Crampton is able to come a long way from being the horror movie blond she was a year prior, showing agency and control. After graduating from Lane Technical High School, Gordon worked as a commercial artist apprentice prior to enrolling at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Though to the film’s credit, Crampton is able to save herself by the end and be the lone-survivor of the horrific ordeal. Still able to control his own body, despite no attachment, Hill knocks out West, steals the serum, kidnaps Megan, and enslaves the Dean as his Igor; two egotistical, mad scientists who don’t realize how inept they are. Like his friend and … From Beyond is also true to Lovecraft's prose in a basic sense, but adds many more characters and plot turns, and a lot more sexual content. Two scientists, a narrator, and a man named Crawford Tillinghast, are testing a device, the Resonator, which stimulates the brain’s pineal gland through electronic waves. Acting as a pseudo-sequel to the short story, the film comes into its own with Barbara Crampton’s Dr. Katherine McMichaels as a psychiatrist assigned to Tillinghast and the only one vouching for his innocence. Really the only actor matching Combs in terms of ham is David Gale; he’s lecherous and over-confident, probably having too much fun. Even so, the game… the villain’s plans. Needless to say, the experiment is a success and the two realities merge, but the narrator destroys the machine, killing Tillinghast. In the early 1980s, Gordon went to California to pursue movie making. Originally, Gordon was attached to direct, for Disney, but dropped out due to the stress of the Mouse’s demands, and was even in early talks to direct a young Johnny Depp in. Gordon’s campy magnum opus is an experience that demands to be on every horror fan’s radar. Gordon brought back his Dagon star Ezra Godden to play the lead and actually kept this one closer to the original text than any of them. That’ll show’em. We’re able to see so many varieties of monsters taking on the likenesses of sea creatures and reptilian bats. Castle Freak combines elements of two Lovecraft stories, The Outsider and Rats in the Walls. specifically Dr. Edward Pretorius. West transfers from the University of Zurich to the eponymous Miskatonic University after an attempt to re-animate his professor, Hans Gruber, goes haywire and he’s accused of murder. Along with them, Barbara Crampton plays Megan Halsey, the daughter of Miskatonic’s dean, and the girlfriend of Cain. Gordon would use the stories as a jumping-off point to craft tales so strange, that they sometimes defied explanation. Continue scrolling to keep reading Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Gordon, Paoli, and their frequent producer, Brian Yuzna, take the concept of the original short story and turn it into a college comedy meets. Upon realizing the creatures within are aware of the two, and hostile, Tillinghast abandons the power-mad Pretorius in the attic lab where his head is devoured by one of the creatures. Michael Kennedy is an avid movie and TV fan that's been working for Screen Rant in various capacities since 2014. Votes: 17,268. In that time, Michael has written over 2000 articles for the site, first working solely as a news writer, then later as a senior writer and associate news editor. There’s the villainous professor at odds with the rebellious new kid, a prank that goes wrong, expulsion, and an explosive finale. Sadly, Gordon passed away in 2020 at the age of 72. West rationally reacts by decapitating Hill with a shovel and tries to re-animate the head. Re-Animator (also known as H. P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator) is a 1985 American comedy horror film loosely based on the 1922 H. P. Lovecraft serial novelette "Herbert West–Reanimator". Click the button below to start this article in quick view. during the third act. In time, Alex will pursue his Master’s in screenwriting. on Sunday nights on the Chiller Network. It’s the. A Spanish production, the story's setting is moved to Spain, lending a decidedly different look and feel to Dagon when compared to Gordon's prior Lovecraft adaptations. Yet Gordon, and his co-writer, Dennis Paoli, kept coming back for more. A special shoutout has to be made to Pretorius, the best villain in these films. The experiment is a success and the “beyond” is shown. Stuart Gordon. Alex Ayres is filmmaker and writer based in Atlanta, GA. An avid genre fan overall, he started his love of horror at age 13, diving head first down the rabbit hole and has not looked, Ranking Stuart Gordon’s Lovecraft Saga {Part 1}. This is the best (so far) adaptation of a specific Lovecraft story, based on the combination of 'Dagon' and 'Shadow Over Innsmouth'. The same year, he directed the remake and more graphic version of The Pit and the Pendulum (1991). It may not be an exploitation classic in the same league as Re-Animator and From Beyond, but it captures the essence of Lovecraft almost perfectly. Fast-forwarding about a decade, 1995's Castle Freak reunited Gordon with Combs and Crampton and is the loosest adaptation Gordon did of Lovecraft. Gordon brought over the majority of his cast and crew of. More: Why The Re-Animator Movies Deserve Remakes. Corporate copyright manipulation in recent decades has ensured that almost nothing of note becomes public domain anymore, but that's a topic for another time. Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Ezra Godden, Francisco Rabal, Raquel Meroño, Macarena Gómez. Not scared by abuse of authority, Cain and West sneak into the morgue to reanimate one of the stiffs on site to prove the theory works. After his initial success with Re-Animator, Stuart Gordon returned to the work of H.P. Related: Every Re-Animator Movie Ranked, Worst to Best. Combs is perfectly cast, playing the role he was born to play and hasn’t really stopped playing since (not that we’re complaining). Did Halloween 2's Jimmy Survive The Movie Or Not? Among his other movies were two further Lovecraft adaptations, Castle Freak (1995) and Dagon (2001), as well as the boisterous, irreverent adventure … The works of H.P. , the film goes all out with its creature effects, designed by the late John Carl Buechler. Some of these filmmakers included Don Coscarelli, John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, and of course, Stuart Gordon. Perhaps for these reasons Re-Animator is one of the best and most well-known Lovecraft adaptation, it transfers from a schlocky series of short stories to 80s splatter flick quite smoothly. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. Like Re-Animator, lots of great practical effects work is on display. Directed by Stuart Gordon and produced by Brian Yuzna, the film stars Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, a medical student who has invented a reagent which can re-animate deceased bodies. Alex Ayres is filmmaker and writer based in Atlanta, GA. An avid genre fan overall, he started his love of horror at age 13, diving head first down the rabbit hole and has not looked back since.A graduate of the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a BA in film and creative writing, Alex has a steady background in screenwriting, having written multiple short and feature screenplays. His most recent screenplay 6/09 has been accepted into various film festivals and writing competitions around the country, winning best comedy at the Austin After Dark Film Fest in 2019. The film starred Jeffrey Combs as Dr. Herbert West, a man obsessed with overcoming death, who goes to terrifying and sometimes hysterical lengths to prove his theories true. Over his career, Gordon directed five films based on Lovecraft. Making film and teaching film is a life-long goal that he’s going the distance with.Alex was a volunteer with HorrOrigins during its inaugural film festivaland is excited to participate further in curating a gruesome and fun time for Fright-Knights and Ghouls. "Both of my parents were born in Chicago and so was I. I did theater in Chicago for many years. Gordon's last feature film adaptation of a Lovecraft story, Dagon is, confusingly, actually based on Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth, rather than the Lovecraft story actually titled Dagon. TRIGGER WARNING if needed! This was a gateway for me to explore the works of filmmakers I would come to find entertainment and influence from. Most recently, Michael helped launch Screen Rant's new horror section, and is now the lead staff writer when it comes to all things frightening. As one might imagine, Lovecraft's version didn't involve a disembodied head with a taste for coeds. Adapted from the H.P. Lovecraft on several occasions throughout his career : he … However, the corpse they perform the test on is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stand-in on. The Dean, being sane, but easily angered, promptly expels West and orders Cain to cease communication or suffer the same fate. That definitely wasn't the case when it came to Stuart Gordon's Lovecraft adaptations. Gordon’s Lovecraft Saga shows his evolution as a director, as well as his ability to work with the budgets set before him. with Jeffery Combs in his breakout role as West, able to chew the scenery like he’s never eaten before, but still take himself more seriously than anyone else. Stuart Gordon loves H.P. , though a financial flop upon release, is a neon purple drug trip that deserves a wider audience. Once the plot of returning to Pretorius’ home is set in place, the Gordon train rounds out with Ken Foree affectionately named Detective Bubba Brownlee (not everything ages well). Jeffrey Combs stars, in what would become his signature role, as mad scientist Herbert West, with Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, and David Gale playing other major roles. Lovecraft are a popular subject for adaptation into horror movies, but no one did them better than late director Stuart Gordon. They’re both pretty reactionary as characters, with Crampton pretty much just showing up to be horrified and later subjected to. While most of us are familiar with Gordon through his work in horror, specifically his H.P. Of all director Stuart Gordon’s Lovecraft films, Dagon feels the most genuinely Lovecraftian. John Waters once claimed that even if he took nothing else away from high-school English, he learned the term "shock value." Diverting from the original serialized story, the adaptation takes a wackier, almost farcical approach to a mad scientist story. With its stunning box office success, RE-ANIMATOR became the first of a series