A reminder: Lovecraft untamed...

For Immediate Release:


James Raynor has released a DVD collection containing all the films he's produced under his Untamed Aggression banner! The compilation DVD set includes:

Angry and Moist: An Undead Chronicle (inspired by Herbert West: Reanimator) Leftovers: A Tale of the Killer Sandwich
Killer Sandwich 2: Leftovers Reloaded
I Am Legend: Done in 60 Seconds (plus Extended Cut)
The Throne

Extra features include outtakes, behind the scenes footage and commentaries. As a limited-time bonus, I've also included Psychosis and H.P. Lovecraft's The Book (read Tom Sullivan's review here), with additional features.

To buy the set (£10 plus £1.75 P+P/Shipping), click here. Please specify whether you'd like it in PAL or NTSC format.

(Thanks to James Raynor)

Pickman's Models: Cthulhu...

From the Unfilmable.com archives...

It's time for another Pickman's Models, and this time around we have an interesting interpretation of Cthulhu from my son's collection of Weird n' Wild Creatures cards. Cthulhu is part of the Monsters of the Mind collection...

Click on the images for enlarged detail and easier reading...



(Thanks to Gage Mullins)

Quoth Cthulhu: Eldritch Quintuplet...

From the Unfilmable.com archives...

This weeks Quoth Cthulhu is a personalized Eldritch Quintuplet written by Mike Tice & R.A. Strong...

When Craig took a trip to explore
The desolate New England shore,
Some locals with gills
Chased him into the hills
And he hasn't been seen anymore.

- Mike Tice & R.A. Strong

(Thanks to Elegantly Amused Press)

Unfilmable.com poll: best performance...

The last Unfilmable.com poll, What is your favorite print comic based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft?, is over and our latest poll, Best performance in a Lovecraft film?, is now online. Results will be available on July 12th...

Results for the third poll are as follows:

1 vote: Fall of Cthulhu (Boom! Studios)
3 votes: The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft (Image Comics)
3 votes: Planet Lovecraft (Saturna Ink Publishing)
0 votes: Lovecraft (Vertigo)
1 vote: Haunt of Horror (Max Comics)
0 votes: Cthulhu Tales (Boom! Studios)
0 votes: Howard and the Frozen Kingdom (Arcana Studio)
1 vote: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (Mock Man Press)
0 votes: Creepy (Warren)
0 votes: Eerie (Warren)
0 votes: Skull (Last Gasp Eco-Funnies)
1 vote: Heavy Metal Magazine
0 votes: Re-Animator (Adventure Comics)
0 votes: H.P. Lovecraft, The Master of Horror (Adventure Comics)
0 votes: The Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft (Caliber Comics)
0 votes: Lori Lovecraft (Caliber Comics)
0 votes: H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu (Millenium)
0 votes: other

Thanks for voting...

Aaron Vanek reviews The Dunwich Horror...

I regret that I missed this one at last year's H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. As has been typical the last few years, there are far too many movies each year to see them all. I mistakenly thought this Dunwich Horror, which stars Dean Stockwell, was the old 1970 version of the story.

Fortunately, I was finally able to catch it. I heard from C. Courtney Joyner (screenwriter/director of The Lurking Fear) that this movie did for the original Lovecraft story what The Curse did for Lovecraft's favorite story, "The Colour Out of Space". Ouch.

So it was with some trepidation that I watched this.

SPOILER ALERT

Ultimately, it's a mixed bag. The story is closer to the original text than I expected, which was a good thing. There's no Powder of Ibn-Ghazi, alas.


Dean Stockwell plays Henry Armitage, and Jeffrey Combs plays Wilbur Whateley. I thought Stockwell was fine, and Combs was perfectly cast as someone who didn't want to be there and scowled through every scene thinking about the only actor's motivation: their paycheck.

The main leads, however, are "unknowns" and did OK.

