwing in a little something for everybody:  stupid comic relief to make the minority character sympathetic, a romance or love triangle, the geek-who-is-so-misunderstood-yet-selflessly-saves-everyone, etc?

In the end, I think it would have to be an Indy to really get Lovecraft right.  I think the majors in Hollywood would conclude "no one wants to see THIS stuff, they want car chases, explosions, foul language and sex.  Or, if it's horror, just gore."

Still, RE-ANIMATOR, for what it is, is not a BAD foray into Lovecraft.  At least it's fun, and Combs did sort-of capture the insanity of a Lovecraft character possessed by his own pathology.

[Andrew]

One of the better Lovecraft films is "The Resurrected" by Dan O'Bannon.  It keeps coming up so I am going to bump up the date for that review to get published to the 14th of July.  I recommend it to anyone who loves Lovecraft.

Another good thread about "The Resurrected:"

http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,114085.0.html

On the other hand, avoid Full Moon's "The Lurking Fear" as if it were the plague.

[Mofo Rising]

If you want to see a movie that went overboard in its dedication to staying true to Lovecraft, watch The Call of Cthulhu (2005), which does an admirable job.  That's because it's shot in the style of a 1920's silent film.

I loved it.  Here's an earlier post I wrote about it.  Obviously, you can tell pretty quickly whether it will be your thing or not, but I'd recommend checking it out.

[Raffine]

If you want to see a movie that went overboard in its dedication to staying true to Lovecraft, watch The Call of Cthulhu (2005), which does an admirable job.  That's because it's shot in the style of a 1920's silent film.

I recall reading about this before it was released. Thanks for reminding me!

[Neville]

I'm with Vultur, "The mound" (probably my favourite Lovecraft story) or "At the mountains of madness" would make great movies with little tweaking. The most problematic of the duo would be "Mountains", which needs a better climax (they weren't Lovecraft's forte) and some trimming.

"Mountains" has been Guillermo Del Toro's dream project for a few years, I hope he'll end up doing it someday.

[Dr. Whom]

In adapting Lovecraft, there are some further obvious problems with Hollywood conventions

a) there is no love interest (at least, I still have come across one in the stories). This was handled quite well in Dagon, with the fish tailed girl. However, I can't see any Hollywood producer resist the temptation to write in a female  lead.

b) there are no heroes. Lovecraftian characters don't go out to kill demons or save the world. Instead, they are horrified by watching slowly unfolding doom, and spend their time trying to get the hell out of there while holding on to their sanity. Not your typicial action hero stuff. This can make a great movie, but again producers have to resist the temptation to put in a wisecracking action hero and a grand finale showdown with Cthulhu.

If you stay true to the original atmosphere, Lovecraft doesn't make good blockbuster material

[Amontillado]

AlexB took the words out of my mouth. Lovecraft in pure form does not translate into big money. Anyone see Beyond the Wall of Sleep? Gar. Bidge. I've also noticed that if there is even a hint or crude likeness to a Lovecraft story someone will slap his name on it. I think the fact that we're so far removed plays a part in it as well.

[Raffine]

My favorite Lovecraft film adaptation was one of the earliest: Roger Corman's THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963) with Vincent Price and Lon Chaney, Jr.

 It's based (very) loosely on The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and has some wonderful Lovecraftian moments. While there is a female lead, she's rather quickly alienated by Price. And Price's Ward/Curwen definitely resembles in spirit many of the flawed lead characters in Lovecraft's stories. He also keeps a hungry "Cthulhu" in a pit in his cellar who likes to eat young buxom ladies!

Since Lovecraft was still basically an unknown at the time this was given a 'Poe' title and marketed as one of the Price/Corman Poe films.

Another early, but not nearly as effective, Lovecraft adaptation was 1965's DIE, MONSTER, DIE! starring Boris Karloff and Nick Adams. It's based (very, very) loosely on The Colour Out of Space.

SPOILER! It is fun seeing the stuntman run around at the end wearing the glowing Boris Karloff mask, though. 

[Vultur]

I'm with Vultur, "The mound" (probably my favourite Lovecraft story) or "At the mountains of madness" would make great movies with little tweaking. The most problematic of the duo would be "Mountains", which needs a better climax (they weren't Lovecraft's forte) and some trimming.

"Mountains" has been Guillermo Del Toro's dream project for a few years, I hope he'll end up doing it someday.

Probably end it with the shoggoth attack; maybe have Danforth get grabbed/eaten/dissolved/whatever they do.


As for the lack of a hero - that's why I suggested "Dream-Quest".  No helplessly going crazy in that one!

"From Beyond" as a low-budget atmospheric thriller?

[Shadow]

Maybe a Bollywood adaptation.. yeah, I can see it now...  brightly dressed, kinda froggy-looking shopkeepers...  suddenly bursting brightly into song and falling in love with each other...

I suddenly had this image of half-man half-fish creatures rising from the sea...and then breaking into a dance number.

[indianasmith]

I see I hit a vein with this topic!

How about THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS as a movie adaptation?  It would need some skilful rewriting, but it could be made to work, as could THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP.  And in that one, you have a female lead - a creepy one, but a female lead nonetheless.

[Dr. Whom]

To add to my previous post, I think a film adaptation can be done. There is Dagon, for one. But also a movie like The Descent has a very Lovecraftian theme and structure: a foolhardy bunch of people venture in the unknown and discover an ancient terror. Their only goal is to escape. Also, the main characters are flawed and one of them is losing her mind. Finally, the ending is pretty bleak, hinting that escape is beyond her mental and physical strength. One of the more unsettling aspects of the Lovecraftian universe, after all, is that there are dark forces at work around us, and that we are almost powerless to stop them. If you tangle with them, you are lucky to get out in one piece.

However, such a movie would be a radical departure from the formula with the Cool Hero, Comic Relief/Sidekick and Girl vs Bad Guy with a Henchman and Minions.