HP Lovecraft's "The Terrible Old Man" Animated

Without the easily available, quality Halloween cartoons on TV I mentioned last week, I bring you something to help ease the pain. This is an excellent animated rendering of HP Lovecraft's "The Terrible Old Man," which premiered to a wider audience earlier this month at the Lovecraft Film Festival. The reading of the tale is a bit fast for my tastes, though possibly because the Youtube version is a compressed, sped up variant of the polished piece. However, the art superbly captures the mood of Lovecraft's story, richly illustrating both the air of mystery and vile plot against the ancient resident of Water Street.

This animated bit was done by Sean Kearney and Doug Simon of Eldritch Animation. Nor is it the first Lovecraftian animation I've seen. Based on the smattering of other HPL based cartoons online, it's somewhat surprising they have not yet been placed onto a DVD for widespread release. Something for Lurker Films or another entrepreneur who can get in touch with the artists to consider? This is unplumbed territory almost certain to prove fascinating and profitable. Here's to hoping a "Collected Animated Shorts of HP Lovecraft" emerges before the decade is out.

-Grim Blogger