[OT] Movies, Cthulhu and D&D

[Aaron L]

Every movie John Carpenter makes is Lovecraftian, with In the Mouth of Madness and Prince of Darkness and The Thing at the top I think.

I saw the Necronomicon a couple years ago, and boy I thought it was a stinker. Not horrible, just a grade B movie all the way.

Jeffery Combs is a Lovecraft fanatic and tries to be in every Lovecraftian movie made, and has been in a lot. He was also in Deep Space 9 as Wayoun. He's awesome .

Ghostbusters is very Lovecraftian, Rune! I loved the cartoon and remember all the episodes with the Mythos in them, wicht: the one where they electrify the roller coaster on Coney Island to banish Cthulhu (Ray went to Miskatonic and says "Go 'Pods!"), and the one in Russia (Peter: "If these Great Old Ones were so powerful, why did they build these walls all over the place?" Egon: "Those aren't walls, Peter, they're steps.") If I remember correctly they were both written by J. Michael Straczinsky, creator of Babylon 5.


Evil Cultist Chant:
"Firecracker, Firecracker, Sis-Boom-Ba, Old Ones, Old Ones, Rah Rah Rah!"

 

[Bugbear]

Evolution

No, i'm not kidding. Take out the silliness and the movie has some very lovecraftian themes to it. (Not giving out any details so as not to spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it)

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Umm... the Hammer horror flick "Die Monster Die" was based on The Colour Out Of Space, I think. A bad 80s movie, "The Curse" (starring the dreaded Wesley Crusher) was a remake... or slightly inspired by... or... well, not at all. Just as "The Haunted Palace" of the 60s, despite the Poe title, was based on Charles Dexter Ward, I believe. Although it was Corman, and he wasn't known for faithful interpretations by any means.

Actually, a lot of the Hammer films (independent of Dracula, Frankenstein, or The Mummy), like "The Reptile" and "Blood Beast Terror" (although sometimes of questionable quality) are kinda Lovecraftian. Of course, there's the British (Hammer?) SF movie "Five Million Miles To Earth" (?), AKA "Quartermass and the Pit".

"From Hell" (the comic book, not the movie) had some Lovecraftian themes to it. Many of Jack's speeches in that book are Lovecraftian...

 

[Neowolf]

Odd, I seem to be the only one who thought The Necronomicon was bad... Mostly bad actors, and that last little story (the one set in New York City with the cops and the underground monsters) was just awful. Call me crazy, but I thought it stunk.

 

[1StrangeFellow]

I generally find myself unable to appreciate most horror movies. They have the opposite effect on me than most people... I find almost all of them quite silly (especially if I'm in the theater and get to watch everyone else scared of something I think is ridiculous). I laughed my way through 13 Ghosts. A very amusing movie with comic book 'ghosts' and a giant glass Rubic's Deathtrap. I sit through a horror movie... only because I can give it the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment.

I guess it comes from growing up with a paranoid schizophrenic grandmother who spoke in what seemed to be gibberish and sacrificed animals in the attic (among other things). The Blair Witch was just some stupid old lady who made arts and crafts and hung them in trees. She would have done better if she'd taken her folk art stick people and sold them by the road... location, location, location. Occassionally she'd leave her pet rock outside your tent or make you go stand in the corner. Yawn. Big frikkin' deal.

When I was a kid, the Shining kind of got me a little worked up (reminded me of my own "dear old dad" whacked out and chasing me through the woods with a shotgun). I guess when you live through horror or see some of the stranger things out there Hollywood CGI boogeymen and people with masks and chainsaws just don't do it. The reactions of the actors playing 'victims' or 'survivors' really don't match up with reality all that much, either.

I can't take a date to a horror movie - ever - because if she gets scared and I'm sitting there quite obviously trying to keep from bursting out in laughter, and later have to explain why over coffee or dinner that's usually the last time I ever see that person again.

Reading Lovecraft kind of does the same thing. He builds up, builds up, builds up... and then "Oh, is that it?!" I appreciate what he was trying to do but I've found weirder things as the toy surprise in my breakfast cereal.

And while I find myself liking CoC and eager to run the game, the sanity thing kind of bothers me. I have to read the section further -I've just glossed over so far, because I hope that there is some kind of rule or optional rule that allows you to not continue losing so much sanity after repeated exposures to things or allows for some kind of desensitization. If I lost sanity points the way proscribed in the book for different things, they'd be pumping me full of drugs and I'd be propped up in the corner with a big stupid grin on my face. See one zombie, fine, you freak out. See a zombie several times in a lifetime I don't think it's going to keep having the same exact effect. Either you freaked out so bad the first time that the zombie ate your brains with some mint jelly while you stood there paralyzed after wetting yourself, or you got a grip on the fact that something like a zombie exists. Not that I've actually seen zombies, but still.... Granted, you might not be able to relate to ordinary people who haven't seen the things you have quite as well and you might refrain from talking about certain things you've seen because they'll think you're crazy (things I can understand personally), but actually go insane or keep getting more insane each time? The mind is a remarkable thing, and is eventually able to wrap itself around some pretty astounding things, heal or defend itself.

