Will there ever be a GOOD film about the old Gods?

Will there ever be a GOOD film about the old Gods?

Not some capeshit about "universe destroying monsters" but I mean a movie that revolves around the old gods.

Maybe they can "American Gods" it and make them humanized and living on earth.

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I keep seeing ideas like this with multiple gods/higher beings and they all end up as American Gods or Supernatural rip offs.

Why don't you wish for a cool Lovecraftian animated series instead of wanting to see Ryan Gosling playing fucking Azathoth

>Maybe they can "American Gods" it and make them humanized and living on earth.

And miss the entire point of cosmic horror? Good job.

They weren't shown but Cabin in the Woods was about them

this

The only way is if good quality production becomes so affordable and doable that someone actually inspired assembles a gifted team and does it on his own. He would have to find a way to vaguely, maybe almost amorphously depict or allude to the 'unknowable' (actually I think I'd be the guy for the job there, they should hire me), and also find how to depict those physical paradoxes in the things you DO see without resorting to some unimpressive Dr. Caligari / Tim Burton approach (some kitsch expressionism) but somehow construct 'wrongness'.

Also, it should necessarily avoid any of the kind of big spectacle like you get in current capeshit and other blockbusters. Even though it should be thought with digital, they should avoid that clinical cinematagraphy you get in Fincher or Nolan too. Maybe look to the gooeyness and atmosphere in Noe films. And it shouldn't just devolve into people running away from tentacles. In fact, probably just avoid tentacles if possible.

The protagonist should be obsessive, bookish, and probably outsider-y. No love interests, no sex scenes. The cult stuff, if there is any, should be subtle and believable.
The soundtrack should probably be go between period specific and dark ambiance.

>Even though it should be *shot with digital

>Sleeps all the time.
>Needs constant flute playing to calm his 'tism.
>Masturbates frequently in his sleep.

Ryan Gosling sounds like the perfect Azathoth.

No. The scope of Lovecraftian horror is too great. No visual imagery can possible match the written word and thus anything produced would be a step down.

That and Hollywood doesn't seem to get that what you don't see is scarier than what you do. You just know if Del Taco gets to do At the Mountains of Madness he will pussy out and show the Shoggoth because he just has to show off his super creative monster designs.

ghostbusters

If anyone could make a Shoggoth though it would be him
To make it really great he could have several different designs and use them all for the same creature throughout the movie

Gaiman's book is trash lol

No, too hard to do convincingly. Vidya is the appropriate medium but even AAA studios cock it up per pic related (mass effect)

The point is not seeing the Shoggoth is a major aspect of that story. We aren't supposed to see it, the very sight of it would drive you completely insane.

Aren't shoggoths on the low end of "mind shattering beings" in the Lovecraftverse?

>That and Hollywood doesn't seem to get that what you don't see is scarier than what you do

i disagree .

What I'm saying is that is literally the ending of At the Mountains of Madness.

>Maybe they can "American Gods" it and make them humanized and living on earth.


What the fuck is wrong with you

Are you crazy? Del Toro is one of the worst at showing TOO MUCH, in the most baroque, corny steampunk way.

He's one of the primary people I want to stay the fuck away from Lovecraft.


I feel like among the choices we have, Noe and Cronenberg are the only ones who could maybe approach it. I'm not sure if Cronenberg could do the mystery, but the repulsive, 'wrong' stuff that you do see he's proven to be pretty deft with. Noe could possibly get at the atmosphere and darkness, and a more unconventional but effective way of alluding to the elusive Things in question.

Darabont, GDT, and Villeneuve could all do it.

I feel like you don't actually read or at least understand Lovecraft then.

Welcome to Sup Forums.

Lovecraft doesn't translate to the screen at all. The closest movie I have ever seen to capturing the spirit of Lovecraft is Jacob's Ladder, but there will never be a movie that captures the scope or the imagery.

nah, people like you two are just way too covetous of LCD-tier literature. I'm not saying it's not enjoyable, but you're mistaken if you think it's hard to capture the ineffable spirit of Lovecraft.

Show me one good adaptation of Lovecraft and I will tell you why you are wrong.

Except Lovecraft gave a pretty detailed and explicit description of the Shoggoth that appeared in AtMoM, and the protagonists were able to survive their encounter with it with their sanity intact.

It is the implications of the shoggoth existing that make it unnerving. The fact that beings from other realities who could squash us like insects have been to Earth in the past and might come again. But the shoggoth itself, and various monsters like it that appeared in Lovecraft's stories, was never more than a generic monster. This is the real reason it is so hard to adapt Lovecraft's works. It requires presenting generic movie monsters in such a way that the audience will be encouraged to think about the broader context of those monsters. This will never work because our culture has been too saturated with movie monsters of all types for them to have that kind of psychological impact anymore.

