Re: 1-18-08
 

Not to defend him, but a lot of the people on his time were racist (Jack London i think?) Some of his stories are fucking awful when this aspect comes into play but in most cases it doesn't. I find Tolkien literature more racist than Lovecraft...

Re: 1-18-08
 

yeah I was a big Lovecraft fan at a formitive age so I still hold out hope for a decent Mythose movie (what I picture is more of a period detective story with aspects of the Mythos at the heart of a mystery, not tentacled monsters running around killing people). To my knowledge, his racism wasn't terribly out of place back in his day and his location. New England has always been very stodgy and wary of outsiders (even today) and in the mass immigration of the 20s and 30s, I can kind of see how someone in his closed circly of life would see anything new as a threat. Not to say it's the right way to think, but my hunch is that the culture was much more nationalistic back then in most places not just America.

What I find more interesting than his racism is his lack of any vice. From what I've read, he never drank or smoked opium or any of it. It's pretty damn hard to believe that given much of what he wrote.

In my opinion, a successful Lovecraft movie would be much like the man himself: straight-laced and proper on the exterior, dark and wet and unspeakable on the interior.

Re: 1-18-08
 

Actually it makes a lot of sense to me, more than being straigth edge or whatever he was more than anything a loner and very conservative, someone that seems unconcerned with daily life and its pleasures or any sort of hedonism. Many of his main characters are loner antiquarians or people self absorved with esoteric affairs. I feel only a person like Lovecraft could have come up with this kind of stuff. His creations were a product of his social detachment and akwardness rather than drugs...

Re: 1-18-08
 

true, greenpea.

I know this isn't Cloverfield but since we're all talking about Lovecraft anyway I want to mention that THE MIST is very lovecraftian and there's one moment near the end that really satisfies that vision for me. It's worth checking out.

Re: 1-18-08
 

This will definitely be interesting!

Like I mentioned a while ago, everything I know about marketing movies suggests that this is a stinker that will be dead on arrival. But, ya never know... maybe the studio is trying something a little different (not likely based on current trends!)

Re: 1-18-08
 

I just found this clip of Neil Gaiman talking about Lovecraft in which he discuss some of the same topics on this thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqx7AGcxOO0

Re: 1-18-08
 

I'm bit late coming into the conversation of Lovecraft, as well as reading Lovecraft, but the whole Cloverfield/1-18-08 doesn't and has never really sat well with me. Maybe it's my hesitation towards the games(see viral), but also enjoying the Lovecraft film festival that has been going on here in Portland for more than a few years now.

link

This year there was a film apltly titled Cthulhu that delved into the mythos. The film wasn't too shabby and quite unsettling. Ultimately, I feel that this film will most likely be more effective.

I'd recommend those interested in Lovecraft to check out this film.

link

(And, yes, that is Tori Spelling in the film too, but she is quite bearable.)

Re: 1-18-08
 

trailer out on apple.com/trailers, looks cool