H.P. LOVECRAFT Inspired Movies
Lovecraftian horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown more than gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present. It is named after American author H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937), who is largely credited as the first author to pioneer the genre.
"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."
"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."
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- DirectorRoger CormanStarsVincent PriceDebra PagetLon Chaney Jr.Charles Dexter Ward arrives at a small village to visit the house he inherited from his ancestor who died there 100 years ago.Very loosely based on "The Case of Charles Dexter".
- DirectorDavid GreeneStarsOliver ReedGig YoungCarol LynleyA series of horrific murders is traced to a creature that inhabits a very strange house.This British production was based on a short story by August Derleth, Lovecraft’s publisher and a noted author in his own right. Derleth based his story on a fragment left behind by Lovecraft after the latter’s death, with the movie expanding on the tale even further.
- DirectorVernon SewellStarsBoris KarloffChristopher LeeMark EdenRobert Manning visits the remote country house where his brother Peter was last seen. While his host seems outwardly friendly and his niece more demonstrably so, Robert detects a feeling of menace in the air.Based on "The Dreams in the Witch-House".
- DirectorDaniel HallerStarsSandra DeeDean StockwellEd BegleyWilbur Whateley travels to the Arkham Miskatonic University to borrow the legendary Necronomicon. But, little does anyone know, Whateley isn't quite human...Based directly on Lovecraft's story of the same name.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtAfter investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin, the crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform.Alien bore a strong Lovecraftian influence, especially in the set design of H.R. Giger.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsChristopher GeorgeCatriona MacCollCarlo De MejoA reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves.Italian director Lucio Fulci directed several films inspired by the work of Lovecraft, starting with "City of the Living Dead". When a priest hangs himself on the grounds of a cemetery in the town of Dunwich (a town created by Lovecraft), it opens a portal to hell that allows the living dead to erupt into our world.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsCatriona MacCollDavid WarbeckCinzia MonrealeA young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where, following a series of supernatural "accidents", she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell."The Beyond" is one of Lucio Fulci’s most beloved horror films, and the second entry in his unofficial "Gates of Hell" trilogy. A young woman inherits a hotel which is built over a gateway to another world full of horrors. The Book of Eibon could easily be a stand-in for the Necronomicon.
The Beyond is what happens when you cross Fulci with H.P. Lovecraft. - DirectorSam RaimiStarsBruce CampbellEllen SandweissRichard DeManincorFive friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.The Evil Dead comedy horror film franchise was created by Sam Raimi after studying H.P. Lovecraft. The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, or simply The Book of the Dead, is depicted in each of the three films.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellWilford BrimleyKeith DavidA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.John Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy" (The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness) feature Lovecraftian elements which becomes more noticeable in each film.
- DirectorIvan ReitmanStarsBill MurrayDan AykroydSigourney WeaverThree parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.Noticeably reminiscent of Lovecraft's style. Ghostbusters’ second half — in which an apartment building designed by an insane architect turns out to be a gateway to a realm of monstrous demons led by “Gozer the Gozerian” — is pure Lovecraft.
- DirectorStuart GordonStarsJeffrey CombsBruce AbbottBarbara CramptonAfter an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.Loosely based on "Herbert West: Reanimator".
- DirectorStuart GordonStarsJeffrey CombsBarbara CramptonTed SorelA group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.Loosely based on Lovecraft's story of the same title.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsDonald PleasenceLisa BlountJameson ParkerA group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open the container, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all humanity.John Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy" (The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness) feature Lovecraftian elements which becomes more noticeable in each film.
- DirectorDavid KeithStarsWil WheatonClaude AkinsMalcolm DanareWhen a meteorite lands near his family farm during a storm in Tennessee, the son of a struggling farmer believes it's connected to strange plague-like events afflicting the crops, the farm animals and even the family themselves.An effective adaptation of "The Colour Out of Space"
- DirectorJean-Paul OuelletteStarsCharles KlausmeyerMark Kinsey StephensonAlexandra DurrellCollege students check out a haunted house where in the 1800's an ugly monster called "the Unnamable" was trapped in a vault.Loose adaptation of Lovecraft's story of the same title.
- DirectorBrian YuznaStarsJeffrey CombsBruce AbbottClaude Earl JonesDoctors Herbert West and Dan Cain discover the secret to creating human life and proceed to create a perfect woman from dead tissue.Loosely based on "Herbert West: Reanimator".
- StarsRichard ThomasTim ReidAnnette O'TooleIn 1960, seven pre-teen outcasts fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. Thirty years later, they reunite to stop the demon once and for all when it returns to their hometown.The metaphysical elements of King’s 1987 novel (such as the emergence of the godlike Turtle and the journey into the Macroverse) didn’t really make it into either this version or the two-part theatrical version from 2017/2019. But the influence of Lovecraft is still felt in the title itself, an unimaginably ancient, shape-shifting entity that can exist in multiple realities and feeds on fear and terror.
- DirectorDan O'BannonStarsJohn TerryJane SibbettChris SarandonCharles Dexter Ward's wife enlists the help of a private detective to find out what her husband is up to in a remote cabin owned by his family for centuries.AKA Shatterbrain. An adaptation of "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".
- DirectorsChristophe GansShûsuke KanekoBrian YuznaStarsJeffrey CombsTony AzitoJuan FernándezLovecraft visualizes 3 stories in Necronomicon: The Drowned, The Cold and Whispers, about bringing a dead wife and child back to life, extending life and aliens.The three stories in Necronomicon are based on three H. P. Lovecraft short stories: "The Drowned" is based on "The Rats in the Walls", "The Cold" is based on "Cool Air", and "Whispers" is based on "The Whisperer in Darkness".
- DirectorC. Courtney JoynerStarsJon FinchBlake AdamsAshley LaurenceThe town of Leffert's Corners has been plagued by unearthly beings for decades, and now there is only a few people left... what everyone is not aware of are the humanoid creatures lurking underneath the holy grounds.An adaptation of Lovecraft's story of the same title.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsSam NeillJürgen ProchnowJulie CarmenAn insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.John Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy" (The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness) feature Lovecraftian elements which becomes more noticeable in each film.
- DirectorStuart GordonStarsJeffrey CombsBarbara CramptonJonathan FullerA man travels to Italy with his family to live in the castle they have recently inherited. But he soon begins to suspect that they are not the only occupants.Loosely inspired by Lovecraft's story "The Outsider".
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsLaurence FishburneSam NeillKathleen QuinlanA rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.A spacecraft with an experimental engine rips open a hole in the space-time continuum, plunging the ship and its crew into a dimension that appears to be hell itself... that is sooo Lovecraftian!
- DirectorStuart GordonStarsEzra GoddenFrancisco RabalRaquel MeroñoA boating accident runs a young man and woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing town which they discover is in the grips of an ancient sea god and its monstrous half human offspring.Actually based on "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" rather than the earlier short story "Dagon".
- DirectorIvan ZucconStarsGiuseppe LorussoFederica QuaglieriEmanuele CermanBased on an H.P. Lovecraft tale, THE SHUNNED HOUSE is the story of Alex and his girlfriend, Rita, who enter a decaying inn to investigate a series of gruesome and unexplained murders from the distant past.The Shunned House is loosely based on Lovecraft's story of the same title.
