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H.P. Lovecraft: The Road To Madness

SFG75

SFG75

Well-Known Member
This book is a compilation of Lovecraft's short stories, arranged in the chronological order that they were written. The first story, The Beast of the Cave, depicts a man lost in a cave, facing down an unseen enemy. The haunting nature of the situation is carried out in a complex, intelligent form of writing that was unpopular at the time, at least, according to the foreward.:p The Alchemist is an excellent piece, you can definitely tell that it was written at a later time with more maturity. This was a fascinating story of a family that owned a famous castle. The owner strangled a practitioner of the "dark arts" and was cursed by a friend of the deceased that all the descendents of the castle owner would never longer than he presently was-which was 32. Many years pass and a young descendent of the castle owner descends into a lower level of the castle, only to find the 600 year old friend suddenly alive again. I can't put into words the chilling aspect of the story and how it ended, though I guarantee that it's well worth one's time.

Anyone else read his short stories or other works? I'm really glad I finally gave this guy a go-I've read a ton of him previously as he relates to mysticism and psychology.
 
SFG75 said:
Anyone else read his short stories or other works?
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I bought The Call Of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories last night as I wanted to get a feel for his style before I enter the competition I mentioned on the H.P. Lovecraft thread. I've read Dagon, the first story this morning, and I'm not quite sure what to think. It wasn't scary, but then I don't tend to feel horror/terror/panic/whatever from reading, but sometimes it felt lazy when, in lieu of describing something, he would say something along the lines of, "it was a horror too describable for words". Now, to me it's lazy because it's not my type of literature, but I understand that, when something is not of this world, there can be no words or other way to describe it - and that unknown factor is what the horror is. I'll keep reading, regardless.
 
Dagon, The Temple, and Poetry and the Gods have a distinct mystical-pagan-antiquity fascination that Lovecraft was very interested in. I agree, Dagon(and the others) are not as spooky as they are interesting adventures regarding the . . .other worldly weird. Poetry and theGods is an interesting modern tale about an apathetic woman in modern society. She falls asleep and and thd old Greek Gods carry her away and she meets a good number of them, all the while drifting in this rich dream world. In the end, she comes back knowing that she isn't alone and can stand another day in the "empty" modern world.

I eyed your book on amazon and noticed that it shared a good number of smiliar short stories that I'm reading. Have you had the time to enjoy Herbert West-Reanimator? Of any story I've read so far, this one has to be the best. The story is about a Dr. West who becomes fixated on "reanimating" the dead. It's grisly in that Dr. West and a companion dig up the "fresh" dead in order to bringi them back. Unfortunately, they only remember their last terrifying moments on this earth. The scariest scene was when they were field medical doctors on the front line and attempted their usual work. They reanimate the trunk of a pilot killed in a crash and in the corner of the room, comes the plea to a friend to jump. It came from a severed head in a pile of broken off or amputated limbs.:eek: Do read Reanimator, you won't regret it.
 
I've been struck by Lovecraft's strong racist tendencies. In more than a few of his short stories, you hear of how these blue-eyed immigrants raised up the community and worked hard. He doesn't have much to say about anyone who came after 1845 though. "Swarthy" was a common term, not to mention a periodic refernece to anarchy and dark skin color with societal decline and the decay of once great buildings.

I'm not certain if this is a paper or some professor writing on his own time, but it's an interesting paper on racism and sexism in Lovecraft's writing. I detect a strong Freudian analysis here.
 
Stewart said:
I bought The Call Of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories last night as I wanted to get a feel for his style before I enter the competition I mentioned on the H.P. Lovecraft thread. I've read Dagon, the first story this morning, and I'm not quite sure what to think. It wasn't scary, but then I don't tend to feel horror/terror/panic/whatever from reading, but sometimes it felt lazy when, in lieu of describing something, he would say something along the lines of, "it was a horror too describable for words". Now, to me it's lazy because it's not my type of literature, but I understand that, when something is not of this world, there can be no words or other way to describe it - and that unknown factor is what the horror is. I'll keep reading, regardless.
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I'm a huge Lovecraft fan but I have to admit that only one of his stories ever unnerved me. It was Dreams in the Witch House.

Call of Cthulhu is one of my favorites as are At the Mountains of Madness and Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath. Rats in the Walls is another story I rather enjoy.
 
Stewart said:
but sometimes it felt lazy when, in lieu of describing something, he would say something along the lines of, "it was a horror too describable for words". Now, to me it's lazy because it's not my type of literature, but I understand that, when something is not of this world, there can be no words or other way to describe it - and that unknown factor is what the horror is. I'll keep reading, regardless.
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You hit it on the head, man. Some of Lovecraft's stuff is great. I describe it to people as the literary equivalent of hard liquor - you should only have a little at a time or you might start to go :eek: .

But then there's some of his stories that are full of that prose of his - "the beings that lived for untold eons before the start of the universe", etc. How many different ways can you say something is old? Or that it's hard to say what it looked like? I got frustrated with it after a while.
 
