Lovecraftian Film

[Kaelestes]

I was hoping to find a huge database of Lovecraft inspired film when I punched in my new forum account today, but I guess we lost all of the old goods with the transfer. I've seen the 2007 "Cthulhu" and I already own the amazing silent film "The Call of Cthulhu," I just finished the 1980s adaptation of "From Beyond" today, and I know the 2001 "Dagon" is complete crap. So what else worth watching is out there?

[Genus Unknown]

I wouldn't say "Dagon" is crap at all.  It's a lot of fun.  Not terribly faithful to the original story (which would be "Innsmouth," not "Dagon"), but that isn't the only criterion for judging a movie.

[Kaelestes]

I wouldn't say "Dagon" is crap at all.  It's a lot of fun.  Not terribly faithful to the original story (which would be "Innsmouth," not "Dagon"), but that isn't the only criterion for judging a movie.

I actually meant 'complete crap' as an account of Dagon's faithfulness to the HPL story it was trying to convey, both in plot and emotional content, and not as an attack on its overall value. So my apologies, as I'm sure the film could be a real B-Movie hoot if given the chance!

[JulieH]

One of my faves is "The Resurrected" (Charles Dexter Ward)
There's also a lovely short B&W film of Cool Air from Lurker Films.
Sadly, there's not a lot of really GOOD Lovecraft adaptations, though I quite liked Dagon.

Some possibly fun B-movie ones, though, might include "The Curse" (but only if you can stand banjo music); The Lurking Fear; Bleeders.

For maybe lovecraftian feel - try "Castle Freak" (a fairly serious movie with Jeffrey Combs in a non-evil role); and/or Spider Baby (whcih is sort what might happen if Lovecraft is crossed with the 1960s)

[MartinRonnlund]

I wouldn't say that Dagon is complete crap, actually it's a rather good slasher/splatter-adaptation of Shadow over Innsmouth. My favourite scene is the flashback to when the captain destroys the church... too bad the rest of the story is about some nerd running around town.
Also, you can't argue with choirs singing "Iä, Cthulhu!". Man I wish I could buy that soundtrack.

[JulieH]

Also, I've heard people criticize Dagon for moving the story away from New England, but if yu think about it, they HAD to if they were going to make it modern.  There simply isn't much room for such a completely isolated community on the U.S. (at least not on the east coast) any more, and it's not very believable if they tried to pretend like it was always there, and just no one had noticed it....

[Kaelestes]

We've got plenty of isolated coastline here in Washington, so bring on the old ones! I dare say we could use a few violent cults out here to amp up the excitement. - And if the hideous fish people were to perhaps stomp out all of the glittering vampires up in Forks while they're at it, or more importantly their dutiful worshipers, that would be just peachy.

[Danial]

I think Dagon is actually one of the better adaptations out there. My most recent viewing was "Cast A Deadly Spell" on YouTube, and despite the many Mythos references, wasn't "Lovecraftian" in the slightest. The Thing is still one of the best for my money

[JulieH]

We've got plenty of isolated coastline here in Washington, so bring on the old ones! I dare say we could use a few violent cults out here to amp up the excitement. - And if the hideous fish people were to perhaps stomp out all of the glittering vampires up in Forks while they're at it, or more importantly their dutiful worshipers, that would be just peachy.

Ooh! another pacific northwesterner!!!

And of course we could have a weird cult up here - Nick Cage's pathetic remake "The Hamper Man" happened out in the islands...

[Kaelestes]

Ooh! another pacific northwesterner!!!

And of course we could have a weird cult up here - Nick Cage's pathetic remake "The Hamper Man" happened out in the islands...

Yeah, rep-a-zent!! . . . Somebody needs to come up with a flashy gang sign for PNW . . .

You know, I've been all over those islands and I have yet to run into any mallet weilding bee worshipers. Shame really. But back on topic, I completely agree with you, Danial. John Carpenter's "The Thing" is an excellent Lovecraftian piece, even though it doesn't follow any of the stories. That movie came out while I was still learning to crawl, but its quality is astounding.

[JulieH]

Oh Summerisle is right next to the Isla del Muerte of "House of the Dead".  Why not - they both have spooky churchy ruins on them...

For chthuloid monsters, one of my faves (though the story is straight action) is from "Deep Rising"

[Danial]

It occured to me today that Mimic has aspects of Whisperer in it (insectoid creatures posing as humans)!

[catamount]

Parts of the coasts of Newfoundland in Canada would make a great setting for a colony of Deep Ones, that area hasn't changed as much as coastal New England has over the years. 'Course God only knows what that BP oil accident in the Gulf Coast will unleash from the depths of the ocean floor

[JulieH]

It occured to me today that Mimic has aspects of Whisperer in it (insectoid creatures posing as humans)!

The one problem I have with that (apart from the plot) is that THOSE insectoids are ENTIRELY humanity's fault.  It was our engineering that caused them to begin mutating.  Lovecraft never put that much capability into human hands (well, maybe Herbert West.)

[Kaelestes]

It occured to me today that Mimic has aspects of Whisperer in it (insectoid creatures posing as humans)!

The one problem I have with that (apart from the plot) is that THOSE insectoids are ENTIRELY humanity's fault.  It was our engineering that caused them to begin mutating.  Lovecraft never put that much capability into human hands (well, maybe Herbert West.)

Oh come now, we've had a number of competent mad scientists causing otherworldy havoc and widespread suffering in HPL's stories. There was, as you said, good ol' Herbert, and then there was Dr. Muñoz from "Cool Air," in "From Beyond" we had Tillinghast building his perception altering machine, and Alhazred wrote the book on crazy. And there were others as well.