Films Big Dumb List

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This is the "big, dumb list" of "Lovecraftian" movies that Yronimos Whateley is in the process of cataloguing in the Wiki. It's "big", and it's "dumb" because if Yronimos were smart, he'd never have started undertaking such a mad task.

The list was generated largely by mining several lists of suggestions made to Cthulhu-themed internet discussion boards in response to questions about "Lovecraftian" films. It's also (currently) unorganized - it's mostly listed roughly in the order that Yronimos felt like adding them to the catalogue in, without regard to date, alphabetical order, or any other system of sorting. A much-needed index is on the "to do" list, but not yet started.


Want to Help?

Want to help, but do not feel like creating your own entry from scratch? See the "Catalogued" section below for films that interest you - most catalogued films in that section could really use the following added to their pages:

  • REVIEWS: Graham has helped a great deal with adding reviews to film pages, but many film pages could probably still use some additional review links...
    • REVIEWS, EXISTING: Links to reviews needed! Especially reviews from a "Lovecraftian" angle; films reviewed in "Lovecraft film marathons" or on Lovecraft-themed sites are ideal; reviews from general horror-themed sites are OK, reviews written by YSDC members (maybe by YOU) are awesome!
    • REVIEWS, NEW: If you've never seen a film before and want to track it down and watch it, feel free to blog your own review of the film, and add a link to your review on the film's page. (YSDC has some great reviewers, I just haven't been able to concentrate on tracking their reviews down!)
  • SYNOPSES: Very few of these film pages include detailed plot synopses. Feel free to expand the Synopsis section of your favorite film with an original, more detailed play-by-play of the plot.
  • ASSOCIATED MYTHOS ELEMENTS: Whenever possible, in this section I try to mention "Lovecraftian" elements that appear in the film, like tomes, creatures, deities, etc. Sometimes, I forget some elements and miss others for films I have seen, or I just don't know what elements appear in films I've never seen. In rare cases, films will include tomes, creatures, gods, etc. that I don't recognize. If you notice anything missing from the "Associated Mythos Elements" section, feel free to add them.
  • KEEPER NOTES: If you've used a film as a basis for an RPG scenario before, feel free to add suggestions and advice to the "Keeper Notes" suggestion describing ways the film can be adapted to adventures for Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, etc. I hope to include such notes for every film eventually, but they tend to be time-consuming to write from scratch.

The following might also be fixed on older pages or in future projects:

  • add indexes of films:
    • a master index with better organization than the "big dumb film list" (I wish I'd picked a better name for that page in retrospect!)
    • movie suggestion guides by categories ("I'm in the mood for... Films with tentacles in them!" See: Category:Film:TentacleMonster")
  • improve categorization -
    • I've added a number of film categories since the Lovecraftian film project began, and earlier film pages do not yet include them
    • new categories for films by decade: 1950s, ..., 1990s; Contemporary; and, a single category for anything from before the 1950s (there wouldn't be very many)
    • alternatively, categories for films by style/sub-genre/technical: Found Footage, 1980s Horror, Made-for-TV, 1950s Paranoia, Weird Western, Weird World War (which seems to be a subset of the so-called "eldritch location" films)...
    • there should perhaps be a category for films with downer endings - it has just sunk in that I've been told that is a criteria used by some people for considering a film "Lovecraftian", and I didn't consciously notice!
    • in retrospect, "eldritch location" does not precisely capture the essence of the sort of film I was trying to describe - when I think of a better name for this category, it'll take some work to re-categorize the numerous surreal, nightmarish films categorized there
  • add setting details
  • add TVTropes and IMDB links
  • all films could probably use an improved rundown on associated Lovecraftian elements included in the film (especially RPG setting, creatures, tomes, etc.)
  • add "Keeper Notes" with suggested RPG story-starters based on the film

Film Catagories:

  • Template and Categories for Films and reviews, plus a "Lovecraftian" rating system:
    • Created Tentacle Ratings system
    • Category:Film:General
    • Category:Film:Franchise
    • Category:Film:Film
    • Category:Film:Short
    • Category:Film:Series_or_Serial
    • Numerous other categories by type of "Lovecraftian" content, style, etc. (see template)

Links

  • Tentacle Rating overview: (link)
  • Film Page Template: (link)



In Progress

Shorts:

Backlog: Unfiltered Animations and Shorts

I haven't gone through these yet at all; they seem to be a mix of short-subject films, anthologies, cartoons (which range from episodes imitating Lovecraft's fiction, to episodes that might have a Lovecraft reference as a punch-line somewhere), British made-for-tv miniseries, and TV movies that might (or might not) have a minimal, tangential relation to "Lovecraftian" horror:

TV movies that are apparently not Lovecraftian, but perhaps useful - moved to Backlog for future consideration:

Perhaps a page for some Harryhausen adventures, and a handful of other sword-and-sandal style things (pages for some of these already exist)?


