H.P. Lovecraft in Film and Series - The Big Lovecraftian Movie List
A list of titles based on, inspired by, or with echoes of H.P. Lovecraft's works. Adaptations as well as Lovecraftian works in chronological order. The list is a constant work in progress as I'm adding new titles and notes regularly.
I've also started adding a score from 1-5 to the films I've watched, 5 points being the most Lovecraftian in my humble opinion (mostly direct adaptations). The HPLP (Howard Phillips Lovecraft Points) rating has nothing to do with the quality or enjoyment factor of the films, just the amount of 'Lovecraft' I experienced and found in them. Anthologies and series are purely rated on the segments and episodes noted in the commentaries. And again, it's just what I got out of the works. Also a work in progress, some titles I have yet to see, others I should rewatch through a Lovecraftian lens I guess, before adding a score. Use the 'detailed view' to see the scores and explanations.
I've also started adding a score from 1-5 to the films I've watched, 5 points being the most Lovecraftian in my humble opinion (mostly direct adaptations). The HPLP (Howard Phillips Lovecraft Points) rating has nothing to do with the quality or enjoyment factor of the films, just the amount of 'Lovecraft' I experienced and found in them. Anthologies and series are purely rated on the segments and episodes noted in the commentaries. And again, it's just what I got out of the works. Also a work in progress, some titles I have yet to see, others I should rewatch through a Lovecraftian lens I guess, before adding a score. Use the 'detailed view' to see the scores and explanations.
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- DirectorsLeopold WhartonTheodore WhartonStarsJean SothernHoward EstabrookAllan MurnaneMyra Maynard, is plagued by a wide variety of metaphysical assaults by the corrupt Black Order, a secret organization which uses magic, curses and any supernatural means possible to achieve its ends.Occult mysteries in the era of H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraftian themes and overtones. Aleister Crowley stars in this serial.
HPLP: 2/5 - DirectorDuke WorneStarsBen F. WilsonNeva GerberWilliam DyerCarter Holmes, master criminologist, must help the oft-kidnapped Ruth Stanhope to find the 9 daggers that will unlock the secret of the cursed Devil's Trademark!Occult mysteries in the era of H.P. Lovecraft. If Lovecraft ever saw these is unlikely but they do have a lot of themes Lovecraft used in his work.
HPLP: 2/5 - DirectorsWill S. DavisFred SittenhamStarsJ. Robert PaulineViolet MacMillanPaul PanzerA murderous gang of mysterious creepy killers mark a young heiress for death. They are led by a ghostly voice known only as the "The Mystery Mind." Will her finance save her just in time, and stop the gang from finding the lost Treasure of Atlantis? Who is "The Mystery Mind"? Alas, we will never find out the answers, as the serial is believed lost. Or will we? Stay tune.Occult mysteries in the era of H.P. Lovecraft. If Lovecraft ever saw these is unlikely but they do have a lot of themes Lovecraft used in his work.
- DirectorStuart PatonStarsGrace DarmondHarry CarterGeorge ChesebroThe true story of Lord Francis Hope, who inherits the Hope Diamond and marries showgirl May Yohe'. Lord Francis Hope gambles away the family fortune and May Yohe' leaves him--another suspected curse of owning the Hope Diamond.Occult mysteries in the era of H.P. Lovecraft. If Lovecraft ever saw these is unlikely but they do have a lot of themes Lovecraft used in his work.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsLeslie HowardHeather AngelValerie TaylorA young American man comes to believe that he can will himself back to London in the time of the American Revolution and meet his ancestors, who lived in the house he has just inherited.Of Lovecraftian interest. Supposedly inspired H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow out of Time. Shown at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival 2011.
- DirectorsChristian NybyHoward HawksStarsKenneth TobeyMargaret SheridanJames ArnessScientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.Echoes of At the Mountains of Madness. John Carpenter based the 1982 The Thing on this film. Adaptation of Who Goes There? (John W. Campbell).
HPLP: 3/5 - DirectorWilliam Cameron MenziesStarsRichard CarlsonVeronica HurstKatherine EmeryA Scotsman named Gerald breaks his engagement to Kitty, moves to his uncle's castle. Kitty and her aunt follow him weeks later, finding Gerald aged.Lovecraftian themes and overtones. A bit of Charles Dexter Ward, The Outsider and Clark Ashton Smith's Tsathoggua.
HPLP: 3/5 - DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRichard CarlsonJulie AdamsRichard DenningA strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.Lovecraftian creature mostly. The Gill-man resembles a Deep One. Shown at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival 2014.
HPLP: 2/5 - StarsReginald TateIsabel DeanHugh KellyFollows the first manned space flight from Australia. In its return to Earth, from the crew of 3, only Victor Carroon, is still aboard. Examinations reveal that something attacked the crew as they were on course back to Earth.Lovecraftian themes and overtones. Only the first two episodes of this serial survived.
