ablethevoice
12-22-2008, 11:33 AM
OK all you Lovecraft fans.
I don't know if you are aware of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (HPLHS), but if not, and you are a Lovecraft fan, you should check them out. They are a group of HPL devotees like myself who cater to HPL fans with all sorts of high quality memorabilia such as key chains, T-shirts, coffee mugs and the like.
Now, as a Lovecraft fan I have of course watched all the films Hollywood had cranked out based on his works and 95% of them have been beyond crappy (Lurking Fear, The Unnameable, Cthulhu Mansion). The few that didn't totally suck were enjoyable, but weren't quite faithful to the source material (From Beyond, Re-Animator, Necronomicon). In spite of the above named "fairly good" films mentioned, I was beginning to wonder if Lovecraft could really and successfully be put on film. Turns out that the founders of the HPLHS are quite accomplished amateur filmmakers. A couple of years ago, they did something which most HPL fans considered impossible; to put H.P. Lovecraft's most famous short story on film. And you know what? It's the best cinematic Lovecraft adaptation I've ever seen. It just goes to show that it CAN be done if the filmmakers have a real passion for the source material. The Call Of Cthulhu was filmed in B&W and made to look as if it had been made contemporary to when the original story was set (the early 1920's) down to it being a silent film with dialog slides...and the occasional scratch on the "film", a couple of "hairs" sliding across the field... everything. It's an astonishing piece of work from a couple of guys with a budget of something like $50k. Not one actor in the film is a "known" mainstream actor and yet these guys really pulled it off.
It was so successful that the HPLHS has done it again. They are about to release their next Lovecraft film: The Whisperer In Darkness (http://www.cthulhulives.org/Whisperer/screening-med.html) and based on that teaser, it looks to be as good as the Cthulhu film was.
Am I fired up about this?
Am I excited?
Am I a NERD?
Yeah, I guess I am:D
I don't know if you are aware of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (HPLHS), but if not, and you are a Lovecraft fan, you should check them out. They are a group of HPL devotees like myself who cater to HPL fans with all sorts of high quality memorabilia such as key chains, T-shirts, coffee mugs and the like.
Now, as a Lovecraft fan I have of course watched all the films Hollywood had cranked out based on his works and 95% of them have been beyond crappy (Lurking Fear, The Unnameable, Cthulhu Mansion). The few that didn't totally suck were enjoyable, but weren't quite faithful to the source material (From Beyond, Re-Animator, Necronomicon). In spite of the above named "fairly good" films mentioned, I was beginning to wonder if Lovecraft could really and successfully be put on film. Turns out that the founders of the HPLHS are quite accomplished amateur filmmakers. A couple of years ago, they did something which most HPL fans considered impossible; to put H.P. Lovecraft's most famous short story on film. And you know what? It's the best cinematic Lovecraft adaptation I've ever seen. It just goes to show that it CAN be done if the filmmakers have a real passion for the source material. The Call Of Cthulhu was filmed in B&W and made to look as if it had been made contemporary to when the original story was set (the early 1920's) down to it being a silent film with dialog slides...and the occasional scratch on the "film", a couple of "hairs" sliding across the field... everything. It's an astonishing piece of work from a couple of guys with a budget of something like $50k. Not one actor in the film is a "known" mainstream actor and yet these guys really pulled it off.
It was so successful that the HPLHS has done it again. They are about to release their next Lovecraft film: The Whisperer In Darkness (http://www.cthulhulives.org/Whisperer/screening-med.html) and based on that teaser, it looks to be as good as the Cthulhu film was.
Am I fired up about this?
Am I excited?
Am I a NERD?
Yeah, I guess I am:D