Sure, eleven years is a long time on the Internet… but when our readers began referring to us as “Great Old Ones”, we really weren’t sure how to take it. Then the chanting began, and we realized they weren’t talking about us at all: they were summoning something terrible from the depths of the cosmos.
Uh-oh.
A quick look at the prophecies on page 22 of the Classic Comics edition of the Necronomicon shewed — excuse me; showed us what we could expect: when the stars were right, it said, it was just remotely possible that a movie could be made from the writings of H.P. Lovecraft that didn’t stink with the noisome foetor of shoggoth poop.
Could such things be? It had happened so few times through the aeons that the very idea strained the bounds of credulity. Yet before long we received an urgent message from Sandy Petersen, master of eldritch lore and legendary creator of the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. From beyond time, the Elder Gods had sent forth a new message: The Whisperer in Darkness was about to be released to the theaters and video screens of an unsuspecting world…
Would this new movie haunt the dreams of mankind, inspiring people all over the world to cast off their slumber and throng in the streets, crying, “Iä! Iä!” Or would it be so bad it cleared the earth of the mass of humanity, paving the way for the return of the Old Ones? And where did it fit among the arcana of Lovecraft adaptations?
Read on, o wanderer in the aetherial darkness, and find out…
It’s AT THE MOVIES OF MADNESS…all throughout February at the B-Masters’ blog.
#1 by Alaric on February 1, 2011 - 11:45 am
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Yay!
Um, I mean “ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”, or something.
#2 by Prankster on February 1, 2011 - 4:39 pm
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Am I missing something? I don’t see a link, here or at AYCYAS.
#3 by Alaric on February 1, 2011 - 4:51 pm
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I’m pretty sure this is the announcement of the latest roundtable, rather than a review.
#4 by lyzard on February 1, 2011 - 5:07 pm
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I promise there’ll be a link when there’s something to link to.
#5 by Prankster on February 1, 2011 - 6:24 pm
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Oh, OK. It sort of read like it was going to link to a review of The Whisperer in Darkness.
#6 by lyzard on February 1, 2011 - 6:35 pm
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It will, my friend, it will…
#7 by Gentle Benj on February 1, 2011 - 10:26 pm
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To pass the time until the reviews hit, I think I’ll dust off Arkham Horror. Never have I played a board game that made total defeat for all the players such a frequent, and satisfying, outcome. For that’s as it should be. As it will be…
#8 by The Rev. on February 2, 2011 - 12:08 am
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Oh man…I actually have one up on the Cabal, because thanks to Sandy I saw the screener for TWiD last Hallowe’en.
I don’t know who’ll be reviewing it (my guess is Ken), and I don’t want to steal their thunder. I did post my brief thoughts about it on Jabootu and BMMB after seeing it but tried not to say anything, which I’ll do here. I will say, though, that I think it was absolutely wonderful.
#9 by David Thiel on February 2, 2011 - 9:08 pm
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I’m assuming that we’re talking about the long-gestating film from the HPL Historical Society, yes? I’m on tiptentacles with anticipation! Their version of “The Call of Cthulhu” was jaw-droppingly good; it’ll be fascinating to see their attempt at a “talkie.”
#10 by The Rev. on February 3, 2011 - 1:18 pm
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You are correct, it’s the same group. I have not seen their take on CoC (and have flogged myself accordingly).
I look forward to when Ms. Kingsley sees it. I have a feeling she’ll have a very cute reaction to certain…shall we say, “characters.” (Anyone who’s read the story probably knows what I’m talking about.)
#11 by MatthewF on February 3, 2011 - 8:33 am
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I’m bit of a fence sitter as far as HPL goes, I’ve never really understood all the geek-love he gets. I think you have to get into it as a teenager, otherwise all you can see is the turgidness of the text and the wierd stylistic tics he has.
#12 by Doc on February 3, 2011 - 9:59 am
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@MatthewF
Actually, I’m getting more out of his works in my 30’s than I ever did. I used to think of him as gore-for-gore’s sake, kind of like I did Stephen King before I read The Mist, but I’m beginning to understand the term “Lovecraftian” now, and I like it.
Can’t wait for the Whisperer movie, and some reviews based on HPL!
#13 by KeithA on February 3, 2011 - 1:08 pm
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You have to make certain concessions to Lovecraft’s fairly glaring weaknesses as a writer, such as his insistence that things that aren’t all that scary are actually the scariest things in the universe, not because he can convince you they are through prose, but because he tells you they are, the end. Once you can deal with that, I find there’s quite a bit to love, especially if you read him while on a week-long backpacking trip through the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. Rarely has horror been as effective as when I did that, though watching THE DESCENT while camping out int he Blue Ridge mountains the night before going caving was also pretty effective.
