Friday, August 20, 2010

120 Years Ago...

...horror was given one of its greatest gifts with the birth of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, the father of cosmic horror. He was the most influential horror author of the 20th century, no arguments allowed. If you don't agree, then may Cthulhu devour you slowly.

Hey guys, what's for dinner? Oh, yeah, you are.


There have been many attempts to translate Lovecraft to the big screen, but no one has been able to do any of his stories real justice. However, and this is a big however, there seems to be one director who has made a name for himself directing Lovecraft-inspired, completely outrageous horror films. That man is this man:

Are you gonna argue with that?

Stuart Gordon is the director of Re-Animator and From Beyond, not to mention a totally righteous dude*. These are two of the most entertaining movies ever put to film and also two attempts to bring Lovecraft to the screen. While neither film is an accurate or direct translation of their respective sources, both are completely unmissable for horror fans.


Lovecraft was also a mentor to Robert Bloch, who authored a book whose film adaptation is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Psycho. You might have heard of that one somewhere along the line.


So, many cheers to H.P. Lovecraft, whose influence still resonates in horror to this day.


*aside from stealing my seat at the Music Box Massacre last year. The jerk.**


**just kidding. He really is an all-around nice guy and an amazing director.

1 comment:

Will Errickson said...

I really thought Gordon's DAGON was a fun and fairly accurate adaptation of "Shadow over Innsmouth" too. And yes, I agree: HPL is the master of 20th century horror!