Lovecraftian horror
Encyclopedia
Lovecraftian horror is a sub-genre of horror fiction
which emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown (in some cases, unknowable) over gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft
(1890–1937).
that involved a set of supernatural
, pre-human, and extraterrestrial
elements. His work was inspired by and similar to previous authors such as Edgar Allan Poe
and Algernon Blackwood
. The hallmark of Lovecraft's work was the sense that ordinary life was a thin shell over a reality which was so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity
of the ordinary person.
Lovecraft's work was also steeped in the insular feel of rural New England
, and much of the genre continues to maintain this sense that "that which man was not meant to know" might be closer to the surface of ordinary life outside of the crowded cities of modern civilization. However, Lovecraftian horror is by no means restricted to the countryside; 'The Horror at Red Hook', for instance, is set in a crowded ethnic ghetto
.
, author of Psycho; Robert E. Howard
, creator of Conan the Barbarian
; and August Derleth
, who codified and added to the Cthulhu Mythos
.
Subsequent horror writers also heavily drew on Lovecraft's work. While many made direct references to elements of Lovecraft's mythos, either to draw on its associations or to acknowledge his influence, many others drew on the feel and tone of his work without specifically referring to mythos elements. Some have said that Lovecraft, along with Edgar Allan Poe, is the most influential author on modern horror. Author Stephen King
has said: "Now that time has given us some perspective on his work, I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the Twentieth Century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."
By the late 20th century, Lovecraft had become something of a pop-culture icon, resulting in countless reinterpretations of and references to his work. Many of these fall outside the sphere of 'Lovecraftian horror' proper and are not discussed here; see instead Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture
.
s, has never had the same sort of influence on literature as his high-modernist literary contemporaries such as Ernest Hemingway
and F. Scott Fitzgerald
. However, his impact is still broadly and deeply felt in some of the most celebrated authors of contemporary fiction. The fantasias of the Argentinian short story writer and essayist Jorge Luis Borges
display a marked resemblance to some of Lovecraft's more dream influenced work. Borges also dedicated his story, "There Are More Things" to Lovecraft, though he also considered Lovecraft an "an involuntary parodist of Poe
." The controversial French novelist Michel Houellebecq
has also cited Lovecraft as an influence and has written a lengthy essay on Lovecraft entitled H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life
in which he refers to the Cthulhu cycle as "the great texts".
Lovecraft's penchant for dreamscapes and for the biologically macabre has also profoundly influenced visual artists such as Jean "Moebius" Giraud
and H. R. Giger
. Giger's book of paintings which led directly to many of the designs for the film Alien was named Necronomicon, the name of a fictional book in several of Lovecraft's mythos stories. Dan O'Bannon
, the original writer of the Alien screenplay, has also mentioned Lovecraft as a major influence on the film. With Ronald Shusett
, he would later write Dead & Buried
and Hemoglobin, both of which were admitted pastiche
s of Lovecraft.
, Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft and MAX
's Haunt of Horror, but also the incorporation of the Mythos into new stories.
Alan Moore
has touched on Lovecraftian themes, most obviously in his The Courtyard
and Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths
(and Antony Johnston
's spin-off Yuggoth Creatures), but also in his Black Dossier
where the story "What Ho, Gods of the Abyss?" mixed Lovecraftian horror with Bertie Wooster
.
Gordon Rennie
not only used various Lovecraft creations, like Tcho-Tcho
, in his Necronauts
, but he also included Lovecraft himself as a character, teaming up with an influence of his, Charles Fort
, a combination that would occur again in Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained
. Necronauts wasn't the first appearance of Lovecraftian horror in 2000 AD as Grant Morrison
's Zenith
involved the eponym
ous hero trying to stop the Lloigor
, known as the Many-Angled Ones. Entities also called Many-Angled Ones appear in the Marvel Universe
in the storyline "Realm of Kings
" where they rule an alternate reality
. This story line was in their "Guardians of The Galaxy" comic where an alternate universe invades the main Marvel Universe. The invading universe, dubbed the "Cancerverse" in the comics, is a universe where Lovecraft's Elder Gods triumph over death and conquer the universe. The inspiration for the universe is clearly Lovecraftian as even the words are taken directly from Lovecraft's writings. The most obvious example of this is the word fhtagn. As the story is set in space, fighting alien gods, the only thing stopping the story from being truly a tale of Lovecraftian horror is that the good guys resoundingly win, though they only do so by releasing a galactic mass murder loose on the other universe as well as theirs. So there is some lasting horror in that. The Marvel Universe also contains a range of Cthulhu Mythos comics, including the Elder Gods
.
As well as appearing with Fort in two comics stories, Lovecraft has appeared as a character in a number of Lovecraftian comics. He appears in Tony Salmons
's limited series The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft from Image
and in the Arcana
children's graphic novel Howard and the Frozen Kingdom from Bruce Brown. A webcomic
, Lovecraft is Missing, debuted in 2008 and takes place in 1926, before the publication of The Call of Cthulhu
, and weaves in elements of Lovecraft's earlier stories.
Boom! Studios
have also run a number of series based on Cthulhu
and other characters from the Mythos, including Cthulhu Tales and Fall of Cthulhu.
The creator of Hellboy
, Mike Mignola
, has described the books as being influenced primarily by the works of Lovecraft, in addition to those of Robert E. Howard and the legend of Dracula
. This was adapted into the 2004
film Hellboy
. His Elseworlds
mini-series The Doom That Came to Gotham reimagines Batman
in a confrontation with Lovecraftian monsters.
