Films based on HP Lovecraft

[jenna26]

Originally Posted by no mulier

Watched Beyond the Wall of Sleep last night. Didn't finish it. It's doubtful there was anything to miss out on at the end. It was utter rubbish!

To say that people won't like this film because it's arthouse? A mere excuse. By taking only the basic premise in Lovecraft's story, they totally missed his point.

Okay, I was warned. :rolleyes:

I tried to tell you, I swear, everyone would be so much better off if they would listen to me.......:p Its awful. And believe me, it didn't get better. A complete mess.

I typically read the book or story first. That disappointment can be there, for sure, but I think I am usually pretty good about separating the two. Movies are a lot different from books, and they have to take a different approach for them to work. And I don't mind a whole lot if a filmmaker makes the story his own. I would rather judge the movie on its merits as a film, rather than as an adaptation of a story I love. Of course, I have exceptions to this.....Stephen King's The Shining for instance, a fine movie, but I have my problems with the direction Kubrick took.
I'm actually fairly new to Lovecraft though, so I have seen several movie adaptions of, or movies loosely based upon stories I haven't gotten to yet.

[Zero]

wasn't pee wee's big adventure based on lovecraft?

[no mulier]

Originally Posted by Vodstok

Dont judge him on mimic, it is a poor representationof his skills. I have seen his movie sin this order:
Mimic
Blade 2
HellBoy
The Devil's Backbone
Pan's Labyrinth

Thanks, Vodstok. I'll pass on Blade and Hellboy (for some reason I dislike the idea behind them), but will be sure to watch the last two.

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Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

I prefer seeing the film before reading the book.... I'm usually disappointed otherwise.

Originally Posted by jenna26

I typically read the book or story first. That disappointment can be there, for sure, but I think I am usually pretty good about separating the two...I don't mind a whole lot if a filmmaker makes the story his own. I would rather judge the movie on its merits as a film, rather than as an adaptation of a story I love.

You both have a good point. Knowing that a film came to be, ideally because of a book or story, I'd naturally be inclined to read what it's about before seeing the film. It creates a context for it. And while chances are high that one gets disappointed with the adaptation, there is always the rare surprise of finding that eventhough it may not be wholly faithful to the material, it has a unique quality from its maker's vision, expression or interpretation that does justice to the book or story. In my opinion, Dunwich Horror, In the Mouth of Madness and Stuart Gordon's the Black Cat are such examples. On the flipside, I've never seen a film that compelled me to read the book or story.

I'm fairly new to Lovecraft, too, jenna26 and so few adaptation films seen! :)

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Originally Posted by Zero

wasn't pee wee's big adventure based on lovecraft?

Ehrm. There doesn't seem to be anything even remotely Lovecraftian about this tale.

[neverending]

You mean you never saw the copy of the Necronomicon in Pee Wee's library?

[Kemal]

Holy shit.

[neverending]

You see what we're saying?

[no mulier]

Originally Posted by neverending

You mean you never saw the copy of the Necronomicon in Pee Wee's library?

It could have been placed there by an enemy. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Kemal

Holy shit.

Now now, let's not be vulgar. :cool:

[no mulier]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

Made a couple years back and shot in black and white...with the feel of a 1920s movie. It is brilliantly shot and directed, with a lot of old-school techniques driving it instead of any modern cgi. Lovecraft would actually be proud of the way this one panned out to be.

Originally Posted by The_Return

Oh and for the record: I was really disappointed with that Call of Cthulhu movie. The concept is really cool and some of the stuff near the end is spot-on (R'leh was great), but overall it's even more tedious than the original story. I didn't dislike it per se, but even at a scant 47 minutes, it failed to hold my attention.

Finally saw Call of Cthulhu yesterday.

Having seen so few silent films, it took me a moment to get used to the obvious lack of audible dialogue. That aside, the film is just lovely. A labour of love, and you can see and feel the great care with which they made this adaptation from the set pieces and props, lighting, makeup and costumes down to its actors. While in the beginning, it did seem tedious to me (most likely due to my initial awkwardness with the film's style), the pace picked up steadily until its exciting climax.

Here here, _____V_____: Lovecraft would be pleased.

Side note. This film being something of a direct visualization of the story, I couldn't help feeling that it was superfluous at first, since we all do that in our heads. After seeing the film, it's actually interesting to see how similar and different someone else's visualization is.

Up next... Lovecraft DVD Collection - Volume 1: Cool Air

[no mulier]

H.P. Lovecraft Collection Volume 1: Cool Air

I've always had a thing for black and white films. The way the absence of colour temporarily dislodges one's routine way of watching films and makes one focus on the sound, motion and characters throughout the story. The soundtrack and effects blended very nicely to the scenes. Only at the beginning of the film was I distracted by some uneven cutting, which smoothed out as the story progressed. Randolph Carter wasn't quite the personality I expected. Dr. Muñoz was the light at the end of this film's tunnel. The actor is sensitive and open, with the sensibilities that Lovecraft would've appreciated. All this comes out in his character which was absolutely brilliant. On the down-side, the human tragedy demonstrated with the romance angle being the only passion (and subsequently the human tragedy) in Dr. Muñoz's life, to me was simply anti-Lovecraft. All that aside, this was an enjoyable adaptation.

Short Films Included:

Nyarlathotep - effectively surreal and apocalyptic, better than average adaptation, the first "Lovecraft" main character I've seen.

Imperfect Solution - at first I could not help feeling annoyed at this one. Kept comparing this Herbert West to Jeffrey Combs' and just found this one to be absolutely absurd. Somebody hit me. If it was truly intended this way, bravo. As later pointed out to me by a benevolent soul, this adaptation was faithful to the material and perfectly duplicated the spirit in which the story was written. Another lesson to learn.

the Hound - some chilling moments, the erratic narration is quite effective. Decent special effects, very imaginative lighting and cinematography. A faithful adaptation with big heart.

the Hapless Antiquarian - a filler in jest. I don't get why this is here at all.

[bloodrayne]

Originally Posted by Vodstok

Stuart Gordon has a lot of moxie, but i think his movies do more to hurt rather than help future lovecraft projects.

Haha...How is it that you and I are almost always at opposite ends about movies?

It's true that Stuart Gordon takes quite a bit of liberty with Lovecraft's stuff...But, I absolutely LOVE what he does, and the addition of Jeffrey Combs makes it even better...Stuart Gordon has never let me down...It took me forever to find From Beyond to purchase, but I was so happy when I finally got it...I have all of the others, as well, and they are some of my favorites in this vast collection

In The Mouth Of Madness is awesome, too...Kudos to Carpenter on that one

I recommend ALL of the Lovecraft projects that Stuart Gordon has undertaken...As well as everything else that Stuart Gordon has done (Yes, even Dolls ;))