What Would H P Lovecraft Think Of Modern Horror Writers and Who Would he Like ?

[BAYLOR]

And what would he think of the current story incarnations of Cosmic Horror ?


Thoughts ?

 

[BAYLOR]

Thomas Liggotti and his collection of stories The Shadow at the Bottom of the World. He would fascinated by his take on Cosmic horror .

 

[BAYLOR]

He'd probably like Stephen King.

 

[KGeo777]

King is sentimental and focused on character relations--I don't know that Lovecraft liked to mix sentiment with horror.
There's a short story called "Things" I believe--which was an interpretation of The Thing 1982, where the alien is seen as a misunderstood crusader for universal love. I wonder how he would regard that one.

 

[BAYLOR]

King is sentimental and focused on character relations--I don't know that Lovecraft liked to mix sentiment with horror.

Lovecrat never struck me as being the sentimental type , he might take issue with that . He would have been intrigued by characters such Pennywise the Clown because in some ways this particular villain is reminiscent of Nyarlathotep , the Crawling Chaos shapeshifter . he might like the story Grandma because that one very much Lovercraftain . I wonder what Lovecraft would have made of the Hotel Overlook in The Shinning or Randal Flagg in The Stan and The Gunslinger saga ?.

There's a short story called "Things" I believe--which was an interpretation of The Thing 1982, where the alien is seen as a misunderstood crusader for universal love. I wonder how he would regard that one.

Who Goes There by John W Campbell published in 1938 the year after Lovecraft died . Campbell had written a novel length version of that story called Frozen Hell of which had been found and published a few years ago. The Alien in both short story and the novel version was a shapeshifter and could mimic anyone. The 1982 film was far more more in line with Campbell's story than was the Howard Hawks 1951 film with its blood drinking plant man . I think Lovecraft would have very much liked the story and the 1982 film ans possible the 2011 Thing prequel film as well.

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

I think that Lovecraft would generally enjoy modern horror. He wasn't interested in writing sentimental stories. But he read widely including many sentimental stories. He would be flattered with the vast number of stories that refer to his tales or are derivative of his tales. Though, among his friends, he'd gleefully rip to shreds poor writing and obvious plot problems.

S.T. Joshi has a list of the books found in Lovecraft's study. Again, very broad range of books. And the periodicals HPL read -- scandalous.

And for films, somewhere there is a list of the movies that Lovecraft described seeing in his letters. He seemed to like the blockbusters of the day. (Sadly, I can't find the list at this moment)

 

[Randy M.]

I think Lovecraft would find much of it vulgar. He was a prude, so sex would be a distasteful intrusion. Any focus on human relationships, which pretty much has to happen at novel length to keep reader interest, he would probably see as a dilution of effect. The efforts by recent writers to counteract his racism and xenophobia would probably disturb him, too.

On the whole, I think there are things he'd like, but I'm not sure he'd have found the breadth and depth of horror fiction today to his liking.

There's a short story called "Things" I believe--which was an interpretation of The Thing 1982, where the alien is seen as a misunderstood crusader for universal love. I wonder how he would regard that one.

Now that, given how he portrays the Old Ones in "At the Mountains of Madness," might have appealed to him.

 

[KGeo777]

If I could watch a movie with Lovecraft, it would be the Killer Shrews.
I would be curious to know what he would think of it.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think Lovecraft would find much of it vulgar. He was a prude, so sex would be a distasteful intrusion. Any focus on human relationships, which pretty much has to happen at novel length to keep reader interest, he would probably see as a dilution of effect. The efforts by recent writers to counteract his racism and xenophobia would probably disturb him, too.

On the whole, I think there are things he'd like, but I'm not sure he'd have found the breadth and depth of horror fiction today to his liking.


Now that, given how he portrays the Old Ones in "At the Mountains of Madness," might have appealed to him.

He would liked films like X From The Unknown and the and the Mud like radio active creature. He have seen it alike to Crawling Chaos .
The Forbidden Planet and its Id Monster , Quatermass and the Pit , he would seen a mirroring of his stories Shadow Out of Time and At the Mountains of Madness. He would loved Alien and The Thing 1982 . And he would very much like the recent Nichlaosas Cage film The Color out of Time.

Under books , I think he would like The Hungry Moon by Ramsey Campbell . I suspect he would also liked Phillip K Dicks novels and stories and papally Karl Edward Wagner's Kane saga.

 

[BAYLOR]

If I could watch a movie with Lovecraft, it would be the Killer Shrews.
I would be curious to know what he would think of it.

I think he'd be greatly entertained by it .

 

[Logan Selmes]

I think he would be very surprised to see how much of the modern genre is directly inspired by his work to the point that many authors are just a few steps away from directly copying him. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think he would be very surprised to see how much of the modern genre is directly inspired by his work to the point that many authors are just a few steps away from directly copying him. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.