The manga artist Junji Ito
was heavily influenced by Lovecraft.
Issue #32 of The Brave and the Bold
was heavily influenced by the works and style of Lovecraft. In addition to using pastiches of Cthulhu, the Deep Ones, and R'lyeh
, writer J. Michael Straczynski
also wrote the story in a distinctly Lovecraftian style. Written entirely from the perspective of a traumatized sailor, the story makes use of several of Lovecraft's trademarks, including the ultimate feeling of insignificance in the face of the supernatural.
The Illustrated Ape magazine features a Lovecraft related web comic on its site in the gallery section. The strip is written and illustrated by Charles Cutting and uses "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" as it's basis.
, Lovecraftian horror truly became a sub-genre, not only fueling direct adaptations of Poe and Lovecraft, but providing the foundation upon which many of the horror films of the 1950s and 1960s were constructed.
One notable movie maker to dip into the Lovecraftian well was 1960s B-movie maker Roger Corman
, with his Die, Monster, Die!
(very loosely based on The Colour Out of Space
).
Rod Serling
's 1969-73 series Night Gallery adapted at least two Lovecraft stories, "Pickman's Model" and "Cool Air". The episode "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture", concerning the fate of a man who read the Necronomicon, included a student named "Mr. Lovecraft". Another five minute short, called "Ms. Lovecraft Sent Me", about a babysitter and her strange client, has no relevance to anything written by Lovecraft.
In the late 1970s a revival of the horror movie genre was based on the success of Stephen King and Brian De Palma
's Carrie; John Carpenter
's Halloween
; and Dan O'Bannon
and Ridley Scott
's Alien
. All three movies bore Lovecraftian influences to one degree or another, and their authors were deeply influenced by Lovecraft's works. Amongst the other well-known adaptations of this era are The Haunted Palace
, The Dunwich Horror
, and Curse of the Crimson Altar
. The Shuttered Room
was based on an August Derleth
'posthumous collaboration with Lovecraft.
As the 1980s and 1990s played out, Lovecraftian horror became a recognizable film staple in such varied films as the self-referential In the Mouth of Madness
, Necronomicon
, the comedic Re-Animator
, and Carpenter's Antarctic horror The Thing. The blockbuster
Ghostbusters
(which novel
ist/screenwriter
Barbara Hambly
has called "marvelously Lovecraftian") is noticeably reminiscent of Lovecraft's style.
Stuart Gordon
has directed several large-scale Lovecraftian movies including From Beyond (film) and Dagon (film) (the latter largely based on Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth
).
Lovecraftian elements can be seen even in Chiaki J. Konaka
's anime, including Digimon Tamers
, in which the main antagonist, the D-Reaper, sleeps, until the time comes for it to wake and destroy the world.
Such elements can also be seen in the Swedish horror film Marianne
where the helpless teacher Krister is unsure whether he is being haunted or if he is going mad.
A reference work that covers this field extensively is Charles P. Mitchell, The Complete H.P. Lovecraft Filmography. (Greenwood Press, 2001). ISBN 0-313-31641-4. There is also The Lurker in the Lobby by Andrew Migliore.
s. Some of these used Lovecraft's creations chiefly for name value (see Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture
), but others have embraced Lovecraft's characteristic mood and themes.
drew from many of the most popular fantasy settings including those of some of Lovecraft's contemporaries. However, Lovecraftian elements in the game would wait until Dragon
magazine issue #12 in 1978 with Robert J. Kuntz
's, "The Lovecraftian Mythos in Dungeons & Dragons". In 1980, a hardcover collection of the various fantasy and historical pantheons available for the game was published under the title Deities & Demigods
. The first and second printings contained a version of the Cthulhu Mythos, but that section was removed in the third and subsequent printings for copyright reasons.
As the game has evolved, many of the creatures (e.g. the illithid
) and even gods (e.g. Tharizdun
) that were introduced were inspired by Lovecraft's works, and in October, 2004, Dragon magazine published a lengthy article titled "The Shadow Over D&D: H. P. Lovecraft's Influence on Dungeons & Dragons" discussing these influences.
Dungeons & Dragons was not the only role-playing game to incorporate Lovecraftian horror. The most overt example was published in 1980 by Chaosium. Call of Cthulhu
is directly based on the Cthulhu Mythos. In keeping with its source material, and unlike most other role-playing games, characters who attempt to confront its monsters directly are likely to die or be driven insane rather than succeed. This is reinforced by the game's best-known feature, a mechanism by which knowledge about Mythos entities can only be gained at a permanent cost to one's sanity. Following this role-playing game into a modern era with an emphasis on military hardware and espionage wetware is Delta Green
, in which characters fight the conspiracies behind which the Mythos hides rather than facing the Mythos more directly.
Steve Jackson Games
' GURPS
, a genre-neutral game system, was first published in 1986 and brought diverse elements of fiction and non-fiction together across their lengthy list of published supplements which included Cthulhupunk, a licensed adaptation of Call of Cthulhu into a cyberpunk
setting.
was the first to bring the Lovecraftian horror sub-genre to the multiple computer platforms. This was a text-based adventure game
, released by Infocom
, who are best known for the Zork
series.
Notable adventures games are Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet
and Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice
.