The Whateley farm has been relocated from New England (in the original story) to Louisiana. I didn't have a problem with this, and the location shooting was great. And any way to bring money into that hurricane-torn state is a good thing in my mind.

But the characters managed to hop from New England to the swamp fairly easily. Isn't it a two-day drive to get down there?


Also, many of the interior locations, while very antiquated and picturesque, weren't quite right. This is best exemplified when Wilbur comes to Miskatonic looking for the Necronomicon, and Armitage takes him into the "library." Armitage says something like "there's a lot of books here, can you describe the one you're looking for, maybe we can narrow it down," yet we can't see any books anywhere in the room.

As a no-budget indie filmmaker, I am well aware of the difficulty in getting good locations, but couldn't the working-for-free PA's check out a few hundred library books (they have libraries in Louisiana, right?) and buy some cheap IKEA bookshelves? (do they have IKEA in Louisiana?)

Other locations also fell into that mold: looks great, but doesn't really have anything to do with the scene.

The computer graphics effects were a tad below average, mainly because something had to be shown. The best was the look/face of Wilbur's brother, which was kick-ass, and only seen briefly, in glimpses.


The script failed on a few levels: believability, dialogue. I see and appreciate the attempt, but I think the Arkham Horror board game was a bigger influence on the writing than Lovecraft's story (If you are familiar with the game, and see this movie, you'll understand). Armitage can shoot bolts of lightning out of his hands? Really? When the money for those shots could have been better spent on production design and art direction? Or making Wilbur Whateley (Combs) look more monstrous?

I had a problem with some of the camera and editing work as well: strange angles and weird, unmotivated cuts...or lingering on a shot too long. It seems like they were trying to make a $2 million dollar picture with $200,000, rather than a 200-large picture using $200,000: the seams are showing.

There was one scene that caused me to burst out laughing, and not in a good way; the two main characters travel to Louisiana to meet Olaus Wormius, a millennia-old wizard who translated the Necromicon from Arabic into Latin. He's shacked up with a harem of topless girls on the swamp (which I could accept--you're thousands of years old, why not get a bunch of hotties to belly dance around you all day long and call you "Master"?). He appears to the characters by FLOATING into the room. Which was hilarious because the actor is a few hundred pounds and bald, so he looked like a dirigible sailing into port.


Maybe it's my fault for stereotyping ancient sorcerers who have vast knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos as degenerate wizened crones, but I just couldn't take this guy, or this sequence, seriously. But it was nice to see titties, you know (the only point in the movie where the audience is privileged to such globes of delight).

Overall, a mixed bag. It is a semi-serious attempt at one of Lovecraft's best stories, and one with a lot of room for action and effects. A great cast and some great locations offered promise, but it finally falls flat under its own lack of understanding of the basic nature of Lovecraftian horror and terror.

For a better version of the story, check out the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's Dark Adventure Radio Theater play.

Note: it's by the same brilliant folks who brought us the best Lovecraft adaptation to date, The Call of Cthulhu...made on far less than this movie.

Aaron

(Thanks to Aaron Vanek)

Evolution of the Gill-Man...

The Spring 2009 edition of Mad Scientist magazine contains an article titled "Evolution of Gill Men in fiction" that might be of interest...


(Thanks to Cryptomundo)

Beyond the Dunwich Horror DVD news...

For Immediate Release:

Richard Griffin's Beyond the Dunwich Horror is now available for purchase through Amazon.com! The DVD, which retails for $20, includes the film (in widescreen), a commentary track with the cast and crew, a photo gallery (including the work of Stephen Romano) and a very special easter egg...

Inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft tale, Beyond the Dunwich Horror follows a young man named Kenny (Michael Reed) as he arrives in the titular town to find out why his brother Andrew has been committed to a mental institution, and also flashes back to reveal how Andrew (Jason McCormick) became enmeshed in occult phenomena thanks to sexy local girl Nikki (Sarah Nicklin). Genre veteran Lynn (The Crazies) Lowry and busy horror actor Jeff Dylan (Bryan Loves You) Graham also star...


