The H. P. Lovecraft band, pictured in 1967.
Cover by Gene Day of first edition of Call of Cthulhu role-playing game (1981).
Call of Cthulhu card game.
Musicians and bands influenced by Lovecraft’s stories, including the 1970s band H. P. Lovecraft, are too numerous to mention. A more pervasive influence—mentioned by Houellebecq, above—is in the world of gaming. In the 1980s, Chaosium introduced a role-playing game (RPG), Call of Cthulhu (currently in its sixth major edition), which drew many new fans to Lovecraft’s books. The RPG spawned the board game Arkham Horror and a dice game, Elder Sign, and other spinoffs are the collectible card games Mythos and Call of Cthulhu, the Living Card Game (both similar to Magic: The Gathering). Several video (computer-derived) games are based on or influenced heavily by Lovecraft, such as Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Shadow of the Comet, Prisoner of Ice, Shadowman, the successful Alone in the Dark series, Chzo Mythos, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, Cthulhu Saves the World, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dead Space, Splatterhouse, Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder, Penumbra, Blood, and Quake. Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, from Frogwares Games, is an important crossover. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game The Secret World draws directly from Lovecraft’s work.
Another essential medium for Lovecraft interpretations is visual—comic books and graphic novels. There are far too many to list, although some noteworthy covers are reproduced throughout this volume. The earliest seem to be “Experiment . . . In Death,” loosely based on “Herbert West: Reanimator” (Weird Science 12, May–June 1950, published by EC Comics and written by Al Feldstein, with art by Jack Kamen), “Fitting Punishment,” based on “In the Vault” (The Vault of Horror 1, no. 16, December 1950–January 1951, 9–15, from the same publisher and written by Al Feldstein, with art by Graham Ingels) and “Baby . . . It’s Cold Inside!,” based on “Cool Air” (The Vault of Horror 1, no. 17, February–March 1951, 9–15 (from the same publisher and creative team). For more detailed listings, see Donovan K. Loucks’s page (http://www.hplovecraft.com/popcult/comics.aspx), as well as the catalogue of Miskatonic University (http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/periodicals/comics/lovecraft/comics1.htm) and Brian Lingard’s page, H. P. Lovecraft in the Comics (http://darktreepress.50megs.com/hplcomics/index.html). For an excellent overview of the history of Lovecraft in comics, see “Co(s)mic Horror,” by Chris Murray and Kevin Corstorphine.
Vault of Horror 1, no. 16 (December 1950–January 1951).
Vault of Horror 1, no. 17 (February–March 1951).
The following tabulates the feature-length theatrical films that have been based (very loosely, in some cases) on stories by H. P. Lovecraft.3
Title
Production Company
Year
Released
Work by Lovecraft
Notes
The Haunted Palace
American International Pictures
1963
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
With Vincent Price and Lon Chaney Jr.
Die, Monster, Die!, aka Monster of Terror
American International Pictures
1965
“The Colour out of Space”
With Boris Karloff
The Shuttered Room, aka Blood Island
Seven Arts Productions
1967
Id.
With Gig Young, Carol Lynley, and Oliver Reed
Curse of the Crimson Altar, aka The Crimson Cult
Tigon British Film Productions
1968
“The Dreams in the Witch House”
With Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Steele
The Dunwich Horror
American International Pictures
1970
Id.
With Dean Stockwell, Sam Jaffe, and Sandra Dee
Screamers, aka Island of the Fishmen
Dania Film
1979
“The Shadow over Innsmouth”
With Barbara Bach and Richard Johnson
Re-Animator
Empire Pictures
1985
“Herbert West: Reanimator”
Stuart Gordon directs
From Beyond
Empire Pictures
1986
Id.
Another Stuart Gordon film
The Curse
Trans World Entertainment
1987
“The Colour out of Space”
With Claude Akin and Wil Wheaton
Pulse Pounders
Empire Pictures
1988
“The Evil Clergyman”
With David Warner; directed by Charles Band
The Unnamable
Distributed by Image Entertainment
1988
Id.
With Mark Kinsey Stephenson
Dark Heritage
Cornerstone Films
1989
“The Lurking Fear”
Bride of Re-Animator
Wild Street
1990
“Herbert West: Reanimator”
Directed by Brian Yuzna, with much of the original cast
Shatterbrain, aka The Resurrected
Scotti Brothers Pictures
1991
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
With Chris Sarandon; directed by Dan O’Bannon
The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter
Yankee Classic
1992
Id.
