The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. Jul 24, 2008 unfortunately, if youve ever read anything about lovecraft s life, this documentary will probably end up leaving you wanting something a bit more in depth. Lovecrafts spiral into madness, shot with a vintage camera on truly unique lomochrome 16mm film. Virtually unknown and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20thcentury authors in his genre. The sammael creatures have characteristics of both nyarlathotep and cthulhu. In the 35 years since john carpenters first big studio movie, 1982s the thing, which he made for universal, was released, its metamorphosed from flop to underground classic in the horror. Lovecraft, creator of the cthulhu mythos and forefather of modern horror fiction. Woodward has up to this point largely been involved. The name munroe may derive from lovecrafts childhood friends, the brothers chester and harold munroe. Fear of the unknown is a chronicle of the life, work and mind that created these weird tales as told by many of todays luminaries of dark fantasy including john carpenter, guillermo. Lovecraft the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. Nov 24, 2012 some offensive language is below, but only for the purpose of clarity. But, when you have speakers such as guillermo del toro, john carpenter and stuart gordon, youre left wanting to hear more about authors influence. Introduction the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
Lovecrafts stories would be wellsuited to shorts and others might be best done as a series. Fear of the unknown is a chronicle of the life, work and mind that created these weird tales. But, when you have speakers such as guillermo del toro, john carpenter and stuart gordon, youre left wanting to hear more about authors influence on film rather than general biography and bibliography. Its one of those rare tales that will stick with you long after having finished it. Lovecrafts fear of the unknown is a 2008 documentary film that looks at the life, work and mind behind the cthulhu mythos. The dreamquest of unknown kadath is a novella by american writer h. Fear of the unknown posted by lnn frank woodward is a writer, director, and producer whose has been involved in numerous horror related projects, including working with a master for showtimes popular masters of horror series. Lovecraft s cthulhu mythos is a primary influence of countless iconic authors, and even now, nearly a century after its publication, its themes of cosmic horror and madness remain at the forefront of supernatural literature, as well as being highly influential in the mediums of music, film, and video games. Recently, frank completed production of wyrd s documentary about h. The film features interviews with peter straub, neil gaiman, guillermo del.
Its full of delightfully disturbing details about lovecrafts deep neuroses as youll get when you mother repeatedly calls you hideous, his reoccurring nightterrors about being abducted by flying monsters, his cultli. It covers everything that this documentary covers, and you get the benefit of seeing citations. Met john carpenter, stuart gordon en guillermo del toro. Fear of the unknown we are given a brief, but solid microbiography of the writer and his body of work and although it comes. It wasnt just the different lovecraft was afraid of. Lovecraft influenced films and the lovecraftian formula. Richard stanley has not directed a film since the thunder flop the island of dr moreau 1996, a movie that stanley was also fired from before production was completed the hp lovecraft adaptation color out of space about an alien force poisoning an entire city with its purple shimmer is a huge comeback for stanley. Working from texts prepared by lovecraft scholar s.
Fear of the unknown we are given a brief, but solid microbiography of the writer and his body of work and although it comes far from scratching the surface of a much deeper well, this documentary does a really good job encapsulating. The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind. Joshi, this collection features stories hpl wrote with other authors and includes, the curse of yig, the horror in the museum, the mound, the night ocean, and many others. These are not dramatizations like our dark adventure radio theatre rather, this is an audiobook of the original stories, in allnew, neverbeforeheard recordings made by the hplhs own andrew leman and sean branney exclusively for this collection. Lovecraft, creator of the cthulhu mythos the film features interviews with guillermo del toro, neil gaiman, john carpenter, peter straub, caitlin r. The hallmark of lovecraft s work was the sense that ordinary life was a thin shell over a reality which was so alien and abstract in comparison, that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person wikipedia as a cthulhu fanatic, heres a listing of the films i feel captured that distinct h. Fear of the unknown we are given a brief, but solid microbiography of the writer and his body of work and although it comes far from scratching the surface of a much deeper well, this documentary does a really good job encapsulating lovecrafts life and work into an easily digestible forum. It is also as far as i can tell the first featurelength film to look at lovecraft in detail. Fear of the unknown 2008 writer neil gaiman, filmmaker john carpenter and others discuss the life and legacy of horror author h. Lovecrafts excellent survey of horror fiction, supernatural horror in literature, the weird fiction author himself introduces his readers to many of the works that inspired his own writing, including those by the authors he considers the modern masters of horror. Lovecraft historical society has produced the definitive audio recording of lovecrafts collaboration tales. Lovecraft historical society has produced an audio recording of all of lovecrafts stories. The hallmark of lovecrafts work was the sense that ordinary life was a thin shell over a reality which was so alien and abstract in comparison, that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person wikipedia as a cthulhu fanatic, heres a listing of the films i feel captured that distinct h. Lovecrafts body of work as well as the life itself, that was filled with anxiety and alienation.
Fear of the unknown, a documentary from 2008, is now fully available online named the best documentary at the 2008 comiccon international independent film festival, the film revisits the life and writings of h. Jan 04, 2016 lovecraft was incredibly racist, and that racism does influence his writing. August 20, 1890 march 15, 1937 was an american author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Lovecraft quotes quotable quote the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. Fear of the unknown 2008 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Lovecraft the following 39 pages are in this category, out of 39 total. Fear of the unknown is a 2008 documentary about the life and works of h. I found lovecraft early in my life, and his work fascinated me. Giger was coincidentally the art director of the famous alien movie which is also influenced by lovecraft, especially at the mountains of madness.
