What Lovecraft story would you like to see made into a movie

[Wicked Nick]

 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".

[nshumate]

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

[AndyC]

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.

[Khaz]

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.

[Neville]

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.

[nshumate]

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.

[AndyC]

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.

[Andrew]

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.

[indianasmith]

THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP  or maybe
THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS . . . .

those creeped me out big time!

[horseshoe crab]

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.

[Trevor]

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.

[Joe the Destroyer]

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. 

[Allhallowsday]

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...

[MoronBoy]

Wasn't "The Shadow over Innsmouth" what they based most of the movie version of Dagon on? or am I thinking of another story?

[AndyC]

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.