Comments on: Strange Aeons

By: bonzo

bonzo — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 01:10:23 +0000

There’s also Gaiman’s Robert Nye pastiche autobiographical sketch of Great Cthulhu (with the little Wodehouse musical that follows it) http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/essay07.asp

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 21:24:52 +0000

Kurosawa's High and Low, from an Ed McBain novel Did the question of whether Kurosawa based Yojimbo on Red Harvest ever get settled? I seem to recall a lawsuit a few years ago.

By: burritoboy

burritoboy — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 20:33:18 +0000

examples of American classics transposed to a non-US setting (Hollywood backwards): The most prominent example is the French use of American literary noir and pulp sources: Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player from David Goodis’ novel Corneau’s Serie Noire from Jim Thompson Dassin’s Rififi, directed by American Dassin from Le Breton’s book, which is heavily derivative of American noir books Tavernier’s Coup de Tourchon, as has already been mentioned Visconti’s Ossessione, from The Postman Always Rings Twice Kurosawa’s High and Low, from an Ed McBain novel

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 19:14:42 +0000

And there's the great Howard Waldrop's Mary Shelley-H.P. Lovecraft mashup, "Black as the Pit From Pole to Pole" (written with his occasional collaborator Steven Utley, a Google search informs me). ...another whose title escapes me at the moment, which is a Lovecraft mythos story written in the style of Jane Austen. That sounds inspired, on a level with Miss Austen's tale of Patience and Terminus. I suppose there must be other examples of American classics transposed to a non-US setting (Hollywood backwards) but I can’t think of any... Bernard Tavenier's adaption of Jim Thompson at his most unhinged in Coup de Torchon? He moves the setting of Pop. 1280 from the small-town South to equatorial Africa. (And finally as re: Lovecraft's dodgy politics, the only good bit in Warren Ellis's sadly uninspiring Planetary/Authority teamup was the Lovecraft's characters assertion that the Elder Gods were spawned from "Negro eggs".)

By: Redshift

Redshift — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:56:16 +0000

I would also recommend Esther Friesner, who has written such wonders as “Love’s Eldritch Ichor”, about an aspiring romance novelist from Innsmouth and another whose title escapes me at the moment, which is a Lovecraft mythos story written in the style of Jane Austen.

By: George

George — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:52:04 +0000

Re Spawn: okay maybe not, actually.

By: George

George — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:17:50 +0000

Three notes: 1. Any chance “The Atrocity Archives” also draws inspiration from JG Ballard’s “The Atrocity Exhibition”? I thumbed through a rare copy of the latter at City Lights a few years ago and was, let’s say, taken aback. 2. Re contemporary takes on Lovecraft: I recently looked through a graphic novel about the young HP Lovecraft himself. I forget the name, but pretty neat—though I wouldn’t want it in the same house as my wife and/or toddler. 3. Re film takes on Lovecraft’s ethos: Todd McFarlane’s “Spawn”?

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:53:20 +0000

As a fairly straight adaptation, I liked “Dagon”. Ok, at first I thought you were referring to Fred Chappell's book of the same name, which rewrites Lovecraft as an American Southern gothic. I've never seen a really satisfactory Lovecraft movie, either (as groovy as Army of Darkness is), but the Atlanta Radio Theater has done some spooky audio dramatizations.

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:07:50 +0000

Wow… I’ve been out of touch, just found this reference on my del.icio.us Cthulhu filter. Thanks for the links. I’m serializing a Cthulhu Saga where our favorite elder god stands in for the World Worm and is caught by Thor. Excerpts can be found here: http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=mckenzee&keyword=Cthulhu&filter=all

By: Alison

Alison — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:58:40 +0000

I think the best Lovecraft-style film is ‘In the Mouth of Madness’ by John Carpenter. Carpenter isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and his work is very variable, so you may disagree. It gave me the authentic creeps.

By: bob mcmanus

bob mcmanus — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 09:45:06 +0000

Dagon was ok had some Lovecraftian elements. Cast a Deadly Spell was a 1991 HBO movie with Lovecraftian elements that was pretty entertaining. All you need is ancient evil and fog-ridden farmhouses, keep thinking I am forgetting something that has the mood of Lovecraft. “examples of American classics transposed to a non-US setting (Hollywood backwards)” Picked up Bunuel’s Fall of the House of Usher 1928 for a couple bucks this weekend, but haven’t watched it yet.

By: John Kozak

John Kozak — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 09:27:18 +0000

As a fairly straight adaptation, I liked “Dagon”, Brian Yuzna’s Catalan relocation of “Shadow over Innsmouth”. I suppose there must be other examples of American classics transposed to a non-US setting (Hollywood backwards) but I can’t think of any…

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 06:38:47 +0000

Thanks for the link, Henry A Colder War was great!

By: Kip Manley

Kip Manley — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 04:04:17 +0000

Playing around in the Mythos is a lot of fun, I must say (I acted in a student film whose basic premise was college kids discover Necronomicon, dark wackiness ensues. Never finished, so its ability to do justice is up in the air, but the script was a nice blend of horror and comedy for that dark, pre-Buffy day)—and for those who want to go on a fuck tha tragedy of the commons kick, it's notable that the reason Lovecraft's ideaspace thrived is because he opened it up to his friends and neighbors, and (beyond the initial thrilling push he gave it, granted) the Elder Gods draw most of their eldritch power from their mongrel, cross-bred state. (I'm hoping Atrocity Archives is better than Colder War, which I read for the first time this weekend—nice enough, but it read a bit much like isolated outtakes from a (cool, granted) Delta Green game. Oh, and while we're on about excellent role playing games derived from Lovecraft, here's what's just about my favorite: School Colors Out of Space.)

By: Cosma

Cosma — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 03:36:31 +0000

Let's not forget the science fictional re-interpretations, none of which exactly re-use the specific characters and props from Lovecraft, but are definitely variations on his theme, with ancient alien Powers menacing humanity in more or less subtle ways. I can think of three off the top of my head. My favorites are Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space and sequels, which open with archaeologists excavating a city of the Old Ones and disturbing Elder Things. (Reynolds gets bonus points for depicting various fragments of humanity in the process of turning into Lovecraftian monstrosities themselves.) Thomas Harlan's Wasteland of Flint has a very similar theme, where the Lovecraft is hybridized with Carlos Castaneda (motivated by a never-fully-spelled-out alternative history where the Aztecs conquered the world, with the Japanese as junior partners). And of course there's Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep... None of these have any supernatural elements, but that just accords with S. T. Joshi's interpretation of Lovecraft.