(Thanks to Richard Griffin)

Landreth talks Lovecraft biopic...

Fangoria.com's Blood Spattered Blog, hosted by Chris Alexander, spoke with Toronto animator/Oscar winning filmmaker Chris Landreth about his various projects including the recently announced animated Lovecraft biopic...

Lovecraft is mentioned about 7:15 into the interview, but be warned, it cuts off at the end...



(Thanks to www.fangoria.com and Chris Perridas)

Creature musical review...

Check out fangoria.com for an early review of Creature from the Black Lagoon – A Raging Rockin' Show. It doesn't sound good...


(Thanks to www.fangoria.com)

The Nightmare Warriors...

Issue #1 of Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors was released by DC Comics/Wildstorm (and co-publisher Dynamite Entertainment) today. The comic, created by James Kuhoric, Jeff Katz, Jason Craig and Arthur Suydam, retails for $3.99...

About the comic: Beneath the bloody waters of Crystal Lake, an immortal evil wakes and begins anew the cycle of grueling violence. Six months after the events of FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH, a power-hungry government bureaucrat unleashes the denizens of the Necronomicon - including the banished spirit of the Springwood Slasher, Freddy Krueger...

But Ash Williams has checked his monster-hunting past at the door. A Chosen One no more, he thinks that a life of domestic bliss and retail tending is his true calling - until the ghosts of the past show up to punch his clock again...


(Thanks to www.bloody-disgusting.com)

From Sleeping Gods to Darkness...

Multi-talented artist/filmmaker Sven Bonnichsen (Let Sleeping Gods Lie, Madness from the Sea) is taking a break from animating Lovecraft's Elder Things to work on the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society's adaptation of The Whisperer in Darkness...

Sven will be fabricating several armatures for the feature film, examples of which can be found here...

Head over to Dread Central for their coverage of the film...

(Thanks to www.scarletstarstudios.com and Dread Central)

Pickman's Models: Un-produced Madness...

Guillermo del Toro is not the only filmmaker who's attempted to bring Madness to the screen, in fact, an animated adaptation called Le Montagne Della Follia already exists and a CG version (Sven Bonnichsen's Let Sleeping Gods Lie) is currently in production (but on hiatus)...

For this installment of Pickman's Models, I've dug up a promotional poster that appeared online in 2003, then disappeared the following year. The poster states that the film was "In Production" with Ken Waller directing and Ken Verdon producing, but no proof exists (as far as I know) that this film was ever made...

(Thanks to Franklin Hummel)

Quoth Cthulhu: Del Toro's obsession...

Guillermo del Toro has never given up his quest to adapt At the Mountains of Madness and he mentions it, as I stated on Monday, whenever the opportunity arises (like his recent appearance on the Craig Ferguson show)...

In the past he's been quoted as saying the film would be his Titanic, his obsession, and he's said so again, this time in the Los Angeles Times...

I would love to do that film, it is my obsession. To make a film of Lovecraft at that scale, with that story, it would be very special for me. I would love to bring Lovecraft to the world in that way.

- Guillermo del Toro

(Thanks to www.latimes.com)

Colour screens in Rome...

Ivan Zuccon's Colour from the Dark will screen as part of the 2009 Fantafestival in Rome, Italy. The festival runs from June 23rd through the 28th...

Details can be found here...


(Thanks to Ivan Zuccon)

Exclusive: Joseph Nanni announces upcoming slate...

Joseph Nanni and Bad Advice for Good Times are two for two in the world of Lovecraft cinema, with both Casting Call of Cthulhu and Elder Sign garnering wide spread popularity through festival appearances and the web, and he has given Unfilmable.com an exclusive look at his next two projects! The films, titled Black Goat and Drawing Baphomet, will be shot simultaneously and are the first two parts of a trilogy to be completed later...

