The Temple of Dagon

Hello everyone,

I'd like to take this time to introduce myself. My name is Craig Mullins and I run Unfilmable.com. For those of you who are unfamiliar with my site; it is devoted to H.P. Lovecraft films and other forms of media (including plays and audio adaptations). I do my best to cover any and all Lovecraft films (past and present).

The Temple of Dagon (thanks Aleister!) was kind enough to add this forum for fans of Lovecraft films to discuss and meet.

Just a few of the things I would like to discuss are:

1. What are your favorite Lovecraft films (and least favorite)?
2. What stories would you like to see adapted to the screen?
3. Do you know of an adaptation that you have not seen discussed elsewhere, and might be unknown to most?
4. Your own Lovecraft related projects...
5. Next months H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival (http://www.hplfilmfestival.com) in Portland, Oregon. 6. Anything and everything!

I hope this will work towards bringing fans of Lovecraft films together (as well as making new fans), and maybe even move a few of you towards trying to make a film or two of your own!

Take care,

Craig
http://www.unfilmable.com
H.P. Lovecraft Cinema

"It is not likely that any really finely wrought weird story - where so much depends upon mood, and on nuances of description - could be changed to a drama without irreparable cheapening and the loss of all that gave it power."

- H.P. Lovecraft

1. Dont like movies, esp of lovecraft's work, its visual enough as it is...
2. I would love to see any of my short stories or novellas turned into a film...

Congrats on getting this up, Craig!

As always, you are da man....

Hello once again

1. What are your favorite Lovecraft films (and least favorite)?

Dagon by far is my favorite. I can enjoy Lovecraft inspired films that are not so authentic as well (such as Cthulhu Mansion) because I enjoy bad horror movies at times There is not one that I just hate.

2. What stories would you like to see adapted to the screen?

That is a hard one. There are so many that have the possibility of turning out good. The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath would be interesting, just to see how they would do it

3. Do you know of an adaptation that you have not seen discussed elsewhere, and might be unknown to most?

Not really. I am just now starting to look into the more independent films more (as far as Lovecraft inspired), so I don't even know many that are probably common knowledge (to HPL film festival-goers).

4. Your own Lovecraft related projects...
The Temple of Dagon of course. and the official CthulhuMud (mythos based RPG) game, which I am working on setting up a new domain for. I made a cthulhu statuette You can see it on the page somewhere. I keep wanting to do a carving (3d) of Cthulhu but I need to sketch it out first

5. Next months H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival (http://www.hplfilmfestival.com) in Portland, Oregon. 6. Anything and everything!

Would be fun to go.. I am going to read more on it As I said I am not as up-to-date as I could be on the movies. That's why you are here lol j/k

Lagwolf,

Lovecraft's stories are quite visual, and I think this is one of the things that draws filmmakers to him. Most people who think of Beyond Re-Animator, The Curse and Necronomicon may not know that there is a whole movement of filmmakers who are trying to take Lovecraft's stories seriously and really do them justice.

A couple that instantly come to mind are John Strysik's "The Music of Erich Zann" and Bryan Moore's "Cool Air". I have high hopes for Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of "At the Mountains of Madness" visually, but I wonder how much of the story it will retain...

I have yet to read one of your stories, but look forward to doing so.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Take care,

Craig
http://www.unfilmable.com
H.P. Lovecraft Cinema

"It is not likely that any really finely wrought weird story - where so much depends upon mood, and on nuances of description - could be changed to a drama without irreparable cheapening and the loss of all that gave it power."

- H.P. Lovecraft

Thanks for joining us Rick! How about a little introduction?

Ah I had forgotten completely about Necronomicon!

I love Necronomicon for its cheesy goofy-horror ness Another example of how I sometimes like them even if they have very little Lovecraft basis.

<Dagon by far is my favorite. I can enjoy Lovecraft inspired films that are not so authentic as well (such as Cthulhu Mansion) because I enjoy bad horror movies at times There is not one that I just hate.>

Dagon is a very good film. It's easily the best film Stuart Gordon has made since Re-Animator. The location has a very Lovecraftian feel to it, and Francisco Rabal really steals the show as Ezequiel (although many people complained about his accent, I thought it was oddly appropriate).

Cthulhu Mansion, well...

<That is a hard one. There are so many that have the possibility of turning out good. The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath would be interesting, just to see how they would do it >

Edward Martin III made a fine animated version of Dream-Quest (http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html), and Jean-Paul Ouellette (The Unnamableand The Unnamable II) has expressed interest in doing a live action version! I think the scope of the story will probably prevent that from ever happening though. Although with films like The Lord of the Rings doing big box office, now would be the best time to give it a go!

<The Temple of Dagon of course. and the official CthulhuMud (mythos based RPG) game, which I am working on setting up a new domain for. I made a cthulhu statuette You can see it on the page somewhere. I keep wanting to do a carving (3d) of Cthulhu but I need to sketch it out first>

A truly wonderful website, and one of my favorites! Will look for the Cthulhu statuette pic. I'm somewhat of an artist myself, but sculpting is something I've never tried...

<Would be fun to go.. I am going to read more on it As I said I am not as up-to-date as I could be on the movies. That's why you are here lol j/k>

And thanks again for inviting me. Hope you can attend one someday. My first was last year, and I now regret having missed the others...

<Ah I had forgotten completely about Necronomicon!
I love Necronomicon for its cheesy goofy-horror ness Another example of how I sometimes like them even if they have very little Lovecraft basis.>

I enjoy Necronomicon for what it is, although I'm not very fond of the third part. It's always good to see David Warner and Jeffrey Combs in anything!

In many ways I do consider myself a Lovecraft purist, but unlike many I can enjoy silly movies without getting worked up about their authenticity

Here is the statuette - http://www.templeofdagon.com/mythos/projects.htm - It is rather crude. I am far from a sculptor myself but it was just something fun to do. I think that wood would be much easier to shape than sculpy brand modeling clay

Very nice!

My first attempt at sculpting might well be the river creature that I need for my on again, off again (mostly off again) attempt at Mythos cinema...

See: http://www.unfilmable.com/unfilmable_films.html

Here's a weird form of Cthulhu story: A Shoggoth on the Roof - the Cthulhu mythos musical.

http://www.cthulhulives.org/shoggoth/

Nortonew,

A Shoggoth on the Roof is a very funny film. Chris Sarandon (The Resurrected) gives a wonderful performance in it!

The makers (Andrew Leman and Sean Branney) of this documentary are currently working on an adaptation of "The Call of Cthulhu" that I am very excited about. A trailer will be premiering at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.

Check it out here: http://www.cthulhulives.org/CoC/movieinfo.html

They also made a film called The Testimony of Randolph Carter that is based on Lovecraft's "The Statement of Randolph Carter" (and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key").

Take care,

Craig

I think I remember seeing something about DVD collections of the movies presented at the film festivals.

Is this indeed available? Or has any other group went through and produced such collections?

Aleister,

I started a new topic with the H.P. Lovecraft Collection DVD information. Andrew is planning some great things with this line (some of it is still secret at this time). The Cool Air DVD is already available, and well worth the money...

Take care,

Craig

Way cool forum here - thanks for the invite, Craig! Besides, you know I couldn't just let Rick "ping!" Tillman represent Seattle! I look forward to snooping around and getting my Lovecraft fix here!