Early 20th-century Cthulhu, worlds, and alternate realities that exist below the normal currents of life.
While Lovecraft's racism and xenophobia have been rightfully criticized in recent decades, fans of the genre agree his style and approach to igniting terror remain unparalleled. Many filmmakers have adapted Lovecraft's works into feature films, while others use his themes as frameworks for original cinematic ventures.
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Tim Robbins plays a Jacob's Ladder sees Robbins's character Jacob Singer traumatized by what he experienced during combat. The postal worker traverses the city haunted by hallucinations, visions, and dread.
The distinction between reality and fantasy vanishes as Jacob plunges deeper into madness. Jacob's Ladder is an original horror movie full of homages to Lovecraft.
The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter's The Thing is technically a remake of 1951's The Thing From Another Planet, itself an adaptation of the 1938 weird fiction novel Who Goes There?, but the alien lifeform at the heart of the film acts like a tried-and-true Lovecraftian monster. Starring Kurt Russell and Keith David, the movie follows a group of Antarctic scientists whose camp is terrorized by a shapeshifting, parasitic creature.
When the monster takes hold of victims, it transforms them into deformed, mutilated shells. Lacking any clear motivation or concrete form of its own, the elusive creature exists solely to travel from host to host.
Mandy (2018)
Panos Cosmatos's psychedelic fever dream tells the story of a strange cult that targets a couple who enjoy a life of solitude in a small, forested town. Beyond the Black Rainbow. Nicholas Cage stars as Red, who seeks revenge against the cult after they kidnap his beloved Mandy.
A tale of mind-altering gore, drug-induced violence, and psychotic motorcycle gangs ensues. Red goes on a dystopian, phantasmagorical journey that literally causes his reality to split wide open.
Possession (1981)
Possession is a genre-defining gem directed by Polish filmmaker Andrzej Żuławski. It stars a young Sam Neill as a spy named Mark living in Berlin with his wife Anna, played by Isabelle Adjani. After Mark returns home from a mission, Anna abruptly declares she wants a divorce.
What at first appears to be a story about psychological unraveling and failed marriages soon evolves into a Lovecraftian film about unearthly desires, strange creatures, doppelgangers, and the end of the world. Possession loses all grounding in reality, taking viewers on a visceral trip.
Gozu (2003)
A Japanese gangster film with a Lovecraftian twist, Gozu is fast-paced, unnerving, and absolutely horrific. After Minami unwittingly kills an unstable member of the yakuza, but, when the man's body mysteriously goes missing, Minami traverses the local town in search of it.
As Gozu progresses, Minami dives deeper into nonsensical situations, eventually finding himself in a small, mysterious town named Nagoya where nothing is what it seems. Gozu is directed by Japanese horror icon Takashi Miike, known for gory features like Audition and Ichi The Killer.
Lost Highway (1997)
There's no doubt David Lynch is forever indebted to Lovecraft. Like Lovecraft, Lynch likes to chip away at the facade that defines the ideal American existence: picket fences, perfect families, and quaint romances.
Lost Highway may not be Lynch's most critically acclaimed feature, but it contains some of the most haunting imagery in any of Lynch's work. Bill Pullman plays a jazz musician launched into a bizarre saga involving murder, surveillance, multiple identities, and nonsensical dialogue. Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty, and Robert Black co-star.
Videodrome (1983)
David Cronenberg's Videodrome takes VHS consumer culture to its illogical extreme. James Woods stars as Max Renn, president of a pornographic television channel who gains access to "Videodrome," a show reveling in sexualized torture. After Max airs the show on his channel, he finds himself in the middle of a massive conspiracy.
Filled with artful body horror, Videodrome follows Max as his reality collapse in on itself. Debbie Harry co-stars as Max's girlfriend Nicki.
The Lighthouse (2019)
The long-awaited follow up to Robert Eggers's understated horror masterpiece Robert Pattinson act side-by-side in this claustrophobic, scatological plunge into masculine identity.
The Lighthouse is defined by its psychoanalytic and mythological tone. The characters' inner worlds are exposed through dreams, hallucinations, and boozy exchanges. In a Lovecraftian way, the details made available to the viewer build dread without providing concrete answers.
Altered States (1980)
Both the depths and limits of human consciousness were important subjects for H.P. Lovecraft. Few films explore these themes as well as Ken Russell's Altered States. William Hurt plays a Lovecraftian mad scientist obsessed with opening up new frontiers of perception. Dr. Edward Jessup subjects himself to sensory deprivation experiments and hallucinogenic cocktails in hopes of finding a gateway.
When Dr. Jessup makes a breakthrough, instead of discovering the raised awareness he's after, he stumbles upon the opposite. Hurt gives a riveting performance in what's considered his debut feature.
The Endless (2017)
Independent horror filmmakers Aaron Morehead and Justin Benson weave an impressive narrative in The Endless. The duo also stars in the film as brothers who decide to return to the doomsday cult they grew up in. While they've both revoked the cult's teachings, their visit makes them question whether the cult may be onto something.
Another film that rips reality to shreds, The Endless reimagines Lovecraft's ideologies from beginning to end. Morehead and Benson are able to create stunning visual queues about the world fraying around their characters with a very small budget.