But then there's some of his stories that are full of that prose of his - "the beings that lived for untold eons before the start of the universe", etc. How many different ways can you say something is old? Or that it's hard to say what it looked like? I got frustrated with it after a while.
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Must be part of that Miskatonic University training.;)
 
SFG75 -

I love reading Lovecraft. I usually find a few of his stories to at times, become tedious to read, but I can't get enough of his ideas and descriptions.

About your comment on him being racist. He was racist; he was the head of some racist column/newsletter for a while back in the 20's I believe. This is a bit disappointing, however I read in one of the forewards of a compilation, that this one lady believes it is because of his racism that his stories can take on true horror. I found that an interesting point.

Your comment on how his work relates to mysticism and psychology is something that I wondered how many others picked up on. As much as I am a fan of his horror work, I love the Dream Cycle of Lovecraft (same publisher/editor as Road to Madness). His stories in that compilation are much more fantastical. I am fascinated by the human conscious and a lot of the non-fiction related books I read usually deal on the topic. As I read Through the Gates of the Silver Key I was astounded by his description of human consciousness.

I've heard that most of what he writes about are things which he has experienced in dreams. How crazy that.

Though I personally would not describe him as an author of Horror stories, I would classify him as Science Fiction or Fantasy. Whatever it is, it's an excellent mix.

An ending note about Lovecraft movie adaptions, I believe most of them to be garbage, except for one. It's called, The Call of Cthulhu www .cthulhulives. org, and it's Black & White silent film, but I think it's one of the best I have seen. Also, Guillermo del Toro (from HellBoy, which was Lovecraft inspired, and Pan's Labyrinth) is in process of making a Lovecraft adaption of a movie, At the Mountains of Madness. I have higher hopes for this one.

IMDB Links:
Call of Cthulhu - www .imdb.com/title/tt0478988/
At the Mountains of Madness - www .imdb.com/title/tt1118070/


Edited Note - Sorry for reviving an old post. I had not realized it when I posted, though it was on the first page of this sub-section.
 
I haven't seen any movies based on his works, though the list is quite impressive. From the Lovecraft wikipedia entry:

The Whisperer in Darkness (2007), an adaptation of a Lovecraft story produced by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Trailer: ([6])
Kammaren (2007), a Swedish movie inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. (IMDb entry)
Cthulhu (2007) is based on the short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" (IMDb entry)
Lovecracked: The Movie (2006), a straight to DVD release produced and distributed by (Biff Juggernaut Productions) is a complete feature anthology film inspired in part by influential horror author H. P. Lovecraft. (Official Movie Website), (IMDB entry)
Beyond the Wall of Sleep (2006). (IMDb entry)
The Call of Cthulhu (2005), a short, silent, black-and-white adaptation produced by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society.
The Dreams in the Witch House (2005) premiered on Showtime's Masters of Horror film series.
Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road To L. (2005), an Italian horror mockumentary about H.P. Lovecraft coming to Italy in 1926.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (2003), an animated adaptation (IMDb entry)
13:de mars, 1941 (2004), a Swedish shortmovie inspired by the Statement of Randolph Carter.
The Shunned House (2003) (IMDb entry)
Dagon (2001), directed by Stuart Gordon, based less on Lovecraft's story of the same name than on "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" transplanted to a modern Spanish fishing village.
Nyarlathotep (2001) is a short film based on the story of the same name (IMDB Entry).
Cthulhu (2000) is based on the short stories "Call of Cthulhu" and "The Dunwich Horror".[7]
Cool Air (1998), an adaptation by Bryan Moore starring Jack Donner.
The Evil Clergyman (1997), an adaptation by Andy Davis starring Jon Vomit.
The Hound (1997), an adaptation by Anthony Penta of H. P. Lovecraft's short story.
Bleeders AKA Hemoglobin (1997). It's based on "The Lurking Fear".
The Lurking Fear (1994) (IMDB Entry).
Necronomicon (1994), three short films based on Lovecraft stories ("The Rats in the Walls", "Cool Air", "The Whisperer in Darkness"). This film depicts Lovecraft (Jeffrey Combs) stealing the Necronomicon from a religious order.
The Resurrected (1992), an adaptation of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (IMDb entry)
Dark Heritage (1989), an adaptation of "The Lurking Fear".(IMDb entry)
The Unnamable (1988), a movie about a half demon woman who wreaks terror for some teens who venture into an old house.
The Curse (1987), an adaptation of "The Colour out of Space" (IMDb entry)
From Beyond (1986) directed by Stuart Gordon. (IMDb entry)
Re-Animator (1985) is an adaptation of "Herbert West—Re-Animator", directed by Stuart Gordon. (IMDb entry)
The Dunwich Horror (1970) (IMDb entry)
Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) is based on "The Dreams in the Witch House."
The Shuttered Room (1967), an adaptation in which the creature in hiding is changed from a Deep One/human hybrid to a deformed insane person.
Die, Monster, Die! (1965), another adaptation of "The Colour out of Space" (IMDb entry)
The Haunted Palace (1963), an adaptation of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
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neandrake-Old threads remain so that those who run across a given book can post in the thread. Not everyone will read a work at the same time, soit's best to just let it be like a bulletin board at work. Your post made me aware that he was more active in his racist interests than I previously suspected. Authors and other creative people tend to be very forward thinking, though I guess they are still human. I need to read The Call of Cthulhu.
 
