Lost Carcosa

For being “older films” The Shining and A Clockwork Orange stand up very well against todays movies with all their fancy digital special effects magics. Both are still excellent movies, and I’m surprised its taken me till now to see The Shining.

I think The Shining is actually one of the few movies that have given me “the chills”
while watching it! Many a time I realized I was sitting there with my mouth opened up, head cocked to one side, watching the screen like a fish out of water.

And A Clockwork Orange…. Wow! Still awesome! The film was slightly dulled in color, and filled with scratches, but I think it only helped add to the experience. On a funny note, seeing it on the big screen, I noticed something I never saw before! When he’s at the record stand, you’ll see the soundtrack to 2001, another Kubrick film, prominently displayed right up front!

This fine set of films was shown as an awesome double feature for the opening night of Salem Fright Festival at the Cinema Salem theater in downtown Salem. They’ve got a whole slew of films lined up, including one of my favorite all time movies, The Call of Cthulhu! That will be happening tomorrow night, so if you’re near Salem, and want to see it in the theaters, you’d better act quick!

Go to Cinema Salem’s site for more details on films and times.

The HP Lovecraft Historical Society, creator of my favorite HPL film adaptation The Call of Cthulhu, is at it again with The Whisperer in Darkness. While I, and maybe a few of you already know this, and are waiting expectantly for what will most surely be another great work of film from the HPLHS, we now have something to make that wait even more excruciating!

Up and available for our viewing pleasure is the trailer for the upcoming The Whisperer in Darkness! Huzzah! Still in black and white, although a “talkie” this time, the movie looks promising. I know I can’t wait to see it!

Go check out the trailer at CthulhuLives.org (HPLHS)! Its available in sizes from iPod to Cyclopean!

Bits of News has up a nice article including a short explanation of H.P. Lovecraft as a man, some words from Guillermo Del Toro, a video of Neil Gaiman talking about HPL, and the trailer for the excellent HPLHS silent film “The Call of Cthulhu”.

“You need to create the character dynamics and the arc of the story, which is not in the book,” says del Toro. “Also, the horror in the book is only ambiguous and it’s kept open at the end. And you can still capture that atmosphere, but then you have to take it and go to a climax [in the movie]. Which in the book is really a climax by almost using negative space in the narrative; it’s what you don’t see that makes it. That essentially goes against the very essence of show business, because you don’t show anything. I think that what we’re doing is good and it’s as good as we can [do when] adapting Lovecraft. But it’s a project that’s been with us for several years now. It’s not an easy project to set up.”

So hoist up a Union Jack, and head on over to Bits of News!

If you havn’t heard, you can go pick yourself up a Miskatonic University Antarctic Expedition sweatshirt over at the HP lovecraft Historical Society.  It comes in Navy blue with a light blue interior. I’m wearing mine right now, and its pretty nice.  It even has a nice little “Department of Biology” on the front left.

Go to the HPLHS hoodie page!  Go now!

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society does some quality work. Whether its Christmas CDs, posters, movies, or props, they really put some fine stuff together. I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve picked up from them and hope they continue putting together HPL media.

Well, it looks like my wait is over, because the HPLHS has put together what will probably be another fun work for the avid HPL collector! Available now, is the HPLHS audio adaptation of “At the Mountains of Madness”!

Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: At the Mountains of Madness brings Lovecraft’s tale to life as it might have been adapted for radio during his lifetime. In the style of The War of the Worlds and The Shadow, Dark Adventure Radio Theatre dramatizes HPL’s story with a cast of professional actors, exciting sound effects and original music by Troy Sterling Nies (composer for The Call of Cthulhu). Relive the excitement of 1930s radio with one of HP Lovecraft’s most exciting and fascinating stories: At the Mountains of Madness.

Go check it out at the HPLHS.