Old Dark House wrote:
As for Lovecraft's style--I can see how someone wouldn't enjoy it. But personally, I find it blasphemously, indescribably, unnameabably entertaining.
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The thing is, I've actually rather enjoyed his work up to this point (his obvious racism notwithstanding). Lovecraft's stories work wonderfully as psychological thrillers, with hints of something much grander and more ominous lurking below consciousness and below the earth (and waves). And the style -- usually of a narrator recounting past events -- helps underscore the psychological elements of his stories.
But
At The Mountains of Madness is, well, maddening in its nauseating descriptions. Heck, at one point even the
narrator says, "It would be cumbrous to give a detailed, consecutive account of our wanderings" before spending the next
five pages giving what can only be described as a cumbrous, detailed account of his wanderings.
The information in the story is fascinating. The writing is simply terrible. My criticism has less to do with
style and more to do with
execution of style. Which is why I say that the movie can only improve upon the story.