LOVECRAFT ON THE SILVER SCREEN

Robert Gannon

http://thesketchydetails.net

@robertjgannon

Connecticon 2014

LOVECRAFT 101

• H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) is a master of weird fiction

• Combined science fiction, fantasy, and horror into something dense, beautiful, and otherworldly

• Created a series of monstrous gods so terrifying and popular, an entire subgenre of literature formed after his death

• Many attempts have been made to bring his work to the screen and few have really succeeded

• His style is so psychological and absurd, focusing on the plot or altering the hysteria doesn’t really cut it

THE BEST LOVECRAFT ADAPTATION I’VE EVER SEEN

• It’s not a film

• It’s not even serious

• It’s…something special and unexpected

THE DUNWICH HORROR

• 1970 horror film starring Sandra Dee

• Inspired by Lovecraft story of the same name

• A young coed decides to investigate the Necronomicon as part of her research at Miskatonic University. However, the town she’s staying in has other plans.

• At least the Necronomicon looks good in the film.

THE EVIL DEAD

• Both the 1981 cult horror and the 2013 remake also use the Necronomicon

• I prefer the remake’s approach to Lovecraftian nonsense, but the original is a far better film

• Take it away, Bruce Campbell

LOVECRAFT DREAMS

• Before introducing the world to the likes of Ry’leh, Yog Soggoth, and Cthulhu, Lovecraft wrote a series of twisted fantasy stories about the world beyond your dreams

• They feature elements of the insanity of the Great Old Ones and Poe-like conceits of unreliable narrators and a snowball effect of horror

• Next to the Cthulhu Mythos, the story “Beyond the Wall of Sleep” has seen the most cinematic adaptations

FROM BEYOND

• 1986 horror film starring Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton and directed by Stuart Gordon

• Features fantastic effects sequences and Lovecraftian insanity, but bares very little resemblance to the actual short story by Lovecraft

YOU WANT ACCURACY?

• From Beyond the Wall of Sleep is the story of a devoutly religious man who snaps and murders his whole family with an axe. He is deemed incapable of standing trial and sentenced to an asylum. A scientist wants to test out his newest invention, a system that can link the brain patterns of two people and pull them into the same dream space. The murderer tells stories of a fantastical dream world that led to the murder of his family.

• The device is a series of helmets and a focal point that will let the scientist enter the mind of the murderer when they match patterns on basically a metronome

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC

• 1977 sci-fi/horror film starring Linda Blair

• A terrible, mostly unrelated sequel to The Exorcist

• However, as an adaptation of Lovecraft, it becomes far more interesting

PACIFIC RIM

• 2013 sci-fi film from Guillermo del Toro

• Let’s be real. Guillermo del Toro has been promising a Lovecraft film for years. Is it a coincidence that his could-be blockbuster film features giant monsters rising from deep beneath the ocean to destroy humanity? Those are the Great Old Ones.

• More importantly, the film consistently pulls the mind melding technique from Beyond the Wall of Sleep

LEMORA, A CHILD’S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL

• 1973 noir/horror film inspired by Night of the Hunter

• A young girl goes on a quest to find out what happened to her father years before

• While not a full-blown Lovecraft adaptation, writer/director Richard Blackburn sets the scene with a bizarre sequence referencing Lovecraftian madness and mutation in New England, aka Lovecraft’s home

RE-ANIMATOR

• 1985 sci-fi/horror starring Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, directed by Stuart Gordon

• Arguably the greatest Lovecraft adaptation ever

• Adapted from Herbert West—Reanimator

THE CALL OF CTHULHU

• 2005 silent horror film from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society

• The most accurate Lovecraft adaptation I’ve encountered

• Also, my pick for the best Lovecraft film

LOVECRAFT ON THE SILVER SCREEN

Robert Gannon

http://thesketchydetails.net

@robertjgannon

Connecticon 2014