Holy crap! I had no idea there were so many Lovecraft inspired movies. I'm sure 90% of them are rubbish. I have seen The Dunwich Horror and it was quite horrid.
 
spark - There are a ton of them indeed. What's even more interesting is that a lot of movies are/directors are inspired by him as well. I believe that in one of the special features for the movie Alien, the director commented on how he was inspired by Lovecraft for creating atmosphere. It's amazing how influential he is yet not very well known.

SFG75 - OK, so I haven't seen that many of the adapted movies, but here's my quick run through the ones I have seen:

Beyond the Wall of Sleep - I'm sure the makers' intentions were good, but this is utter garbage. Low-budget movie with horrific acting and even worse screenplay. You know it's reaching when there's a completely random nude woman in a scene.

The Call of Cthulhu - Short 45 min b/w silent movie. Very creative and I think it's one of the better movies

Dagon - Cheesy, but entertaining. I think it managed to pick up on some of the atmosphere which Lovecraft can create.

From Beyond - Cheesy; total miss. This movie is bad, but I still watch it occasionally for the laughs. This movie might be made for that reason though it's hard to tell. (This short story by Lovecraft is one of my favorites).

ReAnimator - From the same people who did From Beyond and it has the same feel (cheesy and a total miss). This one I thought was worse and had no entertainment value, yet for some reason unknown to me, it's more famous than From Beyond.

I've heard others which are terrible, including Cthulhu (not sure if referring to the 2000 or 2007 movie) and The Dunwich Horror (not just from sparkchaser).

I will have to check out some of these others; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is another story of his which is a favorite, so I'll be looking for the animation adaption.
 
neandrake said:
SFG75 - OK, so I haven't seen that many of the adapted movies, but here's my quick run through the ones I have seen:

Beyond the Wall of Sleep - I'm sure the makers' intentions were good, but this is utter garbage. Low-budget movie with horrific acting and even worse screenplay. You know it's reaching when there's a completely random nude woman in a scene.

The Call of Cthulhu - Short 45 min b/w silent movie. Very creative and I think it's one of the better movies

Dagon - Cheesy, but entertaining. I think it managed to pick up on some of the atmosphere which Lovecraft can create.

From Beyond - Cheesy; total miss. This movie is bad, but I still watch it occasionally for the laughs. This movie might be made for that reason though it's hard to tell. (This short story by Lovecraft is one of my favorites).

ReAnimator - From the same people who did From Beyond and it has the same feel (cheesy and a total miss). This one I thought was worse and had no entertainment value, yet for some reason unknown to me, it's more famous than From Beyond.

I've heard others which are terrible, including Cthulhu (not sure if referring to the 2000 or 2007 movie) and The Dunwich Horror (not just from sparkchaser).

I will have to check out some of these others; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is another story of his which is a favorite, so I'll be looking for the animation adaption.
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I haven't seen any, I believe that most are low-budget "b" movies. I'm not certain why that would be the case, but Lovecraft does have quite a cult following to say the least. Reanimator was one of the better stories that he's written. I know that it was one that had me hooked on every word. A good online resource is the H.P. Lovecraft archive, just something you might want to check out.
 
Lovecraft is amazing. His novels just blow my mind. He's probably the best horror/terror author I've ever read. While his descriptions aren't the best at times, I find that his journey into the human psyche is incredible. He's really good at building up terror in a person's mind. I also really enjoy the early 1900's feel of all of his stuff. It's classic. The only problem I have is that there AREN'T any mountains of madness near the south pole. I was really down when I got there looking for elder gods...
 
There's also the John Carpenter film In the Mouth of Madness, which was heavily influenced by Lovecraft's work although he wasn't acknowledged in the credits. It's an okay movie.
 
Fenster said:
There's also the John Carpenter film In the Mouth of Madness, which was heavily influenced by Lovecraft's work although he wasn't acknowledged in the credits. It's an okay movie.
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Yeah, that one wasn't too bad.
 
I always wondered if some of Wes Craven's works were influenced by Lovecraft. Nightmare on Elm Street seems like it plays a lot on the human sense of terror and horror. I guess the main thing is that I'm just kinda reminded of "Rats in the Walls" when he keeps having the nightmares about the creature and wakes up and the walls and tapestries are moving. Of course, I have read essays that link ALL modern horror to Lovecraft.

What about in the movie Hellboy? They make a lot of references to the necronomicon and such. There's a new one coming out, and I'm hoping Cthulhu himself makes an appearance.
 
Here's an interesting youtube clip.

Neil Gaiman on H.P. Lovecraft

The interesting thing about the Gaiman commentary is that he mentions the fact that Lovecraft's stories are less "scary," but more "weird." That has been a common remark on this board, if not elsewhere.
 
im not an easily scared person so a lot of horror can seem a little dull sometimes (even though i do love horror) but hp lovecraft had the uncanny abilty to unnerve me quite frequently. only him and MR James seem to have that effect on me :)
 
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