Monday, December 6, 2010

Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘At the Mountain of Madness’ has a production start date

Director Guillermo del Toro’s on again, off again adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness looks like it has a production start date of July 2011.
The story deals with an Antarctic expedition that discovers the ruins of an ice-covered, ancient city where they awaken a prehistoric, alien civilization.



Having read del Toro’s script adaptation, I found it to be spot on with Lovecraft’s book, though a new version includes not only much more character backstory, but also has several of the crew converting into the “Elder Things” as the rest of the expedition fights them off – with William Dyer as the sole survivor,  left to tell of the ill-fated expedition.
The script now reads more like a version of John W. Campbell’s novella, “Who Goes There?” which was the basis for the 1952 Howard Hawks classic, The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter’s, 1982 version: The Thing.
With del Toro’s touch, I’m sure he’ll deliver the goods, visually. He has this William Cameron Menzies vision that draws audiences into his work, but will this new revelation in the story harm or help it? After all, there have been two cinematic versions of The Thing and now a prequel movie is going to be released next year. Do we need another variation of Campbell’s work – instead of sticking to Lovecraft’s book?
Granted, Lovecraft stories are unusual to begin with and there is a lack of a damsel-in-distress being rescued by the dashing hero while battling the monster as  the creature squeals, “Spa Fon!” or “Squa Tront!” But they are entertaining, especially when the “Stars Are Right” in his world. 

Hopefully, At the Mountain of Madness will stay set in the 1930s and not be updated to present-day as is rumored. It has this surreal world of yesteryear that gives it its charm.
For fans of Lovecraft’s work, the H.P. Lovecraft Society produced a faithful adaptation of Madness (which includes dynamic sound effects) as a radio program that’s available on CD, as well as a 2005 black and white silent film of the “Call of Cthulu” on DVD, which runs 47 minutes, has lots of extras, and is quite impressive.
A sequel to At the Mouth of Madness was written by Tim Curen entitled, “The Hive”, in which Dyer returns to the Antarctic world with a second expedition, unearthing the “Elder Things” once again and traveling via submarine into their polar icecap lair.
Guillermo del Toro’s version of At the Mountain of Madness is slated to be released some time in 2013.

23 comments:

  1. HP Lovecraft just can't be adapted to film very well :(

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  2. they have a long time to do so it better be good

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  3. Never read HP Lovecraft works before. Mainly because I'm too lazy.

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  4. The book's all atmosphere and not enough action for popcorn munchers. If anyone can do it GdT can though.

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  5. i trust Del'Toro to do a good job, his style is awesome..must have decided to concentrate on this rather than spend 6 years making the Hobbit. Good decision i say

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  6. Oh hell yes. I think i liked the story about the house with the inbred family better though, I don't rememebr what that one was called.

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  7. I've always been very back and forth on Lovecraftian horror. His monsters are generally cool however his protagonists are a bit simple and seem to "crack" very easily. None-the-less, I would be interested in seeing the film when it's released.

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  8. Yeah, 2013. *sigh*

    "...updated to present-day as is rumored"
    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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  9. Wow this sounds great! Hopefully we can see some GdT Cthulu action?

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  10. Yes! Hopefully they will keep it to the 30's. GdT does amazing work with monsters, and I am just glad it's not gonna be cgi to hell and back.

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  11. I like HP Lovecraft, I have his book Necronomicon :D

    Respect,
    tigey, head of PL Team

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  12. oooooooooooh I love Guillermo del Toro! I bet this movie's going to be awesome >:)

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  13. long time before than this is released. but the storyline and the character background sound so epic. and with movie makers magic now and days. man its going to be sweet eye candy

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  14. This whole LoveCraft thing will be one big chick flick.

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  15. Hope the adaption will turn out alright. Del Toro has a good rep so I guess we'll just have to see.

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  16. I've only read a few of his short stories, Color Out of Space and The Dunwich Horror, but I think this is one of those cases where I'm fortunate not to be a fanboy because I won't have any preconceptions.

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  17. A 2010 gift for all Lovecraftians!

    As a tribute to the upcoming Guillermo Del Toro, James Cameron, Universal Studios, 3D Movie:

    H. P. Lovecraft's, "At the Mountains of Madness," in a completely new, unabridged 270 minute (4-1/2 hours) reading of all twelve chapters by William Hart, is now available for downloading on the CthulhuWho1 blog at:

    http://cthulhuwho1.com.

    The rather long, but direct link to the latest post that includes all twelve files in one spot is:

    http://cthulhuwho1.com/2010/12/20/h-p-lovecraft%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%93-at-the-mountains-of-madness-complete-%e2%80%93-read-by-william-hart-%e2%80%93-as-a-tribute-to-the-upcoming-guillermo-del-toro-james-cameron-universal-3d-movie/

    And if you'd like to listen to these files, while seeing a slide show of images of the Antarctic region, check out the CthulhuWho1 YouTube page at:

    http://www.youtube.com/user/CthulhuWho1

    Merry Christmas/Cthulhumas to Everyone!


    Will Hart
    aka CthulhuWho1


    Curator of:
    The Lovecraft Flickr Collections at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthulhuwho1/collections/
    The CthulhuWho1 blog at: http://cthulhuwho1.com
    And The CthulhuWho1 YouTube Channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/CthulhuWho1

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