HPLP: 1/5 - StarsJohn RobinsonMonica GreyHugh GriffithProfessor Quatermass is trying to perfect a dangerously unstable nuclear-powered rocket engine. After a disastrous test firing in Australia, his soon-to-be son-in-law, Captain John Dillon, draws the Professor's attention to a strange hollow meteorite which interrupted an Army Training exercise. Quatermass and Dillon investigate, and discover a vast government production plant which has some connection with the meteorites. After coming in contact with the noxious gas contained inside the meteorites, Dillon is taken away by the plant's security guards. When Quatermass presses this issue with an old civil service acquaintance, he learns that the plant is supposedly making synthetic food. Both men learn that this is untrue, and that the true products of the plant will threaten the world itself.Lovecraftian themes and overtones.
- DirectorVal GuestStarsBrian DonlevyJack WarnerRichard WordsworthProfessor Bernard Quatermass' manned rocket ship returns to Earth, but two of the astronauts are missing and the survivor seems ill and unable to communicate.Lovecraftian themes and overtones.
HPLP: 3/5 - DirectorJack ArnoldStarsJohn AgarLori NelsonJohn BromfieldMen capture the Creature from the Black Lagoon and make him an aquarium attraction, from which he escapes.Lovecraftian creature mostly. The Gill-man resembles a Deep One.
HPLP: 1/5 - DirectorsLeslie NormanJoseph LoseyStarsDean JaggerEdward ChapmanLeo McKernA radioactive, mud-like creature terrorizes a Scottish village.Lovecraftian themes and overtones. Echoes of The Colour Out of Space.
HPLP: 3/5 - DirectorVirgil W. VogelStarsJohn AgarCynthia PatrickHugh BeaumontA party of archaeologists discovers the remnants of a mutant five-millennia-old Sumerian civilization living beneath a glacier atop a mountain in Mesopotamia.Echoes of The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Lurking Fear and At the Mountains of Madness. Eventually more Jules-Vernesque though.
HPLP: 1/5 - DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsChester MorrisTom ConwayCathy DownsA mysterious hypnotist reverts his beautiful assistant back into the form of a prehistoric sea monster that she was in a past life.Lovecraftian creature mostly allthough this has some Lovecraftian ideas as well involving a creature from the sea being summoned from beyond time and space.
HPLP: 1/5 - DirectorJohn SherwoodStarsJeff MorrowRex ReasonLeigh SnowdenA scientist captures the Creature and turns him into an air-breather, only for him to escape and start killing.Lovecraftian creature mostly. The Gill-man resembles a Deep One.
HPLP: 1/5 - DirectorJohn SherwoodStarsGrant WilliamsLola AlbrightLes TremayneRocks from a meteor which grow when in contact with water threaten a sleepy Southwestern desert community.Echoes of The Colour Out of Space. Big monoliths instead of an alien colour.
HPLP: 2/5 - DirectorVal GuestStarsBrian DonlevyJohn LongdenSidney JamesProfessor Quatermass, trying to gather support for his Lunar colonisation project, is intrigued by mysterious traces that have been showing up.Lovecraftian themes and overtones.
HPLP: 2/5 - DirectorJacques TourneurStarsDana AndrewsPeggy CumminsNiall MacGinnisAmerican professor John Holden arrives in London for a parapsychology conference, only to find himself investigating the mysterious actions of Devil-worshipper Julian Karswell.Lovecraftian themes and overtones. Adaptation of Casting the Runes by M.R. James.
HPLP: 3/5 - DirectorRoger CormanStarsPaul BirchBeverly GarlandMorgan JonesAn alien agent from the distant planet Davana is sent to Earth via a high-tech matter transporter. There, he terrorizes Southern California in an attempt to acquire blood for his dying race, the result of a devastating nuclear war.Lovecraftian creatures mostly.
- DirectorsRiccardo FredaMario BavaStarsGianna Maria CanaleCarlo D'AngeloDario MichaelisParis. Young girls are found dead, drained of their blood. A journalist investigates these murders while the beautiful Gisele, from a noble family, tries to seduce him.Lovecraftian themes and overtones. Faint echoes of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
HPLP: 1/5 - DirectorQuentin LawrenceStarsForrest TuckerLaurence PayneJennifer JayneA series of decapitations on a Swiss mountainside appear to be connected to a mysterious radioactive cloud.Lovecraftian themes and overtones. Echoes of At the Mountains of Madness.
HPLP: 3/5 - StarsAndré MorellCec LinderAnthony BushellA team of scientists search for the origin and purpose of a mysterious capsule found on a building site.Lovecraftian themes and overtones.
HPLP: 3/5 - DirectorsIrvin S. Yeaworth Jr.Russell S. Doughten Jr.StarsSteve McQueenAneta CorsautEarl RoweAn alien lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows.Lovecraftian themes and overtones. Echoes of The Colour Out of Space.
HPLP: 3/5 - DirectorArthur CrabtreeStarsMarshall ThompsonTerry KilburnKynaston ReevesA scientist's thoughts materialize as an army of invisible brain-shaped monsters (complete with spinal-cord tails!) who terrorize an American military base in this nightmarish chiller.Lovecraftian themes and overtones. Echoes of From Beyond.
HPLP: 2/5
