Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown

H.P. Lovecraft is an influential American horror writer. In 1893, his father goes insane and eventually dies from syphilis. His mother Sarah would smother her only child to a disturbing level. The Lovecrafts are an old English family. His maternal grandfather is a wealthy industrialist who encouraged him to read. His weak nature kept him out of school much of the time. His loneliness and insecurities fostered by his mother led him to a warped imagination of a disturbing hidden world of horrors. His grandfather dies and family fortune is lost. He falls further into isolation and depression only to be rescued by his pulp writings. His amateur journalism reveals a xenophobia but garners a loyal following. This allows his disturbing tales with an overwrought baroque style to be printed. He would struggle financially throughout his life.

This is a functional biopic detailing Lovecraft's life. It's laid out in a straight forward manner with narration. There are lots of talking heads with a few recognizable faces. This is a traditional doc that is on the lower budget level. This is fine for the general public and a good overall view for fans.

I'm not a fan of documentaries, but this one I just had to see. A documentary about Lovecraft, the father of modern horror, from the corner of the great names of the genre, such as Nile Gaiman, one of my favorite writers, then Peter Straub, who collaborated with Stephen King on the "Talisman" novel, directors by Guillermo del Toro, Stuart Gordon and John Carpenter, and others. Technically, the film is well-made, combining a narrative about the life and work of H.P. Lovecraft, with interviews with the aforementioned giants, as well as with movies, music and paintings inspired by Lovecraft. The film has a good pace and at no time is it boring, but it is essentially quite basic and made primarily for the people who know little or nothing about this legend. Although I only got some new information about Lovecraft's biography, while I did not find out anything new about his work, I enjoyed listening to my favorite writers and directors talking about Lovecraft with love. Recommendation.

7/10

I saw this movie on Fantaspoa/2009. I was anxious to see it, as I am a Lovecraft fan, but I have to admit I got disappointed with this movie. Little information on it was new to me. In my opinion, this was a shallow documentary. It gives only an overview on the works that influenced him, and it covers a bit of his work. It tells more about his life and his career, even though not complete, and missing some points that I consider important. And it gives you some notion of his influence in other artists (writers, musicians, painters), with some testimonials. This really is a documentary for people who know nothing or very little of the author. But you should have read some of his stories, so that you know what this film is talking about when it mentions some characters/monsters. Considering that the books I've already read always tell a bit about his life, assuming those who read Lovecraft also read a little about his life/work/career, I guess this documentary doesn't add much.

On the good side, technically this documentary is very good. It doesn't get boring. Displaying places, narrating his life, and mixing that with the testimonials and images of his monsters as imagined by different artists, it keeps a good flow. It really is a professional work.

Unfortunately, if you've ever read anything about Lovecraft's life, this documentary will probably end up leaving you wanting something a bit more in depth. For one thing, the Wikipedia entry on Lovecraft is actually quite good. It covers everything that this documentary covers, and you get the benefit of seeing citations. The interviews aren't really all that great, but you do get to hear some interesting people talk about a subject that interests them. If you're watching this documentary, then you probably share that same interest.

Unlike some other reviewers, I'm not sure that this is a good introduction to Lovecraft. The documentary assumes that you have at least passing familiarity with each story, though it usually does give a very brief synopsis. I would have preferred that they had either gone much more in depth, with actual literary criticism (they had S.T. Joshi there, after all) or done more of a beginner's introduction.

In the end, I can't really recommend this for either beginners or fanatics. It occupies an awkward middle ground: those who have read the stories but don't really know much about Lovecraft. Thus, I recommend it mostly for the interviews. One of the interviewees is a complete ass, going on some rant about "islamofascism" in the middle of the documentary. I can't believe they left that in, yet they barely got any comments at all from John Carpenter. And this is right after going on about the Lovecraft's xenophobia and racism. Amazing.

Fantastic documentary for anyone looking to learn a little more about Lovecraft. Steller choices of interviewees from filmmakers such as John Carpenter and Stuart Gordon to horror literary icons such as Ramsey Campbell and Peter Straub, and of course the ultimate Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi.

Highly recommended.