Let's Talk About Horror Fiction and Film

[Set Harth]

I loves me some stop-motion Cthulhu!

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, great stuff. I can't wait until their new movie is available. They also have several cool "radio adventures" out there.

[Brendan Moody]

I wound up making some changes to my reading list, but I definitely had an enjoyable Halloween. I blogged about it here. I've just noticed that a couple of the stories I read are included in the Halloween anthology Spiff mentioned above.

[RJDiogenes]

I agree with your thoughts on the weaknesses of Lovecraft's negative descriptors. In the early 80s, someone published a set of his complete works in paperback and I made the mistake of reading it all straight through; I was burned out for years. Luckily, I was able to re-ignite an appreciation for him in the last ten years or so.

Lucky break today in the world of movies. Fearnet put up a movie called The Zombies of Mora Tau from 1957. Allison Hayes is in it. I'd never seen it before, but it has old-school zombies (not exactly Voodoo, but close enough). It was very good. Worth watching, or picking up if it's on DVD.

[Set Harth]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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I can't wait until their new movie is available.

They're making another movie?

It should be called Cthulhu 2: Eldritch Boogaloo.

[RJDiogenes]

Indescribably bikini babes on unnameable roller skates. I look forward to 70s Cthulhu.

That will have to come after this one, though.

[RJDiogenes]

And, finally, Whisperer In Darkness is available to order.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Awesome! Thanks for the heads-up.

Heh. Time to change the thread title again. I've watched a few horror movies recently, and keep meaning to post in here. I'll have to remind myself later.

But the Criterion edition of Island of Lost Souls is fantastic. Absolutely worth the wait. I've also watched Attack the Block (as hinted by my avatar) and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.

[RJDiogenes]

Oh, yeah, Island of Lost Souls! I got it about two weeks ago. I had very high hopes for that one and they were exceeded. Everything about that movie was fantastic from the cast to the script to the cinematography-- just amazing.

I also got this set a couple of days ago, because I need to see The Giant Claw. I have most of this week off, so I'll be watching it tomorrow.

If you've never heard of it, prepare to be left dumbstruck.



Incidentally, that DVD set also contains Zombies of Mora Tau, which I saw over Halloweentime and loved.

[RJDiogenes]

Whisperer In Darkness is here!

If all goes well, I'll get out of work early on Friday and see it then.

[Spaceman Spiff]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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Whisperer In Darkness is here!

If all goes well, I'll get out of work early on Friday and see it then.

How was it? The site says the Blu-ray is coming soon, so I'm holding off a bit longer.

Happy Friday the 13th, folks!

[JarodRussell]

I can't get into most Horror films. I mean... just why the hell would ghosts do that to innocent people who accidently crossed their territory? They never punished the ones who actually deserve it, they always only annoy those who had nothing to do with it (Poltergeist is one of those sillies).

And then I don't care for slasher, gore and torture porn movies.

[Chemahkuu]

Horror spans a huge range of aesthetics, I love older movies from the 30's and 60's and those that cross over horror and the gothic, Victoriana and fantasy settings. I love their feel, aesthetic, visuals, themes and many of the characters. There are things that only really come through in a horror setting.

But I'm not a fan of outright gore either, the only film I love with that kind of theme is Repo! The Genetic Opera, but then I love gothic opera's and musicals in general like Sweeney Todd, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and so on.

Then again I'm someone who wears skull jewellery and black on a near daily basis so my tastes don't reflect, well very many peoples at all.

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Completely agree. Except I haven't seen Repo yet and I don't wear skull jewelry.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

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How was it? The site says the Blu-ray is coming soon, so I'm holding off a bit longer.

It was excellent. They took quite a few liberties with the story, which surprised me-- more liberties than were necessary to translate a Lovecraftian narrative into a visual one. And it doesn't have the feel of a 30s movie to the degree that Cthulhu had of a 20s movie; you'll notice a couple of things that they never would have done in the 30s. But I enjoyed every minute of it. These guys are devoted to Lovecraft and they know what they're doing. The behind-the-scenes features are an inspiration to independent filmmakers. You won't be sorry for getting it.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I kind of figured it'd be good. I've never regretted a purchase from the HPLHS. Even the fonts are cool.