The Great White Space by Bis Copper He'd recognize which of his stories influenced that one.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think he's find Clive Barker's Books of Blood intriguing.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Manitou by Graham Masterton That book is very lovecratian . He might like it and he might also scoff at it.

 

[Karapace]

If I could watch a movie with Lovecraft, it would be the Killer Shrews.
I would be curious to know what he would think of it.

I would also watch The Endless and Annhiliation with him. Two films I thought had a Lovecraftian feel but in a modern way. it would also be amusing to see what he made of the Series Lovecraft County

 

[BAYLOR]

I would also watch The Endless and Annhiliation with him. Two films I thought had a Lovecraftian feel but in a modern way. it would also be amusing to see what he made of the Series Lovecraft County

He'd like Annihilation. book and film . As for Lovecraft Country , probably not so much.

 

[paeng]

I think his view of cosmic horror is that the universe is bleak and neutral, and that's what makes it horrific. In short, there's nothing out there, and in terms of personification the universe doesn't care about what happens to any being. Each one is only a mutation created on clumps of dust put together by amoral and apolitical laws of physics, and will be eventually disappear.

But because fans of horror don't want to hear that, then he and other writers have to show something entertaining, and that includes the Elder Things.

Later, Lovecraft seemed to have disowned such views and even his writings when he lived in NYC and became sympathetic to the poor, minorities, and socialism. In short, social justice.

With that, I think he would have liked Tom Ligotti and many other writers, including those who influenced him and are considered his contemporaries. Examples of the former include Borges, Nabokov, and Krishnamurti, and for contemporaries Laird Barron and others. Philosophical ideas would have included pessimism, nihilism, and antinatalism.

 

[BAYLOR]

Jack Williamson's novel Darker than You Think and its whole take on Lycanthrope tied into evolution and human prehistory would have found favor with Lovecraft.

 

[Oligonicella]

I think his view of cosmic horror is that the universe is bleak and neutral, and that's what makes it horrific. In short, there's nothing out there, and in terms of personification the universe doesn't care about what happens to any being. Each one is only a mutation created on clumps of dust put together by amoral and apolitical laws of physics, and will be eventually disappear.

But because fans of horror don't want to hear that, then he and other writers have to show something entertaining, and that includes the Elder Things.

I believe a big dollop is the difficulty of developing and communicating the magnitude of the difference in motivation (and actions) for those Things, as they represent the basest of drives and some don't even conform to our reality and the boundaries of what can be. Something simply sweeping you up like a prawn in a krill catch has two very different levels. To the whale, it's just gulping the good stuff. To the krill, it looks pretty much like "Aaaaaahhhhh!!", that "something entertaining". And, more relatable 'cause you ain't Cthulhu.

And, let's face it, that is how the cosmos works. If our sun goes nova next year, all of humanity save a tiny spacecraft - and maybe not even that - might as well have never existed. Not much of an ending for a novel or movie. And if you use it as an ending only the nihilist will like it, or as a segue, nobody but nobody will believe you.

For instance: take that idiotic scene written by people with no concept of magnitude depicting Geladriel eating a full-on pyroclastic blast that didn't even singe her hair or clothes. The Volcano was the whale, she was a prawn. Regardless of her being an elf she would have looked like a matchstick after it goes out when you hold it upright and everybody knows it.

 

[paeng]

I believe a big dollop is the difficulty of developing and communicating the magnitude of the difference in motivation (and actions) for those Things, as they represent the basest of drives and some don't even conform to our reality and the boundaries of what can be. Something simply sweeping you up like a prawn in a krill catch has two very different levels. To the whale, it's just gulping the good stuff. To the krill, it looks pretty much like "Aaaaaahhhhh!!", that "something entertaining". And, more relatable 'cause you ain't Cthulhu.

And, let's face it, that is how the cosmos works. If our sun goes nova next year, all of humanity save a tiny spacecraft - and maybe not even that - might as well have never existed. Not much of an ending for a novel or movie. And if you use it as an ending only the nihilist will like it, or as a segue, nobody but nobody will believe you.

For instance: take that idiotic scene written by people with no concept of magnitude depicting Geladriel eating a full-on pyroclastic blast that didn't even singe her hair or clothes. The Volcano was the whale, she was a prawn. Regardless of her being an elf she would have looked like a matchstick after it goes out when you hold it upright and everybody knows it.

About what happened later, there are some notable points here:

H.P. Lovecraft’s Radical Political Evolution

The politics of H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) have always been considered a liability by those who appreciate his body of work. So, upon reading a few of his letters from the final seven years of his …

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