According to Joseph, new ideas were brought to light during correspondences with production designer John Coulthart (who is designing shub-niggurath, among other things), and Drawing Baphomet underwent a massive re-write to include references to the great god pan from the works of Arthur Machen, without changing the core idea of the original script (although the "weird" elements have been cranked up), which revolves around a young man who is unwittingly indoctrinated in a secret society as he goes from one "expert" to another while trying to obtain a translation of an ancient family heirloom...

A teaser trailer, which is currently being finalized, should appear in the next couple of weeks, and will feature the main prop from the film; a medieval era translation of a mythical Arab text (see below). In the film, the book has been retrofit in a locking metal sleeve that was added sometime after the Second World War...

"I am proposing to shoot in the Grey Bruce area of Southern Ontario and most of the locations have been identified." Joseph tells Unfilmable.com, "This is a incredibly diverse part of Canada where you can find sand dunes, cave systems, light houses, grave yards, an island castle, decrepit port towns, turn of the century mansions, second world war era bunkers, archeological digs, historic native Canadian settlements, shipwrecks...the list goes on..."

Watch this space for updates, and keep your eyes open for the teaser which will debut in a few weeks...

(Thanks to Joseph Nanni)

Updated: Harbor-Master update...

Conor Timmis sends word that veteran character actor Dan Roebuck (Rivers Edge, Lost) has joined the cast of the recently announced (see our coverage here) adaptation of Robert W. Chambers The Harbor-Master. Dan will play the part of Halyard...

More as it becomes available...

Update: According to Conor Timmis, this film is no longer being developed...

(Thanks to Conor Timmis)

Fall of Cthulhu #3 out now...

BOOM! Studios Fall of Cthulhu: Nemisis #3 is out now. Written by Michael Alan Nelson, with art by Todd Herman, Nemesis is an epic origin story revealing the secret history behind Nyarlathotep's favorite companion. What's behind those feline eyes? Be prepared for the shock of your life as Fall of Cthulhu continues...

Retail is $3.99...

Cover A

Cover B

(Thanks to www.bloody-disgusting.com)

At the Reefers of Madness...

Writer/director Brian Clement (The Dead Inside, Dark Paradox) is deep in pre-production of his latest Lovecraft inspired short film, At the Reefers of Madness! Described by Clement as a stoner-comedy, the film revolves around a couple of college roommate potheads who get a hold of the necronomicon and are granted limitless power by the Great Old Ones with hilarious results...

Production begins at the end of June, with hopes of making the July deadline for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival...

Title graphic by Rob Hunt of Phasefire Films

(Thanks to Frontline Films)

Planet Lovecraft 4 just over the horizon...

Issue #4 of Planet Lovecraft just got back from the printers on Monday, and should be available soon! The latest issue contains Tim Sparvero's adaptation of Hypnos, a Witch Hunter/Knightgaunt crossover called In The Court of the Yellow King written by Vin Ferrante with art by Tommygun, J.M. DeSantis's The Thing in the Box, The Vessel by Abraham Martinez and Carlos de Anda, the latest installment of Lee Davis's Cadaverizer and the Awakener by Rob Corless...

Details will be available at planetlovecraftmagazine.com, so visit if you dare...

(Thanks to K.L. Young)

The Frolic at the Carnival of Darkness...

For Immediate Release:

Jacob Cooney's The Frolic, based on the short story by Thomas Ligotti, will be screening at the Carnival of Darkness on August 6th, 2009 in Westwood, CA. The screening will be taking place at the beautiful Majestic Crest Theater...

When: Thursday August 6th
Where: The Majestic Crest Theater
1262 Westwood Blvd 90024
Admission: $10
Doors: 8:00 pm

For more information on the fest, please visit this link:

http://spotlightonlosangeles.blogspot.com/2009/06/carnival-of-darkness-short-film.html

For more information on The Frolic or to purchase the special edition DVD of the film, please visit:

www.wonderentertainment.com


(Thanks to The Frolic Crew)

Mars and a life of Lovecraft...

