HP Lovecraft Adaptations are a Mess (And Cthulhu is Worse)

[@leeverguy]

I remember there being accounts of Lovecraft coming to show regret over his prejudice in the months before his death, and it kinda saddens me thinking about how he could've improved as both a writer and a person, and the stories we couldve gotten from a more worldly Lovecraft... Man, fuck cancer.

[@kamikazelemming1552]

The Gou Tanabe manga adaptations are masterpieces of art. All Lovecraft fans should check them out.

[@Fabulous-Spider]

Yea, Lovecraft was crazy but it did make a staring point for better writers to come in. Great video btw.

[@MasterKaiju]

I'm glad someone else remembers DYE - Fantasy. While I used to be huge into Lovecraft as a teenager, nowadays I'm more into both Lovecraft inspired works and the works that inspired Lovecraft himself. I am particularly fond of William Hope Hodgeson with the House on the Borderlands being a personal favorite of mine. One thing I will note though I is I appreciate modern adaptations making the Cthulhu cult less "foreigners with scary religion" and more "old blooded white folk of wealth and privelage in dinky old manors' which I feel appropriate. Beyond that, I really do think Cosmic Horror works best nowadays when it brushes up against Dark Fantasy story. Fear and Hunger and Fear and Hunger Termina really nail that vibe as does Bloodborne. I wouldn't even call Bloodborne "Lovecraft lite' as the endings have you: - Waking from a Nightmare - Becoming forever trapped in a dream as a surrogate child for an eldritch god in an endless hunt - Becoming an Eldritch God yourself by consuming the umbilical cords of tainted offspring...which leaves you as a tentacle slug. Which honestly, only the former is a remotely 'good' ending xD. As for Lovecraft himself, for me personally, I think the one character that best captures the ethos Lovecraft had in terms of his xenophobia and fear of everything and encapsulates both the fear of the other, the fear of progress, and the fear of god being an uncaring malevolent force is Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep being a being of infinite masks and one who is actively malicious means he could be anyone or anything, and further more the being that has the most potential for character. Nyarlathotep is a kid with a magnifying glass and you are just an ant. Sure it isn't "unfathomable" or anything like that, but serves as a shapeless malevolent bogeyman who can be everything he feared from modern amenities (the original story is just terror at Nikola Tesla) to Ancient Egypt to the Haunter in the Darkness and how Nyarlathotep bridges the gap between the liminal space Dweller on the Threshold motif and Faustian Folk Devil with the more unfathomable entities like Yog Sothoth to which I'm honestly surprised Nyarlathotep isn't in more adaptations. He's easy to handle, a good way to bridge the gap between unfathomable and what we know, a good central antagonist figure, and draws on more familiar gothic horror tropes like the Faustian bargain (like when he trolls Randolph Carter by sending him careening into the court of Azathoth) he's a malicious fuck and I can't help but to love him. In a lot of ways, I think the best adaptation of a Nyarlathotep like figure we have is Gaunter O'Dimm from the Witcher 3. O'dimm draws a bit from him as much as he does traditional devil figures in that O'Dimm is as eldritch of force that you get in the Witcher, and is well and truly cosmic in his powers. He's not just a demon, djinn, or something else, but something that if Geralt were to know the true nature of Geralt would meet either a quick end or an even worse fate. He's not *just* a Satan with a cosmology, he's an entity who will 'gore and torment you till the stars expire' and whose mastery of time and space makes him wholly unique in that world. Whose marks and magic cannot be undone even by the strongest magicians or beings in the world that you know. And in the end, you only defeat him because of the rules he sets for himself and even then its a pyrhic victory. He's banished but who knows for how long, with several lives irreparably destroyed in his wake and his spectre still being felt in the next DLC as his leitmotif looms in the background in one of the quests. That is a perfect blending of both Gothic Horror and Cosmic Horror. Beyond that, I'm surprised the faustian-lovecraftian being trope isn't used more or more Nyarlathotep analogues out there. He's really well suited for adaptations of Lovecrafts work.

[@SashaTheDog]

It's a bit sad that his racism is the only thing constantly brought up. He was terrified of everything and being scared is what creates racism wich is smth sadly ignored in today's world. Ideas come from somewhere! Edit: No this is not to excuse racism, racism is bad but a racist can be taught to change his world view it IS possible!

[@ajthewildwolf]

I don't really find most lovecraftian horror very scary. I don't find the idea of being an ant compared to another living being scary. I've grown up in a super religious household all my life. I've always been taught that I am dust compared to my God, and if you know anything about space you know that it's too incomprehensibly big for the human mind to understand. Being an ant compared to a being who can speak and destroy the universe isn't horror to me, that's just my reality. Life goes on.