I agree that 13 Ghosts is not very Lovecraftian. It could probably be altered to fit better, though. I can't think of too many horror movies that actually work. Actually, this thread might be helpful for me planning my CoC adventures. What movies or books actually scare 'normal' people?

 

[Wicht]

Odd, I seem to be the only one who thought The Necronomicon was bad... Mostly bad actors, and that last little story (the one set in New York City with the cops and the underground monsters) was just awful. Call me crazy, but I thought it stunk.

I thought most of it was pretty bad myself and really thought (as I stated before) they missed the whole point of the Necronomicon, making it some kind of wierd bedtime storytelling book.

But then I don't see Lovecraft in the Excorcist at all. Thats all catholicism too me. Legion (aka. Excorcist III) also has very little of Lovecraft in it (IMO), especially if you have read the book (the movie follows the second book very well - I believe the author directed)

Nor do I think ALL Carpenter movies have Lovecraftian elements (though In the mouth of Madness, The Thing and Prince of Darkness certainly do. Vampire$ however was just a terrible movie based on an even worse book and had no CoC elements. IMO Big Trouble in Little China owes far more to DnD than to Lovecraft.

Did anyone but me ever Read the Samarai Cat books. One or two of those stories had Cthulhu in them, Shadow over Innsmouth and Call of Cthulhu were the two I think were spoofed. (Great books but impossible to find - one library I visited as a Kid had them but haven't seen them anywhere else and they cost a fortune off the Net used.)

 

[Angelsboi]

I liked it. Then again ive always liked Jeffery Coombs. Its a matter of tatse. I mean i thought all the Ash Movies (ok i only saw army of darkness) sucked. Yet everyone else seems to like them *shrugs*

Its all taste.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

2) Thir13en Ghosts. AWESOME movie and a great idea. Would this work for a plot for D&D/Cthulhu?

Just watched this last night...

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If you made Cyrus into an NPC (I'm assuming you would), then he, as well as his little sidekick (the other woman, not the woman playing Maggie and not Shannon Elizabeth), would need much stronger motivations than they were assigned in the movie. I never felt threatened by them, which is a bit problematic, given that they were the villains. The ghosts could use strong motivations, too. I thought the best part of the DVD was the little extra where they talked about the Ghosts' backstories. That was kind of neat.

The whole Deus ex Machina bit, where Cyrus's little sidekick saves the family and brings them to the library, would have to go. I would also keep the Psychic out of the house, or make him less of a guide type character — otherwise, he'll steal all the thunder from the PCs, inasmuch as I think it would work better if the PCs could figure out what was going on as opposed to being told. I felt at points like I was watching a checkers game last night as I watched the movie. The characters felt like little plot pieces that were being shuffled around to make things happen that the screenwriter wanted to have happen.
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Anyhow, I guess this is all to say that I'd probably use the idea of the ghosts and the house, but I would toss the characters pretty much out the window and start from scratch. I didn't find the film compelling when I watched it last night, and I think without severe modification, it could really fall flat as an adventure. Not once during the movie did I feel like the characters were in danger — this is problematic for a horror movie. If you can make it more threatening, involve the PCs in the process of discovery, and emphasize more of the backstory, I'd think you'd have a winner. If you decide to use it, do let me know how it turns out, as I'm curious to see how you work it.

As for the film and any Lovecraftian elements that it could have, I don't really see it, it just doesn't have that flair.

Originally posted by 1StrangeFellow
I agree that 13 Ghosts is not very Lovecraftian. It could probably be altered to fit better, though. I can't think of too many horror movies that actually work. Actually, this thread might be helpful for me planning my CoC adventures. What movies or books actually scare 'normal' people?

I don't think anyone's brought this up yet, and if they have, I apologize, but Rosemary's Baby could certainly be modified into a CoC adventure (I think). This movie scares the hell out of me.

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I mean, if you replace Satan with Cthulhu or another beastie from Lovecraft, and make the Satan Worshippers into Cultists, it could be pretty neat. I wouldn't even think you would need to make the Rosemary character a woman — imagine the shock when a man finds out that he's holding the spawn of Cthulhu inside of him?
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Hope this helps,
tKL