Lovecraftian films
Films that are adaptations of Lovecraft's work or inspired by him or could fit in his vast Cthulhu Mythos or feature him as a character. Obviously, this gets a bit subjective at the fringes but is all the better for it.
Further reading: The Complete H.P. Lovecraft Filmography (2001) and Lurker in the Lobby: The Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft (2006).
Links:
* The HP Lovecraft Film Festival: http://www.hplfilmfestival.com
* Unfilmable: Cosmic Horror Cinema: http://unfilmable.blogspot.co.uk
Removed: Mystery of the Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1999), a Lovecraftian hentai that doesn't appear to be that porny but it can't be added to this list. Another mucky movie inspired by Lovecraft is Angel Above - The Devil Below (1974).
Comments: As I don't have a Facebook account I cannot interact with the new comments system, so have switched it off and replaced it with a thread on the message board.
Further reading: The Complete H.P. Lovecraft Filmography (2001) and Lurker in the Lobby: The Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft (2006).
Links:
* The HP Lovecraft Film Festival: http://www.hplfilmfestival.com
* Unfilmable: Cosmic Horror Cinema: http://unfilmable.blogspot.co.uk
Removed: Mystery of the Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1999), a Lovecraftian hentai that doesn't appear to be that porny but it can't be added to this list. Another mucky movie inspired by Lovecraft is Angel Above - The Devil Below (1974).
Comments: As I don't have a Facebook account I cannot interact with the new comments system, so have switched it off and replaced it with a thread on the message board.
List activity
5.7K views
• 16 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
- 439 titles
- DirectorFrank H. WoodwardStarsRobin Atkin DownesNeil GaimanPeter StraubA chronicle of the life, work and mind that created the Cthulhu mythos.Here for the thumbnail graphic, the list begins below:
Although if you want to skip scrolling through to the end of this list (where this is), it can be watched at SnagFilms:
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/lovecraft_fear_of_the_unknown - DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsBoris KarloffAnne RevereAmanda DuffScientist becomes obsessed with the idea of communicating with his dead wife.Based on William Sloane's The Edge of Running Water, which was included in the double novel volume The Rim of Morning, Two Tales of Cosmic Horror, which is enough for me to bung in here.
- DirectorJohn Llewellyn MoxeyStarsPatricia JesselDennis LotisChristopher LeeA young college student arrives in a sleepy Massachusetts town to research witchcraft; during her stay at an eerie inn, she discovers a startling secret about the town and its inhabitants.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsVincent PriceDebra PagetLon Chaney Jr.Charles Dexter Ward arrives at a small village to visit the house he inherited from his ancestor who died there 100 years ago.Based on "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsRay MillandDiana Van der VlisHarold J. StoneAn ambitious scientist invents an eye drop formula that grants him X-ray vision, but his new powers have disastrous consequences.An ending pulled right from the pages of Lovecraft's stories.
- DirectorDaniel HallerStarsBoris KarloffNick AdamsFreda JacksonA young man visits his fiancée's estate to discover that her wheelchair-bound scientist father has discovered a meteorite that emits mutating radiation rays that have turned the plants in his greenhouse to giants. When his own wife falls victim to this mysterious power, the old man takes it upon himself to destroy the glowing object with disastrous results.aka Die, Monster, Die!
Based on "The Colour Out of Space" - DirectorHarvey HartStarsLeslie NielsenPeter Mark RichmanJudi MeredithPolice call in occult expert to help solve series of murders.Pilot for an occult detective series with Lovecraftian overtones that starred Leslie Nielsen. As great as that sounds, it was never picked up and I think the world is a duller place for it.
- DirectorDavid GreeneStarsOliver ReedGig YoungCarol LynleyA series of horrific murders is traced to a creature that inhabits a very strange house.
- DirectorVernon SewellStarsBoris KarloffChristopher LeeMark EdenRobert Manning visits the remote country house where his brother Peter was last seen. While his host seems outwardly friendly and his niece more demonstrably so, Robert detects a feeling of menace in the air.
- DirectorDaniel HallerStarsSandra DeeDean StockwellEd BegleyWilbur Whateley travels to the Arkham Miskatonic University to borrow the legendary Necronomicon. But, little does anyone know, Whateley isn't quite human...
- DirectorJack WoodsDennis MurenMark Thomas McGeeStarsEdward ConnellBarbara HewittFrank BonnerFour friends are attacked by a demon while on a picnic, due to possession of a tome of mystic information. Told in flashbacks by the sole survivor.