[@Phantomcrustacean]

That is kind of the downside of having such a unique style of story. Most people won’t understand or TLDR and completely missed the point, like how the neon is just a stand for any, and all spooky black magic books, we could Cthulhu just being the big scary monster at the end of the story. Mentioned decades, upon decades of telephone, muddying the waters of his stories, settings, and characters work, It all gets jumbled into confusing mess and not many people have the time or patience to read through his books

[@Flareono]

The problem with adapting Lovecraftian stories into films and shows is that it’s an inherently difficult idea to adapt into that format in my opinion. Lovecraftian stories always work better in games and tabletop style stories. The Sinking City is one you showed and I think it does the concept extremely well. The Call of Cthulhu RPG does a pretty good job handling several Lovecraftian concepts. But even then Lovecraftian horror’s of the indescribable is just extremely hard to do well.

[@jadenbryant9283]

I think in the mouth of madness was the closest to capture Hp lovecraft tone and atmosphere and that's not even a adaptation!

[@Level_1_Frog]

I'm not sure if you talk about it in this video, but one of my favorite takes on Lovecraft is in Magic the Gathering. There's a plane (basically a world) called Innistrad that is themed around 16th/17th century people fighting for survival against werewolves, vampires, zombies, and all kinds of gothic horror beasties, and in a set where we return to the plane stuff is a bit, weird. Angels are corrupted and going mad, wild animals are fusing with people, symbols of their protector god are melting and inverting on their own, and nobody knows what is going on or what's causing it, until its revealed that a giant entity from the game's history was flung across the cosmos to save another world, but ended up here and has started to devour it. Very cool set, the eldritch creature gets sealed inside the moon at the end of the story because she cant be killed. Magic the Gathering is a vey cool game.

[@zcgamerandreacts2762]

When I first heard of Lovecraft I genuinely shit you not thought it was a minecraft mod.

[@dkdomo6760]

Digimon of all things has a lot of lovecraft and how I got awoken into the lovecraft fandom. D-reapers were lovecraftean creatures, there’s a literal dagomon and the dark ocean is literally innsmoth. The towns sign says innsmoth. Digimon tamers was written by a guy who heavily includes lovecraft in all his works

[@starmaker75]

I think the reason why cosmic horror doesn't get as munch is because where there a part of me that makes me wonder and see as cool. Then again this is someone who get easily scared by jumpscared stuff, so i'm not ironclad . Tale foundry goes into why cosmic horror aren't scary to some. Also, space and ocean are themselves eldritch horrors and like to study and learn about those areas.

[@valorousowl]

Unpopular or formerly popular opinion, the closest thing I've ever seen that I would consider close to the truth in vision of the lovecraftian was that one ai sleepr or dreamer or whatever it was called when it recorded a frog hopping around and tried to "see" and "identify" it and to see it moving through the static and changing forms to other similar shaped things that are wrong. Cars. Dogs. Things without name. That was close for me. It's your brain seeing something and struggling to make a connection to understand this thing beyond it. And that wasn't even an intentional attempt at lovecraftian visuals.

[@okayso1747]

Hey there, Lovers of dark horror and cosmic wonder! I know it's hard to find good cosmic horror out there, or lovecraft-inspired stories, but if you enjoy books, I'd recommend: Carter and Lovecraft by Jonathan L. Howard. I'd also recommend another dark comedy fantasy series by the same author: Johannes Cabal, the Necromancer, which also explores the dreamlands and other supernatural/eldritch elements in his dark comedy. And if you like podcasts, I'd recommend the creatively designed "Malevolent" by Harlan Guthrie, which sets a mystery based (at least originally) in a familiar setting.

[@WalkmanWillWalkAllOverYou]

Oh so that explains all the tentacle talk.

[@apieceofbitsandpieces342]

Of all the Lovecraft stuff I have had experienced, The one that I believe is the closest you can realistic get to the feeling of a Lovecraft story is the video game: World Of Horror. I’m not just saying that because the big lovable squid creature is (technically) in the game, but because it adds to the smallness that Lovecraft’s works often have. You play as just regular people who are trying to postpone the apocalypse from the various gods in the game.

[@iain9757]

Such a brilliant video topic idea 🦑 💚

[@localhearthian2387]

Cthulhu walked so Junji Ito could turn the racetrack into an infinite spiral

[@deathwish-fs1ib]

Honestly, I assumed that it was Dagon at the end of Underwater.

[@GrugTalks]

Excited for this as a life long Lovecraft fan 🙏

[@mekabare]

I think Amnesia the dark descent is a really good lovecraftian work, even if it's reduced to freaky enemies following you nowadays. Another absolutely amazing lovecraftian work is the music video to Fantasy by DyE. That was the first time I saw the word eldritch horror mentioned (english isnt my first language) and my obsession with cosmic/eldritch horror went from there Ps: bloodborne is the best lovecraftian horror game- Edit: NYARLATHATOP MENTIONED (I find this story incredibly underappreciated)

[@fanghur]

By far one of the best Lovecraftian works in modern times? The game 'Bloodborne'.

[@mekabare]

Bloodborne and Amnesia the Dark Descent are such good lovecraftian horror games!

[@QuintiniusVerginix]

Cthulhu didn't get Ursula'd, Ursula got Cthulhu'd. Her fate in that film is a very clear reference to Call of Cthulhu.