Once 3D computer graphics
games developed, Lovecraftian influences also began to appear in them. In 1992, Alone in the Dark
was published by Infogrames for the PC
. It claimed to be inspired by the works of Lovecraft.
The plot of Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness
involves an attempt to summon a creature named Avoozl to bring permanent darkness over the world. Both the Necromonicon and the chant "Ia!" are borrowed directly from Lovecraft.
In 1995, the second installment of the X-Com
series, Terror from the Deep
, which featured references to Cthulhu and R'lyeh and conveyed a general sense of Lovecraftian horror atmosphere, integrated the Cthulhu Mythos
into the X-Com alien invasion scheme.
In the seminal 3D first-person shooter
Quake, in 1996 environments, creatures (including names such as Shub-Niggurath
), and the atmosphere of the game emphasize many traditionally Lovecraftian features. The architecture of the otherworldly dimension resembles many of Lovecraft's descriptions of ancient ruins and alien worlds. The three sequels, , contain no Lovecraftian elements, however, and have opted for a more typical science fiction and mainstream horror approach. Their monsters now include only differing types of cyborgs (mechanised alien species).
The 2002 game Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
, while not directly related to any of Lovecraft's work, borrows several of his ideas. It focuses on the members of a certain family who work to stop the encroaching evil of supernatural powerful beings known as "Ancients", who are attempting to cross the dimensional plane and destroy the world. As evidenced by the title, the fragility of the human mind is also a major component of its gameplay, as players must constantly keep their character's sanity in check. Failure to do so causes abnormal events to occur. For example, the game system will appear to shut off on its own, or a Blue Screen of Death
will appear before the player can save their progress.
In 2005 Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
was released for PC. The game is a first-person shooter
horror game chiefly inspired by Lovecraft's stories The Shadow Over Innsmouth
and The Shadow Out of Time
.
In September, 2010, Amnesia: The Dark Descent
was released for PC. The game features many instances of Lovecraftian influence, such as un-killable enemies (the player is powerless to fight back against their assailants and must instead run and hide), sanity (staying in the dark for too long will cause the player to become insane, but equally staying in the light will provoke attacks), and an unseen malignant force (the player is being chased by a "Shadow" that is unseen throughout the game, and is powerless to stop it).
The Mass Effect
series features a terrible race of machines, the Reapers, which awaits in the depths of intergalactic space, awakening every 50000 years to destroy all sentient races of the Milky Way
galaxy, processing whole species to create new ones of their race each time. Prolonged proximity with them drives organics into madness and subservience to their goals, much like Lovecraftian gods.
A game in development by Volition in collaboration with Guillermo del Toro
entitled inSANE
slated for release in 2013 is said to contain some Lovecraftian features judging by the teaser trailer.
Overall, the reception of Lovecraftian horror in video games, as with print fiction, has never achieved the same level of popularity as the high fantasy
, swords-and-sorcery model games.
/urban legend
created by Something Awful
user Victor Surge.
Zalgo, a dark and powerful entity of madness, makes an appearance in many webcomics, typically as a celebration of reaching the 666th comic posted. Other Zalgo appearances occur with some memes, like the "O RLY?" owl being warped into an evil looking monster saying "O R'lyeh?" (R'lyeh is the sunken home temple of the Great Cthulhu.)
In a lighter vein, the cult of Inglip portrays cultist zealots who take their dark commands directly from Captcha images, which, they believe, come mysteriously from their lord and master...often to very humorous ends.
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
which emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown (in some cases, unknowable) over gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
(1890–1937).
Origin
Lovecraft refined this style of story-telling into his own mythosCthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
that involved a set of supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
, pre-human, and extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
elements. His work was inspired by and similar to previous authors such as Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
and Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T...
. The hallmark of Lovecraft's work was the sense that ordinary life was a thin shell over a reality which was so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity
Sanity
Sanity refers to the soundness, rationality and healthiness of the human mind, as opposed to insanity. A person is sane if they are rational...
of the ordinary person.
Lovecraft's work was also steeped in the insular feel of rural New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, and much of the genre continues to maintain this sense that "that which man was not meant to know" might be closer to the surface of ordinary life outside of the crowded cities of modern civilization. However, Lovecraftian horror is by no means restricted to the countryside; 'The Horror at Red Hook', for instance, is set in a crowded ethnic ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
.
Themes of Lovecraftian horror
Several themes found in Lovecraft's writings are considered to be a component of a "Lovecraftian" work:- Anti-anthropocentrismAnthropocentrismAnthropocentrism describes the tendency for human beings to regard themselves as the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective....
, misanthropyMisanthropyMisanthropy is generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt or hatred of the human species or human nature. A misanthrope, or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings...
in general. Lovecraft's works tend not to focus on characterization of humans, in line with his view of humanity's insignificant place in the universe, and the general Modernist trend of literature at the time of his writings. - Preoccupation with viscerate texture. The horror features of Lovecraft's stories tend to involve semi-gelatinous substances, such as slime, as opposed to standard horror tropes such as blood, bones, or corpses.
- Antiquarian writing style. Even when dealing with up-to-date technology, Lovecraft tended to use anachronisms as well as old-fashioned words when dealing with such things. For example, he used the term "man of science" rather than the modern word, "scientist" and often spelled "show" as "shew".
- Detachment. Lovecraftian heroes (both in original writings and in more modern adaptations) tend to be isolated individuals, usually with an academic or scholarly bent.