of Lovecraft inspired films utilizing screenplays by longtime writing partner Dennis Paoli. One of those 80's horror films made for under a million. The second film was Fangoria and Full Moon Picture's Castle Freak, a remake of the Stewart Gordon film of the same name. Both aim to be the start of a new shared universe of Lovecraftian horror. While Gordon had previously directed a made-for-TV film titled Bleacher Bums, Re-Animator–based on Lovecraft’s “Herbert West, Re-Animator”– was his first big screen venture. If it wasn’t for all the body horror, this could have had National Lampoon stamped on it. Combs and Crampton are given ample screen time to over-act, with Combs’ Tillinghast equally succumbing to madness and mutation. The film is based mainly on Lovecraft's classic The Shadow Over Innsmouth (but takes bits from elsewhere). Lovecraft. This is based on The Outsider and really leans heavy on horror to make this a great movie. Gordon co-created the story for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) a major hit for Disney. Stuart Gordon's fifth and final H.P. He leaves behind a filmography many horror fans adore, and a knack for getting the most out of Lovecraft. I mean, the effects have to be top notch because they still managed to liquidate the budget before filming was complete. In 1985, Gordon … Any actor committed to an ever-increasing amount of prosthetics deserves more commonality. West transfers schools like nothing happened, and we accept it. It was unapologetically provocative and successful enough that producer Brian Yuzna continued the series in his own directing career. https://hellhorror.com/article/10184/Top-10-HP-Lovecraftian-Movies.html It was apparently effective enough back in the day that David Gale’s wife allegedly divorced him for participating. A long-term member of the Screen Rant family, Michael looks forward to continuing on creating new content for the site for many more years to come. His short screenplay Soup’s On is currently in early stages of pre-production.When not spent hunched over at his laptop on his third cup of coffee, Alex works as a non-union set worker on various productions in Atlanta, primarily as a Set PA, 2nd AC, Boom-Op, and Extra. Gordon would, of course, return to Lovecraft properly throughout his career. As an adaptation, the film brings the entirety of the seven page story to life before the opening credits even role. It’s still an effectively disturbing scene that goes just far enough before pulling the punch. Lovecraft stories are notoriously difficult to bring to the screen; but bless Stuart Gordon for trying! One side effect of Lovecraft being so widely adapted though is that it can be challenging for directors to really make their own mark on the material. … A FL native, Michael is passionate about pop culture, and earned an AS degree in film production in 2012. Lovecraft story Herbert West-Reanimator, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator is a wonderful, gory, low budget horror film that brings back the idea of a mad scientist in spectacular fashion, while mixing in the black comedy that makes this kind of movie so enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately, Abbott and Crampton aren’t given much to do in this film. Each one was a different, maddening beast, much like the elder gods that would drive any other filmmaker insane. BBC's Supernatural Series Explained (Is There Any Link To CW's Show? ), Every H.P. The works of H.P. Dir. Riding high off of the commercial success of, along with ten other projects to be released in 1986. All the latest gaming news, game reviews and trailers. When I was first getting into horror, I discovered reruns of Showtime’s. It’s safe to say that so far this is the most of Lovecraft’s adaptations helmed by one director. Amusingly, the film was born when Gordon noticed a concept poster for the idea in the office of Full Moon's Charles Band, who let Gordon do what he wanted with the project as long as there was a castle and a freak. shines as an example of the genre, rolling with its imperfections and 24 gallons of blood to spare. Spiral Killer Identity & Ending Explained [In Detail], The Man Who Trained Batman Just Returned To DC Comics, Stephen King: Every Skeleton Crew Story Adapted So Far, Angelina Jolie & Medina Senghore Interview: Those Who Wish Me Dead, Sharon Stone Not Happy About New Basic Instinct Director’s Cut. Related: Lovecraft Country Season 1 Finale: Every Major Reveal & Ending Twist Explained. Despite being an original edition, the underrated Ted Sorel crafts a naturally slimy, almost Bond-like villain, even before the physical form dies. This week we hear from movie and theater director and writer, Stuart Gordon: "I came to Los Angeles to direct a movie, 'Re-Animator.' The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. https://www.looper.com/235410/the-best-movies-based-on-h-p-lovecraft-stories Lovecraft are a popular subject for adaptation into horror movies, but no one did them better than late director Stuart Gordon. Still, recognizable, but free to use IP is always attractive to movie studios. A one-stop shop for all things video games. So, to honor the madman, instead of picking a standout, I’ll discuss all five entries. 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