Carcosa

For those of you who have seen THE CALL OF CTHULHU, the recent, very faithful adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story presented as a 1920's silent film....here is the upcoming offering from those nutty guys at the HPLHS...

WHISPERER IN DARKNESS is the latest Lovecraft adaptation and presented in the style of a Universal-type horror films of the 1930's. The link takes you to the new teaser trailer.

http://www.cthulhulives.org/Whisperer/trailer.html

The link below is for the CALL OF CTHULHU, which was a 4 1/2 star rated film by DVDTALK's own silent film reviewer John Sinnott...

http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/trailer.html

Check them out....they are a lot of fun....

Ky-Fi

YES!!! Thanks for posting that, you made my night. I love their Call of Cthulhu movie, and Whisperer in the Darkness is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories---I did not know they were doing that one next.

Oh, and it's a talkie, too.

Carcosa

I just saw this on the website today...I knew it was in the works but didn't know where they were with it....

Kudama

I hope they get the buzzing voice of the MiGo fungus right. This should be sweet. It's also one of my favorites (I got a bumper sticker saying "My other vehicle is a MiGo brain cylinder").

Evil ASh

Yikes! Nice one! CoC was just awesome! Loved every minute of it! I'll be picking that up for sure! (Man am I excited or what?)

Terri

I have NEVER seen a good screen adaption of Lovecraft's writings that captures their archaic atmosphere and genuine sense of horror for the weird and the cosmic. The films I've seen have either been filled with splatter and ironic nonserious actors, or else been amateurish and incompetent. I saw the trailer for Call of Cthulhu and it looked nice, although it seems to aim at creating an accurate superficial style more than actual content. I also heard that the presentation of Cthulhu was weak. The best adaption I've seen so far is Richard Corben's 4 minute film Dagon; it is very different from Lovecraft's visualisation I think, but at least it captures some of the awe for the weird and the bizarre.

I regret that Max von Sydow was not used when he was younger to portray Lovecraft in either a film about his life or as his alter ego in one of his stories. Sydow looks very much like Lovecraft and has the same jaw. With some makeup he would have been identical. And he could have portrayed the mix of aristocracy and slight goofyness I believe Loveraft had.

Carcosa

It was a brilliant approach, actually. Lovecraft's fiction IS dated absolutely, and the filmmaker's recognized that the only way to capture the spirit and tone of HPL was to do it in a contemporary setting....contemporary to when the story was actually written of course. So the film was done in a deliberate style...but it isn't style over substance. As much as I like RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND, they are decidedly NOT Lovecraft.



This never occured to me...and you are right!!!

If you haven't seen the film OUT OF MIND, you are in for a treat. Christopher Heyerdahl's performance as HPL is a marvel.....its on DVD from Lurker Films.

Evil ASh

Yeah, Out of Mind is also quite good. But I also must agree that while I like a lot of movies based off Lovecraft's works (Absolutely love Re-Animator) I'm yet to see a movie that really translates the dark Lovecraftian atmosphere to the screen. But I must also say that I've seen quite a few movies based off Poe's works and all of them had the same problem. Maybe it's a problem with a style. It's not visual enough.

Terri

Ok. No, I haven't seen that one. By the way, is Christopher Heyerdahl a relative of the famous Norse scientist Tor Heyerdahl? He was almost a Lovecraftian character, as he explored the mysterious ancient monolith statues on Easter Island. HELL! His colleague, Gustaf Johansen, even figured in Call of Cthulhu, where he set foot on surfaced RŽlyeh!

Heyerdahl also found primitive unique sculptures on Easter Island. Clark Aston Smith, another great writer, friend and kindred spirit of Lovecraft, without knowing it sculpted figures in his spare time that were much identical with those on Easter Island.

Smith's stories should also be filmed!! Christ! Why is the technical expertise of Industrial Light and Magic wasted on romantic space opera crap, when there are more interesting things to be made? The tools are available, where is the will?

I agree with Evil ASh. Lovecraft's fiction is in its own perfect medium in the stories themselves, the words give an idea what's it's all about. And this can't fully be translated into film, because much of its essence is not visual. For example, at the end of Call of Cthulhu, there are mindnumbing forces present not visible to the eyes. The air is reeking with madness. So painful. And this comes from more than just twisted perspectives in the stones. The whole atmosphere is tainted with invisible hostile presence. The experience of it is so much an inner one. And even that which is visibly described in the story can't be put on screen, because it twists the natural physical laws and dimensions, and if this was possible, the film audience would probably go mad too.

But I believe that many interesting interpretations can be made of Lovecraft's stories. Although the pure terror can't be shown, much of the scenic atmospheres of the stories would definitely be possible to present. Many of his monsters, like Cthulhu, also have estetically interesting forms, which are worthwhile in themselves, even if their inner horror can't be delivered.

I think that Alien is a film a that has some nice Lovecraftian elements. It has the awe and horror at something alien and strange, and the actors do a good job of showing this. This is perhaps as far as it technically can be stretched on film. Although with more poetic element, it can probably be given even more nightmarish qualities.

I think, that to make a REALLY good film of a Lovecraft story, there is needed a director that is feverishly poetic. Because the stories are very much atmospheric dreamscapes, and can't be approached in purely rational ways, no matter how talented the director. I think that new daring grips are needed in filmmaking, that explore new territories and ways of storytelling, that goes beyond the commercially calculating conventional ways of the Hollywood producers. Leave the security of materialistic action and fastpaced filmlanguage behind, and start exploring inner dimensions, where time and space disintegrate and don't follow linear direction.

Ky-Fi

Terri,
I think you should really give Call of Cthulhu a chance---you might be pleasantly surprised with the attention to Lovecraftian detail that the filmmakers put into that one.

Linn1

I was very impressed, and this one looks excellent. And it would be one of the easier ones to film as well. Any idea about a release date for this?

Carcosa

From what I understand, its in production now so I would expect it sometime later in 2008.