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Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown

By Gregon

Any fans of the horror/fantasy genre will love this documentary: “Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown” (available to watch online for free via that link).

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is Fear of the Unknown.

“H.P. Lovecraft was the forefather of modern horror fiction having inspired such writers as Stephen King, Robert Bloch and Neil Gaiman. The influence of his Cthulhu mythos can be seen in film (Re-animator, Hellboy, and Alien), games (The Call of Cthulhu role playing enterprise), music (Metallica, Iron Maiden) and pop culture in general.

But what led an Old World, xenophobic gentleman to create one of literature’s most far-reaching mythologies? What attracts even the minds of the 21st century to these stories of unspeakable abominations and cosmic gods?

I saw it last year on free-to-air television here in Australia, it’s an in-depth look at H.P. Lovecraft and his books, with commentary and insight from the likes of Neil Gaiman, Guillermo del Toro, and John Carpenter. Here’s a preview of the film:



Great stuff. As I mentioned above, you can watch the *complete* documentary at the SnagFilms website.

Greg
Editor
Greg is the owner-editor of The Daily Grail, as well as the author of a number of books including Stop Worrying, There Probably is an Afterlife.
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15 Comments

  2. History of Snag
    Snag is also what used to be a nearly always fatal affliction suffered by women’s hosiery. Once snag had occurred, it was just a matter of time.

    Silk and early nylon stockings were extremely susceptible to snag.

    But due to the miracle of modern textiles, hosiery today is about 70% less likely to contract snag and thus lives a longer, more productive life providing support to millions.

      1. Hmmm. Well…
        … not really.

        From my personal perspective, hosiery was always something of an obstacle. That was before marriage, of course. After, it was just another obligatory expense.

        What really piqued my interest was in researching the brazier. That was a great unknown… at least for a spell

        These items… even into contemporary times, are nothing short of being bigender-based torture devices. I mean, as a guy, I had to develop a certain digital dexterity to negotiate the connection hardware. And you can most often tell that, if successful on your first effort, the gals are appreciative of your talent level.

        Get that damned thing off, boy!

          2. Oh, now you’ve gone and done it!
            [quote=Inannawhimsey]What’s next? Disposable husbands?[/quote]

            I think there was either just an earthquake… or I suddenly discovered that I was disposed of once…

  3. Lovecraft. Born 70 years too early?
    Great documentary; and informed me of several things I didn’t know about HP.

    It made me think that, the way he embraced amateur journalism, plus his prolific correspondence (possibly the only form of social interaction he enjoyed), you could say he was a “steampunk blogger” of sorts ;).

  4. HP Lovecraft help
    I’ve heard of Lovecraft for a very long time, and only having read one of his short stories(about Cthulu). I’m wondering where a good place would be to start reading some of his work?

    1. from the Scritching-at-the-Winder-Dept.
      I’ve read almost all of his fiction and I categorize his writing as emotional fantasy and science fiction. It is being marketed as Horror, though.

      A good one to start out with would be his novella At the Mountains of Madness.

      For a taste of his fantasy, try out The Silver Key.

        1. from the Cats-in-the-Walls-Dept.
          *chuckle*

          Don’t be afraid. I heartily recommend the best way to get to know an author — go down to your local dead paper storehouse (‘used books store’, ‘library’, ‘Barnes n Nobel/Chapters/you know’) ask/find the Lovecraft section, pick a book, a few, find a comfortable place, set your mind to ‘open experience’, crack open that volume, breathe in the lovely smell of real paper, real ink, and…EXPERIENCE!

          (All you will get from us are our own…experiences, our own likes and dislikes, comforts and taboos.)

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