HP Lovecraft’s work, particularly one that features a thousand foot tall Cthulhu rising up from the oceans and stomping the hell out of some city. We have the technology to make Him look believable now, its time to forget the stupid Cthulhu inspired films of the past and make a big-budget monster movie!
The Simpsons, but live action. They can use the actors from that live action Simpsons’ opening. I dont have any expectations that the film would be good because some things just work better in cartoon and not real life. But it would be so unintentionally hilarious that they just have to make it. Include all the standard Simpsons jokes and side characters, but none of them can be computer animated, they have to be actors in suits. Special bonus points for Itchy and Scratchy, Poochie, Krusty (in clown makeup the whole film), Kang and Kodos, Arnold Schwartzenegger as McBain, Mr. Burn as a decrepit 104 year old man who actually eats a baby sometime during the film.
Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep. I’m not exactly sure it it would work but it’s such a change from all those other formulaic chick flick type things.
With the trend of musical biopics, I’d like to see one about Phil Spector and some of the acts he produced, though it wouldn’t be one of those life affirming, isn’t he/she GREAT ones that they’re so fond of doing (Cadillac Records, What’s Love Got to Do With It, Ray, etc.).
I always thought that Keith Laumer’s “Retief” series would make some good movies. I used to think Tom Selleck and John Hillerman would be perfect to play Retief and Magnan; of course they are both way too old by now.
Likewise, Jack Vance’s five Demon Prince novels would make a great series of movies.
And I wish somebody would make a good Tarl Cabot of Gor movie for a change.
I was hoping the Star Trek movie franchise would take up the “Mirror Universe” for a few outings. That would have been great!
Some of Lovecraft’s work has been filmed. “Re-Animator” at the very least comes to mind, although I don’t know how accurate it was…TRM
Generally, what makes it into those films is everything Lovecraft has in common with mundane horror and nothing of what made him good. There are quite a few indie makes of Lovecraft stories that manage to stay true to the original, but lack the budget to be what I’d call good. Surprisingly, the SciFi channel’s Dagon is probably the best feature-length combination of production values (decent) and truth to the original (it actually mixes three short stories so maybe I should say “originals”). HBO’s Masters of Horror series had a very good short based on a Lovecraft story that both stayed true and had good production values.
Somewhere, I have a list of HP Lovecraft stories that have been put onto film. I could dig it out if anyone’s interested. I’d love to see more of his work get done.
But even more than that: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (by Stephen R Donaldson) but only if it could be done right. Unfortunately, I don’t think Hollywood is capable of doing it right. I would settle for Mordant’s Need.
I’ve watched some of the low budget Lovecraftian movies on lazy weekend afternoons while surfing the tube, they are horrible, and by that, I don’t mean horror in a good way. They were just badly done and it was obvious that Lovecraft stories had almost nothing to do with them. I’d kill for a Shoggoth on screen!
I saw Dagon, it was interesting and not entirely terrible, but the acting and dialogue could use some work. I’d settle for “not unintentionally funny”, it doesnt have to be good.
I think the Magic: The Gathering card games had some wonderful stories once the company decided to plot out the backstories for their expansion sets in book form. I’d like to see planeswalkers shift and remake reality on a global scale as they battle across worlds, that would be nifty
The best straight-up Lovecraft adaption I’ve seen is this one, which faithfully follows the short story “Call of Cthulhu,” done as a black and white silent feature.
The best thematic adaption of Lovecraft is Quatermass and the Pit which, while it doesn’t feature any of Lovecraft’s specific mythos, uses a lot of the same themes of cosmic horror and the insignificance of humanity.
I like horror and sci-fi as well as anyone, but I would like to see a remake of “Forever Amber” complete with nudity, the plague, and the Great Fire of London. Maybe a short series on HBO. Starring…Scarlett Johanson? Kate Winslet (though she’s a bit old for the part now).