- Helplessness and hopelessness. Although Lovecraftian heroes may occasionally deal a "setback" to malignant forces, their victories are temporary, and they usually pay a price for it. Otherwise, subjects often find themselves completely unable to simply run away, instead driven by some other force to their desperate end.
- Unanswered questions. Characters in Lovecraft's stories rarely if ever fully understand what is happening to them, and often go insane if they try.
- Sanity's fragility and vulnerability. Characters in many of Lovecraft's stories are unable to mentally cope with the extraordinary and almost unreasonable truths they witness or hear. The strain of trying to cope, as Lovecraft often illustrates, is too impossible to bear and insanity takes hold.
- Questionable parentage. Relatives of characters are typically depicted as paranormal or abnormal, whereas intimate relations in general are often represented as foreboding and sinister.
- Most often Lovecraftian style includes writing from the authors perspective or first person.
Collaborators and followers
Much of Lovecraft's influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. Many of these writers also worked with Lovecraft on jointly-written stories. His more famous friends and collaborators include Robert BlochRobert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
, author of Psycho; Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
, creator of Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
; and August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
, who codified and added to the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
.
Subsequent horror writers also heavily drew on Lovecraft's work. While many made direct references to elements of Lovecraft's mythos, either to draw on its associations or to acknowledge his influence, many others drew on the feel and tone of his work without specifically referring to mythos elements. Some have said that Lovecraft, along with Edgar Allan Poe, is the most influential author on modern horror. Author Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
has said: "Now that time has given us some perspective on his work, I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the Twentieth Century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."
By the late 20th century, Lovecraft had become something of a pop-culture icon, resulting in countless reinterpretations of and references to his work. Many of these fall outside the sphere of 'Lovecraftian horror' proper and are not discussed here; see instead Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture
Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture
This article provides a list of cultural references to the work of author H. P. Lovecraft. These references are collectively known as the Cthulhu Mythos. For works that are stylistically influenced by Lovecraft, see Lovecraftian horror.- Film :...
.
Literature and art
Lovecraft's work, mostly published in pulp magazinePulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
s, has never had the same sort of influence on literature as his high-modernist literary contemporaries such as Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
and F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
. However, his impact is still broadly and deeply felt in some of the most celebrated authors of contemporary fiction. The fantasias of the Argentinian short story writer and essayist Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
display a marked resemblance to some of Lovecraft's more dream influenced work. Borges also dedicated his story, "There Are More Things" to Lovecraft, though he also considered Lovecraft an "an involuntary parodist of Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
." The controversial French novelist Michel Houellebecq
Michel Houellebecq
Michel Houellebecq , born Michel Thomas, 26 February 1958—or 1956 —on the French island of Réunion, is a controversial and award-winning French author, filmmaker and poet. To admirers he is a writer in the tradition of literary provocation that reaches back to the Marquis de Sade and Baudelaire;...
has also cited Lovecraft as an influence and has written a lengthy essay on Lovecraft entitled H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life
H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life
H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life is a work of literary criticism by French author Michel Houellebecq regarding the works of H. P. Lovecraft...
in which he refers to the Cthulhu cycle as "the great texts".
Lovecraft's penchant for dreamscapes and for the biologically macabre has also profoundly influenced visual artists such as Jean "Moebius" Giraud
Jean Giraud
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud is a French comics artist. Giraud has earned worldwide fame, not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Moebius, and to a lesser extent Gir, the latter appearing mostly in the form of a boxed signature at the bottom of the artist's paintings, for instance the...
and H. R. Giger
H. R. Giger
Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger is a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer. He won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for his design work on the film Alien.-Early life:...
. Giger's book of paintings which led directly to many of the designs for the film Alien was named Necronomicon, the name of a fictional book in several of Lovecraft's mythos stories. Dan O'Bannon
Dan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
, the original writer of the Alien screenplay, has also mentioned Lovecraft as a major influence on the film. With Ronald Shusett
Ronald Shusett
Ronald Shusett is a motion picture screenwriter and producer, usually in the science fiction genre.He wrote the original story for Alien with Dan O'Bannon....
, he would later write Dead & Buried
Dead & Buried
Dead & Buried is a 1981 horror film directed by Gary Sherman, starring Melody Anderson and James Farentino. With a screenplay written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the movie was initially banned as a "Video Nasty" in the UK in the early 80s, but was later acquitted of obscenity charges and...
and Hemoglobin, both of which were admitted pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
s of Lovecraft.
Comics
Lovecraft has cast a long shadow across the comic world. This has included not only adaptations of his stories, such as H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Whisperer in DarknessH. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness
H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness was a three-part comic book mini-series published by Millennium Publications that followed a group of investigators, the Miskatonic Project, as they confronted the Mi-go, the cunning Fungi from Yuggoth....
, Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft and MAX
MAX (comics)
MAX is an imprint of Marvel Comics aimed at a niche 'adults only' audience, launched in 2001 after Marvel broke with the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system...
's Haunt of Horror, but also the incorporation of the Mythos into new stories.
Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
has touched on Lovecraftian themes, most obviously in his The Courtyard
Alan Moore's The Courtyard
Alan Moore's The Courtyard is a 2-issue comic book mini-series adaptation of a 1994 prose story written by Alan Moore, published in 2003 by Avatar Press...
and Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths
Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths
Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths is a collection of some of Alan Moore's previously unpublished work, as well as adaptations of his performance work by Antony Johnston. It was released in three parts by Avatar Press.-Publication:...