Lovecraftian composer Mars is the focus of the latest Lovecraft Lives article on Larry Latham's Lovecraft is Missing web comic site. In the article, Mars reveals personal information about his high school years, his discovery of Lovecraft, the formation of Dead House Music and how he scored the film of his dreams...

Head over to Lovecraft is Missing for the full story...



(Thanks to Mars)

More talk of Madness...

Every couple of months or so Guillermo del Toro drops some news on his long in the works (seven years and counting) adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness, and during a recent interview with the BBC he had this to say about the project:

"There are many screenplays I have written that are looking for financing… I've been desperately trying to finance it [At the Mountains of Madness] and I can't access the funds."

So will AtMoM ever grace the big screen? As with so many other films, we'll have to wait and see, but del Toro's The Hobbit (the first of two debuts in 2011) should put the director in the position to make any film he chooses, including a big budget Lovecraft film like At the Mountains of Madness...


(Thanks to www.movie-moron.com)

Updated: Lovecraft audio recordings...

Please welcome guest blogger MorganScorpion who shares her audio recordings of H.P. Lovecraft...

I became disabled a few years ago, and as a result of having to give up work, I turned to daytime television. It was hell. So I turned to audiobooks and embroidery to pass the time. Eventually I discovered Librivox; an online organization dedicated to recording out-of copyright books and putting them online for free distribution. Librivox uses volunteers, and always needs new ones. After downloading and enjoying their recordings for over a year I began to feel I should give them something back for all the entertainment they had given me. In short, I volunteered out of guilt, intending to record a few chapters then go back to just listening. To my surprise, I enjoyed myself. I've been a regular contributor ever since.

Lovecraft fans are really in love with the man's work. They can't get enough of it. But there is a dearth of his later works available online, as the copyright status of his later work is uncertain. So I thought I'd fill in the breach, so to speak.

I hope in time that a professional actor, like Jeffrey Combs or John Lithgow will do Lovecraft full justice.

MorganScorpion's Lovecraft audio recordings are linked below...

- The Festival

- The Hound

- Pickman's Model

- The Lurking Fear

- Dreams in the Witch-House
- The Unnameable NEW
- From Beyond NEW
- The Shunned House NEW


(Thanks to MorganScorpion)

Unfilmable.com poll: favorite comic...

The second Unfilmable.com poll, Which Weird Fiction/Mythos author, besides Lovecraft, would you like to see adapted to the screen?, is over and the latest poll, What is your favorite print comic based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft?, is now online. Results will be available on June 28th...

Results for the second poll are as follows:

4 votes: Arthur Machen

1 vote: Algernon Blackwood

0 votes: William Hope Hodgson

1 vote: Clark Ashton Smith
0 votes: Robert E. Howard

3 votes: Thomas Ligotti

2 votes: Ramsey Campbell

0 votes: Frank Belknap Long

0 votes: Robert W. Chambers

1 vote: Lord Dunsany

0 votes: other

Thanks for voting...

Quoth Cthulhu: Lovecraft on the Late Late Show...

This weeks Quoth Cthulhu comes from Craig Ferguson's recent interview with Guillermo del Toro on the Late Late Show...

H.P. Lovecraft, if you don't know, and let's be honest, you don't.

- Craig Ferguson

(Thanks to Craig Ferguson)

Pickman's Models: The Outsider...

From the Unfilmable.com archives (July 20, 2006)...

The wonderful images that follow were provided by Marisa Merewood from her puppet show adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's The Outsider. An updated version (as a puppet/dance piece) is in the works...

(Thanks to Marisa Merewood)

Elder Sign on the big screen...

Joseph Nanni's Elder Sign will make its big screen debut at the 2009 Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec! The festival begins July 9th and runs through the 27th...

Elder Sign screening dates and times are forthcoming...

(Thanks to Joseph Nanni)

Paoli talks Lovecraft and Poe...