Using CGI effects to make a realistic looking Cthulhu is IMO the wrong way to go. In fact, it’s a key reason as to why none of the adaptations of Lovecraft’s stories work well. Lovecraft’s story dealt more with creepy atmosphere, and the suggestion of the kind of evil things that are just around the corner but not right in front of you; kind of like having a nightmare - the evil un-nameable monster is right outside your field of vision, but you know it’s there waiting to get you. Seeing the monster ruins the whole effect.
A perfect example of this is Cloverfield - the ad campaign suggested a gi-normous monster on the loose in Manhattan. It immediately achieved massive buzz and intense interest. Then, the movie came out and showed a giant monster on the loose in Manhattan…and it wasn’t nearly as interesting.
Someone capable of creating and sustaining an eerie atmosphere, like David Lynch, might be able to pull it off. But a great big CGI Cthulhu would be just as boring as the late 90s Godzilla, the creature from the Relic or Snookums.
As for movies I’d like to see made, well I guess there is going to be an Avengers movie, so I think I’d like to see a Wonder Woman movie get made. Seems like the Powers That Be are hell bent on sabotaging that project and making sure it never gets made though.
I’m asking seriously, because I never saw the film and found myself rolling my eyes at the promos for it. I had the impression that the problem was the that (a) the movie sucked from the standpoint of having a dumb story and telling it poorly and (b) the big bad looked like something Seth Brundle had teleported.
I thought it was a pretty good movie. Also, you almost never get a good look at the monster, so it felt pretty creepy whenever you saw it or, mostly, part of it.
A truly Lovecraftian creation would definitely get my attention, but as others have said here getting the atmosphere right and not being as “obvious” as the cheapo LC knockoffs have been would be a tricky feat. For one thing the whole “See the Nameless Horror and go batshit crazy” aspect would need to be sold by the director, but I’m not sure what kind of special FX you could show which would demonstrate that (none probably).
I’d like someone to do a series of TV films based on the locked room/impossible crime novels and stories of John Dickson Carr. I think that they could be a very successful new franchise if someone undertook them in the right spirit.
My (very long term) goal is to become a famous movie maker with enough clout to greenlight my own pet projects. And one of those is to make a live-action, period-authentic, version of Jonny Quest. Damnit, I just googled it and they’re already developing one, crap…
I would love to see a series of Redwall movies. I know they started making a show but it wasn’t as wonderful as the books. It would be hard because one of the best things about the books is the amount of detail and detail is the first thing to get cut out of any movie.
The Exploits of Ebenezum. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m the only person in the world who has read the Ebenezum books in the last 20 years. But, they’re wonderful. I’ve read them so many times and I still laugh every time. They would make excellent movies.
I wish they’d hurry up and make more Discworld movies and while I liked The Color of Magic, the need to not combine two books again. Way too much was cut out.
There’s a very old book by Elizabeth Cadell, called A Lion in the Way. I think it would make a great movie. I have read this book probably 30 or more times. Every time I read it, I find something new to love about it. And, I still have no clue what the title means.
I’m drawing a blank on the others right now. There are so many books that I really want to have in movie format. I don’t know why they’ve all left my mind at the moment.
Robert Heinlein’s ‘Have Space Suit Will Travel’. Possibly the best of his juveniles it has evil aliens, collaborating humans, plucky kids and a shot of the Milky Way from outside. It would be awesome.
Barring that, a damn Elfquest movie, finally. I realize that there’s one listed in development. But the first time I heard about that was in 1983. I’ll believe it when I see it.
The Anno Dracula series and the best sequel/prequel to Dracula ever- Jeffrey Sackett’s Blood of the Impaler.
C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy (esp II & III), Till We Have Faces, and Narnia VII: The Last Battle.
A good Book of Revelation novel- either James BeauSeigneur’s Christ Clone Trilogy or Brian Caldwell’s We All Fall Down (the Apocalypse according to Quentin Tarantino).
