Spanish filmmaker José Luis Alemán is engaged in a multi-part Lovecraft-inspired film series that was begun in 2010 with the release of La herencia Valdemar, aka The Valdemar Legacy. Made for an estimated €13,000,000 [approx. US$19 million by today's conversion rate], the film was unique in its country of origin in being the first movie in Spanish cinema history made without Spanish government subsidies. I’m not sure what the real significance of this is, but it certainly sounds significant. It was also the last film of Jacinto Molina Álvarez — better known as Paul Naschy — legendary Spanish horror film actor whose career spanned five decades, years in which he either played or came up against just about every horror icon you can name, from Frankenstein, Dracula and the Devil to werewolves, vampires and worshipers of Satan (including zombie cows and cybernetic killer rottweilers).

La herencia Valdemar [aka The Valdemar Legacy] (Spain-2010; dir. José Luis Alemán)

Synopsis:

Luisa Llorente, an expert on taxation assessment of old properties, had recently gone to the Victorian mansion Valdemar to conduct an inventory of property ownership. After she mysteriously disappeared, Maximilian, president of her company, engaged the services of a private detective to help find her. But soon they will discover that hers is not the first disappearance at Valdemar mansion. (IMDb)

How is all this relevant to Lovercraft, you may ask? Well, it seems that amongst the items set for inventory is a certain volume known to all dabblers in Lovecraftian lore — an ancient grimoire written by the Mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred, a book known as the Necronomicon.

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As everything is in Spanish, it’s hard to elucidate the details, but it’s clear that being “inspired by the Universe of H.P. Lovecraft” and featuring an old ancestral house, mysterious disappearances, the dead rising and the Necronomicon, sooner or later the Great Old Ones will be putting in an appearance. Meanwhile, the character list alone is suggestive. It includes such real-world luminaries as Lissie Borden (New England’s most notorious alleged female hatchet killer), Aleister Crowley (the infamous occultist and ceremonial magician) and Bram Stoker (author of the novel Dracula).

One thing leads to another and the result is Part 2 or La herencia Valdemar II: La sombra prohibida [aka The Valdemar Legacy II: The Forbidden Shadow], in which an Old Friend arises.

Yes, it’s the Great [or Dread] Cthulhu – he of the tentacled face, widespread wings and grumpy post-sleep attitude.

Part 2 is a direct continuation of The Valdemar Legacy, with Lovecraftian tendencies reaching climactic proportions, as obsession with the Book takes over, causing Cthulhu to rise and finally put his foot down.

Trailer:

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Apparently the release of the film involved a museum-like display of the film’s props and unique sets. Here are the principals on display (with director-José-Luis-Alemán on the far right):

Attendees could even have their picture taken with Cthulhu himself, as potentially soul-destroying as that may be:

There have been rumours that The Valdemar Legacy will be released in the US sometime in 2011. I hope so, because as Lovecraft films go, these look like they may be up there with the best of them.

See the Gallery below for images and alternative poster art. And though it’s in Spanish, it’s worth clicking your way through the official website (and persevering with slowish download times, depending on available bandwidth) for the great imagery.

• Sources: Official website; Facebook page; YouTube channel; Dread Central. Research: Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood.
• For more on Lovecraft in cinema, see the Backbrain article Tentacles, Ancient Whispers and Monstrous Gods.

Gallery:

This one comes courtesy of Daniel Lenneér, who previously brought you the Jules Verne pastiche, Vågbrytare [aka “The Wavebreakers”] (Sweden-2009; short [14:30 min.]) — see this Backbrain article for details.

The new film’s called Terror from the Abyss [aka Fasan Från Avgrunden] and is 11:56 min. in length, filmed in black-and-white in the style of a silent film of the ’20s. This particular retro approach to Lovecraftian filmaking was popularised by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society’s The Call of Cthulhu (US-2005; dir. Andrew Leman) — and it works here, too.

Terror from the Abyss is more light-hearted and somewhat tongue-in-cheek, filled with cute animated Elder Beings and Shoggoths, but the ending in particular is a doozy. Richard Svensson (“The Lone Animator”) is responsible for the “blasphemous” claymation and Stefan Harrysson for transfforming the footage into a 1920s silent film style using “glorious” post-production techniques. It stars Lenneér and his oft-collaborator Christopher Johansson.

Says Lenneér: “To bring life to Lovecraft’s strange visions, the film uses mixed techniques like green screen compositing, cut-outs, and clay animation. The production took place in Sweden during 2009-2010.”