Journey into the life and work of the weird fiction author who gave us the cthulu mythos and inspired such notable horror authors as stephen king, robert bloch, and neil gaiman. The problem the problemespecially with dream questis that his stories dont seem to fulfill their o. Lovecraft s excellent survey of horror fiction, supernatural horror in literature, the weird fiction author himself introduces his readers to many of the works that inspired his own writing, including those by the authors he considers the modern masters of horror. One of the interviewees is a complete ass, going on some rant about islamofascism in the middle of the documentary. Rentals include 30 days to start watching this video and 3 days to finish once started. The lurking fear, and other stories audiobook by h. John carpenters the thing is more lovecraftian than you. Unfortunately, if youve ever read anything about lovecrafts life, this documentary will probably end up leaving you wanting something a bit more in depth. Written in november 1922, it was first published in the january through april 1923 issues of home brew. Lovecraft went an extra step in divining the deepest of depths of our fear and touched the madness at the core of the human soul.
Lovecraft was incredibly racist, and that racism does influence his writing. This doc was very well done, interesting, even a tad spooky in places. Its that creeping fear that we have lingering in our minds that we try to rationalise but its always there because in our hearts, we feel that it really is there the fear of whatever it is, and its gnawing at our minds even if we try to reject it. The first film adaptation of lovecrafts work that i watched was reanimator, which quickly became a part of my collection soon after its release.
Lovecraft, on the 100th anniversary of world war i. Its full of delightfully disturbing details about lovecraft s deep neuroses as youll get when you mother repeatedly calls you hideous, his reoccurring nightterrors about being abducted by flying monsters, his cultli. The comic has even more lovecraft references one story is based on mouths of madness but many aspects of the film are taken from lovecraft as well. Lnn interviews director frank woodward about lovecraft. As is usually the case with many a writer and artist, lovecrafts fame came posthumously. In 1893, when he was three, his father had to be committed to the psychiatric hospital in providence. It is both the longest of the stories that make up his dream cycle and the longest lovecraft work to feature protagonist randolph carter. Lovecraft s penchant for dreamscapes and for the biologically macabre also influenced visual artists such as jean moebius giraud and h. He was virtually unknown and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, but he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20thcentury authors in his genre. Richard stanley has not directed a film since the thunder flop the island of dr moreau 1996, a movie that stanley was also fired from before production was completed the hp lovecraft adaptation color out of space about an alien force poisoning an entire city with its purple shimmer. Howard phillips lovecraft august 20, 1890 march 15, 1937 was an american writer who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Hp lovecraft and the fear of the unknown headstuff. Fear of the unknown the all inclusive awardwinning documentary about the life and times of genius scifi horror writer h. In fact, he was more he was a fullblown xenophobe, terrified of anyone or anything he perceived as different from himself.
Some offensive language is below, but only for the purpose of clarity. Via galleycat, heres a fulllength documentary on h. Fear of the unknown pays loving tribute to the continuing legacy of this great writer with the assistance of many key artists who remain inspired by him to this day. The influence of his cthulhu mythos can be seen in film reanimator, hellboy, and alien, games the call of cthulhu role playing enterprise, music metallica. The fear of the unknown, and the unknowable, pervades lovecrafts work just as the dark depression of edgar allan poe pervaded his. Journey into the life and work of the weird fiction author who gave us the cthulu mythos and inspired such notable horror authors as stephen. Arthur machen, lord dunsany, algernon blackwood, and m. He was virtually unknown and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, but he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20thcentury authors in his genre lovecraft was born in providence, rhode island, where. Lovecrafts penchant for dreamscapes and for the biologically macabre also influenced visual artists such as jean moebius giraud and h. Lovecraft s body of work as well as the life itself, that was filled with anxiety and alienation. Yet, i knew little about the man behind the madness.
Lovecrafts distinctive work creates a very complex inbreeding of mythologies, according to filmmaker and interview subject guillermo del toro. For one thing, the wikipedia entry on lovecraft is actually quite good. Lovecraft, writing during a great age of exploration and discoverywhen howard carter was discovering the intact tomb of tutankhamun and robert falcon scott was leading a doomed expedition into antarcticais really speaking to our fear of the unknown. So this movie is a silent film in the 1920s style and its just genius. Woodward has up to this point largely been involved in documentary featurettes on dvds of other films. The lurking fear is a horror short story by american writer h. Hp lovecraft and the fear of the unknown daily kos. Begun probably in the autumn of 1926, the draft was completed on january 22, 1927 and it remained unrevised and unpublished in his lifetime.
Harold had gotten back in touch with lovecraft a little more than a year before the lurking fear was written, and they had revisited a clubhouse they had constructed together as boys. Fear of the unknown is a 2008 documentary film that examines the life, work, and mind of american writer h. The film features interviews with guillermo del toro, neil gaiman, john carpenter, peter straub, caitlin r. Mary shelley and poe are perhaps the masters of classic horror in the literal sense, but h. Lovecraft quotes author of the call of cthulhu and.
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