The trouble is that all the best stories concerning cosmic horrors never actually describe the thing people are seeing, just bits and pieces as the persons mind breaks and they turn into a babbling lunatic because what they're seeing shouldn't exist.
Thats really, really hard to translate into film.

Its also been something thats bugged me for years when it comes to monster movies and aliens.
People just quickly accept that its a thing, and they should run/fight or whatever as if its just a normal animal, when in reality, most people would immediately shit and piss themselves and run away screaming in terror.
I'd love to see a monster movie where that happens just once, a movie where people properly react to something that shouldn't exist.

there are none, but for different reasons than you likely believe. regardless, all one has to do is read your tone and it becomes quite apparent that you have neckbeard levels of bias toward your rather unremarkable source material. did you angrily blog on Sup Forums when the newest marvel movie didn't use the exact same fabric for spiderman's costume as in the comics?

>There are none
And I'm just going to assume the rest of your post is name calling.

nope---only partially. but nice trips.

Prince of Darkness is a pretty good Lovecraft style film.

>Maybe they can "American Gods" it and make them humanized and living on earth.

What the hell is wrong with you?

>Del Toro is one of the worst at showing TOO MUCH, in the most baroque, corny steampunk way.

I don't know how you managed to nail that description of his cinematography/design so well.

>baroque
>steampunk
>at the same time

The film you're looking for is Guardians of the Galaxy.

But seriously this is the only example of an "old god" in recent memory

>Maybe they can "American Gods" it and make them humanized and living on earth.
This is literally the worst movie idea I've ever heard, and I mean it when I say literally.

I'm not talking about actual Baroque which of course is distinct from Steampunk... but Del Toro absolutely tastelessly combines those two aesthetics, together with comic book aesthetics, fairy tale, and 'classic' horror movie monster, and whatever stupid idea comes to his nerd mind.

What can I say, his shit is garbage.

And sadly its going to happen eventually

>tfw you're born with taste this pleb and there's nothing you can do about it

I'm so sorry.

>not acknowledging god-kino
Pleb

Yeah, seriously.

You just know that Cthulhu would end up being a quipping teenage girl in something like that too.

I just don't know why people have such low standards. I'm all for people being kinder in general in life, but we need to stop being so damn tolerant of people putting out shit hack work, and destroying good source material. I think it's actually kind of immoral. I don't want to act autist about it but people should be meaner about it, not tolerate such garbage.

Also though, people should admire the gifted more again. Not everyone is equipped to make great work. Especially not audiences. Audiences should have as high a standard as they can (at least asking more than all this remake shit), but mostly should rely on actual geniuses to make the material again because some people are just better at this stuff than others. The current trend of relying on focus groups for production guidance is disgusting. Focus groups are literally jobless fat people, the lowest rung. One should get feedback, but from people in the aesthetic know.

>not liking Del Toro
>pleb

c'mon, guy

This came close in terms of powers of the old gods.

Ending was dumb, but the whole plot about them still existing and not being properly removed is great.

I didn't come up with the pleb filter. Sorry, man.

I liked the way the first season of True Detective handled this shit.
The Carcosa stuff and the hallucinations made it so bizarre but the story was so grounded in reality that it made you feel like it was inane to think that it was Lovecraftian in nature. I know that its not intended to be a supernatural show or any of that shit, but I love the feeling that there is something dreadful and unseen in the background that isnt just some giant monster like cloverfield.

>this post

I can see it already
>Nyarlathotep is a muslim teenager
>falls in love with Shubb Niggurath, a white girl
>she is dating Yog-Sothoth, the captain of the football team

yeah, True Detective actually kind of got at it, because it was mostly just to do with hints and rumors and soundtrack and a certain, creeping feeling.

good call.

a CW show, surely

*tips fedora*

IMPECCABLE taste, my good sir. Quite refined.

Nice try, /r/movies, but you're a little behind on your meme game.

So which directors do you like? Which authors do you read outside of Lovecraft and Rowling?

but humans is the real monster

the season was basically built around the "horror" of organized ritual child exploitation laying underneath the facade of civilization. Which lead some people to think "lovecraft."

>unimpressive Dr. Caligari
Fuck you pleb.

Gaspar Noe, Michael Mann, Andrei Tarkovsky, Harmony Korine, Paul Verhoeven, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Eric Rohmer, Peter Greenaway, Nicolas Roeg, David Cronenberg, Brian DePalma, David Carpenter, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Terrence Mallick

Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Goethe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Vladimir Nabakov, Thomas Mann, Joan Lindsay, Novalis, Robert Chambers, Edgar Allen Poe, Thomas Ligotti, J.G. Ballard, William Burroughs, Clark-Ashton Smith, William Blake, Oscar Wilde

Of course I like that movie, but I think it would be mistaken to resort to a 'German Expressionist'-like take on the wrong architecture and physics described in some of the stories

and Kubrick of course

>if Del Taco gets to do At the Mountains of Madness he will pussy out and show the Shoggoth because he just has to show off his super creative monster designs.

