(some spoilers here)
Yes, Dunwich Horror would be a great remake. Really that is probably one of the few stories that can be translated to the screen pretty easily as is. I think Lovecraft stories are hard to translate because they're long on words and short on action. But Dunwich Horror has lots of action. Also The shadow over Innsmouth, probably his most influential story, might do pretty well as a movie.
The original Dunwich Horror, while quite dated (1970), is really good in that it gives you the "atmosphere" of a Lovecraft story. Sure, visually it isn't much, and Hollywood could do a lot better today, but it has a real creepy feeling to it. I always remember the last line in the film, spoken by Dr. Armitage: "his father was not of this world." It was great that they also had Sam Jaffee, who made a real good "Old Whateley." But a new film could make it a lot creepier. The 1970 version doesn't convey the creepiness of Wilbur Whateley, I think precisely because of the lack of special effects. Wilbur would be a rather difficult character to show, in that he's continually getting bigger.
Now here's something none of you have mentioned: did you realize that both "The Thing" movies (1950 and 1980) are Lovecraft stories, a bit indirectly? Maybe someone can correct me on this, but I heard they are adaptations of At the mountains of madness. Indirectly because both films are directly based on a book called Who goes there? from about 1940. But from what I understand, Who goes there? is based on At the mountains of madness.
I think that if this is true, the connection between the Lovecraft story and the 1980 version is particularly interesting. In the 1980 version--incidentally, my favorite monster movie!--John Carpenter really combines two creatures in the Lovecraft story into one. The Thing is really a combination of the Old Ones and the Shoggoths. I like to argue that everything the Thing does in the movie is in self-defense, and that is how Lovecraft interprets the actions of the Old Ones in relation to humans. He actually expresses sympathy for them and calls them "men" at one point. But the Thing has even more similarity to the Shoggoths, and Lovecraft has no sympathy for them.
The reason I love the 1980 Thing is that though the monster is horrible and disgusting and scary, it's scared of the humans, too! It has a number of weaknesses that make it a fascinating character in the story.
"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."
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tgemberl
18 years ago
I found out last night that "Who goes there?" is actually a short story by John W. Campbell from 1938. I'm going to read it soon to see how believable the claim is that it's adapted from Lovecraft. A couple of people on the Web have said there is "much speculation" that Campbell was influenced by Lovecraft and considerable similarity between the stories, but I don't know if the connection has been demonstrated.
"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."
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crimsonwind666
18 years ago
'I found out last night that "Who goes there?" is actually a short story by John W. Campbell from 1938. I'm going to read it soon to see how believable the claim is that it's adapted from Lovecraft. A couple of people on the Web have said there is "much speculation" that Campbell was influenced by Lovecraft and considerable similarity between the stories, but I don't know if the connection has been demonstrated.'
actually, the writer John W. Campbell, along with August Derleth and a couple others, were part of lovecraft's "writers circle" they read each other's work and corresponded with each other, mainly discussing and giving advice on one another's stories.
Campbell, Derleth and the others in this circle founded the publisher "Arkham House" after lovecraft's death, so that his, and their own work, would be preserved.
sweet, huh? :D
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