A direct sequel to the 1988 film The Unnamable
Necronomicon: Book of Dead
Davis-Films
1994
“The Rats in the Wall”; “Cool Air”; “The Whisperer in Darkness”
Some of the cast of Re-Animator returns, in different roles. Lovecraft is portrayed in the framing story.
Lurking Fear
Full Moon Productions
1994
“The Lurking Fear”
Bleeders, aka Hemoglobin
Fries/Schultz Film Group
1997
“The Lurking Fear”
Written by Dan O’Bannon
Chilean Gothic
Kaos Producciones
2000
“Pickman’s Model”
Dagon
Fantastic Factory
2001
“Dagon”; “The Shadow over Innsmouth”
Another Stuart Gordon film
The Thing on the Doorstep
Maelstrom Productions
2003
Id.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kaddath
Guerrilla Productions
2003
Id.
The Call of Cthulhu
H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society
2005
Id.
Silent film
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
El Globo Films
2006
Id.
The Rats in the Walls
n/a
2006
Id.
A live performance from the Minnesota Film Festival
The Whisperer in Darkness
GraveHill Productions
2007
Id.
Cthulhu
Arkham Northwest Productions
2007
“The Call of Cthulhu”
H. P. Lovecraft’s Dunwich Horror and Other Stories
Distributed by Toei Animation Company
2007
Id.
A Japanese production
Beyond the Dunwich Horror
Scorpio Film Releasing
2008
Id.
Colour from the Dark
Studio Interzona
2008
“The Colour out of Space”
Die Farbe (The Colour out of Space)
Sphärentor Filmproduk-tionen
2010
I
d.
The Whisperer in Darkness
HPLHS Motion Pictures
2011
Id.
The following are noteworthy audio adaptations of Lovecraft’s work:4
At the Mountains of Madness
Performed by Dark Adventure Radio Theatre. Compact disc (1:15). The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. 2006.
At the Mountains of Madness
Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Compact disc and audio cassette (0:45). Centauri Express. 1995.
At the Mountains of Madness/Hour of the Wolf
Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Compact disc and audio cassette (0:45). Atlanta Radio Theater Company. 1997.
At the Mountains of Madness and The Competitor
By H. P. Lovecraft and Brad Linaweaver. Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Audiocassette. Sunset Productions. 1995.
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Mind Webs radio drama. April 16, 1983.
The Call of Cthulhu
Performed by the Middlebury Radio Theater of Thrills and Suspense. 2008.
The Colour Out of Space
Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Atlanta Radio Theater Company. 2006.
The Dunwich Horror
Performed by Dark Adventure Radio Theatre. Compact disc (1:15). The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. 2008.
The Dunwich Horror
Suspense radio drama. With Ronald Colman and William Johnstone. November 1, 1945.
The Dunwich Horror
Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Compact disc and audio cassette (1:14). Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. 1988.
The Dunwich Horror and The Happy Man
By H. P. Lovecraft and Gerald R. Page. Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Audiocassette. Sunset Productions. 1995, 1996, 1997.
The Lovecraft Tapes: The Dunwich Horror and Pickman’s Model
Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Audiocassette. Centauri Express. 1990.
The Outsider
Black Mass radio drama. October 1965.
The Rats in the Walls
Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Compact disc and audiocassette (1:00). Centauri Express. 1990.
The Rats in the Walls
Black Mass radio drama. July 1964.
The Shadow out of Time
Performed by Dark Adventure Radio Theatre. Compact disc (1:18). The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. 2008.
The Shadow over Innsmouth
Performed by Dark Adventure Radio Theatre. Compact disc. The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. 2008.
The Shadow over Innsmouth
Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Compact disc and audio cassette (1:00). Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. 1989.
The Shadow over Innsmouth and Ghost Dance
By H. P. Lovecraft and Thomas E. Fuller. Performed by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. Audiocassette (1:30). Sunset Productions. 1995.
Cover of H. P. Lovecraft’s The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, no. 2 (Mock Man Press, Spring 1998). (artist: Jason Thompson)
1. In his sonnet “1895,” Vincent Starrett wrote of Holmes and Watson as “two men of note who never lived and so can never die.” He admonished, “Only those things the heart believes are true.”
2. With rare exceptions, according to S. T. Joshi, Lovecraft “did not care for the surprising number of films he saw in the course of his life” (I Am Providence, 236). One that stood out was Barclay Square, a time-travel movie made in 1933, which loosely inspired “The Shadow Out of Time.”
3. “Id.” signifies that the story mentioned in the title is the basis of the film.