Every interview where he discussed Mountains the ONLY thing he talks about are the creature designs. He's just a big kid and should not be allowed to touch a Lovecraft story, let alone his magnum opus. Why people think he is the "go to guy" for adapting Lovecraft is beyond me.

The Shoggoth isn't what drove the guy insane in ATMOM you idiot, it was something else that isn't ever actually named or described.

There's a clear effort to encourage mediocrity in society under the guise of protecting people's feelings. Not to point any fingers, but I think it's the reptilians.

Pan's Labyrinth?

The Void.


Have fun with it.

It's the only lovecraftian film that does it right.

Shoggoths aren't mind shattering at all. They are perfectly described infact. Just like the fishmen were.

What drove the guy to madness was literally something that can't be described.

Shoggoths are horrifying because they are just a fucking monstrous sight.

and Von Trier

>I'd love to see a monster movie where that happens just once

Into the Mouth of Madness. Does it the entire film and does the 'greater than you understand' thing as well.

Has anyone seen this? It's highly regarded on Reddit tomatoes.

I saw the silent film chthulu and that was kino.

That looks tacky, I'm skeptical.

The design doesn't hit the mark, and design is so key. That looks more like some cutesy gimmick.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=pd5gWGfnK5M

Looks comfy desu senpai

It's an indie film by some club dedicated to lovecraft stuff. It is very close to the text and almost in the style of an early radio serial. The acting is flat and the story isn't punchy enough for a "real" studio movie but it's very quality.

Was it made by the same guys?

b2r

Why is there so many shit things with primordial evil beings

the only good media i can think of are

samurai jack, the hellboy movie and earthbound and chrono trigger and that south park season

>No. The scope of Lovecraftian horror is too great. No visual imagery can possible match the written word and thus anything produced would be a step down.
Jean Doe authopsy really hit the nail in depicting a really powerful witch what stop a writer in creating a screenplay in some retarded blind gods ?
is not about description is more about how humans cant handle or comprehend really.

lol, nice try

I'm like the conscious, active apex of History.

Uh huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Can you portray something visually that the mere perception of will break sanity? Even describing it in literature is pretty impressive.

Being the living, active mind and embodiment of aesthetics?

Lol, yeah, I sleep juuuuust fine.

That's one way of describing yourself.

Would you two faggots just fuck of and suck each other's dicks already?

kys lardo

>Dead Slow Ahead ominous atmosphere and aesthetic, maybe even somewhat the pace
>investigative plot on natives and cults
>hints at old gods through dialogue
>partial glimpses of them as the main character discovers their existence and their relation to everything weird that's been happening, build up tension
>imply the character's thoughts(the absurdity and fear of their existence) through dialogue, maybe narration but that's too hit and miss
>if going for big monster, it shouldn't be cgi as cgi can't portray realistic organic twitchy movement
>if going for 4th dimension clusterfuck maybe some expressionist shit
waddya think Sup Forums? I know not many people have watched dead slow ahead, but its the best I can think of in terms of aesthetic as an example. Maybe malick as in emphasizing how small people are. I'd do it I'd just need a writer

>old gods
>humanised

Then they wouldn't be old gods really

I'd prefer the majority of the movie to be fairly ordinary, in order to set up the contrast well. You can go multiple directions with this, but I was actually thinking evoking the Wizard of Oz (and you could make the case it's a kid-friendly Lovecraft-lite) - the ordinary world is drab, bland and almost (but not quite) greyscale. A visual shorthand to depict the conformity of our normal lives.

Then, as the protag(s) get closer to the shady shit slowly, imperceptibly ramp up the contrast and vibrancy of the colors - this nightmare is the actual reality.

Let's say they stumble across some cultist mansion and it's secretly a portal to another plane of existence or whatever, standard Lovecraft.

If I were making the movie, I'd use small details to sell the 'wrongness' of the Old Ones. Maybe have the colors shift ever so slightly from one frame to the next when they're in some eldritch compound, use camera tricks to fuck with perspective and make us uneasy (like the Kubrick zoom). If they're re-entering a corridor have it be somewhat longer/shorter, or have the decorations change slightly.

The main way to sell the creepy, otherworldly factor and to have some immersion is to leave it unstated - do it enough that the audience notices, but isn't quite sure if they're imagining it. And no point should anyone lampshade it, no "hey, did the wall markings just change?" because then you're revealing your strategy.

