At the Mountains of Madness at the Cameras Soon

This would be neither a very good horror nor Lovecraftian blog if I neglected to immediately report what will be the top news of the day, short of Great Cthulhu himself rising. Director Guillermo del Toro, of “Pan’s Labyrinth” fame, announced his next film project will be a production of Lovecraft’s novella, “At the Mountains of Madness.” Impressively enough, del Toro intends to leap upon the project in earnest following “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.” Location scouting and a working script are already said to be well underway. The movie is also being tentatively backed by Universal Studios, which may imply funding sufficient to render some truly outré horrors in the Antarctic mountains and recruitment of quality acting.

Not surprisingly, this project instills me with a great deal of excitement, but also anxiety. As any Lovecraftian will be quick to note, film adaptations of HPL’s works have a sordid history. Many attempts have fallen dreadfully flat, and it is often the innovative, independent attempts of small producers exhibited by Lurker Films who best capture Lovecraft’s spirit. Otherwise, the average big name film uses only passing references to HPL’s creations, as in the Necronomicon of the “Evil Dead” series, or it evolves into a complete variant, like Stuart Gordon’s “Reanimator” movies. Since Lovecraft dismissed his “Reanimator” story as hack work, it is perhaps appropriate the film version combines action with comedy in a loosely-based storyline, but includes little Lovecraftian horror.

While such failures and cinematic divergences led some admirers to ask whether or not Lovecraftian atmosphere is transferable to film, there are a few bright spots. The HPL Historical Society’s black and white, silent rendition of “The Call of Cthulhu” released in 2005 won great acclaim. Unorthodox in method, more than a few critics felt the 1920s style only enhanced the authentic settings and mood, effectively preserving the unique eeriness of the written tale. As already noted, Lurker Films DVDs also contain excellent amateur full length features and shorts, by the likes of inventive artists like Aaron Vanek, Bryan Moore, and Ricardo Harrington. Similarly, Stuart Gordon produced several serious Lovecraftian films, including “From Beyond,” “Dagon,” and most recently “The Dreams in the Witch House” as an episode of Showtime’s Masters of Horror. While laden with gore and sexual eye candy so common in horror these days, they were pieces of solid storytelling lifted from HPL with acceptable alterations.

These successes allow one to keep the faith, despite a hefty record of embarrassments and failures in Lovecraftian cinema. Moreover, del Toro’s writing and directing talents, showcased in the dark fantasy of “Pan’s Labyrinth,” are extremely heartening. The proven record of del Toro’s skills via his nightmare beings and the horrors of Franco’s regime masterfully highlighted in the picture, as well as his professed knowledge and admiration of Lovecraft at least make for an encouraging start. Let the Lovecraftian hope the only madness found is in the film’s cosmic horror when it appears, and not in grotesque shortcomings unworthy of bearing HP Lovecraft’s name.

-Grim Blogger