MovieChat Forums > Necronomicon (1994) Discussion > Barker's inspiration....Maybe?

Barker's inspiration....Maybe?

posted 16 years ago by mutant29
12 replies | jump to latest

I think H.P. Lovecraft's story Whispers might have inspired Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train. They seem roughly similar. I love this short story and the Necronomicon movie short. I am also looking forward to Midnight Meat Train the movie. Check out the trailer-------------------------------------------> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805570/trailers-trailer-vi2259812633

[–] nashknight-1 16 years ago

Barker openly announced in several occasions that his work was heavily influenced by Lovecraft

The horror genre:

Poe=>Lovecraft=>Barker=>King

:)

[–] Necros_hun 16 years ago

I'd leave King out of that list... But yeah, Lovecraft was an inspiration for most of the modern horror writers.

[–] haewatein 15 years ago

Nope, no King, he doesn't fit, sorry.

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[–] nashknight-1 15 years ago

Like it or not, he's the today's most popular and praised horror writer. And he wrote a lot of classics, not to mention great movie scripts

[–] ablebravo 14 years ago

Even if King didn't make it a habit of invoking things Lovecraftian, he still did write at least two great tales in the Lovecraftian style: CROUCH'S END and the bloodchilling JERUSALEM'S LOT (Not the vampire novel 'Salem's Lot).

"Any technology sufficiently advanced would be indistinguishable from Magic."

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] thecatintherain 13 years ago

I think it may have been the other way around. Barker's "Books of Blood" Volume One (containing The Midnight Meat Train) was published in 1984. This movie is was released in 1993, and the story "Whispers" has LITTLE to do with Lovecraft's "Whisperer in the Darkness".

WITD is about two scholars who starts writing one another after a flood unearths strange dead creatures. It's about how they try to unravel what's going on by tying the current evidence with old legends and folktales of the region, and what happens when they get too close to the truth.

Elements of the story where used in Whispers, but it obviously does not follow that plot. It may have been indeed influenced more by Clive's short story than Lovecraft's.

That said, the description of the "father of fathers" (Sir Not-appearing-in-the-movie) at the end of TMMT is very Lovecraftian in nature.

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someone shot nostalgia in the back

[–] johnnytourettes 13 years ago

As the above poster mentions - The Whispers in the Dark has little to do with the story in the film. The only similarities are aliens who can transfer brains (thought the Mi-Go of Lovecrafts story do it very differently than the aliens in 'Whispers'.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Poisoned_Dragon1964 12 years ago

the story "Whispers" has LITTLE to do with Lovecraft's "Whisperer in the Darkness".

I disagree. While there are undoubtedly elements drawn from other sources, the basic premise is Lovecraft's. The thing about Lovecraft is that there's a lot to his stories that wouldn't make good or even interesting cinema, like your observation of TWiD: it's "about two scholars who starts writing one another after a flood unearths strange dead creatures. It's about how they try to unravel what's going on by tying the current evidence with old legends and folktales of the region, and what happens when they get too close to the truth." What a snoozer that would be! There's other elements from Lovecraft woven into this vignette, like the talk of "gods which actually provide results" (my paraphrase because I don't feel like looking up the quotes) that one finds in The Shadow Over Innsmouth and to a lesser extent in The Picture in the House.

For TWiD to work in this film, one would have to get away from the whole "scholar protagonist" thing (something 'Necronomicon' already employs for its wraparound).

§« The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. »§

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Rena_Mahone 10 years ago

The last story kinda reminded me of Midnight Meat Train too, and the second story was very similar to the first Hellraiser movie, IMO.

Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too)