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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Entertainment  |  H. P. Lovecraft books. « previous next »
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Author Topic: H. P. Lovecraft books.  (Read 4646 times)
Svengoolie 3
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« on: August 21, 2019, 02:58:10 AM »

I'm  not discssuing the movies which pretty much sucked, except for maybe "from beyond".  I'm  not sure on that  one.

I'm  talking the stories he wrote.

I like some of them a lot.  At the mountains of madness,  the shadow out  of innsmouth,  the dunwhich horror. Those are my favorites .

He wrote a lot of near SF stories with horror elements, he only  wrote one straight SF story, In the walls of Eryx.

Lovecraft was undeniably a racist  by today's standards. He never lived in today's world. He never had to comport to our  standards. A lot of his work oozes racism. So does the original constitution. We don't scrap  that  due to changing stadards,  we accept it was was another time.

He was also a great writer. His assessment of  humanty as basically insignificant in the cosmos created a new level of horror.

 
And just for laughs.... http://www.fredvanlente.com/cthulhutract/pages/index.html
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RCMerchant
Bela
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« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2019, 08:49:11 AM »

the RE-ANIMATOR movie's were fun, though I wouldn't call them 'Lovecraftian'- mostly just a basis for a lot of gory tricks.

No doubt he was a racist. Also no doubt he tapped into fears at the time of an influx of immigrants. Lots of pulps at the time capitalized on the so called 'Yellow Peril threat', i.e.  Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels.
He also wrote some scary, spooky stuff.
'In the Walls of Eryx' was fantastic- he should have written more straight sci-fi.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2019, 08:51:42 AM by RCMerchant » Logged

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Svengoolie 3
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« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2019, 11:07:12 AM »

the RE-ANIMATOR movie's were fun, though I wouldn't call them 'Lovecraftian'- mostly just a basis for a lot of gory tricks.

No doubt he was a racist. Also no doubt he tapped into fears at the time of an influx of immigrants. Lots of pulps at the time capitalized on the so called 'Yellow Peril threat', i.e.  Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels.
He also wrote some scary, spooky stuff.
'In the Walls of Eryx' was fantastic- he should have written more straight sci-fi.

Arguably At the mountains of madness was sci-fi but he did link it to the cthulhu setting.

BTW if you're into HPL have you seen this:  https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-The-Doom-That-Came-to-Gotham
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Bela
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« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2019, 02:03:48 PM »

the RE-ANIMATOR movie's were fun, though I wouldn't call them 'Lovecraftian'- mostly just a basis for a lot of gory tricks.

No doubt he was a racist. Also no doubt he tapped into fears at the time of an influx of immigrants. Lots of pulps at the time capitalized on the so called 'Yellow Peril threat', i.e.  Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels.
He also wrote some scary, spooky stuff.
'In the Walls of Eryx' was fantastic- he should have written more straight sci-fi.

Arguably At the mountains of madness was sci-fi but he did link it to the cthulhu setting.

BTW if you're into HPL have you seen this:  https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-The-Doom-That-Came-to-Gotham

I reckon the COLOUR OUT OF SPACE was sci-fi too.

As far as Batman- I don't like Batman in any form.
Well, except the 1966 TV show-which I love!
« Last Edit: August 21, 2019, 02:10:12 PM by RCMerchant » Logged

"Supernatural?...perhaps. Baloney?...Perhaps not!" Bela Lugosi-the BLACK CAT (1934)
Interviewer-"Does Dracula ever end for you?
Lugosi-"No. Dracula-never ends."

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Sitting Duck
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« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2019, 02:19:03 PM »

I'm  not discssuing the movies which pretty much sucked, except for maybe "from beyond".  I'm  not sure on that  one.

Oh, come on. The Resurrected was pretty good.

Gou Tanabe has done some decent manga adaptations of Lovecraft. Though referring to them as manga is potentially misleading, if technically true. Other than the panels being read right to left and the art being in black and white, it could easily pass as an American comic book adaptation. Dark Horse has so far released two volumes Stateside, The Hound and Other Stories (with The Hound, The Nameless City, and The Temple) and the first volume of At the Mountains of Madness.
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chainsaw midget
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« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2019, 08:25:07 AM »

It seems within the more recent years, you can't even have a discussion about Lovecraft without people bringing up how horrible he was because he was racist.  It adds nothing to the discussion at this point and just feels like people are almost appologizing for liking his stuff. 

He was a product of a different age and he's long dead anyway.  His personal beliefs are irrelevant.

