Lovecraft eZine: Mike Davis' List of Recommended Lovecraftian Movies

(c) via the Lovecraft eZine:

Below is a list of Lovecraftian-themed movies that I recommend — what I consider to be the best of the best.  Note that I did not say that this is a list of movies based on Lovecraft’s stories.  Some movies on this list are adaptations of Lovecraft’s work, to be sure; but there are plenty that are not.  That’s not important.  What isimportant is that the movie makes good use of Lovecraftian themes, whether it’s an adaptation or not.

For example, you won’t find The Dunwich Horror on this list, but youwill find Dagon (a Lovecraft adaptation) and Absentia (not a Lovecraft adaptation).  Why?  Because tentacles and adaptations don’t make movies Lovecraftian.

What does make a movie Lovecraftian, in my opinion?  Wikipedia writes that “the hallmark of Lovecraft’s work was the sense that ordinary life was a thin shell over a reality which was so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person.”  I agree wholeheartedly with that definition, and I put together this movie list with that in mind.

Also, this is a personal list; it’s movies that I think are very good to great and that use Lovecraftian themes.  If you disagree, fair enough; your comments are welcome.  If you think I’ve forgotten a movie that should be here, please let me know.

I’ll be adding to this list from time to time.  To stay in the loop, sign up for email notifications at the top right side of this page.

Long story short: If you enjoy reading new stories of Lovecraftian horror like the ones found in The Lovecraft eZine, then you will probably enjoy the movies below.  So grab the popcorn and turn down the lights — here’s the list!

ABSENTIA [streaming, DVD] Tricia’s husband has been missing for seven years. Her younger sister Callie comes to live with her as the pressure mounts to finally declare him ‘dead in absentia.’ As Tricia sifts through the wreckage and tries to move on with her life, Callie finds herself drawn to an ominous tunnel near the house. As she begins to link it to other mysterious disappearances, she comes to the realization that his presumed death might be anything but ‘natural.’ Soon it becomes clear that the ghostly force at work in the tunnel might have set its sights on Callie and Tricia too.

ALIEN [streaming, DVD] On their voyage home, the crew of the deepspace tug Nostromo investigate an alien distress signal, inadvertently picking up and bringing aboard an extraterrestrial life form with violent and lethal survival instincts.

THE BURROWERS [streaming, DVD] The Dakota Territories. 1879. A handful of brave pioneers maintain isolated settlements in the badlands beyond civilization. Irish immigrant Fergus Coffey is near to winning the hand of his beloved Maryanne when she is suddenly taken from him, her family brutally abducted in a nighttime attack on their homestead. Suspicion falls immediately on hostile Indians. Experienced Indian fighters Will Parcher and John Clay form a posse and set out to rescue the kidnapped settlers, taking along a naive teenager hoping to prove himself a man, an ex-slave looking for his place, and their ranch hand, Coffey. But as men vanish in the night, and horrific evidence accumulates with the dead and dying, the group discovers that their prey is far more terrifying than anything human, and their prospects are far more terrible than death.

CABIN IN THE WOODS [streaming, DVD] Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

THE CALL OF CTHULHU [streaming, DVD] Written in 1926, just before the advent of “talking” pictures, The Call of Cthulhu is one of the most famous and influential tales of H.P. Lovecraft, the father of gothic horror. Now the story is brought richly to life in the style of a classic 1920s silent movie, with a haunting original symphonic score. Using the “Mythoscope” process – a mix of modern and vintage techniques, the HPLHS has worked to create the most authentic and faithful screen adaptation of a Lovecraft story yet attempted. From the cultists of the Louisana bayous to the man-eating non-euclidean geometry of R’lyeh, the HPLHS brings Cthulhu to the screen as it was meant to be seen. Eighteen months of production and a cast of more than 50 actors went into making this film a period spectacle that must seen to be believed. The DVD includes The Call of Cthulhu (47 minutes, black and white), the high-fidelity and “Mythophonic” soundtracks, a 25 minute “making-of” documentary featurette, two slide shows, deleted footage, a prop PDF of the Sydney Bulletin and more.

CTHULHU [DVD] The H.P. Lovecraft story “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” gets a contemporary reworking in this eerie film following a gay college professor (Jason Cottle) as he arrives at his Oregon hometown to preside over the estate of his deceased mother. Finding both his father and the community at large involved in a strange cult, the young man confronts his ultimate destiny with an icy dread.