4. Compiled by Donovan K. Loucks.
Bibliography1
WORKS BY H. P. LOVECRAFT
The Ancient Track: Complete Poetical Works. 2nd ed. Edited by S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press, 2013.
The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft. Edited by S. T. Joshi. New York: Dell, 1997.
The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature. Edited by S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press, 2000.
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels. Edited by August Derleth. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1964.
Beyond the Wall of Sleep. Edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1943.
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. Edited by S. T. Joshi. New York: Penguin Classics, 1999.
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Edited by S. T. Joshi. Tampa, FL: University of Tampa Press, 2010.
The Classic Horror Stories. Edited by Roger Luckhurst. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Collected Essays. Edited by S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press, 2004–6. 5 vols.
Collected Poems. Edited by August Derleth. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1963.
The Complete Fiction. Edited with an introduction by S. T. Joshi. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2011.
Dagon and Other Macabre Tales. Edited by August Derleth, S. T. Joshi, and T. E. Klein. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1986.
In Defence of Dagon. Edited by S. T. Joshi. West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press, 1985.
The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories. Edited by S. T. Joshi. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004.
The Dunwich Horror and Others. Edited by August Derleth. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1963.
Letters from New York. Edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2005. (The Lovecraft Letters, II).
Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters. Edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2000.
Marginalia. Edited by August Derleth. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1944.
Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by S. T. Joshi. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1995.
More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft. Edited by S. T. Joshi and Peter Cannon. New York: Dell, 1999.
Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei. Edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2002.
The Outsider and Others. Edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1939.
Selected Letters, 1911–1924. Edited by S. T. Joshi. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1965. (Selected Letters, I.)
Selected Letters, 1925–1929. Edited by S. T. Joshi. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1968. (Selected Letters, II.)
Selected Letters, 1929–1931. Edited by S. T. Joshi. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1969. (Selected Letters, III.)
Selected Letters, 1932–1934. Edited by S. T. Joshi. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1971. (Selected Letters, IV.)
Selected Letters 1934–1937. Edited by S. T. Joshi. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1976. (Selected Letters, V.)
The Shadow Out of Time. Edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. New York: Hippocampus Press, 2003.
The Shadow over Innsmouth. Edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press, 1994.
The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces. Edited by August Derleth. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1959.
“Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction.” The Californian 3, no. 3 (Winter 1935), 39–42.
Something About Cats and Other Pieces. Edited by August Derleth. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1949.
Tales. Edited by Peter Straub. New York: Library of America, 2005.
Tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Selected and edited by Joyce Carol Oates. New York: Ecco Press, 2000.
The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories. Edited by S. T. Joshi. New York: Penguin Classics, 2001.
“The Vermont Horror.” Edited by Robert M. Price. Call of Cthulhu 101 (Eastertide, 1999), 3–39.
A Winter Wish. Edited by Tom Collins. Chapel Hill, NC: Whispers Press, 1977.
Lovecraft, H. P., and Divers
Hands. The Dark Brotherhood and Other Pieces. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1966.
Lovecraft, H. P., and Willis Conover. Lovecraft at Last. Arlington, VA: Carrollton Clark, 1975.
SECONDARY SOURCES (CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL)
Airaksinen, Timo. The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft: The Route to Horror. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. New Studies in Aesthetics, vol. 29.
Anderson, James Arthur. Out of the Shadows: A Structuralist Approach to Understanding the Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. Holicong, PA: Borgo Press, 2011.
Atama, Bert. “An Autopsy on the Old Ones.” Crypt of Cthulhu 32 (St. John’s Eve, 1985), 3–7.
Beckwith, Henry L. P., Jr. Lovecraft’s Providence & Adjacent Parts. West Kingston, RI: Donald M. Grant Publishers, 1990.
Beherec, Marc A. “The Devil, the Terror, and the Horror: The Whateley Twins’ Further Debts to Folklore and Fiction.” Lovecraft Studies 44 (2004), 23–25.
Berglund, Edward P. “Lovecraft on Eldritch Tomes.” Crypt of Cthulhu 35 (Hallowmas, 1985), 26–27.
Bloch, Robert. “Out of the Ivory Tower.” In The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1949.
Bouchard, Alexandre, and Louis-Pierre Smith Lacroix. “Necronomicon: A Note.” Lovecraft Studies 44 (2004), 107–12.
Bryant, Roger. “The Alchemist and the Scientist.” Nyctalops 2, no. 3 (Issue 10, January–February 1975), 26–29, 43.
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