(and Antony Johnston
Antony Johnston
Antony Johnston is an award-winning British writer. He is known for the post apocalyptic comic series Wasteland, his graphic novel adaptations of Anthony Horowitz' Alex Rider novels, and his work with Alan Moore.-Career:...
's spin-off Yuggoth Creatures), but also in his Black Dossier
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It was the last volume of the series to be published by DC Comics. Although the third book to be...
where the story "What Ho, Gods of the Abyss?" mixed Lovecraftian horror with Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
.
Gordon Rennie
Gordon Rennie
Gordon Rennie is a comics writer, responsible for White Trash: Moronic Inferno, as well as several comic strips for 2000 AD and novels for Warhammer Fantasy....
not only used various Lovecraft creations, like Tcho-Tcho
Tcho-Tcho
The Tcho-Tcho, or Tcho-Tcho people, are a fictional human-like race in the Cthulhu Mythos.-Appearances:The Tcho-Tcho are first mentioned in August Derleth's 1933 short story "The Thing That Walked on the Wind", in which a character refers in passing to "the forbidden and accursed designs of the...
, in his Necronauts
Necronauts
Necronauts was a story that ran in the comics anthology 2000 AD, and was created by Gordon Rennie and Frazer Irving. It was this series that really brought Irving to public attention as his high contrast black and white artwork complimented Rennie's dark storyline.-Publication history:The outline...
, but he also included Lovecraft himself as a character, teaming up with an influence of his, Charles Fort
Charles Fort
Charles Hoy Fort was an American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena. Today, the terms Fortean and Forteana are used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold well and are still in print today.-Biography:Charles Hoy Fort was born in 1874 in Albany, New York, of Dutch...
, a combination that would occur again in Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained
Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained
Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained is a Dark Horse Comics comic book limited series created by writer Peter Lenkov and artist Frazer Irving. It should not be confused with the 1971 biographical study Charles Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained by Damon Knight, which apart from the title has no...
. Necronauts wasn't the first appearance of Lovecraftian horror in 2000 AD as Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
's Zenith
Zenith (comics)
Zenith is a British superhero, who appeared in the science fiction comic 2000 AD. Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Steve Yeowell, with original character designs by Brendan McCarthy, he first appeared in 2000 AD #536 .Shallow and sarcastic, Zenith was a distinctly Generation X superhero...
involved the eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous hero trying to stop the Lloigor
Lloigor (Cthulhu Mythos race)
The Lloigor are a fictional race in the Cthulhu Mythos. The beings first appeared in August Derleth and Mark Schorer's short story "The Lair of the Star Spawn" .-Summary:...
, known as the Many-Angled Ones. Entities also called Many-Angled Ones appear in the Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
in the storyline "Realm of Kings
Realm of Kings
"Realm of Kings" is a crossover comic book storyline published in 2010 by Marvel Comics. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, it is a follow-up to the 2009 storyline "War of Kings".-Publication history:...
" where they rule an alternate reality
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
. This story line was in their "Guardians of The Galaxy" comic where an alternate universe invades the main Marvel Universe. The invading universe, dubbed the "Cancerverse" in the comics, is a universe where Lovecraft's Elder Gods triumph over death and conquer the universe. The inspiration for the universe is clearly Lovecraftian as even the words are taken directly from Lovecraft's writings. The most obvious example of this is the word fhtagn. As the story is set in space, fighting alien gods, the only thing stopping the story from being truly a tale of Lovecraftian horror is that the good guys resoundingly win, though they only do so by releasing a galactic mass murder loose on the other universe as well as theirs. So there is some lasting horror in that. The Marvel Universe also contains a range of Cthulhu Mythos comics, including the Elder Gods
Elder Gods (Marvel Comics)
The Elder Gods are fictional characters from the Marvel Comics universe. They were the first generation of Earth's gods, apparently inspired by Greek mythology and the Cthulhu Mythos.-Fictional group history:...
.
As well as appearing with Fort in two comics stories, Lovecraft has appeared as a character in a number of Lovecraftian comics. He appears in Tony Salmons
Tony Salmons
Tony Salmons is an American alternative comic book artist, film storyboard artist and character designer.-Biography:Born in Rolla, Missouri, Salmons grew up in Casa Grande, Arizona, with stops in New York City and San Francisco...
's limited series The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft from Image
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
and in the Arcana
Arcana Studio
Arcana Studio is a Canadian comic book publisher and art studio founded by former Coquitlam, British Columbia school teacher Sean O'Reilly in 2004.-Overview:...
children's graphic novel Howard and the Frozen Kingdom from Bruce Brown. A webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
, Lovecraft is Missing, debuted in 2008 and takes place in 1926, before the publication of The Call of Cthulhu
The Call of Cthulhu
The Call of Cthulhu is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, in February 1928.-Inspiration:...
, and weaves in elements of Lovecraft's earlier stories.
Boom! Studios
Boom! Studios
BOOM! Studios is an American comic book company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. The "BOOM!" in BOOM! Studios is always capitalized by the company.-History:BOOM! was founded June 22, 2005 with Zombie Tales #1....
have also run a number of series based on Cthulhu
Cthulhu
Cthulhu is a fictional character that first appeared in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. The character was created by writer H. P...
and other characters from the Mythos, including Cthulhu Tales and Fall of Cthulhu.
