Originally presented at ConnectiCon 2014, Lovecraft on the Silver Screen takes a look at some of the best and worst approaches to adapting H.P. Lovecraft's stories to visual media. Subjects include: South Park: Coon 2: Hindsight, Mysterion Rises, Coon vs. Coon and Friends The Dunwich Horror The Evil Dead Lovecraft's Dream Cycle From Beyond Exorcist II: The Heretic Pacific Rim Lemora, A Child's Tale of the Supernatural Re-Animator The Call of Cthulhu View at http://thesketchydetails.net to see all the video footage.

1. LOVECRAFT ON THE SILVER SCREEN
Robert Gannon
http://thesketchydetails.net
@robertjgannon
Connecticon 2014

2. LOVECRAFT 101
• H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) is a master of weird fiction
• Combined science fiction, fantasy, and horror into something dense, beautiful, and otherworldly
• Created a series of monstrous gods so terrifying and popular, an entire subgenre of literature formed
after his death
• Many attempts have been made to bring his work to the screen and few have really succeeded
• His style is so psychological and absurd, focusing on the plot or altering the hysteria doesn’t really cut it

3. THE BEST LOVECRAFT ADAPTATION I’VE EVER SEEN
• It’s not a film
• It’s not even serious
• It’s…something special and unexpected

6. THE DUNWICH HORROR
• 1970 horror film starring Sandra Dee
• Inspired by Lovecraft story of the same name
• A young coed decides to investigate the Necronomicon as part of her research at
Miskatonic University. However, the town she’s staying in has other plans.
• At least the Necronomicon looks good in the film.

8. THE EVIL DEAD
• Both the 1981 cult horror and the 2013 remake also use the Necronomicon
• I prefer the remake’s approach to Lovecraftian nonsense, but the original is
a far better film
• Take it away, Bruce Campbell

10. LOVECRAFT DREAMS
• Before introducing the world to the likes of Ry’leh, Yog Soggoth, and Cthulhu, Lovecraft wrote a series
of twisted fantasy stories about the world beyond your dreams
• They feature elements of the insanity of the Great Old Ones and Poe-like conceits of unreliable
narrators and a snowball effect of horror
• Next to the Cthulhu Mythos, the story “Beyond the Wall of Sleep” has seen the most cinematic
adaptations

11. FROM BEYOND
• 1986 horror film starring Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton and directed
by Stuart Gordon
• Features fantastic effects sequences and Lovecraftian insanity, but bares very
little resemblance to the actual short story by Lovecraft

14. YOU WANT ACCURACY?
• From Beyond the Wall of Sleep is the story of a devoutly religious man who snaps and murders his
whole family with an axe. He is deemed incapable of standing trial and sentenced to an asylum. A
scientist wants to test out his newest invention, a system that can link the brain patterns of two people
and pull them into the same dream space. The murderer tells stories of a fantastical dream world that
led to the murder of his family.
• The device is a series of helmets and a focal point that will let the scientist enter the mind of the
murderer when they match patterns on basically a metronome

15. EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC
• 1977 sci-fi/horror film starring Linda Blair
• A terrible, mostly unrelated sequel to The Exorcist
• However, as an adaptation of Lovecraft, it becomes far more interesting

17. PACIFIC RIM
• 2013 sci-fi film from Guillermo del Toro
• Let’s be real. Guillermo del Toro has been promising a Lovecraft film for years. Is it a coincidence that his
could-be blockbuster film features giant monsters rising from deep beneath the ocean to destroy
humanity? Those are the Great Old Ones.
• More importantly, the film consistently pulls the mind melding technique from Beyond the Wall of
Sleep

19. LEMORA, A CHILD’S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL
• 1973 noir/horror film inspired by Night of the Hunter
• A young girl goes on a quest to find out what happened to her father years
before
• While not a full-blown Lovecraft adaptation, writer/director Richard
Blackburn sets the scene with a bizarre sequence referencing Lovecraftian
madness and mutation in New England, aka Lovecraft’s home

21. RE-ANIMATOR
• 1985 sci-fi/horror starring Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, directed by
Stuart Gordon
• Arguably the greatest Lovecraft adaptation ever
• Adapted from Herbert West—Reanimator

23. THE CALL OF CTHULHU
• 2005 silent horror film from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
• The most accurate Lovecraft adaptation I’ve encountered
• Also, my pick for the best Lovecraft film

26. LOVECRAFT ON THE SILVER SCREEN
Robert Gannon
http://thesketchydetails.net
@robertjgannon
Connecticon 2014