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"My conception of phantasy, as a genuine art-form, is an extension rather than a negation of reality...The true function of phantasy is to give the imagination a ground for limitless expansion, and to satisfy aesthetically the sincere and burning curiosity and sense of awe..."
- H.P. Lovecraft, Letter to Clark Ashton Smith, 1930

POPULAR CULTURE
UPDATED:05/07/09

MOVIES MUSIC GAMES COMIC BOOKS TOYS

One of the most surprising aspects of H.P. Lovecraft's influence on the world is not just in the world of horror literature. It has become apparent that in the last 30 years that Lovecraft's influence has spread to many other facets of popular culture and especially in movies, music and games. The trend of using Lovecraftian themes and elements in other forms o popular culture began in the late 1960's with the psychedelic rock band called simply "H.P. Lovecraft". The Lovecraft influence would later be seen during that decade in the horror movie industry with films starring such icons as Boris Karloff and Vincent Price. To many fans, there has never been a true motion picture adaptation of Lovecraft's fiction that faithfully represents Lovecraft's creations. For over 40 years, dozens of filmakers and actors have attempted to adapt Lovecraft's stories into movies, although there have been some successes, most are regarded as B-movies often containing camp violence and sexuality.As the Lovecraft influence spread it became the most prominent in the 1980's with the use of Lovecraftian names and concepts in the genre of Heavy Metal music and with the growing popularity of role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Now these Lovecraftian ideas have become more prevalent in entertainment today with numerous movies, heavy metal bands and games. True that not all adaptations of his works have met with positive criticism or prestige it remains obvious that Lovecraft's works are not always easy to adapt into another medium. This page features the most popular and notable forms of Lovecraftian popular culture.

MOVIES
Notable Lovecraft movie adaptations or inspired by Lovecraft stories.
(Chronologically)

The Haunted Palace (1963) Directed by Roger Corman; Starring: Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr., Debra Paget - Based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe poem and H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Charles Dexter Ward (Vincent Price) and with his wife Ann (Debra Paget) arrive in Arkham to take possession of his ancestral palace, once the home of Joseph Curwen, a suspected warlock who 150 years ago was burned alive by the townspeople but not before Curwen placed a curse on the town and all their descendants. Once they arrive, they meet Simon Orne (Lon Chaney, Jr.) the alleged caretaker of the palace and after spending the night Ward becomes possessed by the spirit of his ancestor and plans to continue his work in summoning the Old Gods.

Die, Monster, Die! (1965) aka Monster of Terror, Directed by Daniel Haller; Starring: Boris Karloff, Nick Adams, Freda Jackson - Based on Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space”. When Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) comes to visit college friend Susan Witley (Suzan Farmer) he discovers that her father Nahum Witley (Boris Karloff), has been experimenting with a radioactive meteorite that causes mutations.

The Shuttered Room (1967) - Directed by David Greene; Starring: Gig Young, Carol Lynley, Oliver Reed, Flora Robson - Based on a story by August Derleth and H.P. Lovecraft, Susannah Whateley returns with her husband to the New England island of Dunwich to visit the place of her birth, little does she know that an evil presence is alive and well in her childhood home along with a dark secret kept by her estranged relatives.

The Dunwich Horror (1970) Directed by Daniel Haller; Starring: Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Joanne Moore Jordan, Sr., Sam Jaffe - Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell) comes to Miskatonic University to find the Necronomicon and meets Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee). Upon befriending her, he takes her to his home and ultimately kidnaps, drugs and uses her as a sacrifice to the Old Gods.

Re-Animator (1985) Directed by Stuart Gordon, Produced by Brian Yuzna; Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale. Based on Lovecraft's "Herbert West - Reanimator", Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) enrolls in Miskatonic University's Medical School and carries on his own mad experiments to reanimate the dead with help from his reluctant roommate Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott).

From Beyond (1986) Directed by Stuart Gordon, Produced by Brian Yuzna; Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ken Foree, Ted Sorel - Scientists Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel) and Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs) create a device which stimulates the pineal gland and opens a door to a parallel universe.

The Unnamable (1988) Directed by Jean-Paul Ouellette; Starring: Charles Klausmeyer, Mark Kinsey Stephenson, Katrin Alexandre, Alexandra Durrell - As Miskatonic University students happen upon the Winthrop family home inadvertantly releasing the Unnamable, a creature/demon hybrid between humans and the Old Gods.

Bride of Re-Animator (1990) Directed by Stuart Gordon, Produced by Brian Yuzna; Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott - In this sequel to Re-Animator, Herbert West returns to carry on his mad experiments to create life.

The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1993) Directed by Jean-Paul Ouellette; Starring: Charles Klausmeyer, Mark Kinsey Stephenson, Maria Ford, John Rhys-Davies, David Warner - In this sequel to The Unnamable, the cast returns to undo the evil of the Winthrop curse.

Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993) Directed by Christophe Gans, Shusuke Kaneko, and Brian Yuzna; Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Payne, , Bess Meyer, David Warner, Signy Coleman, - In this anthology of three Lovecraft adaptations, Jeffrey Combs plays Lovecraft himself as he is researching the Necronmicon. The three stories include “The Drowned,”, loosely based on "The Rats in the Walls", “The Cold,” based on “Cool Air” and “Whispers,” based on “The Whisperer in Darkness”.

In the Mouth of Madness (1994) Directed by John Carpenter; Starring: Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jürgen Prochnow, David Warner, Charlton Heston - An insurance investigator, John Trent (Sam Neill), is hired by a prominent publishing company to track down the disappearance of a highly popular horror author, Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow). As his investigations leads him to a mysterious New England town called Hobb's End, resembling the location of Cane's novels, he becomes involved in his own horror story as the inhabitants have become overrun with the forces of darkness. Although not directly based on any particular H.P. Lovecraft story, there is many Lovecraftian elements as well as references to Stephen King in the movie.

Dagon (2001) Directed by Stuart Gordon; Starring: Ezra Godden, Raquel Meroño, Francisco Rabal, Macarena Gómez - Based on “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” and “Dagon”, Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden) and his girlfriend Barbara (Raquel Meroño) are shipwrecked and happen upon an island off the coast of Spain where its deformed inhabitants worship Dagon with human sacrifices.

Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch House (2005) Starz's "Masters of Horror" Series, Season One, Directed by Stuart Gordon; Starring: Ezra Godden, Chelah Horsdal, Yevgen Voronin - Miskatonic University graduate student Walter Gilman (Ezra Godden) rents a room in an old mysterious house where an evil, undead, witch and her rat familiar, Brown Jenkin (Yevgen Voronin), terrorizes the tenants of the house.