Must-See Lovecraftian Style Horror/Sci-Fi Flicks

The works of H.P Lovecraft stories have been my lullabies for the past year or so. I look forward to going to bed and drifting off into a world of cosmic horror. I am not a big reader so it’s great to experience his stories in audiobook form. Now, a year later I would consider myself a bit of a Lovecraftian snob. And as someone who has worked in movie retail for so long, It is crazy how much influence this man has had and continues to have on the sci-fi/horror genre. It is truly sad and unfortunate that Lovecraft never got the notoriety he deserved and died before his stories became widely known.

Below is a list of Must-See Lovcraftian Style Horror/Sci-Fi Flicks. I am sure you will be familiar with a lot of these movies, but maybe you didn’t know they were Lovecraftian?. Pretty much we have a list of cosmic horror and sea monster movies. I do hope that you do find something new to watch or revisit some classics. Either way, I hope you enjoy it.

SEA FEVER

A cross-production between Ireland and Sweden. Sea Fever is about a group of fishermen who need to take a scientist to study their catch and look at anomalies in the fish. Things don’t get off to good start when they realise that their female scientist has long luscious locks of red hair, which is considered be a bad omen among

An infectious parasite is then found to be spreading onboard causing havoc among the crew.

UNDERWATER

I am a bit late to the game with this one. I had heard so many great things about Underwater. The hype is real, I thought Kristen Stewart was fantastic in the leading role; the film wasn’t mind-blowing but it was definitely an enjoyable creature-feature. And I had no idea it co-starred Vincent Cassel, so that was an added bonus. I mean, who doesn’t love a bit of Vincent Cassel, right?

A group of divers and engineers get trapped 6 miles below the surface when their underwater facility is attacked by Cthulhu-like sea creature. Huge budget but keep the viewer guessing to what this creature looks like and teasing us until its final reveal.

THE VOID

The Void, in my opinion, is cosmic horror at its best. A small town is attacked by mysterious hooded figures bringing an alien presence that’s body-morphing and consuming the locals.

Directed, written and practical FX by Jeremy Gillespie & Steven Kostanski.

Kostanski is also directing 4 episodes of the new Day of the Dead series which was ordered on SyFy which is to be released this year

SPRING

When Spring was first released, it received praise from Guillermo del Toro (a self-confessed Lovecraftian lunatic) and Richard Linklater.

The film had a crazy Lovecraftian vibe and at the time! I shit you not, Justin & Aaron had no idea what an H.P Lovecraft was. I am sure they do now, but that is a fine example of how creative and imaginative these two dudes are.

An American escaping a rough life and shit luck takes a trip to a coastal town in Italy where he falls in love with a beautiful mysterious woman that is hiding a dark secret

THE ENDLESS

More Lovecraftian vibes again from Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead. This time they write, star and direct in The Endless. A film about two brothers that return to the cult that they escaped from after receiving a mysterious tape in the post.

Benson & Moorhead really know how to bring in that element of weirdness. Doing all of this on a tiny budget, The Endless is thought-provoking sci-fi at its best.

GRABBERS

A small island off the coast of Ireland is invaded by sea-lurking tentacle-grabbing aliens. In true Irish stereotypical fashion, there is only one thing the locals must do in order to survive: Get Drunk!

Grabbers was a lot of fun

THE THING

The Thing is based on the book Who Goes There? and the author of Who Goes There? basically told the story of Lovecraft’s At The Mountains Of Madness, only on a much smaller scale.

The Thing needs no introduction or explanation. It is one of the best sci-fi’s, a true classic. John Carpenter is a HUGE Lovecraft fan. Maybe he wanted to make At The Mountains Of Madness but the story was just too big for any studio to take on? (it still is – we need a series!)

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS

I am going to have to revisit this one because I can remember very little. Released in the 90s and again, directed by John Carpenter.

Starring Sam Neil, Charlton Heston and Julie Carmena. It is written by Matt De Luca

In The Mouth Of Madness is about an insurance investigator who realises that the monsters written by a horror author are more than just fiction.

Annihilation

Annihilation is a fantastic Lovecraftian love letter by Ex Machina writer/director Alex Garland. Although it is said to be based on the first book of the Southern Reach trilogy, it shares some striking similarities to Lovecraft’s The Colour Out Of Space.

So it looks like the 1st book in the Southern Reach trilogy was another Lovecraft inspired story. It really is just like The Colour Out Of Space only, again, on a much smaller scale.

Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh & Tessa Thompson

THE DEVIL’S PASS + PEREVAL DYATLOVA

The Devil’s Pass and Pereval Dyatlova couldn’t be more different. However, they are both based on the same shocking true story: The Dyatlov Pass Incident/ A group of experienced skiers were found dead in bizarre and violent circumstances

I don’t think I have seen these mentioned as Lovecraftian but I honestly think they belong on this list. No one really knows how the group died; some say it was aliens, some say it was the military. The official report stated they died of an “unknown compelling force”. I mean, come on, man! that’s the most Lovecraftian thing ever, right?

The Devil’s Pass is an English language production and Pereval Dyatlov is a Russian series that deals with a KGB officer called in to investigate the deaths.

