A Lovely Birthday Bit of Horror

I'm doing this blog on a request of a friend who was worried because I haven't written for a while. Better late than never, some might say.

The date of Aug. 20 is a significant one for me.

You see, that's the birthday of the old Rhode Island scribe who used to write horror stories involving a monstrous pantheon he traded in for a Christian mythology. With that, he gave us the type of horror stories one could only have nightmares about. This old Providence spook penned some of the most well known stories of the twentieth century.

His name was Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

And don't you forget it.

I never did.

Though most mainstreamed audiences would remember him as H.P. Lovecraft who wrote tales of horror and science fiction considered outside the realm of simple pulp fiction during the twenties and thirties. His story “The Colour out of Space” illustrated in great fictional detail about a color that was not within our own visual spectrum. That's some crazy stuff.

And let's not even go near “At the Mountains of Madness” which kept me up when I read it for the first time at the age of fourteen. Somehow this guy's writings stick with you in the corner of shadows, his thoughts invading your most vivid imagination from day one.

For that, every year on Aug. 20, I would have a kind of Lovecraft festival of movies paying old respects to the horror writer. It's become a kind of tradition for me.

I don't do booze. No smokes. Lovecraft didn't like them either. My kind of guy.

He hated seafood too. Which is how he came up with some of his hated foes for the “Shadow Over Innsmouth” story about sea-bound nasties taking over a port town.

So the tradition goes on. For Aug. 20. The movie marathon sparks a welcome change of pace. And I would often find movies based on his works... at least pretty good, decent films that pay homage.

Interestingly, however, that Lovecraft hated movies himself. And I don't blame him. He felt the cinema could not hold a candle to what the written word could provide. That the hurricane of description could give a far greater image than mere moving pictures. The mind can be a powerful tool. More interesting, Lovecraft's one movie he did like very much was the film called “The Invisible Man” as he enjoyed the humor. The one with Claude Akins in the role.

Oh yeah, I might add that one. Out of respect for HPL.

So what movies to see on Aug. 20 marathon worth looking at?

There are a few. And I'll be your guide. Thank heavens for that, eh?

If you have a sick sense of humor and don't mind bloody intestines being thrown about like a butcher's shop, you may like the film “Re-Animator” which is highly regarded as the best of the Lovecraft films. This particular one pulls no punches. There's graphic sickness around every corner and the former Playboy pinup Barbara Crampton gives it her all in a very heady scene.

Despite the over the top gore that presents itself in a very shock value, the story is well written and directed on every level. At a very cropped 85 min. the movie delivers.

And, boy, does it. As one of the medical instructor Hill gives a lecture on the brain, and exposing the very inners of the skull to the students, he makes a quip, “It's very much like peeling an orange.” A few awkward giggles. Then, after the title character wonderfully played by Jeffrey Combs breaks a number of pencils, the enraged and embarrassed instructor tells him, “Next time, Mr. West, I would suggest you get yourself a pen!”

The film has the sharpest sense of humor. And it's diabolical one. But it manages to maintain a well balanced humor and horror for maximum effects. You might laugh one moment. Then throw up in a bucket in the next.

I consider the Re-Animator to be one of the finest horror results of the 1980s. Very few can claim this from this splatter decade of gore wannabes. Many films lack a style. Re-Animator didn't. It's as fresh and stark as the very first viewing of it. A fine film directed by Stuart Gordon.

I'm not sure how Lovecraft himself would have taken this film. I think he would be livid by its very loose basing of the story. Basically the title character and the situation is lifted from the story. But it's a beautiful rendering of the story. This is a worthy one checking out for Aug. 20.

There is also the fan-made “Call of Cthulhu” which is an outstanding silent movie set in the 1920s about an ill-fated journey of learning that there are greater forces at work outside the rules of human knowledge. Because Lovecraft himself was an atheist, he devised a cosmos peopled with monsters indifferent to our needs and wants. There is no good or bad. There is merely an arena of creatures that sees mankind as ants that can be stepped on.

I have visited the author's grave in Providence more than ten years ago. It's sort of strange. You can't speak to him. You don't see him. But there's a sense of presence about the modest tombstone in which is found in Swan Point Cemetery. Almost a pilgrimage, really.

There is also the Masters of Horror series with the film version of “Dreams in the Witch House” which is a pretty good telling of the original Lovecraft tale. It's unfortunate that the story was updated. But it's still a good effort by the director of the Re-Animator. These aforementioned are probably the best of the bunch for a possible movie marathon based on Lovecraft. Then you realize a lot of people like this guy. That's where all the movies come in.

Sadly, I don't see a copy of “To cast a Deadly Spell” that did have a character named Lovecraft in it. Perhaps, if there is enough fan support for it, the film might see existence on the digital treatment. If you can track down a copy, add it to the Aug. 20 marathon.

“From Beyond”? Maybe. It's not as good as Re-Animator with the same actors and director involved. Not a jewel of a movie. But it's pretty good. With plenty of tongue in cheek gore for the finale. The dizzy blond Crampton does a leather S&M bit in there. She's into a lot of leather in this one.

Some might consider “The Mouth of Madness” to be typical homage to the Providence horror writer starring Sam Neill. This is a terrific building of suspense in a small town atmosphere which has more pros than cons going for it. This is a stark realization of mood which surrounds a best selling author who finds a torn page of madness that follows him around. A worthy add to the film festival. If you think that's scary, then you should check out in this movie Hayden Christianson who would later play Star Wars' Anakin Skywalker.

If you can get passed that, you should be okay. He's only around age thirteen in the movie, so you'll have to look quick.

But Aug. 20 only comes like a soft blanket of night. So tuck yourself under a lofty bed sheet, get yourself a bucket of popcorn, and enjoy a festive night of horror and mayhem with the suggested films.

Or perhaps you can just get one of his books to kick back with, read through one of his mighty stories of hellish creatures from the outer worlds.

Either way, you can do Lovecraft proud. Go ahead. Try it. What's there to lose? Except maybe a bit of sanity.