"Which Lovecraft story to film?" Topic

After reading about how close Mountains of Madness came to being made into a film, it got my wondering why one of his stories has been made sooner.

Which of his stories do you believe would best translate to film?

" Director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Matthew Robbins wrote a screenplay based on Lovecraft's story, but in 2006 had trouble getting Warner Bros. to finance the project. Del Toro wrote, "The studio is very nervous about the cost and it not having a love story or a happy ending, but it's impossible to do either in the Lovecraft universe." [25]

In July 2010 it was announced that the film would be made in 3D and that James Cameron would become producer, [26] and Tom Cruise was attached to star. [27] This "was a startling prospect considering Lovecraft's tale had long been considered unfilmable." [27] Del Toro confirmed that the film would begin production as early as May 2011 and start filming in June. [28] However, in March 2011, it was announced that "Universal refused to greenlight the project due to del Toro's insistence that it be released with an R rating rather than a PG-13." [27] According to Salon.com, "Universal wants to hold onto the project in the event that it changes its mind and decides to make it later, either as an R or PG-13 movie. But del Toro is already trying to set up Mountains at another studio (possibly 20th Century Fox). [27] However, in April 2012, del Toro posted that, due to the resemblance in premise with director Ridley Scott's film, Prometheus, the project would probably face a "long pause -if not demise".

Shadow Over Innsmouth.

There's a Spanish film, Dagon, which's a decent modern re-telling.

At the Mountains of Madness would make a great film – if it were done properly. I fear that the ancient giant blind albino penguins might be a hard sell though.

The music of Erich Zann would be a superb "ghost story for christmas" if the BBC are looking for something other than MR James.

Charles Dexter Ward has everything really.

" I fear that the ancient giant blind albino penguins might be a hard sell though."

Yeah, I laughed out loud when I read that part.

How about Trent Reznor for the soundtrack.

Shadow Over Innsmouth and Dexter ward

"The Haunted Palace" (1963), with Vincent Price, is based on "Charles Dexter Ward", though the title is from Poe & the movie was billed as a Poe story. "The Curse" (1987) with Claude Akins is an adaptation Of Lovecraft's "The Color out of Space". There's also a couple of films of "The Dunwich Horror".
I'm also disappointed that "Mountains of Madness" wasn't made.

…If done properly.

That's just about as big as "ifs" get.

I don't know…

So much of Lovecraft depends on the indescribable otherness of the old ones, there's something psychic and wrong about them that drives people mad.

On film Lovecraft's Pantheon would look like variations on squids and jellyfish. Lots of B movie potential.

Film isn't a great medium for plots that are almost completely about a character's internal state and perception, the actual actions that Lovecraft's characters take aren't that exciting to see.

The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society has a fantastic silent film version of "The Call of Cthulhu" plus "The Whisperer in Darkness" available on DVDs. If anyone could do "At the Mountains of Madness" right, it would be this society. They strive to duplicate the type of films that could have been made if these stories had been made into film during Lovecraft's life. For any true Lovecraft fan, their website is worth checking out:
cthulhulives.org

The Soap Opera "Dark Shadows" did a pretty decent job on The Dunwich horror.
Well… "Good" as in "pretty good for a soap opera"…
I loved Dark Shadows, and I recognized the plot.

" Historical Society has a fantastic silent film version of "The Call of Cthulhu"

Saw it last night. Was interesting but I don't know if if rate it as fantastic.

I am a big fan of The Resurrected, a modern re-telling of Dexter Ward, as of the early 90s. I have always loved From Beyond as one of the most faithful adaptations and then the opening credits of the film roll. :)

The worry with adaptations of Lovecraft is that either you get rubber tentacles or C'thulu subbing for Godzilla.

The Resurrected was a pretty good take on 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'.
I'm one who is glad ATMOM didn't get made… given the sorts of things the studio were trying to shove in it (Tom Cruise… the horror!).

I'd rather seen some of his less epic stories get made… such as The Hound or The Music Of Eric Zahn… maybe an anthology film like the old Amicus horror films.

Replace the albino giant penguins with prehistoric raptor/bird thingies for Mountain of Madness.

All Lovecraft should be done in period, never modernised.

The giant albino penguins are not that far fetched given this discovery. link

If they want a love story, The Thing On The Doorstep would make a very strange romantic comedy.

"Eddy is a shy, sicky poet, who's just met the girl of his dreams, a dark haired, big eyed beauty named Asenath.
But Eddy's best friend Dan thinks that Asenath may have a secret: She's actually a man(?) and only wants Eddy for his body!
Can Dan keep his best friend from making the worst mistake of his life?"

This seems to be a reasonable site for Lovecraft films though I've never bought from them

link

Film isn't a great medium for plots that are almost completely about a character's internal state and perception, the actual actions that Lovecraft's characters take aren't that exciting to see.

Agree with chriskrum. Difficult, but not impossible, which leads to the many above comments about "if" being the largest word in the English language.

Another vote to Charles Dexter Ward.

And one new vote for Nyarlathotep. One of my fave characters across the different writers (I even did my own fan fiction piece). Also, a very difficult story to do on flim, but it would likely be spectacular when done well.

I like The Resurrected already. No need to do it again.

Now a 'whole' version of CoC is what I'd love to see.
Not a huge fan of the b/w silent one. Good, but…

Or Rats in the Walls…

Or "The Whisperer in Darkness". I like the Mi-gos.

"The Colour Out of Space".

I resurrected this thread merely to point out that Colour Out of Space was done in the 60s as Die Monster Die! starring Nick("The Rebel") Adams. Also Boris("At This Point I'll Do Anything")Karlof.

And of course followed by Dunwich Horror. Neither very good at all,though I wasn't sure about DH at the time,saw it at a drive-in in an extremely altered state,as was,apparently,the projectionist,who started the third reel in place of the second,and upside down at that. And maybe backwards.
I couldn't tell the difference.

After decades of disappointments,I've come to the sad conclusion that Lovecraft is unfilmable.
At least by puny humans.