Howard Philip Lovecraft is a deeply
influential figure not only in his own
field of prose his influences of
tangible in video games TV and in the
medium were looking at here film he
really is a household name not known to
everyone for sure but known to many in
terms of his work and themes someone may
never have read any Lovecraft but when a
story is described as a lovecraftian
they get an idea of what it might be
about in the same way a piece of fiction
might be described as to ken's ian or
dystopian ideas Orwellian Lovecraft
developed the literary philosophy of
Kozma scizzum he hypothesized that the
human race has their destiny it's almost
entirely insignificant and that one day
it will probably die and be forgotten
much of the horror from lovecraft aura
derived from the oppressive feelings of
insignificance and helplessness that his
narratives exert on the protagonists
there's a terrifying implication in many
of his stories that things like on earth
morality or any sort of karmic balance
either don't exist or a meaningless
where godlike beings do appear they may
appear like Gods to humans that they're
entirely mortal it's almost as if he
could have written thus Spoke Cthulhu
Lovecraft died at the age of 46 still
quite obscure however he left a
significant body of work that were not
only growing popularity after his death
but also inspire a great deal of other
artists even just in film the ideas and
movies that he inspired a too numerous
to list here so I've selected just a few
influence is often very hard to quantify
it might mean something uses the same
ideas or very similar troegs to another
piece of work or it might mean that two
pieces of worker kinda similar or it
might just mean that the handling and
treatment are influenced by a work and
the actual content is very different an
absolute thing can cross genres very
easily when people talk about something
being lovecraftian they're often talking
about horror or sci-fi horror but not
all films that owes something to
Lovecraft on that conventionally
definable no doubt Lovecraft's influence
disseminated through literature before
it reached film but one of the earlier
films with lovecraftian influences was
Contiki the immortal monster
the name alone is a pretty good sign and
it's got many classic Lovecraft themes
civilization in peril a monster that
grows exponentially and threatens
protagonists because of scientific not
supernatural causes a connection between
the cosmos and the disappearance of the
mayans which again is purely incidental
the monster may be the antagonist but it
hasn't been conjured to destroy humans
it's just another life-form there are
quite a few similar movies from the same
time which have been influenced to
varying degrees but after the 50s
Lovecraft's influence grew like cal Tiki
exponentially in 1963 Roger Corman
directed the Haunted Palace which
although on the film poster has Edgar
Allen Poe's the Haunted palace was
actually fairly loosely based on
Lovecraft's novella the case of Charles
Dexter Ward and not Poe's poem this was
the first film or first major film not
just to be influenced by Lovecraft but
to actually adapt something he'd written
I guess for marketing purposes Lovecraft
just wasn't well enough known Vincent
Price reads a line from Poe's poem at
the end and really that's the only
connection with Poe
while like a ghastly Rapid River through
the pale door a hideous troll rush out
forever and laughs ah Vincent Price I
could just list everything he's ever
been in and I'd have a 15 minute video
or I could just list everything he's
ever been really good in and I'd still
have a 15 minute video the film is about
a warlock who puts a curse on a village
later possessing his great-great
grandson in order to wreak havoc on the
place as well as being narratively very
lovecraftian I suppose obviously seen as
it is an adaptation there are three
things in the Haunted Palace would show
the extent of the writers influence
firstly the town in the film is named
Arkham an invention of Lovecraft that
recurs in much of his work and the work
of others who use because Sulu mythos
that's essentially works which aren't
necessarily by Lovecraft but a scent in
the same universe Cthulhu is in this
film or as is often with Lovecraft he's
alluded to Cthulhu has an anthro point
out line with an octopus like head and
wings on his back he stands hundreds of
meters tall and to look at him is to go
mad also the Necronomicon it was thought
mr. Ward that he had gained possession
of a book called the Necronomicon a