[@keepingitkianatural]

I loooooveed Lovecraft Country. It was such a good concept, but the narrative was way too messy. Its use of AfroFuturism was the first example I've readily identified in mainstream media. That Hippolyta episode changed my life, honestly. I think its an amazing starting point to influence further exploration of Afro fantasy, horror, and sci-fi. The irony that Lovecraft's ideas helped to platform these burgeoning genres adds another layer of context to his work.

[@idknemore525]

I can't remember what the story was but I remember trying to get into Lovecraft when I was younger. Less than a few paragraphs in he hit me with the ol' "What he saw was a terror beyond description. Now I will describe it: buncha teefs and tentacles." Like ok, buddy. I tapped out and when I found out he was super racist even for his time, I was not surprised one bit.

[@fatcat22able]

Very tentacular video

[@DissedRedEngie]

edit: the biggest problem about adapting Lovecraft's work is that, ultimately he was a scared man. A scared man who's fears stemmed from how he knew about something, but didn't understand. The air conditioning story, the color out of space. Both are stories based on things Lovecraft heard about, but didn't understand. He thought air conditioning could make dead people live beyond their death, because you put stuff in a fridge to preserve perishable foods. The color out of space? It stemmed from the discovery of the color spectrum. He didn't understand what the color spectrum is, so he wrote a story about a color that is outside of the spectrum of light. The new movie about this story uses magenta, because technically magenta doesn't exist. Magenta is combination of two different wavelengths, but it's still a color. Because we see it and can describe it. There is no color out of the spectrum, beyond infra and ultra the wavelength become something else. He was a scared man, describing how he was scared. There's plenty to love about the works of H.P. despite the views he had until the deathbed. But, making all of reality a dream of an all powerful being, and then calling that god an idiot. And some people just fit the guy's archetype? It's so good.

[@BATCHARRO]

You see if I was a famous author I'd just be able to tell everyone "I have no constitution for math" instead if the more normal "I'm shit at math". Like , listen teacher I was paying attention actually. I don't know what happened.

[@ClockworkMan13]

The reason Insanity is so difficult to portray is becuase it's a paradox of reason itself. Looking at insane behavior gives zero insight because it defies logic. However, if you do start to understand the "logic" of insanity, than by definition you are becoming insane because it takes an illogical mind to understand the illogical. This is also why insane people cannot recognize their own insanity. From their perspective, they are normal and the rest of the world is insane. Forcing an audience to question their own logic/reality is the closest you can get to a true perspective of insanity. Any further understanding is unknowable, and that's what makes it scary.

[@ecosine-P]

REANIMATOR MENTIONED \o/

[@ga4667]

TIL humanity wants to date Cthulhu

[@Somniostatic]

wait, HP Lovecraft was afraid of air conditioners??

[@thinhvo3893]

Yes...he afraid a lot of shit.

[@keepingitkianatural]

He came up with such horrifying concepts because he essentially lived in fear his whole life. Great art, horrible existence.

[@SashaTheDog]

He was a deeply disturbed mentally ill man. Anxiety can manifest in the weirdest ways.

[@willhayes6241]

Ant, would you say that the Evil Dead franchise is technically a Lovecraft adaptation, since it features the Necronomicon?

[@agramuglia]

Not quite, since the Evil Dead Necronomicon is very different than the Cthulhu Mythos Necronomicon. Also, Evil Dead's Necronomicon is much older.

[@stephennootens916]

I have a quick but some what stupid question. Ok I was watching Salem's Lot (the new one) and becauae the priest was questioning his faith in god the cross didn't work. So here is my somewhat stupid question if the power of the use of the cross is solely base on your faith does that mean anything you have faith in have power against vampires? Like if you were a kid and your parents got you a Cthulhu plushy and they told you he would protect you from monsters and you truly believe it does that mean if a vampire tried to feed off you that you could stop them with your Cthulhu?

[@jburton7978]

I think the best cosmic horror stories are the once that stick with you once you've put the page down. If the story and premise can weasel it's way into your brain and lets your imagination go wild with the consequences then it's done a good job but I find most actual Lovecraft stories to be a bore and don't stick with me

[@nkosig4995]

the best dagon is mehrunes

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

(:D

[@gaminginthevoid]

"Racist tentacle guy". as a writer myself I must say I can only long for a title that is so prestigious.

[@dinadina2000]

Are you trying to write xenophobic tentacle hentai or xenophobic octopus horror?

[@gaminginthevoid]

@dinadina2000 xenophobic octopus horror is now my favorite genre

[@imthethriller]

Was lovecraft really Racist or is that something People ran with because the name of his cat?

[@agramuglia]

He was EXTREMELY racist.

[@phyllotaxis]

He was racist even by early 1900s standards.

[@SashaTheDog]

Dude was deeply disturbed and saw everything that wasn't British as terrifying monsters. Ironically a few years before his death his views changed but he was still terrified of everything so he actively didn't search for medical help. As I see it the racism was most likely a side effect of a very closeted and protected upbringing and intense mental issues that went undiagnosed.