The creator of Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
, Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
, has described the books as being influenced primarily by the works of Lovecraft, in addition to those of Robert E. Howard and the legend of Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
. This was adapted into the 2004
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
film Hellboy
Hellboy (film)
Hellboy is a 2004 supernatural superhero film, starring Ron Perlman, John Hurt and Selma Blair, directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film is based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola. It was produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures...
. His Elseworlds
Elseworlds
Elseworlds is the publication imprint for a group of comic books produced by DC Comics that take place outside the company's canon. According to its tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others...
mini-series The Doom That Came to Gotham reimagines Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
in a confrontation with Lovecraftian monsters.
The manga artist Junji Ito
Junji Ito
is a Japanese horror manga artist best known for his series of short stories about Tomie, an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness, and Uzumaki, a three-volume series about a town obsessed with spirals.-Biography:...
was heavily influenced by Lovecraft.
Issue #32 of The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold
The Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
was heavily influenced by the works and style of Lovecraft. In addition to using pastiches of Cthulhu, the Deep Ones, and R'lyeh
R'lyeh
R'lyeh is a fictional lost city that first appeared in the H. P. Lovecraft short story "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in Weird Tales in 1928. According to Lovecraft's short story, R'lyeh is a sunken city in the South Pacific and the prison of the malevolent entity called Cthulhu.R'lyeh is...
, writer J. Michael Straczynski
J. Michael Straczynski
Joseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
also wrote the story in a distinctly Lovecraftian style. Written entirely from the perspective of a traumatized sailor, the story makes use of several of Lovecraft's trademarks, including the ultimate feeling of insignificance in the face of the supernatural.
The Illustrated Ape magazine features a Lovecraft related web comic on its site in the gallery section. The strip is written and illustrated by Charles Cutting and uses "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" as it's basis.
Movies and television
With the advent of filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Lovecraftian horror truly became a sub-genre, not only fueling direct adaptations of Poe and Lovecraft, but providing the foundation upon which many of the horror films of the 1950s and 1960s were constructed.
One notable movie maker to dip into the Lovecraftian well was 1960s B-movie maker Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
, with his Die, Monster, Die!
Die, Monster, Die!
Die, Monster, Die! is a 1965 horror film directed by Daniel Haller. The film is a loose adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's story The Colour Out of Space. The story is about an American scientist who pays a visit to the estate of his fiancée's family...
(very loosely based on The Colour Out of Space
The Colour Out of Space
"The Colour Out of Space" is a short story written by American fantasy author H. P. Lovecraft in March 1927. In the tale, an unnamed narrator pieces together the story of an area known by the locals as the "blasted heath" in the wild hills west of Arkham, Massachusetts...
).
Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
's 1969-73 series Night Gallery adapted at least two Lovecraft stories, "Pickman's Model" and "Cool Air". The episode "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture", concerning the fate of a man who read the Necronomicon, included a student named "Mr. Lovecraft". Another five minute short, called "Ms. Lovecraft Sent Me", about a babysitter and her strange client, has no relevance to anything written by Lovecraft.
In the late 1970s a revival of the horror movie genre was based on the success of Stephen King and Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
's Carrie; John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
's Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
; and Dan O'Bannon
Dan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
and Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
's Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
. All three movies bore Lovecraftian influences to one degree or another, and their authors were deeply influenced by Lovecraft's works. Amongst the other well-known adaptations of this era are The Haunted Palace
The Haunted Palace
The Haunted Palace is a 1963 horror film released by American International Pictures, starring Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr., and Debra Paget in a story about a village held in the grip of a cult. The film was directed by Roger Corman, and is usually listed as one in his series of eight films...
, The Dunwich Horror
The Dunwich Horror
"The Dunwich Horror" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales . It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts...
, and Curse of the Crimson Altar
Curse of the Crimson Altar
Curse of the Crimson Altar is a 1968 British horror film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Barbara Steele and Mark Eden. The film was produced by Lewis M. Heyward for Tigon British Film Productions. The film was released as The Crimson Cult in the United States....
. The Shuttered Room
The Shuttered Room
The Shuttered Room is a 1967 British horror film starring Gig Young and Carol Lynley as a couple who move into a house with dark secrets. It is based on the short story of the same name by August Derleth and H. P...
was based on an August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
'posthumous collaboration with Lovecraft.
As the 1980s and 1990s played out, Lovecraftian horror became a recognizable film staple in such varied films as the self-referential In the Mouth of Madness
In the Mouth of Madness
In the Mouth of Madness is a 1995 American horror film directed by John Carpenter and written by Michael De Luca, who was at the time of the film's release in charge of New Line Cinema...
, Necronomicon
Necronomicon (film)
H.P. Lovecraft's: Necronomicon, original title Necronomicon, also called Necronomicon: Book of the Dead or Necronomicon: To Hell and Back is an American anthology horror film released in 1993. It was directed by Brian Yuzna, Christophe Gans and Shusuke Kaneko and was written by Brent V...
, the comedic Re-Animator
Re-Animator
Re-Animator is a 1985 American science fiction horror film based on the H. P. Lovecraft story "Herbert West–Reanimator." Directed by Stuart Gordon, it was the first film in the Re-Animator series. The film has since become a cult film, driven by fans of Jeffrey Combs and H. P...
, and Carpenter's Antarctic horror The Thing. The blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
(which novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist/screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Barbara Hambly
Barbara Hambly
Barbara Hambly is an award-winning and prolific American novelist and screenwriter within the genres of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction...
has called "marvelously Lovecraftian") is noticeably reminiscent of Lovecraft's style.
