Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown (2008) Review

h p lovecraft It’s not often that we at Love Horror review documentaries, although weirdly, we’ve had two arrive this month.
Some might even argue that such films aren’t really within our remit. But when a documentary on the great horror influence that is H. P. Lovecraft arrived, including interviews with John Carpenter and Guiliermo Del Toro, we couldn’t resist it.

H. P Lovecraft is seen my many to be one of the biggest literary influences on modern horror.
Although there isn’t much that has been directly tranferred to screen, many of his lovecraft-fear-of-the-unknown-coverideas and theories have left a lasting impression on the horror movies that we watch today.
One such example is the Necronomicon, or book of the dead, which was so instrumental in the Evil Dead films.

Okay, so unsurprisingly the film doesn’t really have any scares. It has a little splash of dramatisation and relies heavily on the interviews and narration.
But nevertheless, an interesting story is told, about how a man from a priviledged background, who can’t integrate with society due to issues from his childhood, turns to writing about horrible things as a release.
He was definitely a disturbed individual, and the documentary contains a fair amount of his work, read by a narrator with a stuffy accent.

For those interested in Lovecraft, this DVD is great. It is feature length, so goes into great depth analysing Lovecraft and his works. In fact, I would imagine that there isn’t much of his life that isn’t touched upon.
And for those who don’t know much about this pioneer of horror, there’s lots to keep you interested too.

guiliermo del toro lovecraft hp-love-craft-fear-of-the-unknown

I personally knew very little about Lovecraft prior to watching it. I was aware that he was reputably a big influence on horror, buthad no idea just how good his material was. So much so, that after watching the film, I immeditely downloaded one of his short stories and really enjoyed it.
However, unless you do engage with the subject matter, the documentary does seem a little dense.
There is a lot of information here, so you need to be swtched on when you watch it, otherwise you’re likely to miss out on vital facts.

If you’re a Lovecraft fan and are into the Cthulhu Mythos, this will no doubt float your boat!

Movie Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

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Tom Atkinson

Tom is one of the editors at Love Horror. He has been watching horror for a worryingly long time, starting on the Universal Monsters and progressing through the Carpenter classics. He has a soft-spot for eighties horror.More

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