Images:

• Leneer’s website
• Millroad Production’s website
• Research: Avery Guerra  |  Written by Robert Hood

So here are some highlights from the news I’ve become aware of. I’m sure there would be other snippets if I’d been paying more attention.

The Avengers

I’m loving the new generation of Marvel Universe films, especially as they start to interact with each other. Comic Con saw the introduction of the cast of the in-production Avengers film (due in 2012). As pictured below, this includes Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Clark Clegg as SHIELD Agent Coulson, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo replacing Ed Norton as Bruce Banner, the Hulk’s human alter-ego. The two on the end are director Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. [Picture via Big Shiny Robot. Click on it to see it larger.]

The mere involvement of Joss Whedon in this project is excitement enough for me.

Here is the cast being introduced at Comic Con:

Thor

During the past few days, the following extended footage from the Thor film appeared. [Drat! The following trailer has been removed by the copyright owners already. Sorry. If you didn't see it, you're out of luck -- at least for a while.]

Addendum: But be quick and you can still see it here.

Here’s some of the cast (and director Kenneth Branagh) talking about the showing, at least:

For me, getting Thor right was always going to be the hardest sell, as in many ways it is the franchise that fits least, aesthetically, with the current Marvel films from X-Men on. Still, as little like the colourfully Norwegian characters drawn by Jack Kirby and friends the Asgardians here appear to be, the new designs are on the right track, I think. It always seemed to me that the Asgardians in Thor were Norse gods, yes, but not actually Norse or Gods. Here they come over as what they always were — a powerful alien race from a different dimension, who in the past were worshipped as gods by the Vikings. No reason why their appearance shouldn’t reflect different times and world-views.

Godzilla

Legendary Pictures’ announced reboot of Godzilla as a US franchise has been exciting kaiju fans into a frenzy of speculation for some time now. The general desperation to learn what the new Godzilla will look and act like — driven by the hope, so far supported by studio statements, that the creative crew (whoever they will be) will avoid the franchise-killing missteps taken by Emmerich in his 1998 Godzilla (whatever you thought of it as a giant monster flick) — is the prime mover in the speculation.

At Comic Con a t-shirt purporting to be a promotional item for Legendary’s Godzilla made an appearance and for a while seemed to provide extra reason to hope for the best. It bore the following image:

Perfect, eh? Exactly what we want in our Big G. But while the t-shirts turned out to be genuine promotional items, the image used has not been confirmed as actual concept art. Made by Talking Dog Studios, of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada — using “Augmented Reality” technology that causes smoke to appear from the image on the t-shirt when viewed via webcams with the appropriate app — the t-shirt event was meant to introduce the production rather than illustrate the design of it. Presumably this image (which some have claimed was taken from an old model kit) is at least indicative of Legendary’s aesthetic approach, so to that degree is a positive sign.

Here’s what fans saw when they stood in front of the camera at the Talking Dog display while wearing the t-shirt:

Avery Guerra points out that you can get the same effect by downloading and printing off the PDF of the image and holding it in front of your webcam while connecting to the Talking Dog website.

Interestingly Todd Tennant has pointed out a distinct connection between this image of Godzilla and the conceptual artwork drawn by Mark “Crash” McCreery for the unmade 1994 US Godzilla (see Undead Backbrain article).

Source: Ken Hulsey and Todd Tennant

At the Mountains of Madness

For some time director Guillermo del Toro has been talking of wanting to film his own version of H.P. Lovecraft’s longest Cthulhu tale, “At the Mountains of Madness” — and that’s another prospect that has excited my over-stimulated nerdish soul for some time. Well, at Comic Con he announced that the project would be going into production soon. The film will apparently be a “big ticket item” made for Universal Pictures in that wretched 3D I’m well-and-truly over.

Illustrations from publication in Astounding Stories, Feb 1936 (Source)

Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness”, set in the 1930s, concerns a geological expedition to the South Pole that discovers the remains of a vast dead city pre-dating the first appearance of humanity on Earth. Naturally the explorers’ incursion into the ruins results in the awakening of an assortment of servile shoggoths and perhaps the Elder Gods themselves. Horror, tentacles and inter-dimensional madness results.

A Shoggoth, possibly by T.J. Frame (Source)

Since then it has been revealed that James Cameron is on board as producer, which apparently was the selling point for Universal and at least gives hope that the 3D will be done properly (deadline.com).

