Lovecraft Regained
Set out the birthday cake. Light up the candles. And wish him a happy birthday.
Though it’s someone you may not heard of. Most likely, it’s a person you have no idea exists. But he does have his appreciative audiences who once started out in the hometown of Saul City, Wisconsin where fans tried to salvage his writings. It was Arkham House who made the case that his books were worth salvaging.
He’s not even from Wisconsin. In fact, he’s a Providence, Rhode Island scribe who spent many days writing the horror genre with portions of science fiction. He’s probably the first writer really to use both areas of fiction very well to achieve the cosmic edge that he sought to describe his entire life.
It’s his birthday today.
H.P. Lovecraft would have been a hundred and twenty years old today. But it was true that he grew more cranky with every passing year and his atheist views became more pronounced as he favored the scientific route. He hated seafood and liked chocolate. His eccentric qualities made him something of an outcast.
Not even in his own city was he well known during his lifetime.
Lovecraft managed to earn a meager living through the consistent writings published in the pocket of a literary venue called Weird Tales. It was also the very same magazine which promoted other great talents of the 1930s such as Robert E. Howard of Conan the Barbarian fame and Clark Ashton Smith. It was Lovecraft who helped to tie all the fantastic literature together by using the background of the Cthulhu mythos featuring alien creatures that were frightening aspects of the universe.
His creatures were indifferent and often shadowy giants who become hosts to man’s nightmares. So different, and challenging, were Lovecraft’s own writings that he was often not liked during his lifetime. People didn’t much care for the overly long expositions which stretch through his stories and painted writings of horror that spoke of things “best left not described.”
Lovecraft was best known for his works during his prime years starting from 1926 right up to the very end in 1937 when he passed away in a Providence hospital. His finest stories were “Call of Cthulhu” which began his stellar cycle of stories that suggested of mighty creatures indirectly changing men’s lives during their search for knowledge. However, Lovecraft’s own favorite story “The Colour Out of Space” remains one of the best literary stories to this day due to the string of imagination… as he tried to describe a color that doesn’t even exist in our universe. Also he wrote “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” which told of an outsider trapped in a town filled with humans turning into underwater creatures. There was also the very beautiful “At the Mountains of Madness” which detailed a doomed exhibition searching for a lost city beneath a massive sheet of white snow. If I’m not mistaken, it was his longest story he’s written.
So what do we do for August 20th? We celebrate.
I usually kick back and enjoy a couple of movies based on his works. It’s probably NOT the best way to get an idea of what his works are like. You’ll have to read his own stories to get a taste of the Lovecraftian horror that fills those awesome pages. Any of the above mentioned stories would do if you want to plow through a couple of his stories. I would usually watch the one hour long movie made by local fans called “The Call of Cthulhu” which takes great strains of remaining faithful to the original source. Good for them. They should be commended. To make it even better, it’s a silent movie. A perfect setting for a story that takes place in 1926 since silent movies are popular in the theaters.
I don’t know if this movie would have made Lovecraft proud. He hated movies. But this one made by fans did keep a strong tone with his story while using actual locations used in “Call of Cthulhu.”
I always kick back and enjoy the “Re-Animator” film made in the 1980s and regarded as one of the finest horror movies of the decade. If not ever. It still works very well as a darkly humorous horror fest which follows an eccentric man who claims to have found a way to bring the dead back to life. But he’s no Lazarus. Hell, he’s not even Jesus. But the results of bringing the dead back are combined with funny results. Some particularly great scenes from the film would be the bit with the dead cat running around. And also the final set piece with the grand grandual of splatter gore makes it a great highlight.
Add to it the delightful performance made by Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, the overly egotistical brainchild of the life serum. The usual banter of his humor is twisted further by his blinding passion for science. One of the best lines is when he suggested to his decapitated opponent, “Why don’t you get a job at a sideshow?”
There are some other pretty good short films you can dig through at the local video store. The one called “Dreams of the Witch-House” is a pretty good segment from the Masters of Horror which runs on Showtime. It’s directed by the same guy who did the Re-Animator movie. Though not as funny, there are still some very good bits as he knows how to use lighting to throw long shadows and flickering figures.
I can’t for the life of me find the first “Unnameable” which is based off one of his lesser known works. No matter what, I always find the “Unnameable II” in several used video stores. Much to my disappointment. I haven’t seen this one. But perhaps someday I may come across it deep in some twisted, crumbling abyss spiraling in the cellar of some madman’s house where I can skirt away at the very edge of my life while stealing away a rare copy of “The Unnameable.” Perhaps I'll elude some stalking presence, like some creeping thing, that follows me along the edges of time and space. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to give a review about it should I be lucky enough to find it.
Whatever it may be seeing the movies or reading through the stories, August 20th may not be an important date for many people. But it is a milestone for me. And many other horror fans who cherish one of the greatest literary figures of horror fiction. H.P. Lovecraft. R.I.P.