#14 by Richard on February 3, 2011 - 6:37 pm
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…And Guillermo Del Toro is working on bringing “At the Mountains of Madness” to the big screen (expected release in 2013).
#15 by B. Wood on February 4, 2011 - 4:52 pm
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He might have given up on that though.
The problem with depicting Cthulu on film is that if you arn’t driven mad at the sight of him, it’s a letdown. If you are, then the film can never be shown.
Actually I have a bunch of friends who wouldn’t be driven mad from horror if they had and ape or fishman in the family tree. They’d think it was awesome.
#16 by The Rev. on February 4, 2011 - 4:57 pm
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I do hope that he manages to get that movie off the ground and in the theaters. He’s already given us one of the best movie fairy tales ever; I have faith that his vision and talent could give us one of the best Lovecraft adaptations as well.
B. Wood: It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but I don’t recall Cthulhu popping up in “At the Mountains of Madness.”
#17 by Bryan on February 6, 2011 - 11:36 am
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Never thought I would ever read the phrase “shoggoth poop.” I love this site.
#18 by Ken on February 7, 2011 - 10:45 am
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Type your comment here
Keith, good to hear you will be in Vermont, maybe we can meet during your trip. Oh by the way please bring all the evidence of alien invasion that I have sent to you. It turns out that I was completely mistaken. It is a very interesting story and I will share it when you arrive.
Sincerely, Henry Wentworth Akely
P.S. Don’t tell anyone you are coming.
P.S.S. Remember to bring all the evidence with you.
#19 by The Rev. on February 7, 2011 - 12:41 pm
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I’m picturing Ken “laughing” at this point and it is creeping me out something fierce.
#20 by Ken on February 7, 2011 - 4:02 pm
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Rev., it is perfectly normal laughter, the same as you would hear on the laugh track of any of the human comedy broadcasts. Ha. Ha. Ha.
Referring to your #16 above, Cthulhu does not appear in Mountains, but the Cthulhu Spawn are mentioned during the interpretation of the bas-reliefs found in the Old Ones’ city.* There’s also the mysterious city and plateau (later identified as Kadath and Leng) beyond the Old Ones’ city, which even they feared; one of the explorers glimpses something there, but it’s not described.
* I always found those bas-reliefs quite risible (Ha. Ha. Ha.) because of the implausible amount of information that the two explorers obtain from them. I wonder how, or if, Del Toro will handle that.
#21 by The Rev. on February 7, 2011 - 7:01 pm
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You are correct re: the bas-reliefs, on both counts.
The “something” you refer to–you’re talking about at the very end of the story, right? I could see someone deciding that was Cthulhu, even though he would still sleeping in Rl’yeh and not likely traipsing around the Antarcic. I mean, he’s not Godzilla or anything.
#22 by Ken on February 7, 2011 - 10:49 pm
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Yes, the bit at the very end. I’m looking at it now (http://www.hplovecraft.com/ is my preferred online source), and here is what Danforth saw:
Two reactions. One, if this is what Danforth can see in a “single fantastic, daemoniac glimpse”, then maybe the information content of the bas-reliefs isn’t that implausible. Two, nothing there about Cthulhu, although as you say there are things that could be read that way.
#23 by lyzard on February 7, 2011 - 10:56 pm
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I’m quite sure this isn’t the reaction Lovecraft was looking for, but I have to say it again:
“Proto-shoggoths”!? That’s so cyoooooooot!!
#24 by The Rev. on February 8, 2011 - 1:40 pm
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You wouldn’t think that if you’d ever read “Fat Face” by Michael Shea, which deals with proto-shoggoths and their…dining habits.
Of course, maybe you have, which leads to much more disturbing implications…
#25 by MatthewF on February 7, 2011 - 4:19 pm
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Truly it is a terror beyond description, and I won’t try.
#26 by El Santo on February 8, 2011 - 8:33 am
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The passage Ken quotes hints at what I find most frustrating about At the Mountains of Madness. Tying up the whole sprawling Cthulhu Mythos in one tidy and utterly literal little package like that is an incredibly bad idea, striking directly at the heart of everything Lovecraft had managed to achieve up to then. It’s the kind of thing August Derleth would have done.
#27 by Braineater on February 8, 2011 - 1:29 pm
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So it was really Yaug-Dërleth Danforth saw?
