The Sword and Laser discussion

See here.

From the work of his that I've read, At the Mountains of Madness is among H.P. Lovecraft's most translatable novels, and it's got me wondering why more movie attempts haven't been made. Cthulhu is primed to be the next zeitgeist-darling, and I'd welcome a counterbalance to vampires, werewolves and zombies. The Old Ones could take them all in a fight, anyway.

I'm sorry to hear Del Toro's take may not happen, but it boggles my mind why someone's not doing more with Lovecraft's stuff. Thoughts?

It's kind of a mystery to me too. A lot of smaller/b-movie Lovecraft films have been made, but it seems time for a bigger one. Unless the Old Ones themselves are against big screen mass media exposure.

If anything that movie is considered one of the hardest to do from what I've read. A location shoot would be hard I imagine.

Lovecraft is hard to do because so much is implied versus stated and especially today with the aversion to R ratings makes it hard I imagine.

Larry wrote: "Lovecraft is hard to do because so much is implied versus stated"

I absolutely agree, but filmmakers have mined material less flashy than Lovecraft's with success before. Just the mythos alone could serve as the inspiration for a film, but it's not happening for whatever reason. Maybe it's still considered too niche, though in all likelihood the lack of films has more to do with what you suggested, Josh.

There is also some controversy in his books regarding race. Maybe that has scared some off? I'll put it down to the studios are dumb though.

Larry wrote: "There is also some controversy in his books regarding race. Maybe that has scared some off? I'll put it down to the studios are dumb though."

Yeah, especially The Call of Cthulhu. Inspired by one of our intrepid hosts, though, I'm reading through the Sherlock Holmes canon, and there's plenty of cringe-worthy stuff in there, as well. That's been adapted billions of times. I think it could be safely avoided. Unless you're talking about racism against fish people. That's kind of integral.