Music should be key in setting the ambiance, but avoid the horror cliches. Start off almost pastoral when they're safe and sound at the beginning, slowly grow darker as they get closer to the 'heart' of the house, and then full stop. No BWAAAAH, no shrieking, no organs, nothing. Complete silence. You can hear their footsteps and shallow breathing. Make every sound stronger, to reflect how we feel when we're afraid. Combined with the cinematography details above the shift should be unnerving.

(cont.)

This is where it gets trickier. I'd avoid showing the 'monster' in any form, because you can't really convey visually something that can't be comprehended.

The protag opens the door to the central chamber where the Old One is about to manifest. My idea is to evoke the symptoms of losing your sanity in that moment. All of the previous tricks should be turned up to eleven: the colors should become garish and too contrasted, blending into each other. The sounds should become louder and cacophonic, with an off-key echo following everything. The perspective openly warps in an unpredictable, random way. Objects elongate and shorten, walls expand and contract, and there's a subtle (in comparison to everything else) but steadily growing hum. It shouldn't be a jump scare, but rather very uncomfortable to watch, and to increase in intensity with each passing moment.

The protagonist turns and runs, and his heartbeat is booming, the only thing we hear outside of the hum, which is slowly receding as they escape.

Through whatever way, the cultists are defeated and the Old One remains locked away (because ended the movie with an apocalypse is rather counterproductive to the whole subtle ambient horror idea).

I'd end it with the protag shakily going to sleep the night after, and then you get a less intense repeat of the inner chamber effects - all sounds immediately stop and the hum starts back up again. They open their eyes, visibly shaken.

End credits. (Note, the 'plot' is a barely-thought out placeholder, the point was to illustrate the visual and sound effects)

tl;dr: Evoke the feeling of going insane due to witnessing something otherworldly without ever showing it.

BB did it pretty well for a video game.

Undrrated, also want to throw out Prince of Darkness into the convo

You spelt John Carpenter wrong

I'm still upset that a strange and colourful mythos that I enjoyed reading in high school is so popular, maybe because the internet wasn't a thing of why I thought nobody else in the world was reading Lovecraft

TFW you're actually writing something with pretty much the same premise

Growing up in a shitty post-socialist country, the first time I heard of Lovecraft was in high school through the internet.

Nobody referenced it in our media, fiction or public discourse. I'm still convinced 95%+ of my generation has no idea about the Cthulhu Mythos.

So it was weird to find out it's this huge thing Stateside and has influenced so much else (from Conan to JL episodes).

While I'm happy someone else had the same idea, I'm curious how you'd incorporate my strategy since it's so visual/auditory heavy, which books... lack.

Well, essentially what I'm thinking is that you start it off as a drama, about a man entering a mid-life crisis, losing his wife and what-not, when he encounters an old friend from high school who invites him to stay at an inn she own in the middle of nowhere New England town they grew up in. He accepts, but when he arrives things aren't really the same, and people start disappearing. He eventually uncovers a cult and things happen (what exactly, I haven't thought out yet). Ive got two ideas for endings the first with him entering the basement of whatever building the cult was being headed in. In there he finds egg shells or something similar, but they're big and clearly birthed something inhuman. He finds a secret room and peeks in. The camera never shows what he sees, but there's a heavy, ambient light beaming back at him, and he starts shaking and all around freaking out. He holds a gun to his head, and right when he's about to pull the trigger, there's a hard cut to him driving off into the night, laughing maniacally, implying he simply ran away. The other involves him being captured by the cult and brought into some hellosh sacrificial chamber where a large, unearthly stone sits in the centre of the room. The cult leader essentially explains that they're the good guys and must make sacrifices to keep whatever apocalyptic being lies within the stone at bay. The film would end with the protag peering into the stone resulting in his eyes to bleed before they begin their sacrifice or something. I don't really have it planned out beyond that. I'm just writing to see where the above bullet points take me

I forgot to add that I'd envision the score to be very John Carpenter-esc. The whole reason I started writing it was because I wanted to write something with a similar atmosphere to his song Windy Death. The visuals in his town would be very misty, blue, and seem to have an unending fog or something to add to the atmosphere

Worth a watch?

Honestly, there's a lot of very interesting research being done into optical illusions.

A smart director would look for ways to include these into whatever depiction, using any trick possible to confuse and unnerve the viewer.

No it isn't you dumbass they see the shoggoth and are just fine. What drives the one guy mad is seeing in a mirage kadath beyond the mountains

I don't get the point of "watching something=immediately go insane", that's something that would never happen

I didn't mind The Void, but it's hardly a purist adaptation of cosmic horror. It felt like the filmmakers were recreating a session of the Cthulhu RPG. It was pulpy and gratuitous, and didn't quite venture into the themes behind Lovecraftian terror.

Yeah, people who can't create anything should take a shit on people who attempt to do so and discourage anyone from trying. Now that's some retarded kike shit

just make a bloodborne movie

There will never be a good movie because fags like you are to obsessed with this shit