fictional magical book Lovecraft often
referred to and perhaps sanctified in
the minds of readers with sparse detail
and simple suggestion appears here now
Arkham as the name of a fictional place
has been used many times by many
different people as a nod to Lovecraft
outside of Lovecraft Alchemist perhaps
best known now as the location of the
insane asylum in the DC Universe and it
was picked by jack c harris and dennis
o'neil specifically as a reference the
legacy of Cthulhu as both a character
and concept is incredibly far reaching
you could say the real horror of Cthulhu
is in the idea not necessarily the
monster itself and often films about or
featuring Cthulhu never really make any
attempt to depict him recently there's
the littlest casue lyst assured from
2015 call girl of Cthulhu
Zuma's witnesses Apocalypse Now Cthulhu
the last Lovecraft relic of Cthulhu
casting call of cthulhu Cthulhu from
2007 Call of Cthulhu Cthulhu from 2001
those are just some of the recent films
with Cthulhu in the title not
necessarily where Cthulhu appears where
he is referenced how many times do I
have to sit through before Cthulhu
appears Cthulhu Cthulhu Cthulhu Cthulhu
or his name or the idea of him also
appears in bagon from 2001 and the
Valdemar legacy to the forbidden shadow
1970s that Dunwich horror is based on a
Lovecraft 1928 book of the same name and
that mentions Cthulhu that film also
features the Necronomicon lot still the
evil dead series has a book named
Necronomicon X mortis at its center it
appears in the friday the 13th series
and there's even a film Necronomicon
Book of the Dead one of my own favorite
artists was so inspired by Lovecraft
even took the name for his own art book
HR gigas Necronomicon is filled with
highly detailed work of a nightmare
world much of it clearly showing the
kind of designs and influences that
gieger used in his design of the
xenomorph in Alien and there are so many
films which doesn't feature any of these
things but still owe a lot to Lovecraft
reanimator and gone beyond both directed
by Stuart Gordon in 1985 in 1986
respectively deal with reanimating the
dead and alternate dimensions it was
going to believe a talking head get a
German aside shell there's the curse
from 1987 lurking fear resurrected
directed by dan o'bannon dan o'bannon I
said Steve O'Bannon on my Giga video and
I still haven't forgiven myself
resurrected aimed in his initial cut to
be quite faithful to the novella the
case of Charles Dexter Ward the same
novellas at the Haunted Palace is based
on John Carpenter was influenced by
Lovecraft which can perhaps be seen in
elements of the thing but is even
clearer in the mouth of madness which
clearly references Lovecraft's works
it's about a writer whose work and turn
people mad and about going mad Mike
manola the creator of the hell
the comic books says he was primarily
influenced by Lovecraft so inevitably
the Hellboy films were too Guillermo del
Toro who directed hellboy wrote with
Matthew Robbins a script for at the
Mountains of Madness a Lovecraft novella
written in 1931 as far as we can tell
the script is still on a shelf somewhere
but it may get made one day Stephen King
was undoubtedly influenced by Lovecraft
and so I guess the film adaptions of his
work had traces of those influences too
then of course he bought all the things
that have been influenced by the things
that have been influenced by Lovecraft
there must be so much out there which
has been influenced to varying degrees
by Lovecraft because it's been
influenced by stephen king or john
carpenter or HR giger that's why I think
influence in art is so interesting but
so intangible Lovecraft was clearly
influenced by Poe but also many others
and perhaps many others who will never
realize pile maybe took something from
Dickens Dickens from Wordsworth
Wordsworth from Milton and so on what
I'm really saying is is that in a
thousand years maybe they'll be a little
bit of Cthulhu or maybe a lot spread
across fiction in one geyser or another
thanks for watching join me next time
where I'll discuss what makes a good
film opening looking at the first two or
three minutes of film such as once upon
a time in the west Soylent Green a
clockwork orange life of brian the
revenant and more I'd love to know if
you have a favorite film inspired by
love craft or based on one of his works
don't forget to Like and subscribe it
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next time Charles are you sure you're
all
perfectly sure my dear
perfectly sure