A new documentary is releasing soon called “Unknown Compelling Force” which looks really good too!.

THE ABYSS

Directed by The Terminator helmer, James Cameron The Abyss follows a group of ocean oil drillers who are sent to the deep depths of the ocean to recover a submarine that was attacked by an unknown creature.

I am not sure how this film has aged. It might be another flick worth a revisit soon.

COLD SKIN

Cold Skin is the English-language debut from director Xavier Gens. Gens made his mark on the horror genre with the beloved extreme French horror, Frontier(s). If you haven’t checked out Frontiers then I highly recommend it for those who like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.

In Cold Skin, strange creatures emerge from the sea at night to attack a recluse lighthouse keeper and his newly-arrived employee. But wen you’re surrounded by loneliness, day-in and day-out, they find that there is other things you can do to these creatures than kill them.

THE DESCENT

Neil Marshall didn’t quote Lovecraft as an influence for his cave-dwelling creature feature. But the movies he mentioned that inspired his claustrophobic masterpiece are very much Lovecraftian.

EVENT HORIZON

Considered as the one of the best sc-fi’s to ever be released, cult classic, Event Horizon is a masterclass in cosmic horror. Apparently the original runtime was over 130 mins long. It had to be cut because it was so graphically violent (I would so love to see that cut. I have heard it is getting released, I have also heard it was destroyed forever in a fire.

Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne are sent to investigate a ship that just arrived out of a black hole that may have have brought back an alien lifeforce

ZYGOTE

If you’re a gamer and a Lovecraft fan then chances are you adore the Dead Space games. Dead Space is cosmic space body horror at its best. Zygote is the closest thing I have seen to re-capturing that terrifying cosmic body horror.

From Oats studios which is owned by District 9 director, Neill Blomkamp. Zygote is a short horror film with a run-time of under 23-minutes.

I tried to share the full film, but it is restricted. It is only available on YouTube

CREATURES FROM THE FOG (YOUTUBE SERIES)

This is a short YouTube series by YouTuber, Moon Prod. They are all short in run-time and low budget but I love the look and the feel of them. He even has a short Cthulhu video on his channel.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

Another astonishingly mind-blowing fact for me was that H.P Lovecraft basically created the zombie with his Re-Animator stories. I mean not Romero zombies but he was the first to reanimate the dead and give those dead folk some violent tendencies to attack the living.

Although we never really find out how Romero’s zombie apocalypse started we do know that “it came from the stars”. And if it comes from the stars then you know what that means…yup, it’s Lovecraftian!

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD

This one I wasn’t so sure about. I haven’t seen it any other Lovecraft lists. But hear me out: In ROTLD the zombies that O’Bannon gave us were more like Herbert West’s reanimated corpses. They could talk, and more importantly, I am almost certain they could feel pain.

The gas from the army canister is also green: the same colour as Herbert West’s zombie juice.

THE MIST

I am sure The Mist is a fantastic novel. Unfortunately, I don’t read much so the only thing I can base this on was the movie…which wasn’t very good at all. But I thought the movie redeemed itself remarkably and delivered one of the most unexpected and bleak endings in horror history.

The Mist is so obviously Stephen King’s love letter to the H.p Lovecraft cosmic universe.

MOST GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S WORK

There are just too many movies that Del Toro has made that are Lovecraftian. So instead of listing them all, I will just tell you which ones L.: Mimic, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water.

THE HOST

Before Bong Joon-ho and Song Kang-ho dominated the Oscars with the phenomenal, Parasite, they released The Host. The Host was a great creature feature that also starred his main man, the unstoppable, Song Kang-ho.

After toxic waste is illegally dumped into the Han river, a tentacled-tailed creature emerges from the deep to cause havoc among the locals.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN/DESTROYER

I know what you’re thinking, how in the Ancient One’s name is Conan the Barbarian and Destroyer Lovecraftian? ok hear me out, and if you don’t know prepare for your mind to blown wide open. I am only after learning this recently. If it’s widely known then I do apologise but this had me pure fan-geeking.

Conan’s creator Robert E. Howard had a pen-pal..and guess who that pen-pal was? yup, Howard Phillip Lovecraft. They both decided that their stories are set in the same universe. Just WOW! All I can think of now is a Conan vs Cthulhu movie…how GOOD would that be?

THE BLOB

Ok, we have two versions of The Blob..and to be honest, the remake is every bit as good, if not better than the original. It was one of those weird times where the remake does the original some justice.

A small cosmic blob of pink Flubber falls from the stars and slowly starts to consume every living thing it touches. With every life it absorbs, the blob grows at a monstrous rate. It’s up to an outcast teen to put a stop to daddy flubber. destroy it and send it back to outer space!

When I first wrote the title to the article it was “10 must-see Lovecraftian horror movies”. As you’ve noticed, that was just impossible. This list has turned out MASSIVE! I haven’t even touched on the direct adaptations or the franchises Mr Lovecraft has inspired. So, it looks like I will have to write a 2 or three-part series: Direct adaptation and also popular franchises that Lovecraft has inspired

As always, thanks for reading!

Article by GG
Founder/Owner/BigCheese @ Moviehooker

Must-See Lovecraftian Style Horror/Sci-Fi Flicks – Part 1