Frequent Stuart Gordon collaborator Dennis Paoli spoke about the many Lovecraft and Poe projects they have going at the Weekend of Horrors convention in New York City recently, including Nevermore, the stage play starring Jeffrey Combs as Poe ("Jeffrey actually looks like Poe, and his craft is so great that we need very little to put Poe on stage."), the stalled House of Re-Animator sequel ("...it's a story that needs to be told, and hopefully told well, in the near future.") and their forthcoming adaptation of The Thing on the Doorstep ("If you've read Lovecraft's story, you can only imagine who the sex must be with, and how awful that must be...")...

Visit fangoria.com for more...

(Thanks to www.fangoria.com)

Animated Lovecraft storyline revealed...

Toronto's NOW Magazine has revealed that Hans Rodionoff's Lovecraft is the basis for Chris Landreth's animated Lovecraft feature (that we first mentioned June 6th)! The Vertigo graphic novel was originally written by Rodionoff as a screenplay then adapted by Keith Giffen, with artwork and cover art by Enrique Breccia...

The story revolves around a young Howard Phillips Lovecraft who becomes the reluctant guardian of the Necronomicon, an accursed book that is the doorway to the beyond, and how his life veers into strange territory. From his odd upbringing through his later success as a weaver of "weird" tales, Lovecraft maintains a tenuous balance between reality and the bizarre nightmares of his "fictional" horror...

When asked about his adaptation of Lovecraft, Chris Landreth had this to say, "I am dreading it with every fiber of my body, but I'm also more excited about it, so it's a perfect mix. We're expanding on that graphic novel [Lovecraft] quite a bit; it's going to be historically touching on the biographical points of Lovecraft, of course, but we are going a few steps further, which is the reason it's going to be animated."

Check out the full NOW Magazine article here...

In 2004 filmmaker Christian Matzke (Experiment 17, Dunwich) reviewed Lovecraft for the old Unfilmable.com site:

I just bought and read the new Lovecraft comic from Vertigo and it is outstanding! There's a great introduction by John Carpenter in which he praises Lovecraft quite highly and acknowledges his debt to the Old Gent. But the comic itself is simply amazing. The story weaves together Lovecraft's life with characters and concepts from the Mythos. While this isn't particularly original (August Derleth himself probably started the trend), this version is surprisingly moving. Great little details like Lovecraft's belief as a child that he was a girl, and later his role-playing as Abdul Alhazred are wonderfully incorporated. The madness of both his parents, the death of his grandfather, and his growing hatred of New York are all given Mythos spins that could have been heavy handed or demeaning, but writers Keith Giffen and Hans Rodionoff make them subtle and unnerving. The art is breathtaking. I was actually disturbed by some of the panels in a "Jacob's Ladder" sort of way. Enrique Breccia's drawings of Shoggoths, Brown Jenkin, the Lovecraft family etc. are twisted and wonderful. His use of color wonderfully conveys the shifts between realities.

This is yet another of the high quality Lovecraftian comics published in the last few years. After decades of maltreatment (much like in the movies) Lovecraftian comics are truly having a rebirth of creativity and fidelity.

Buy it, borrow it, see for yourself: this one's a keeper.

- Christian Matzke


(Thanks to NOW Magazine and Christian Matzke)

A Night of Horror announces call for entries...

Australia's A Night of Horror has announced its call for entries for the 2010 festival, including a "films inspired by H. P. Lovecraft" category...

The festival is calling for:

- Feature Films
- Shorts
- Animations
- Films inspired by H. P. Lovecraft
- Horror music videos
- Screenplays

Click here for complete details...

(Thanks to www.anightofhorror.com)

Updated: New Chambers film in the works...

Actor/producer Conor Timmis (Pickman's Model, Re-Animator: 1942) is set to appear (as the creature!) in a new film based on the The Harbor-Master by Robert W. Chambers. Sam Borowski (Karloff and Me) will write, direct and produce the film with Rob Pralgo (Army Wives, One Tree Hill) in the lead...