CLOVERFIELD [streaming, DVD] Told from the vertiginous point-of-view of a camcorder-wielding group of friends, Cloverfield begins like a primetime television soap opera about young Manhattanites coping with changes in their personal lives. Rob is leaving New York to take an executive job at a company in Japan. At his goodbye party in a crowded loft, Rob’s brother Jason hands a camcorder to best friend Hud, who proceeds to tape the proceedings over old footage of Rob’s ex-girlfriend, Beth–images shot during happy times in that now-defunct relationship. Naturally, Beth shows up at the party with a new beau, bumming Rob out completely. Just before one’s eyes glaze over from all this heartbreaking stuff (captured by Hud, who’s something of a doofus, in laughably shaky camerawork), the unexpected happens: New York is suddenly under attack from a Godzilla-like monster stomping through midtown and destroying everything and everybody in sight. Rob and company hit the streets, but rather than run with other evacuees, they head toward the center of the storm so that Rob can rescue an injured Beth. There are casualties along the way, but the journey into fear is fascinating and immediate if emotionally remote–a consequence of seeing these proceedings through the singular, subjective perspective of a camcorder and of a story that intentionally leaves major questions unanswered: Who or what is this monster? Where did it come from?

THE CORRIDOR [streaming, DVD] Five friends spend a weekend in a cabin in the woods to catch up on old times.  Recently, one of them was released from a mental hospital.  Apparently, he and his mother saw and heard some strange things that started driving them crazy.  What happens in the woods that weekend is an example of a creature from another reality revealing itself to people in this one, and how it affects their mental stability.

DAGON [DVD] Based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the undisputed master of macabre.  Paul and his girlfriend Barbara are celebrating the success of their new company on a yacht off the coast of Spain, when a sudden storm smashes their boat on a reef.  Barbara and Paul swim to the nearest town for help.  The decrepit fishing village of Imboca at first seems to be deserted, but unblinking eyes peer out from boarded-up houses. The strange inhabitants offer little help to the stranded couple. By nightfall Barbara is missing and Paul finds himself pursued by the entire town… but a town of what?

DIE FARBE [DVD] Arkham, 1975: Jonathan Davis’ father has disappeared. His tracks lead to Germany, to the Swabian-Franconian Forest where he was stationed after the Second World War. Jonathan sets out to find him and bring him home, but deep in the woods he discovers a dark mystery from the past. Based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short novel “The Colour Out of Space”.

DIRT DAUBER [DVD] In this disturbing Lovecraftian fairytale, a man awakes naked and confused in an isolated mountainous region. He soon encounters a strange local who offers to help him. The stranger recounts local folklore that speaks of a murderous religious cult, and an insect-like fertility god that is said to dwell deep within the mountain. The two men go underground in search of the truth and soon find themselves in a stygian black temple of horror…

DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE [streaming, DVD] A graduate student questions his sanity after he rents a room in an old boarding house which was the residence of a 17th Century witch, and he figures out that the evil forces still roam within the walls.

EVENT HORIZON [streaming, DVD] The year is 2047. Years earlier, the pioneering research vessel Event Horizon vanished without a trace. Now a signal from it has been detected, and the United States Aerospace Command responds. Hurtling toward the signal’s source are a fearless captain (Laurence Fishburne), his elite crew and the lost ship’s designer (Sam Neill). Their mission: find and salvage the state-of-the-art spacecraft. What they find is state-of-the-art interstellar terror.

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS [streaming, DVD] The mind-bending worlds of author H.P. Lovecraft have long interested horror directors, but the films have rarely successfully captured his nightmarish mix of madness and mythology. John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness is not directly based on Lovecraft’s work, but screenwriter Michael De Luca draws his inspiration from Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythology and then adds his own ingenious twists. John Trent (Sam Neill), an insurance investigator recently fitted for a straightjacket, tells his story to a psychiatrist. Hired to track down the missing pop-horror phenomena Sutter Cane, a Stephen King-like author whose fans are literally made for his books, Trent finds the supposedly fictional Hobb’s End. He watches the town collapse into madness, murder, and monstrous transformations: the fantastic horrors of Cane’s novels played out in front of his eyes. “Reality isn’t what it used to be,” deadpans one zombielike townsperson. In fact, it is how Cane writes it–but is he Devil, dark oracle, or simply a preacher in the service of an evil that grows stronger with every soul his books convert? The script never quite gets a grip on the blurry relationship between fact and fiction, but those details fade in the face of Carpenter’s demented imagery, shiver-inducing twists, and dark wit. It’s more eerie mind game than straight-out horror, a portrait of a world gone mad, and Carpenter relishes every hallucinatory moment.

THE LAST WINTER [DVD] In the Arctic region of Northern Alaska, an oil company’s advance team struggles to establish a drilling base that will forever alter the pristine land. After one team member is found dead, a disorientation slowly claims the sanity of the others as each of them succumbs to a mysterious fear…

THE MIST [streaming, DVD] After a mysterious mist envelopes a small New England town, a group of locals trapped in a supermarket must battle a siege of otherworldly creatures…and the fears that threaten to tear them apart.