Stuart Gordon
Stuart Gordon
After the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969. Gordon is...
has directed several large-scale Lovecraftian movies including From Beyond (film) and Dagon (film) (the latter largely based on Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
).
Lovecraftian elements can be seen even in Chiaki J. Konaka
Chiaki J. Konaka
, born April 4, 1961) is a Japanese writer and scenarist best known for Serial Experiments Lain, and later for the Digimon season, Digimon Tamers....
's anime, including Digimon Tamers
Digimon Tamers
is the third animated series based on the Japanese Digimon franchise, first broadcast in 2001 on Fuji TV in Japan and on Fox Kids in the United States. The story takes place initially in a "alternative" universe, on a world much like Earth where Digimon is just a franchise, composed of video games,...
, in which the main antagonist, the D-Reaper, sleeps, until the time comes for it to wake and destroy the world.
Such elements can also be seen in the Swedish horror film Marianne
Marianne (2011 film)
Marianne is a 2011 Swedish horror film, directed by Filip Tegstedt, that premiered at the 2011 Fantasia International Film Festival on 2 August 2011....
where the helpless teacher Krister is unsure whether he is being haunted or if he is going mad.
A reference work that covers this field extensively is Charles P. Mitchell, The Complete H.P. Lovecraft Filmography. (Greenwood Press, 2001). ISBN 0-313-31641-4. There is also The Lurker in the Lobby by Andrew Migliore.
Games
Despite the fact that Lovecraft despised games, his characters and settings have appeared in many video games and role-playing gameRole-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s. Some of these used Lovecraft's creations chiefly for name value (see Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture
Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture
This article provides a list of cultural references to the work of author H. P. Lovecraft. These references are collectively known as the Cthulhu Mythos. For works that are stylistically influenced by Lovecraft, see Lovecraftian horror.- Film :...
), but others have embraced Lovecraft's characteristic mood and themes.
Role-playing
In the early 1970s, Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
drew from many of the most popular fantasy settings including those of some of Lovecraft's contemporaries. However, Lovecraftian elements in the game would wait until Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
magazine issue #12 in 1978 with Robert J. Kuntz
Robert J. Kuntz
Robert J. Kuntz is a game designer and author of role-playing game publications. He is most famous for his contributions to various Dungeons & Dragons-related materials.-Works:...
's, "The Lovecraftian Mythos in Dungeons & Dragons". In 1980, a hardcover collection of the various fantasy and historical pantheons available for the game was published under the title Deities & Demigods
Deities & Demigods
Deities & Demigods , alternatively known as Legends & Lore , is a reference book for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game . The book provides descriptions and game statistics of gods and legendary creatures from various sources in mythology and fiction...
. The first and second printings contained a version of the Cthulhu Mythos, but that section was removed in the third and subsequent printings for copyright reasons.
As the game has evolved, many of the creatures (e.g. the illithid
Illithid
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, illithids are monstrous humanoid aberrations with psionic powers. In a typical Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, they live in the moist caverns and cities of the enormous Underdark...
) and even gods (e.g. Tharizdun
Tharizdun
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Tharizdun is the god of Eternal Darkness, Decay, Entropy, Malign Knowledge, Insanity, and Cold....
) that were introduced were inspired by Lovecraft's works, and in October, 2004, Dragon magazine published a lengthy article titled "The Shadow Over D&D: H. P. Lovecraft's Influence on Dungeons & Dragons" discussing these influences.
Dungeons & Dragons was not the only role-playing game to incorporate Lovecraftian horror. The most overt example was published in 1980 by Chaosium. Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)
Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos.The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium.-Setting:...
is directly based on the Cthulhu Mythos. In keeping with its source material, and unlike most other role-playing games, characters who attempt to confront its monsters directly are likely to die or be driven insane rather than succeed. This is reinforced by the game's best-known feature, a mechanism by which knowledge about Mythos entities can only be gained at a permanent cost to one's sanity. Following this role-playing game into a modern era with an emphasis on military hardware and espionage wetware is Delta Green
Delta Green
Delta Green is a setting for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Tynes, aka the Delta Green Partnership, of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishing...
, in which characters fight the conspiracies behind which the Mythos hides rather than facing the Mythos more directly.
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
' GURPS
GURPS
The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...
, a genre-neutral game system, was first published in 1986 and brought diverse elements of fiction and non-fiction together across their lengthy list of published supplements which included Cthulhupunk, a licensed adaptation of Call of Cthulhu into a cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
setting.
Video games
Video games, like films, have a rich history of Lovecraftian elements and adaptations. In 1987, The Lurking HorrorThe Lurking Horror
The Lurking Horror is an interactive fiction computer game released by Infocom in 1987. The game was written by Dave Lebling and inspired by the horror writings of H. P. Lovecraft...
was the first to bring the Lovecraftian horror sub-genre to the multiple computer platforms. This was a text-based adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
, released by Infocom
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
, who are best known for the Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
series.
Notable adventures games are Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet
Shadow of the Comet
Shadow of the Comet is a computer game in the adventure game genre. The game is based around H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos...
and Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice
Prisoner of Ice
Prisoner of Ice is a 1995 computer game based on H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, particularly At the Mountains of Madness...
.
