H.P. Lovecraft-inspired movies

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So, I've been renting some H.P. Lovecraft-inspired movies lately and I was wondering which ones people would recommend. SPOILERS AHEAD!

I saw Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator," didn't really like it (the "rape by severed head" scene was a bit too much for me), but I can't say I wasn't entertained. It had some funny bits, and if you like to laugh at silly gore then you'd probably like it more than I.

I liked his "Dagon" much better. Significantly more serious than "Re-Animator," it had a perfect tone. Despite the title it was actually based on "Shadow Over Innsmouth," and while it deviated quite a bit there were moments from the book that were recreated. (The hotel scene comes to mind.) XD My only gripe is a major one, and that's that even though most of the film isn't very gory, there's a scene about an hour and fifteen minutes in where a face is removed in graphic detail. This is a LONG scene, it LINGERS on that s**t, and it disgusted me to no end. It was followed by another scene that bothered me a bit. I might have bought the film, except that I'd have to fast-forward through that gross scene every time I watched it.

Stuart Gordon also did an adaptation "From Beyond," but I think I've had enough of his shenanigans for now.

Soon I'm going to watch this recent "Call of the Cthulhu" film that's been made to appear like a black and white silent film (which were how films were in Lovecraft's time). I'm also going to rent John Carpenter's "At the Mouth of Madness" at some point. (Goddamn, I hope Guillermo Del Toro eventually goes ahead and makes his "At the Mountains of Madness" movie.) I'll let you know what I think of those, but what do you guys think of the H.P. Lovecraft films that have been made?

I've almost finished readingthe Lovecraft movie guide, "Lurker in the Lobby". That's a pretty comprehensive list, even if it includes stuff that's only tenuously inspired by his work, like Alien.

A friend of mine showed me the B&W Call of Cthulu movie, and it rules. Not only does it follow the story precisely, but the stop-animated Cthulu looks like he stepped right out of the original King Kong, meaning it's almost exactly the way it would have been made in the '30s.

Oh, my username is actually a reference to the town in Lucio Fulci's "City of the Living Dead/The Gates of Hell", which has nothing to do with "The Dunwich Horror". I consider that movie Lovecraftian though, in that it successfully conveys a truly incomprehensible yet tangible horror befalling a small New England town. It's sequel "The Beyond", considered Fulci's masterpeice (though I'll always prefer "City"), actually gets an entry in LITL because it involves the Book of Eibon. Lovecraft used it in "The Shadow out of Time", making it a cousin of the Necronomicon (though I think some other author created it). "City" involves the Book of Enoch instead, which is a real book considered biblical apocrypha.

I recently bought "Uzumaki", but haven't watched it yet. It's based on a horror manga by the same guy who did the "Tomie" series, but LITL says it's a cross between "The Color Out of Space" and "Shadow Over Innsmouth".

Pan's Labrynith.
Does that count?

Naw, Pan wasn't at all Lovecraft. Great film though.

EKO EKO AZARAK III:misa the dark angel

there is a scene in the movie when these girls are doing a ritual and they pray to the chutlu mythos.

The town in "Dagon" is named Imboca, which apparently translates as In Mouth. I think Gordon just picked the name Dagon because its a bit snappier. After all, Dagon the story is about two pages long and basically involves a man jumping ship, getting lost, then wandering around the raised seabed a bit until he finds a maddening monolith and glimpses a fishy beast. Theres not a lot there to make a full length film out of.

Sadly, the best lovecraftian films are often only vaguely based on his stories.

In The Mouth of Madness is great, but is actually a subtle in-joke by John Carpenter about his good friend Stephen King, rather than a tribute to Lovecraft. King himself has written several shorts with a Lovecraftian feel, at least one of which appeared in the TV series "Nightmares and Dreamscapes."

I believe "Dreams in the Witch House" was filmed as part of the Masters of Horror Season quite recently.

As far as films are concerned, Stuart Gordon seems to do the most accurate versions, albeit on the cheap, with a tendency towards gore. Mostly Lovecraft films are entertainingly cheesy.. you really do have to watch Alien to get the sense of brooding menace and interstellar madness that Lovecraft espoused. The Thing is also very similar to "At The Mountains Of Madness" in theme, which perhaps explains why it hasnt really been picked up on. Hellboy had a few Cthulhuesque moments as well, with its elder gods and "hounds of tindalos"ish creatures.

I wait, with baited breath, for the Nameless Horrors of the Holy Wood to boil up from that nether dimension on a thousand goated feet and dispense a well made, decent, high budget version of a Lovecraft story. I want to see some non-euclidean cyclopean masonry and some tentacles dammit.

Yup.

Totally know what you mean, Macbeth.

I just watched Mouth of Madness and liked it lots. I found it very cheesy, but also very creepy. LOVED the ending. XD

The black and white Call of Cthulhu movie kinda bored me but that's how old-y black and white movies always are for me. I thought it was very good for what it meant to do, and if nothing else it was nice and brief, with a very funny-looking Cthulhu. Heheh.

People seem to misunderstand lovecraft when making films. Its not about tentacles and gore so much as the creeping menace of the unknown, and the tenuous grip of sanity, and mans insignificance in the face of interstellar gods from time immemorial. Theres a certain evil majesty to lovecraft work that implies basically we are naught but bugs beneath the feet of giants, and that ultimately any action is futile, as we are doomed, but in the name of human spirit we fight on regardless. That just never comes across in the films.

Thinking on it.. Secret Window has a certain lovecraft feel to it. If we assume that Johnny Deppe goes mad from the influence of the elder gods, rather than the fact his wife is a whore, it would make a GREAT lovecraft film.

I shall look further afield for more lovecraftian flicks people havent noticed, i think.

I think "Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within" (2001) had a pretty Lovecraftian feel to it.

Visually that film was awesome, and yeah, the gribbly space ghosts were very cthulhuesque, as was the plot point about them being from another world, etc etc. Its just a shame that the rest of the plot was so odd.

Proves the point that Hollywood CAN do gribbly tentacled beast special effects very well.

Maybe we could make a composite Lovecraft film out of other flicks?

Be sure to include some scenes from "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest." CGI tentacle madness.

Ahh yes, the Kraken. Would make a very passable Dagon. Not to mention Davey Jones,
Theres an old british movie called Lifeforce. Its got a nice line in evil star vampires from beyond.

I heard that the J.J. Abrams film "cloverfield" could possibly be a Cthulhu film...

Who was that, again? Shintaro Kago? -shrug- I haven't seen Tomie because I heard it really sucked. Anyhow...

I've read everything written by Lovecraft.

Got a favourite? I've always had a soft spot for Shadows over Innsmouth, though "Pickmans model", "Rats in the walls" and "Colour Out Of Space" contend with it in my affections. Now i think of it, "At The Mountains of Madness" also rules... choices choices..

Also, are you aware of Brian Lumley? He's done a few mythos books, and a few that whilst not actually mythos, certainly have that feel.