H.P. Lovecraft for Beginners

Alright it's the weekend so I don't actually have all that much to post but I thought I'd do a quickie. So today I want to talk to you about my favorite author H.P. Lovecraft. He looks like this.

Lose 1D4 sanity.

He's really not much of a looker and honestly go spend ten minutes on wikipedia and you'll know more about him then most people do. His life story while interesting isn't what's important. It's all about the tons of short stories he wrote. They may not be your cup of tea but they have to be at least respected considering they had a major influence on most horror you see today. If you don't know Lovecraft you've probably seen a hundred references without realizing. If you enjoy reading here is a list of his most famous (not best) stories. Also take note these are the years they were written not published.

Dagon 1917

The Statement of Randolph Carter 1919

Nyarlathotep 1920

Herbert West-Reanimator 1921-1922*

The Rats in the Walls 1923

Cool Air 1926

The Call of Cthulhu 1926*

Pickman's Model 1926

The Dunwich Horror 1928*

The Whisperer in Darkness 1930

At the Mountains of Madness 1931*

The Shadow Over Innsmouth 1931*

*I'd say these are arguably the most famous and if you're only interested in not being left out when the elitists and hipsters start talking about how cool and unique they are for liking Lovecraft I'd start there.

Well that's all I'm going to say for now I'll probably doing deeper reviews or synopsis if you just want to know what they're about without actually reading. Oh also his universe is referred to as the Cthulhu Mythos. Cthulhu is by no means the most powerful or even cool creature. What you should know about him is people say "Cthulhu Ftagn" to cheer for him, he is currently sleeping in the sunken city of R'lyeh, will arise when the stars are right, and is commonly thought to look like this.

 

People really like him.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Okay so you guys already may be skeptical but let me start off by saying I understand that the second texas chainsaw massacre is by no means a good or well made movie. No you won't find any life changing moments with in the confines of this film but it doesn't stop it from being great fun to watch (assuming you like b horror). I want you to look at the films poster above. What do you see? Well yes to start off it is Dennis Hopper which is great to begin with but keep looking. You'll notice that he has not one but two chainsaws. If the picture showed you what was to his right you would see yet another chainsaw. Do you understand what that means? Dennis Hopper goes in with three chainsaws. Three. He DUAL WIELDS chainsaws during a CHAINSAW FIGHT with Leatherface.

I'm not joking.

He's not going in calmly in the name of everything good in the world either. He is not happy with the situation that has arisen and he want's everyone to know it.

Seriously.

 

This is one the first people in a horror movie to say to hell with it and just come in fully strapped to take care of business. So yeah don't mess with Dennis Hopper. Wait what was I supposed to be talking about?

 

And who was the bad guy again?

Trueblood

Just spent the majority of mothers day having a Trueblood marathon. Now this show definitely isn't for everyone even those already interested the supernatural. Because of movies and books like Twilight recently anything to do with vampires is just immediately uninteresting.  Do not let this deter you from at least trying this show. I will admit there is a significant amount of the vampire human romanticism but it is always taken in a much more real and enjoyable light. Aside from the relations between characters the main drive in the story actually comes from usually very cool and action filled plot lines. To top it off a lot of the situations call for deep moral questions having to do with religion, ignorance and intolerance. Like I said definitely worth checking out.

Call of Cthulhu

For anyone who is into H.P. Lovecraft or roleplaying games this is definitely something you don't want to look over. It's like dungeons and dragons meets scooby-doo meets Lovecraft. This is what I spent my friday night doing and I am only slightly embarrassed by it. Typically the game is played as an investigative survival horror. In each scenario the investigators (players) somehow are lured into investigations of all kinds usually ending with a run in with one of the many creatures of the cthulhu mythos. Personally my friends and I play it with a much heavier comedy element most likely due to the fact that the players can literally do anything physically possible.

Also for the people who aren't familiar with H.P. Lovecraft I highly recommend reading some of his short stories. He was a horror/science fiction writer and is considered one of the most influential in the genre. Many many things in modern day fiction actually originate from his stories, the Necronomicon being a good example. I'm sure all have more to say on him and the cthulhu mythos in the future.

If you learn one thing from stopping by this blog it should be this. Watch this movie. Insidious is currently out in theaters and whether you love it or hate it is definitely worth a watch. The first half plays like your standard run of the mill haunted house film but somewhere in the middle the whole atmosphere of the film takes a sharp turn. It's done in a style that I've wanted to see for a very long time. Sadly I can't tell you much without ruining it but what I can say is you should definitely watch this movie.

Starting Out

Hey I'm not very good at this kind of thing but hoping to get better. I plan on making this blog not so much about myself but as a place to share all of the various things I like, in part so I can keep track of them myself. Some of you may already know me but I hope that those who don't at least read through to give me a chance. The first real post will be up soon.