- DirectorJohn BadhamJeff CoreyJeannot SzwarcStarsMarty AllenRoss MartinBarbara RushA Gothic love story about a woman and a man who lives in a refrigerated apartment. / Miserly banker Sharsted finds himself trapped after viewing his client's strange optical device. / Edgar Allan Poe can't get the first line down on paper.Based on "Cool Air"
- DirectorJeff CoreyJack LairdStarsBradford DillmanLouise SorelSteve LawrenceLovelorn Mavis Goldsmith ignores her reclusive art teacher Pickman's warning not to follow him home. / A fake fortune-telling racket is disrupted by adultery. / When a woman enters an elevator, a ghoul is asked to remove his hat.Based on "Pickman's Model"
- DirectorJerrold FreedmanWilliam HaleJack LairdStarsPatty DukeVirginia MayoDavid WayneA strange diary shows gossip columnist her sad future. / Dracula visits a blood bank with an odd request. / Hawkins the hermit promises a surprise to three boys if they dig for it. / Professor Peabody publicly ridicules Lovecraftian gods."Professor Peabody's Last Lecture" isn't based on HPL's work but it involved the Necronomicon and includes a Mr Lovecraft as a character.
- DirectorRichard BlackburnStarsLesley TaplinCheryl SmithWilliam WhittonA young girl who returns to her hometown to see her dying father finds herself being drawn into a web of vampirism and witchcraft.Feels like "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" but with vampires instead of Deep Ones (although Lovecraft isn't credited).
- DirectorWillard HuyckGloria KatzStarsMichael GreerMarianna HillJoy BangA young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious undead cult.A tricky call as this film is trippy and doesn't allow itself to get pinned down to genre specifics - are the cultists vampires? (no, they go out in daylight and eat meat)? Zombies? (no, they have their wits about them still). The closest thing they resemble are the creatures from I Am Legend, the next phase in humanity, and you kind of get that feeling from them, that they are coming to take us over. What is interesting is that the... cultiness does seem to spread (see the woman Thom meets and the cop), so I've added them to my contagious violence list. So is it Lovecraftian? Author and horror expert Kim Newman has suggested as much - from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_of_Evil#AnalysisWikipedia/link:
He draws attention to details such as the vanished father being a death-obsessed painter, the daughter falling in with a group of hedonists, the town people turning into ghouls. He also notes that the "dark stranger" was a sinister preacher, whose awaited return comes from the sea. He find all these details to point to the influence of H. P. Lovecraft on the film
Watch it for yourself and make up you own mind, as this is public domain:
Get it from the Internet Archive (or as Dead People with MPEG2 format) - DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsSissy SpacekPiper LaurieAmy IrvingCarrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.I'm going to have a ponder on this one, I'd have not come up with it myself but it gets a mention on Wikipedia, so is worthy of further thought (it is set in Lovecraft Country).
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRichard ChamberlainOlivia HamnettDavid GulpililA Sydney lawyer defends five Aboriginal Persons in a ritualized taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing things about himself and premonitions.
- DirectorVic HughesStarsElizabeth AdareNicholas YoungMike HolowayA stranger, Jake, offers to manage Mike's band, but when Liz learns that he is the leader of a religious group called the Hearts of Sogguth, she begins to wonder what his motives are.According to the Tomorrow People wikia:
The concept (and name) of Sogguth is reminiscent of H.P Lovecraft's short stories of ancient aliens whom early civilisations identified as gods. The idea of an ancient book that contains key information is also often used by Lovecraft.
http://thetomorrowpeople.wikia.com/wiki/The_Heart_of_Sogguth - DirectorVic HughesStarsElizabeth AdareNicholas YoungMike HolowayJake sends John to kill Liz, but forcing a Tomorrow Person against his nature breaks his possession. John and Liz realise that if Mike plays Sogguth's drum on live television, Sogguth (Satan) will be released into the world.
- DirectorSergio MartinoStarsBarbara BachClaudio CassinelliRichard JohnsonAquatic creatures threaten the existence of a mysterious island.Based on "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtAfter investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin, the crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform.
- DirectorBarbara PeetersJimmy T. MurakamiStarsDoug McClureAnn TurkelVic MorrowHumanoid sea creatures start killing a fishing town's residents, and raping their women. It's up to the townsfolk and a visiting biologist to fight back and fend them off.One part Creature From the Black Lagoon and one part Shadow Over Innsmouth.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsChristopher GeorgeCatriona MacCollCarlo De MejoA reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves.Takes place in Dunwich.
- DirectorAlan GibsonStarsAnna Calder-MarshallGary RaymondPaul HawkinsA family on holiday stop to pick up a mysterious hitch-hiker.