#28 by Read MacGuirtose on February 8, 2011 - 8:06 pm
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Eh… I wouldn’t say At The Mountains of Madness ties everything up, not by a long shot. Sure, it mentions a lot of disparate elements from the Mythos, but it still leaves their connections very much to the imagination. I guess it is more or less explicit about the prehistory of Mythos Earth (the pre-human history, that is), but aside from that it really doesn’t do much to clarify the relationships between the various entities of the Mythos.
#29 by Ken on February 9, 2011 - 10:03 am
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Yes, I nearly posted a third reaction, but couldn’t choose a good phrasing. Something along the lines of “Add Lovecraft to Asimov and Heinlein, as authors who try to tie everything they ever wrote into one coherent whole.”
On the other hand, Danforth’s babblings are influenced by the Necronomicon – he is said to be one of the few men to have read the whole thing – and he may have been influenced by that. I think the current canon is that the Necronomicon contains the whole of the Mythos, even the parts that Brian Lumley hasn’t invented yet.
So even if Danforth didn’t actually see the sweet wittle proto-shoggoths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acritarch ?), he may have interpreted some part of his fantastical vision as being the cutie-wutie dawlings OH GOD IT’S EATING MY LIVER!!!!
#30 by Braineater on February 9, 2011 - 11:33 am
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http://www.b-masters.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/shoggoth.jpg
#31 by lyzard on February 9, 2011 - 1:43 pm
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I WANT ONE I WANT ONE I WANT ONE!!!!
#32 by MatthewF on February 8, 2011 - 9:15 am
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Also, ‘the primal white jelly’? Really, HP? Are you sure don’t want to revise that?
#33 by Braineater on February 8, 2011 - 2:18 pm
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I think that was a suggestion from HP’s cousin, K.Y. Lovecraft.
#34 by The Rev. on February 8, 2011 - 6:44 pm
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…………Well done, gentlemen.
#35 by Thomas on February 9, 2011 - 7:18 pm
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I think the biggest problem with madness-inducing monsters in cinema is nothing, no matter how unpleasant to look at, is ever going to be even a fraction as scary on screen as it would be in real life. So, even though seeing a giant squid-headed kangaroo-dragon eat you best friend would, in real life, leave you a shattered wreck, the most you could ever hope for from the audience is a cry of “Dude! That’s awesome!”, and then someone will put the monster on a t-shirt. But I can’t see why a skilled film-maker couldn’t use a Lovecraftian horror to generate an Excorcist-level sense of disquiet, provided they knew what they were doing.
#36 by Braineater on February 11, 2011 - 3:28 pm
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As long as they didn’t try to shoehorn in an Exorcist-style sense of morality while they were at it, I think you’re right.
But a giant squid-headed kangaroo-dragon? Oh Great Cthulhu, now Lyz is going to want one of them, too.
#37 by lyzard on February 11, 2011 - 7:48 pm
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Dude! That’s awesome!
#38 by Blake on February 11, 2011 - 5:54 pm
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Had all of the B-Masters read a goodly portion of Lovecraft’s works before the Roundtable began, or did any of you have to catch up on the subject? And I hope Ken chooses THE CURSE as his subject.
#39 by Braineater on February 11, 2011 - 7:45 pm
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Speaking for myself, I’ve known his work most of my life: I got started with the Scholastic paperback collection in elementary school back in the early 1970’s. I’m not sure that they’re still giving Lovecraft to fourth graders in today’s culture, but I can always hope…
#40 by El Santo on February 13, 2011 - 1:24 pm
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My first brush with Lovecraft came in my teen years, when I checked a copy of the Del Rey story collection, The Lurking Fear, out of the public library where I worked, mainly just to see what all the fuss over him was about. I found the writing style so tedious that I couldn’t finish even a single story. A few years later, “The Call of Cthulhu” turned up in the first volume of a massive horror anthology called The Dark Descent, and that time I managed to muster the patience to read it all. That did nothing to elevate my opinion of Lovecraft, particularly since the same volume also included “Sticks” by Karl Edward Wagner– a well written tale of ancient and concealed evil in much the same mode. It wasn’t until I read “Rats in the Walls” (in volume 2 of The Dark Descent) that I decided Lovecraft had some potential after all. That remains my assessment of him, more or less, to this day, many years and I don’t know how many hours of reading later: he had potential, but never came anywhere close to realizing it save on a handful of seemingly flukey occasions (generally those occasions when he wasn’t asking his readers to be frightened of fish, apes, or Jews).