Lovecraftian Films?

Rackhir said:
WOW! Thanks for that list Gomez.


I would put in another vote for "In the Mouth of Madness", while it ultimately failed at it's ambitious goal, it remains a fascinating failure. The references are much more to to King than Lovecraft, but the feel of the movie is defintely in the later's camp. The whole spreading madness theme is very Lovecraft as is the "knowledge driving you insane" thread and reality not really being what we think it is.

One movie that was not mentioned that I would add was the somewhat unfortunately named "She-Creature". No overt references to Lovecraft's stuff, but the story and the movie really do feel like they could have been written by HPL.


"Cast a Deadly Spell" Is a very funny movie with enough little jokes and background events going on to place it up in the Airplane/Top Secret class. It's well worth the effort to track down, but I would have to disagree about the sequel "Witch Hunt" I felt it lost everything that made the first movie so much fun other than a handful of background jokes.

Thanks, I will have to track down She-Creature. Though I never saw "Cast a Deadly Spell" as a Airplane or Top Secret type movie.

I didn't like "In the Mouth of Madness" that much. Instead of being creepy and scary, it was confusing and weird. I did enjoy the "Pickman's Hotel" reference though.
 
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Gomez said:
Thanks, I will have to track down She-Creature. Though I never saw "Cast a Deadly Spell" as a Airplane or Top Secret type movie.

It's not an Airplane or Top-Secret kind of movie, but it IS funny at a level comparable to those movies and like them it has a lot of stuff going on in the background that is worth paying attention to. For example in once scene a porter has a bunch of luggage floating along behind him. In another as a secretary walks up to a filling cabinet, the drawer opens by it's self and the file flies up into her waiting hand. One of the tag lines for the movie is that magic works and everybody uses it. None of these events or many other are pointed out, they just happen in the background like they do in any movie, but they do reflect and underscore what the world of the movie is like.

One addition, the old Rod Sterling series "Night Gallery" did an episode called "Pickman's Model". Presumably based on the HPL story of the same name. I have it on my Tivo, but haven't gotten around to watching it yet.
 
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Darn you beat me to it. :) Oh well, here are Television shows with Lovecraftian influences.

Night Gallery
Each of the following vignettes are part of a single episode of the show.

“Cool Air” (Episode 18)
A young woman falls in love with a colleague of her dead father, who is dying in his very chilly home. Not a bad adaptation, despite the inclusion of a romantic element, but the ending mars the mood.

“Miss Lovecraft Sent Me” (Episode 7)
This mildly humourous short skit has no Lovecraftian elements, only using his name.

“Pickman’s Model” (Episode 17)
In Victorian Boston, a woman encounters an artist who paints ghouls. Like “Cool Air,” a romantic element is included, but it is the creature shown at the end that ruins the episode.

“Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture” (Episode 14)
Professor Peabody (Carl Reiner) spouts the names of many creatures in the “mythos.” His students include Mssrs. Bloch, Derleth, and Lovecraft. Although this episode is pretty silly, it is, again, the creature at the end that makes it especially laughable.

“The Return of the Sorcerer” (Episode 29)
Based on Clark Ashton Smith’s “mythos” story of the same name, this episode only manages to remain above average due to the performances of Vincent Price and Bill Bixby.



The Real Ghostbusters
Two episodes of this cartoon had Lovecraftian references.

“Collect Call of Cthulhu”
When the Necronomicon is stolen by some tentacled beast, the Ghostbusters are helped out by Dr. Alice Derleth from Arkham. Michael Reaves wrote the script for this episode.

“Russian About”
The Ghostbusters are in Russia attending a lecture when a magical grimoire is stolen and the Old Ones are unleashed. This episode was written by J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of “Babylon 5.”
 
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Rackhir said:
It's not an Airplane or Top-Secret kind of movie, but it IS funny at a level comparable to those movies and like them it has a lot of stuff going on in the background that is worth paying attention to. For example in once scene a porter has a bunch of luggage floating along behind him. In another as a secretary walks up to a filling cabinet, the drawer opens by it's self and the file flies up into her waiting hand. One of the tag lines for the movie is that magic works and everybody uses it. None of these events or many other are pointed out, they just happen in the background like they do in any movie, but they do reflect and underscore what the world of the movie is like.

I really liked the idea of zombies being used as construction workers! :D
 

Hmm no one mentioned In the Mouth of Madness with Sam Neil. The whole story, look and feel felt like COC adventure If ever saw one.
 
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tecnowraith said:
Hmm no one mentioned In the Mouth of Madness with Sam Neil.
Umm, Gomez & Rackhir both mentioned it on the first page...

Personally (and I've mentioned before) I feel that Willie Wonka & the Chocolate factory is a Mythos story...but not many people agree with me on that one. :D
 

Krieg said:
Umm, Gomez & Rackhir both mentioned it on the first page...

Personally (and I've mentioned before) I feel that Willie Wonka & the Chocolate factory is a Mythos story...but not many people agree with me on that one. :D

Oh man, why didn't I see it before. Willie Wonka is one of the Masks of Nyarlathotep!
 


Andrew D. Gable said:
Then the Oompa-Loompas have to be Proto-shoggoths or something. I mean look at 'em. They're just so... evil. And orange...
Tcho-tcho.

It becomes clearer if you read the book.
 

I'm really curious about The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath featured in the Lovecraft films festival... They sold out their DVDs but are getting a 'special edition' done soon. Should be a blast. :)
 

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