Once 3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
games developed, Lovecraftian influences also began to appear in them. In 1992, Alone in the Dark
Alone in the Dark (video game)
Alone in the Dark is a 1992 survival horror video game developed by Infogrames. The game has spawned several sequels as part of the Alone in the Dark series , and was one of the first survival horror games, after the 1989 Capcom game, Sweet Home...
was published by Infogrames for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. It claimed to be inspired by the works of Lovecraft.
The plot of Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness
Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness
Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness is an adventure game/role-playing video game hybrid. It is the fourth installment of the Quest for Glory computer game series by Sierra Entertainment.- Release :...
involves an attempt to summon a creature named Avoozl to bring permanent darkness over the world. Both the Necromonicon and the chant "Ia!" are borrowed directly from Lovecraft.
In 1995, the second installment of the X-Com
X-COM
X-COM is a series of strategy games created by Julian Gollop. In 2010 2K Marin announced the official reboot of the series, entitled simply XCOM. The original game has a cult following.- Original series :...
series, Terror from the Deep
X-COM: Terror from the Deep
X-COM: Terror from the Deep is a strategy video game released in 1995 for the PC. It is the sequel to UFO: Enemy Unknown, and the second part of the X-COM series.-Gameplay:...
, which featured references to Cthulhu and R'lyeh and conveyed a general sense of Lovecraftian horror atmosphere, integrated the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
into the X-Com alien invasion scheme.
In the seminal 3D first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
Quake, in 1996 environments, creatures (including names such as Shub-Niggurath
Shub-Niggurath
Shub-Niggurath, often associated with the phrase “The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young”, is a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft...
), and the atmosphere of the game emphasize many traditionally Lovecraftian features. The architecture of the otherworldly dimension resembles many of Lovecraft's descriptions of ancient ruins and alien worlds. The three sequels, , contain no Lovecraftian elements, however, and have opted for a more typical science fiction and mainstream horror approach. Their monsters now include only differing types of cyborgs (mechanised alien species).
The 2002 game Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is a psychological horror action-adventure video game released for the Nintendo GameCube. Developed by Canadian developer Silicon Knights and originally planned for the Nintendo 64, it was first released and published by Nintendo on June 24, 2002 in North America...
, while not directly related to any of Lovecraft's work, borrows several of his ideas. It focuses on the members of a certain family who work to stop the encroaching evil of supernatural powerful beings known as "Ancients", who are attempting to cross the dimensional plane and destroy the world. As evidenced by the title, the fragility of the human mind is also a major component of its gameplay, as players must constantly keep their character's sanity in check. Failure to do so causes abnormal events to occur. For example, the game system will appear to shut off on its own, or a Blue Screen of Death
Blue Screen of Death
To forse a BSOD Open regedit.exe,Then search: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\i8042prt\ParametersThen make a new DWORD called "CrashOnCtrlScroll" And set the value to 1....
will appear before the player can save their progress.
In 2005 Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a Lovecraftian horror first-person action-adventure game developed by Headfirst Productions and published by Bethesda Softworks in 2005, in conjunction with 2K Games. The game was released for the PC and Xbox systems; the Xbox version is officially...
was released for PC. The game is a first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
horror game chiefly inspired by Lovecraft's stories The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
and The Shadow Out of Time
The Shadow Out of Time
The Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...
.
In September, 2010, Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival horror video game by Frictional Games, who previously developed the Penumbra series. Released for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms, the game features an unarmed protagonist exploring a dark and foreboding castle, while avoiding monsters and other...
was released for PC. The game features many instances of Lovecraftian influence, such as un-killable enemies (the player is powerless to fight back against their assailants and must instead run and hide), sanity (staying in the dark for too long will cause the player to become insane, but equally staying in the light will provoke attacks), and an unseen malignant force (the player is being chased by a "Shadow" that is unseen throughout the game, and is powerless to stop it).
The Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
series features a terrible race of machines, the Reapers, which awaits in the depths of intergalactic space, awakening every 50000 years to destroy all sentient races of the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
galaxy, processing whole species to create new ones of their race each time. Prolonged proximity with them drives organics into madness and subservience to their goals, much like Lovecraftian gods.
A game in development by Volition in collaboration with Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...
entitled inSANE
Insane (2013 video game)
Insane is a survival horror video game developed by Volition, Inc. and published by THQ, in collaboration with film director Guillermo del Toro. It is being developed for Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, and will be released in 2013...
slated for release in 2013 is said to contain some Lovecraftian features judging by the teaser trailer.
Overall, the reception of Lovecraftian horror in video games, as with print fiction, has never achieved the same level of popularity as the high fantasy
High fantasy
High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...
, swords-and-sorcery model games.
Other media
The internet has a rather large following of Lovecraftian fans. A notable example of a story based on Lovecraft would be the Slender Man, an internet memeInternet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
/urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
created by Something Awful
Something Awful
Something Awful, often abbreviated to SA, is a comedy website housing a variety of content, including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely personal website, but as it grew, so...
user Victor Surge.
Zalgo, a dark and powerful entity of madness, makes an appearance in many webcomics, typically as a celebration of reaching the 666th comic posted. Other Zalgo appearances occur with some memes, like the "O RLY?" owl being warped into an evil looking monster saying "O R'lyeh?" (R'lyeh is the sunken home temple of the Great Cthulhu.)
In a lighter vein, the cult of Inglip portrays cultist zealots who take their dark commands directly from Captcha images, which, they believe, come mysteriously from their lord and master...often to very humorous ends.