Legendary low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman directed this straightforward version of Lovecraft’s only novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Among Corman’s many successes at the time was a series of pictures loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe stories. Feeling that Lovecraft’s name was not well-known enough, Corman borrowed a title from one of Poe’s poems, seeking to ride the wave of popularity generated by the previous films. Movies made from Lovecraft’s work have never quite overcome this rocky start.
The next blow came when Corman churned out Die Monster Die (1965), an almost unrecognizable adaptation of “The Colour Out of Space,” Lovecraft’s personal favorite tale. The Dunwich Horror (1970), the last of Corman’s Lovecraft adaptations, followed the story’s general outline, but an added love interest and psychedelic effects helped to dispel the original’s moody horror.
Rod Serling’s Night Gallery television show produced reasonably faithful episodes based on “Pickman’s Model” and “Cool Air” in 1971. Though well-received by fans, it would be almost fifteen years before another producer would seek to mine for Lovecraftian gold.
The Curse of Re-Animator
“Herbert West: Re-Animator” is one of Lovecraft’s earlier stories, awkward in construction and execution, and Stuart Gordon felt no compunction to be faithful in his screenplay for Re-Animator (1985). For budgetary reasons, he contemporized the story, then relied on a bizarre mix of pumped-up gore, horror and over-the-top performances. It is still the most financially successful Lovecraft film. Entertainment Weekly, in its Sept. 3, 2008 edition, ranks it number 14 on its list of "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83." There has since been two sequels, with a third one announced for 2009. Beyond the main character’s name there is little of Lovecraft left.
Gordon’s follow-up film, From Beyond (1986), dispensed with Lovecraft’s story of the same name before the opening credits, then proceeded on its own path. But Lovecraft’s growing reputation worldwide had by now lifted his name to a marketable commodity.
Accordingly, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, interest in at least his name as a lucrative source for movies increased. The Curse (1987) was another crack at “The Colour Out of Space”; Dark Heritage (1989) was the first feature version of “The Lurking Fear”. But like their predecessors, the films used only elements of the original stories, and were hampered by low-budgets. The Unnameable (1988) and The Unnameable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1993) used little more than Lovecraft’s titles.
Cult favorite Dan O’Bannon took another shot at The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in The Resurrected (1992). Though modernized, it is considered by many fans to be the most faithful translation of Lovecraft to the screen to date.
Necronomicon(1993) returned to form, though. It is an anthology film, consisting of three stories framed with scenes of H. P. Lovecraft reading the dread forbidden book in a library. “Cool Air” survives some minor tinkering, but “The Rats in the Walls” is only barely recognizable and “The Whisperer in Darkness” bears no resemblance to the original story.
The Lurking Fear (1994) was another loose translation from the company that had produced Re-Animator. Stuart Gordon got back in the game with Castle Freak (1995), stretching a six page story, “The Outsider,” to feature length. And a third remake using the basic plot of “The Lurking Fear” without crediting the author was released as Bleeders in 1997 .
The uncertain copyright status of Lovecraft’s work emboldened producers, and the pace of poorly made, low-budget efforts, often released directly to DVD, increased. Dagon (2001) was written and directed by Stuart Gordon, but owes more to “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” than the title story. The Thing on the Doorstep, Pickman’s Model and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath hit the shelves in 2003. Two feature versions of “Cool Air”, one keeping the original title, Cool Air (2006), and another entitled Chill (2007) joined the now-crowded field with Beyond the Wall of Sleep (2006), The Tomb (2007), The Whisperer in Darkness (2007) and Cthulhu (2007) (oddly based more on “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”). A modernized version of The Dunwich Horror (2009) was made for television.
Lovecraft Without Lovecraft
Lovecraftian influence, ironically, has fared better in films not based on his stories. Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) perfectly captured Lovecraft's vision of cosmic horror. Director John Carpenter drew heavily on Lovecraft’s concepts for The Thing (1982) and In the Mouth of Madness (1995). Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead Trilogy revolves around a copy of the Necronomicon. Both Hellboy movies, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, owe much to Lovecraft’s legacy.
The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival
Perhaps the most exciting development has been the success of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, founded in 1995 to encourage professionals and amateurs alike to try their hands at succeeding where so many others have failed. It was not a new idea. Short versions of The Music of Erich Zann (1980) and Pickmans’ Model (1981) had achieved minor cult status. Among the many participants in the festival have been several more versions of Pickman’s Model (2003, 2005), The Music of Erich Zann (2002, 2009), three adaptations of The Statement of Randolph Carter (2005, 2007, 2008) and, most interestingly, a silent version of The Call of Cthulhu (2005) which strives to show what a movie produced in Lovecraft’s own time might have looked like.
But amateur films, though often truer to the source material, are almost by definition low-budget affairs. It is a sort of curse that Lovecraft’s work, widely respected though it is, has largely been unable to escape the albatrosses of inept adaptations, poor production values and bad acting.
The definitive Lovecraft movie has yet to be made, but there is reason to hope. Director Del Toro, who also directed the highly successful Pan’s Labyrinth and who is currently in production on The Hobbit, has announced plans for a big-budget version of “At the Mountains of Madness” as his next project.