Below you will find a pre-production sketch from the forthcoming film...

Update: According to Conor Timmis, this film is no longer being developed...


(Thanks to Conor Timmis)

Good news for Alien fans...

Good news for fans of Alien who were worried about the recently announced remake/prequel as bloody-disgusting.com is reporting that FOX is only interested in moving forward on the project if Ridley Scott is in the director's chair. Carl Rinsch was in talks to direct the film as late as last week, but that no longer seems to be the case...

Watch this space for more...


(Thanks to www.bloody-disgusting.com)

Strange Adventures issue #2 out now...

Issue #2 of The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft is scheduled for release this week from Image Comics. Strange Adventures was written by Mac Carter, with artwork by Tony Salmons and cover art by Adam Byrne. It retails for $4.99...

About the comic: Something sinister has been unleashed into the life of young pulp writer H.P. Lovecraft. His wretched dream of monsters and murder has come true! It can't be coincidence... It can't be merely that he's begun a fast descent into madness... Two men are dead! Can Lovecraft stop the deadly beasts that seem to slip from his subconscious into the real world before the police discover that the trail of blood leads directly to his doorstep...

You can preview the comic by clicking here...


(Thanks to www.comicmonsters.com and www.imagecomics.com)

Rare Gates of Hell screening...

Lucio Fulci's The Gates of Hell, set in and around Dunwich, will screen at the Angela Triplex in Coaldale, Pa. Saturday, June 20th at 9:30 pm...

Details can be found here...


(Thanks to Mazz Press)

More whispers in darkness...

Sean Branney & Andrew Leman, the amazingly talented Lovecraftians over at the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, have written a detailed "answer" to all the questions they've received on the status of their forthcoming production, the highly anticipated The Whisperer in Darkness...

As stated in the "Making of" blog, the script has been written (and re-written!), designs for Wilmarth's costumes, Akeley's house, and Mi-Go anatomy are being hammered out, and crew, period vehicles, rain machines, and props are being lined up. Currently, the guys are on track to start shooting at the end of summer, with special effects and editing beginning in September, and if all goes well, the film could be finished this winter...

There's a lot a great news/information in the blog, including how you can get involved, so hit this link and read all about it...

(Thanks to www.cthulhulives.org)

Animated Lovecraft...

Back in November of 2007 the following information appeared on the old Unfilmable.com site:

According to RENCI (The Renaissance Computing Institute), Oscar-winning filmmaker Chris Landreth (Ryan) is currently working on an animated feature film entitled Lovecraft. The project will be based on the life of H.P. Lovecraft...

Nothing else about the film is mentioned, and I've found no other news on the project...

Then nothing more, until today when the excellent Grim Reviews blog reported that the project is still alive with Oscar-winning animator Chris Landreth (The Spine) at the helm! According to news gathered from a variety of sources, Landreth is developing the film with Steve Hoban and expects production to begin in 2010...

During France's Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Landreth had this to say about the project, "It's a film called 'Lovecraft,' based on the writer H.P. Lovecraft. We're doing a fictionalized animated biography picture of him." He went on to say, "We have a script and we are working towards seeing if we can make this work."

This is definitely one to watch...

(Thanks to Grim Reviews and canadaeast.com)

The Colour is spreading...

A very positive review for Ivan Zuccon's Colour from the Dark has appeared over at horror-fanatics.com...



(Thanks to Ivan Zuccon)

Pickman's Models: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath...

In 2003 I was lucky enough to attend the world premiere of Edward Martin's Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, a film that I am proud to have been a part of, and during a small get-together at the Moon and Sixpence I met Jason Thompson, creator of the original Dream-Quest comic...

After introducing myself, we spent some time talking about the comic, the film adaptation and a few of the scenes that I had worked on (which he politely complimented me on), then I watched with fascination as he provided me with a wonderful piece of Lovecraftian memorabilia which is this weeks Pickman's Models...

(Thanks to Jason Thompson and Edward Martin III)