NecronomiCon, a 3-day celebration of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, is taking place this week in Providence, RI, the city Lovecraft was born and died in. From a WaPo article on NecronomiCon:
[Lovecraft] was steeped in the past and suspicious of change, and like some of his contemporaries was racist and anti-immigrant, themes reflected in his stories including “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.”
So, now I have to get my hands on “The Shadow Over Innsmouth“. (Note: Metallica’s song “The Thing That Should Not Be” is based on this story.)
I have read a few of Lovecraft’s short stories over the years, and have been meaning to read more of him.
If you’re a fan of any of the following movies, all of which are significantly influenced by Lovecraft, then you may want to check out his fiction:
- The Thing (1982): John Carpenter, a big fan of Lovecraft, remade this 1951 film to be more faithful to the Lovecraftian 1938 novella Who Goes There by John Campbell Jr. Carpenter’s film is the first film of what he calls his “Apocalypse Trilogy”, which includes Prince of Darkness (1987) and concludes with In the Mouth of Madness (1995).
- In the Mouth of Madness (1995): This John Carpenter film is the most direct homage to Lovecraft. From the similarity in title to Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness“, to direct references to the Cthulhu Mythos
- Alien (1979): Artist H. R. Giger, who designed all aspects of the alien and its environment for the film (i.e., the space jockey, the eggs, the face-hugger, chest-burster, the alien itself), is influenced by Lovecraft. Giger’s book of paintings which led directly to many of the designs for the film Alien was named Necronomicon, the name of a fictional book in several of Lovecraft’s mythos stories. Dan O’Bannon, the original writer of the Alien screenplay, has also mentioned Lovecraft as a major influence on the film.
- Re-Animator (1985): This film is based on Lovecraft’s Herbert West: Reanimator.
- The Outer Limits (1963-65): Lovecraftian in both style and theme.
- The Evil Dead films (1981 – 1992): Lovecraftian references galore.