THE NEW DAUGHTER [streaming, DVD] Muddy footprints and straw dolls betray the presence of an ancient evil in The New Daughter. Author John James (Kevin Costner) has brought his innocent young son Sam and sullen teenage daughter Louisa  to a new home to start their lives over after James’s wife abandoned them. The house, of course, is huge and in the middle of an overgrown forest–and the discovery of a strange mound nearby doesn’t make things any less spooky. Louisa’s adolescent hormones practically beg for supernatural possession, and before long she’s covered in mud, breaking out in a prickly rash, and pushing girls down the stairway at school. There’s nothing unexpected in The New Daughter, but that doesn’t mean it’s ineffective; Spanish director Luis Berdejo makes good use of ambient sound, well-timed jolts, and Baquero’s porcelain-doll features. Costner seems a little out of his element, but when he’s faced with some horrible choices, he captures the torment of a father who fears he can’t save his children. As is often the case, the more we see, the less scary it is, so it’s good that Berdejo holds back on the creepy-crawlies for as long as he can. Horror fans will find much to enjoy in The New Daughter.

PICKMAN’S MUSE [DVD] A stellar adaption of “The Haunter of the Dark”.  An artist, Robert Pickman, becomes obsessed by visions of unworldly horror, revealed to him through an ancient artifact discovered in an abandoned church.

PONTYPOOL [streaming, DVD] In the small town of Pontypool, Ontario, former shock jock turned radio announcer Grant Mazzy drives through a blizzard on his way to work. When poor visibility forces him to stop his car, an underdressed woman appears on the road, startling him. Grant calls out to her, but she disappears into the storm, ominously repeating his words and visibly disturbing him. Grant eventually arrives at the radio station, where he works with technical assistant Laurel-Ann Drummond and station manager Sydney Briar.  As the morning proceeds, they get a report from their weather and traffic helicopter reporter Ken Loney about a possible riot at the office of Doctor Mendez in Pontypool. He describes a scene of chaos and carnage that results in numerous deaths, immediately grabbing Grant’s attention. After Ken is unexpectedly cut off, the group tries to confirm his report, but their witnesses are disconnected before they can get them on the airwaves. Ken calls back and reports that he has found the “infected” son of a well-known Pontypool citizen nearby, mumbling to himself…

PRINCE OF DARKNESS [streaming, DVD] A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.

THE RESURRECTED [DVD] Charles Dexter Ward’s wife enlists the help of a private detective to find out what her husband is up to in a remote cabin owned by his family for centuries. The husband is a chemical engineer, and the smells from his experiments (and the delivery of what appear to be human remains at all hours) are beginning to arouse the attention of neighbors and local law enforcement officials. When the detective and wife find a diary of the husband’s ancestor from 1771, and reports of gruesome murders in the area begin to surface, they begin to suspect that some very unnatural experiments are being conducted in the old house.

THE SHRINE [DVD] A blood-curdling tale of sacrificial cults, demonic possession and ancient evil. After a young American backpacker vanishes in Europe, three journalists trace his disappearance to a mysterious Polish village. They travel there hoping to get the story, but instead find a grotesque, fog-shrouded shrine and hostile locals hell-bent on serving up for their next ritualistic human sacrifice.

THE THING [streaming, DVD] Researchers in the remote Antarctic dig up the remains of a spacecraft that has long been frozen in the ice. But the alien life unthaws and infects the living (not only humans but sled dogs too), living and gestating inside them.  This Thing is chilling in every sense of the word, with plenty of terrifying, adrenaline-pumping moments that build it to a powerful and shockingly nihilistic conclusion. It’s a harsh and uncompromising movie (hewing more closely to the original 1930s story “Who Goes There?”)–so much so that it probably never would have been given a green-light by any studio in the more cautious and doggedly upbeat 1990s.

THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS [DVD] Written in 1931, H.P. Lovecraft’s iconic genre-bending tale of suspense and alien terrors is brought to life in the style of the classic horror films of the 1930s like Frankenstein, Dracula and King Kong. Using its MythoscopeTM process – a mix of vintage and modern techniques – the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society expands on Lovecraft’s original tale while still bringing you unparalleled authenticity. Horror and science fiction collide in the adventure of Albert Wilmarth, a folklore professor at Miskatonic University, as he investigates legends of strange creatures rumored to dwell in the most remote mountains of Vermont. Wilmarth’s investigation leads him to a discovery of horrors quite beyond anything he ever imagined, and ends in a desperate attempt to escape the remote New England hills with his life and sanity intact. The studio that brought you The Call of Cthulhu now presents one of Lovecraft’s weirdest tales as a feature-length talkie starring Matt Foyer as the intrepid folklorist, Albert Wilmarth. Celebrated television and stage star Barry Lynch plays Henry Akeley, supported by an ensemble of outstanding actors. Shot on location in New England and in Hollywood, The Whisperer in Darkness brings Lovecraft’s intense imagination to vivid life in the style of the 1930s.

That’s it… for now.  Keep checking back because I’ll be adding to this list as needed.  (Stay informed: You can subscribe via email at the top right side of this page, follow me on Twitter, and LIKE this ezine on Facebook.)  I hope you enjoy the movies.  And hey, after you watch them, please comment below.

Mike Davis
Editor, Lovecraft eZine