Though it’s someone you may not heard of. Most likely, it’s a person you have no idea exists. But he does have his appreciative audiences who once started out in the hometown of Saul City, Wisconsin where fans tried to salvage his writings. It was Arkham House who made the case that his books were worth salvaging.
He’s not even from Wisconsin. In fact, he’s a Providence, Rhode Island scribe who spent many days writing the horror genre with portions of science fiction. He’s probably the first writer really to use both areas of fiction very well to achieve the cosmic edge that he sought to describe his entire life.
It’s his birthday today.
H.P. Lovecraft would have been a hundred and twenty years old today. But it was true that he grew more cranky with every passing year and his atheist views became more pronounced as he favored the scientific route. He hated seafood and liked chocolate. His eccentric qualities made him something of an outcast.
Not even in his own city was he well known during his lifetime.
Lovecraft managed to earn a meager living through the consistent writings published in the pocket of a literary venue called Weird Tales. It was also the very same magazine which promoted other great talents of the 1930s such as Robert E. Howard of Conan the Barbarian fame and Clark Ashton Smith. It was Lovecraft who helped to tie all the fantastic literature together by using the background of the Cthulhu mythos featuring alien creatures that were frightening aspects of the universe.
His creatures were indifferent and often shadowy giants who become hosts to man’s nightmares. So different, and challenging, were Lovecraft’s own writings that he was often not liked during his lifetime. People didn’t much care for the overly long expositions which stretch through his stories and painted writings of horror that spoke of things “best left not described.”
Lovecraft was best known for his works during his prime years starting from 1926 right up to the very end in 1937 when he passed away in a Providence hospital. His finest stories were “Call of Cthulhu” which began his stellar cycle of stories that suggested of mighty creatures indirectly changing men’s lives during their search for knowledge. However, Lovecraft’s own favorite story “The Colour Out of Space” remains one of the best literary stories to this day due to the string of imagination… as he tried to describe a color that doesn’t even exist in our universe. Also he wrote “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” which told of an outsider trapped in a town filled with humans turning into underwater creatures. There was also the very beautiful “At the Mountains of Madness” which detailed a doomed exhibition searching for a lost city beneath a massive sheet of white snow. If I’m not mistaken, it was his longest story he’s written.
So what do we do for August 20th? We celebrate.
I usually kick back and enjoy a couple of movies based on his works. It’s probably NOT the best way to get an idea of what his works are like. You’ll have to read his own stories to get a taste of the Lovecraftian horror that fills those awesome pages. Any of the above mentioned stories would do if you want to plow through a couple of his stories. I would usually watch the one hour long movie made by local fans called “The Call of Cthulhu” which takes great strains of remaining faithful to the original source. Good for them. They should be commended. To make it even better, it’s a silent movie. A perfect setting for a story that takes place in 1926 since silent movies are popular in the theaters.
I don’t know if this movie would have made Lovecraft proud. He hated movies. But this one made by fans did keep a strong tone with his story while using actual locations used in “Call of Cthulhu.”
I always kick back and enjoy the “Re-Animator” film made in the 1980s and regarded as one of the finest horror movies of the decade. If not ever. It still works very well as a darkly humorous horror fest which follows an eccentric man who claims to have found a way to bring the dead back to life. But he’s no Lazarus. Hell, he’s not even Jesus. But the results of bringing the dead back are combined with funny results. Some particularly great scenes from the film would be the bit with the dead cat running around. And also the final set piece with the grand grandual of splatter gore makes it a great highlight.
Add to it the delightful performance made by Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, the overly egotistical brainchild of the life serum. The usual banter of his humor is twisted further by his blinding passion for science. One of the best lines is when he suggested to his decapitated opponent, “Why don’t you get a job at a sideshow?”
There are some other pretty good short films you can dig through at the local video store. The one called “Dreams of the Witch-House” is a pretty good segment from the Masters of Horror which runs on Showtime. It’s directed by the same guy who did the Re-Animator movie. Though not as funny, there are still some very good bits as he knows how to use lighting to throw long shadows and flickering figures.
I can’t for the life of me find the first “Unnameable” which is based off one of his lesser known works. No matter what, I always find the “Unnameable II” in several used video stores. Much to my disappointment. I haven’t seen this one. But perhaps someday I may come across it deep in some twisted, crumbling abyss spiraling in the cellar of some madman’s house where I can skirt away at the very edge of my life while stealing away a rare copy of “The Unnameable.” Perhaps I'll elude some stalking presence, like some creeping thing, that follows me along the edges of time and space. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to give a review about it should I be lucky enough to find it.
Whatever it may be seeing the movies or reading through the stories, August 20th may not be an important date for many people. But it is a milestone for me. And many other horror fans who cherish one of the greatest literary figures of horror fiction. H.P. Lovecraft. R.I.P.
posted by K.M. Paters at 10:50 AM
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