O.C. - Original Cthulhu.

Zombiequadrille created this super cool Cthulhu sculpture based off of H.P. Lovecraft's drawings.
He says:

H.P. Lovecraft made two sketches of Cthulhu for correspondents. I used these sketches as the basis for this sculpture. Original is made from Super Sculpy and I've made copies with resin. They are painted black/green with gold highlights. They are 7 3/4 inches tall.

There is something so satisfying about seeing Lovecraft's original design. Cthulhu is porcine and not so streamlined. 

(via The Lovecraftsman)

Daily poster: The Haunted Palace.

The Haunted Palace.
Roger Corman's film version of H.P. Lovecraft's novella, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Distribution company, AIP, changed the name of the film to The Haunted Palace to fit the film into Corman's series of Edgar Allan Poe films. The only relation the film has to Poe's poem is the title and a few lines of voice over at the end of the film.

The Haunted Palace is Corman at his finest. The sets are clever and grand. The script is well written (I've heard that a young Francis Ford Coppola actually had a stab at cleaning up the dialog.) The acting is a bit punchy and melodramatic, but all right. Vincent Price is enchanting. I'm a huge sucker for Lon Chaney Jr. too. I just want to hug him; he makes me feel so sad. The villagers are fantastic. Leo Gordon is intense and raving. Big eyed Elisha Cook Jr. fosters the fear that Leo Gordon turns to hatred. A terrific group of actors.

The film is slow. This would be a prime candidate for a remake. Liam Neeson in the Price role.
I watched the film on DVD recently. I had only seen an old, crappy VHS of the film. On the DVD, the actor's makeup looks horrible. Grey-green against the actors flesh hued necks. Does not look good.

If you're an H.P. Lovecraft whore, like me, you have to see the film. Just to hear someone say Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth in a film made in 1963 is thrilling.

Poster courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.

H.P. Lovecraft is dead.

 

On the 75th anniversary of H.P. Lovecraft's death, The Morning News writes about the author's legacy and the ways in which his stories have creeped into the fabric of our concept of horror. Go HERE.
For those not so familiar with Lovecraft or his stories, this is a fantastic primer. If you know a bit about the man, you can just read and nod. And perhaps you can send the link to the family members that always shook their heads at your interests. A fine article.

The Lovecraft universe is a drear and inhospitable place. Eschewing the vampires and other supernatural horrors that were standard villains in the pulps of his age, HPL instead created his own brand of horror, a genre that has come to be known as “Cosmicism.”
The defining feature of Cosmicism is not evil, as is the case with Gothic horror, but the utter insignificance of man. As the current trend of “sexy supernatural” fiction demonstrates, there is an allure to being desired, even when your suitor is of a supernatural, even malevolent ilk. But Lovecraft gave his readers no such solace. His existential universe is one in which no one and nothing cares about us one way or the other, where the only “gods” are beings of a scale we mortals cannot readily process. Cthulhu rises from the deep not to attack the ship but for reasons unfathomable to the minds of men, and the captain is little more than an innocent bystander, able to neither control nor assimilate his fate.

(I found this article via longform. The grave rubbing belongs to my friend, Sean.)

Daily poster: The Dunwich Horror.

 

The Dunwich Horror.
The film is not without its charms; mostly unintentional humor and dated colloquialisms. It bears very little resemblance to the H.P. Lovecraft story that shares its name.
You really only need to watch the trailer to "get" the film. I also really like this poster. The tagline is fantastic and the Medusa/Dean Stockwell overtaking Sandra Dee image is exploitation and horror at their best.
The Lovecraft story is my most favoritest by him. I have a couple original pulps and the Weird Tales issue with The Dunwich Horror is my prized posssession, amongst them. I only wish Lovecraft would have made the cover of more than two pulps in his lifetime. A crime. Imagine a Dunwich Horror, Weird Tales cover.

 

Above is the actual cover of Weird Tales, April 1929 issue (I found the image HERE. Haven't read the article yet) What a poor excuse for a cover. What a terrible choice.
I actually have a collecetion of all the editions of the story that I can find. There are some great ones.

Poster courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.

Lovecraft gets sexy.

 

Hahahhahah, I can't stop laughing at this Lovecraft corset. It has got to be the most unsexy lingerie in the world.
"Darksome corset top reanimated from a black cotton tee, enmeshed with Cthulhu green and eldritch greyish fabrics- shades befitting one who likes to flirt with cosmic horrors.
Peering from the centre front of the garment is Mr Lovecraft's haunting visage. His obituary lies below.
Vintage black lace teeming with tentacular sucker scars overlays the green fabric."
You can purchase HERE.

Mr. Lovecraft is not amused.

(via The Lovecraftsman)

Thing That Drifted Ashore.

Monster Brains has reprinted most of the amazing Junji Ito short comic, Thing That Drifted Ashore.

Read it HERE.

They also reposted this cool Junji Ito painting of H.P. Lovecraft.

via.

H.P. Lovecraft obituary.

Grim Reviews has posted this copy of H.P. Lovecraft's obituary.

Rather intriguing.

Author, S.T. Joshi has written a most amazing biography (actually he's written two Lovecraft biographies.)

Grim Reviewst: "Oddly, the obituary mentions a journal or set of observations Lovecraft kept while he was dying, though it's unclear what ever became of this. Despite searching, I have found no other mention of it in the thorough biographical scholarship by Mr. Joshi."

Myserious black fungus coating town.

 The Scottish village of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire are fighting a war against a a black, slimy, fungus which has taken over.

Some are blaming the nearby whisky warehouse, run by Diageo, for creating fumes which lay down the black ooze. I, for one, belive this to be the work of Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. 

From the Daily Record:
"The (Scotch Whisky) Association says the slime is also found in areas with no whisky industry, and Diageo say research found 'no direct link' between whisky fumes and the fungus."

The residents are slowly being coated. The black fungus does not wash off easily. It needs to be scraped off.

It blocks the light from house and automobile windows. The local government can't keep up with cleaning street signs.

I tell you, a meteorite must have landed nearby, like in H.P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space. Expect pandemonium and madness to follow.

(from Arbroath)

The Shunned House up for sale.

The home in Providence, Rhode Island which was featured in H.P. Lovecraft's story The Shunned House is up for sale.

The 1764 home sits on 1/3 of an acre at 135 Benefit Street, and is listed at $925,000. No mention of creatures in the basement. Actually, I don't see that there is a basement.

(via Whitechapel via The Lovecraftsman.)