I couldn't really figure out the "Lovecraftian" angle on the following films that I've seen suggested as "Lovecraftian", placed in backlog for future reexamination:

  • House of Bones (2010 film) ?
  • Cronos (1993 film) - a vampire thing by Guillermo del Toro, with an alchemical tome, a weird rejuvenating artefact, and not much else "Lovecraftian"
  • Mulholland Drive (1996 film) ?
  • Lost Highway (1997 film) ?
  • Blue Velvet (1986 film) ?
  • Seven Footsteps to Satan (1929 Film) - based on a story by A. Merritt
  • Moon (2009 film) ?
  • The Skeleton Key (2005 film) ?
  • 8mm (1999 film) ?
  • Silent Hill (2006 franchise) ?
  • The Faculty (1998 film) ? (There are tentacles, I guess....)
  • Virus (1999 film) ?
  • The Prestige (2006 film) ?
  • Donnie Darko (2001 film) ?
  • Legend of Hell House (1973 film) ? (There is a group of supernatural investigators; aside from similarities to the scenario "The Haunting", this isn't Lovecraftian at all.)
  • Reign of Fire (2002 film) ? (I've not seen this; it's about dragons, right?)
  • Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001 film) ? (I've not seen this; it's about werewolves, right?)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean (2003 franchise) ? (Davy Jones has tentacles on his face, and that's about the extent of it, right?)
  • Slither (2006 film) ?
  • Phenomena (1985 film) AKA Creepers ?
  • * The City of Lost Children (1995 film) ?
  • The Last Broadcast (1998 film)
  • Carnivale (2003 series)
  • The Skeptic (2009 film) (?) (haunted house tale, gothic elements)
  • Angel Heart (1987 film) (?)
  • Chemical Wedding (2008 film) ? (about Aleister Crowley)
  • The Host (2006 film) (This looks more like a Korean take on a Kaiju movie than anything Lovecraftian?)
  • Here Comes the Devil (2012 film) There's a brief reference to a legend about something living in the cave that treats human beings like vessels or shells, but not much seems to get made of that....
  • Dunderland (2012 film) ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNOI7x-Ng-4 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1854522/ (apparently aired at an HPL Film Festival, but I can't really identify any Lovecraftian qualities based on the handful of reviews, trailer, IMDB entry, and other scraps I've found)
  • Boardwalk Empire ("not Lovecraftian or even horror in any manner, but can be an excellent 1920's resource.")
  • Lee Martin's The Midnight Hour (2008 series) This is a really, really low-budget rip-off of "Tales from the Crypt", which seems to have absolutely nothing in common with Lovecraft's "Weird fiction" brand of horror.
  • Tales of the Unexpected (1977 series) Aside perhaps for a generic alien invasion plot similar to They Live (1988 film) (better handled through that film's page), this horror/sci-fi/fantasy series' episode synopses seem far too conventional to even suggest anything vaguely Lovecraftian.
  • Insight (1960 series) At a glance, this show looks like a fascinating glimpse into 1960s-1980s Roman Catholic doctrine through the lens of Twilight Zone style fantasy/horror/science-fiction stories, but the series episode descriptions ultimately sound far too optimistic, conventional, topical, and rational to provide much useful fodder for Lovecraft's surreal brand of escapist, weird, atmospheric, uncanny, and ultimately nightmarishly irrational mood pieces.
  • The Hitchhiker (1983 series) AKA Deadly Nightmares in the UK; rather conventional and non-Lovecraftian horror stories about the usual themes of murder, sex, revenge, swindlers and conmen, curses and karmic retribution. (Wikipedia) (IMDb)
  • House Next Door (2005 film) ? Maybe this is something I'll need to actually watch for myself, but I didn't get any sort of connection to Lovecraft's style of horror based on the film's description or reviews.
  • Friday the 13th (1980 franchise) ? (note also that the ninth film includes a blink-and-you-miss it shot of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis in the background, apparently because it looked cool or possibly as a sight-gag; later there was also a comic that crossed-over Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Evil Dead)
  • Joshua (2007 film) I had this one marked down on an old list of movies to consider for the Lovecraftian film list, but can't quite remember why, and I couldn't really think of a satisfying way to mine it for RPG ideas strong enough to justify including it anyway. For certain, the facts that there is nothing supernatural or speculative/sci-fi to put a finger on, there's no blood and gore, most of the victims get destroyed without dying, the child seems ancient beyond his years and weirdly inhuman with interests in strange music and Egyptology and Nightmare Fuel Colouring Books, and most of the menace of the film comes from things that aren't said and shown rather than things that are resulted in an intriguing "interesting failure with some vague Lovecraftian potential if I read a little more into it than the film actually provides" reaction from me. I can almost picture a Lovecraftian adaptation in there somewhere by way of "Case of Charles Dexter Ward" with only a couple minor additions, though not enough so to justify calling the film even "not very Lovecraftian". I might end up looting a couple ideas from this film anyway - the way the kid took out his parents without actually doing any physical harm to them was chilling and powerful stuff...
  • Nightbreed24's list of Creature of the Black Lagoon rip-offs (some of these have their own pages, but this is mostly generalized into "Fish-Man Films (Genre)")
    • The She-Creature
    • War-Gods of the Deep
    • Humanoids from the Deep
    • Slithis
    • The Horror of Party Beach
    • Creature of Destruction
    • Bog
    • Demon of Paradise
    • Zaat
    • The Loreley's Grasp (reminds Nightbreed of Mary from Before the Fall) (IMDb), Review at The Terror Trap (2.5 Stars) (Link) Review by Mitch Lovell at The Video Vacuum (3 Stars) (Link) Review by Gabriel Powers at DVDActive (Link)
    • Island of the Fishmen
    • Curse of the Swamp Creature
    • Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake
    • The Monster of Piedras Blancas
    • Swamp of the Lost Monster
  • The Sentinel (1977 film) (not really very Lovecraftian)
  • Shivers (1975 film)



Audio Books, Radio Plays, & Other Audio-Adaptations


Not Yet Released

Not Released Yet:


Teasers:


Catalogued

In no particular order:


Catalogued Shorts:

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