As for his works, the horror stuff is great.  His dreamlands stories are a bit too out there for my tastes though. 



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Svengoolie 3
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« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2019, 08:37:54 AM »

the RE-ANIMATOR movie's were fun, though I wouldn't call them 'Lovecraftian'- mostly just a basis for a lot of gory tricks.

No doubt he was a racist. Also no doubt he tapped into fears at the time of an influx of immigrants. Lots of pulps at the time capitalized on the so called 'Yellow Peril threat', i.e.  Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels.
He also wrote some scary, spooky stuff.
'In the Walls of Eryx' was fantastic- he should have written more straight sci-fi.

Arguably At the mountains of madness was sci-fi but he did link it to the cthulhu setting.

BTW if you're into HPL have you seen this:  https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-The-Doom-That-Came-to-Gotham

I reckon the COLOUR OUT OF SPACE was sci-fi too.

As far as Batman- I don't like Batman in any form.
Well, except the 1966 TV show-which I love!

Seen the animated tributes to them? Adam west's last roles. Batman return of the caoed crusaders.  I liked it except for the fact those weasels took the penguin's cigarette and holder away....
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Bela
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« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2019, 08:57:24 PM »

Don't get me wrong! I LOVE Lovecraft's work. All of it. I have lots of books by him. I loved his work since the 1970's. Next to Shirley Jackson, my favorite author of fiction.
This looks really interesting! I'm on a waiting list at the Internet Archive!
By the way- this is the Archive-you can rent books or hear music  or read free books-and even copy and paste them! It's all public domain. It doesn't cost you a dime. I love this place.

https://archive.org/

« Last Edit: September 03, 2019, 09:14:29 PM by RCMerchant » Logged

"Supernatural?...perhaps. Baloney?...Perhaps not!" Bela Lugosi-the BLACK CAT (1934)
Interviewer-"Does Dracula ever end for you?
Lugosi-"No. Dracula-never ends."

Slobber, Drool, Drip!
https://www.tumblr.com/ronmerchant
Bushma
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« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2019, 07:35:20 AM »

The movies are very hit and miss.  There's some movies I've enjoyed, and some which are trash.  The stories themselves are A LOT of fun, and I've even been trying to get some of my kids to start reading them.
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Alex
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« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2019, 11:57:36 PM »

Yeah, any video you watch talking about his stuff will discuss his racism. I think since the man wrote about what scared him, (and he had many, many phobias) if you take that away then his stories become less effective. You can't separate the man and his work because his stories are such a glimpse into his psyche. I more feel sorry for him for his views. I think he was very mentally ill, and even given the time he was alive in, his friends were uncomfortable with his views. Alas he was never in the position to receive such help.

I always think it is a mistake though to judge historical figures by todays standards though. After all, what will future generations think of us looking back? Imagine someone in 300 years finding this website and what they'd make of us. Anyway, I digress.

I'd heard of Lovecraft at a young age and watched the 80's horror movies (loosely) based on his work, but it would be the mid to late 90's before I ever managed to track down any of his work in print (can't remember exactly when I found them), but the first story I read of his was The Evil Clergyman, followed by The Outsider. Today I can happily say I have his collected works in a series of leather bound editions that have pride of place on my favourite bookshelf.

As for good movie adaptations of Lovecraft's work, I am a fan of both Call of Cthulhu and The Whisperers In The Darkness (arguably a sci-fi story, aliens putting people's brains in jars), although for those you have to not mind black and white movies, and for the first one silent movies (not a problem for me on either score). I had been hoping Del Toro would finally get to make At the Mountains of Madness, but having read some of the screenplay I am happy that is isn't happening.

My favourite non-Lovecraft cosmic horror movies would be 'In the Mouth of Madness', 'The Void' & 'Event Horizon' (I don't view 'The Thing' as being Lovecraftian). As for other authors working in the same field, Ramsey Campbell and Basil Cooper. Neil Gaiman can spin a good tale when he puts his mind to it too, although I've always felt guys like August Derlath or Brian Lunley never really understood the genre they've attempted to write in and their work suffers for it.
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Alex
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« Reply #10 on: September 28, 2019, 12:03:14 AM »

No doubt he was a racist. Also no doubt he tapped into fears at the time of an influx of immigrants. Lots of pulps at the time capitalized on the so called 'Yellow Peril threat', i.e.  Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels.

Not a show I've really watched, but I've been told the real-life drug smuggler Fu Manchu was based on appears in Peaky Blinders (Brilliant Chang). He is a character I've used in some of my Call of Cthulhu games as a bit of background detail.
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