Unlike other cinematic H. P. Lovecraft adaptations, The Curse was not “based” on a Lovecraft story, but was instead “inspired”. In other words, the filmmakers took just enough elements out of a Lovecraft story (the story being The Color Out Of Space) so that they would not risk a possible lawsuit coming from the Lovecraft estate. With Wil Wheaton of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
#1 by Blake on February 16, 2011 - 10:35 am
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Hmm…from the looks of it, I’d be better off watching the second CURSE film that at least promises a snake man and whatever the one Venerated Horror Film Icon Christopher Lee made about the monster that kills white people.
#2 by The Rev. on February 16, 2011 - 12:16 pm
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“…and whatever the one Venerated Horror Film Icon Christopher Lee made about the monster that kills white people.”
That’d be the third one. I won it in one of Sandy’s trivia challenges last year. I haven’t watched it yet because I haven’t gotten around to digging out the old VCR and hooking it back up and what-not, so I can’t advise if it’s any good. Considering the first two, though, I don’t expect much.
#3 by Braineater on February 16, 2011 - 1:35 pm
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You nailed the problem, Keith: while it should theoretically be fun to see Claude Akins chew the scenery as a religious zealot, it’s the wrong character for Nahum/Nathan.
I remember when this came out: it was at the height of the Moral Majority and the PMRC’s crusade against decadent entertainment… I think the film makers felt they had to make Nathan a caricature to thumb their noses at the Fundamentalists. Whatever the case, it looks embarrassing in hindsight.
#4 by Ken on February 16, 2011 - 3:26 pm
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Since your library’s holdings seem limited, you might want to visit http://hplovecraft.com. It has most of his fiction on-line, including Charles Dexter Ward (http://hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cdw.asp) and Herbert West (http://hplovecraft.com/writings/fiction/hwr.asp).
Now I’m wondering if that link-heavy mess will get past the spam filters… I know, dilute it with additional content!:
…the filmmakers took just enough elements … so that they would not risk a possible lawsuit coming from the Lovecraft estate.
The issue of the Lovecraft estate, especially the copyrights for his works, is somewhat complicated, largely due to August Derleth. On the other hand, Derleth arguably kept much of Lovecraft’s work from vanishing into the same memory hole that makes other 1920s pulp so hard to find, so I can’t completely fault him. The general consensus is that the works are now in the public domain, explaining their availability on the web.
#5 by Greywizard on February 16, 2011 - 4:15 pm
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Thanks, Ken! I’ll definitely check out that web site.
#6 by Braineater on February 16, 2011 - 8:02 pm
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You may be a little disappointed by “Herbert West”, but if you liked “The Resurrected”, you’ll probably enjoy “Charles Dexter Ward”. Dan O’Bannon did a damned good job adapting the story.
#7 by El Santo on February 17, 2011 - 12:49 am
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The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is indeed pretty neat, blending black magic and mad science in a way that I’m not sure anyone had ever done before– and in it, Lovecraft manages to go entire chapters at a stretch without calling anything “eldritch” or “cyclopian!”
#8 by Read MacGuirtose on February 17, 2011 - 3:00 am
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I get the impression far more Star Trek fans are annoyed by Wesley Crusher the character, than by Wil Wheaton the actor, and what was annoying about Wesley Crusher had much more to do with the writing than it did the acting. (And it no doubt had a lot to do with Gene Roddenberry feeling the urge to insert a Mary Sue into the franchise… the fact that Roddenberry’s middle name was Wesley is unlikely to have been a coincidence.)
No doubt much of the animosity toward the character has rubbed off on the actor, but I don’t think he’s as universally despised by Star Trek fans as he could have been. He’s more lately made a reputation for himself as a blogger, and I think his relation in his writing of his own “geek” interests may have struck a sympathetic chord with many Trek fans and defused some of the hatred he might otherwise have accumulated.