Del Toro’s dark, quirky imagination is Lovecraftain at the best of times. His In the Mountains of Madness could prove to be the best — and certainly the biggest budgeted — Lovecraft adaptation ever.

Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage

This exciting fantasy film — inspired by the Sinbad films of the great stop-motion SFX animator Ray Harryhausen — was featured on Undead Backbrain yesterday. Go read about it there.

Future Fighters

Future Fighters is a big live-action mecha epic — full of space battles, giant robots and, as seems inevitable these days, 3D thrills. We featured it on Undead Backbrain last June, and now, in a press release issued for Comic Con, British producer Guy Orlebar has announced that Korean director/producer of the original 1986 animated Transformers movie Nelson Shin will be directing, with Hong Kong director Ken Siu (The Forbidden Kingdom, Fearless, Rush Hour) as Assistant Director.

There’s more, which I’ll be putting into a follow-up post. Stay tuned.

Is all that exciting enough?

• Written by Robert Hood

When Randolph Carter was thirty he lost the key of the gate of dreams. Prior to that time he had made up for the prosiness of life by nightly excursions to strange and ancient cities beyond space, and lovely, unbelievable garden lands across ethereal seas; but as middle age hardened upon him he felt these liberties slipping away little by little, until at last he was cut off altogether. (From “The Silver Key” by H.P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels, Arkham House edition, 1964)

Due in 2010 is a short film based on “The Silver Key” (1926), in which Carter finds his way back into the Dreamlands via a chthonian cave and a silver key:

… for in its cryptical arabesques there may stand symbolised all the aims and mysteries of a blindly impersonal cosmos.

The Silver Key [US-2010; short; dir. Gary Fierro)

Clip:

Another sleep-related short Lovecraft film, this one just released, is based on the story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" (see A Lovecraftian Invasion 2: The Sleeping Deep). Shot in what the creators describe as "a neo-noir style and with nods to B movie chillers, Twilight Zone and Universal Horror", it takes a "fresh look into the inventive mind of one of the masters of horror". Apparently it even features Lloyd Kaufman, head of notorious B-film horror studio Troma Films.

Beyond the Wall of Sleep (US-2009; short [34 min]; dir. Nathan Fisher)

Synopsis:

When a new patient arrives at the asylum Dr. Kaufman must attempt to find the source of his violent madness. Joe Slater has suffered his entire life from strange fits upon awakening, ranting and screaming to the heavens. When Joe murders a neighbor in the throes of one of his attacks he comes under the care of the one man who may be able to discover what lies beyond the wall of sleep… (hplfilmfestival.com)

Trailer:

An official selection of the 2009 H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Beyond the Wall of Sleep stars Greg Cannon, Jason Finley, Lloyd Kaufman, Gia Bathory, and Stacey Dixon, with original music by Doctor Gonzo, Cuttlefish, Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre. The script was adapted from the H. P. Lovecraft story by Nathan Fisher.

Major Dream Sequence, featuring Lloyd Kaufman and a very Cthulhan mask:

Here’s an earlier version, feature-length this time.

Beyond the Wall of Sleep (US-2006; dir. Barrett J. Leigh and Thom Maurer)

You can watch the title sequence here. In fact, the whole film is available on YouTube, in 8 Parts. It begins here.

• Sources: Unfilmable.com; the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival website; IMDb
• Previous Entry: A Lovecraftian Invasion 2: The Sleeping Deep

Muckman’s looking pretty damn awesome here!

The inner Muckman emerges!

• Sources: Brett Piper’s website; Fearzone.com (where you can read Piper’s diary of the shoot); thanks to Avery Battles.

The Casting Call of Cthulhu (Canada-2008; short [9:17 min.]; dir. Joseph Nanni)

Synopsis:

During a casting session for a film based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft, a director, mildly familiar with themes of weird fiction, works his way through a series of minor monsters auditioning for the role of Cthulhu. But sometimes you get more than you expected.

And by the same crew, an advertisement for Elder Sign “for those who suffer from an overwhelming sense of dread brought on by the realization of your own insignificance in the universe“:

Now three films directed by Paula Haifley.

The Cold Call of Cthulhu — in which Cthulhu, having risen from his ancient sleep, has acquired a job in telemarketing:

Researching the Call of Cthulhu — in which Cthulhu, who met a girl that he really liked at a nightclub the night before, practices calling her so that when it comes to the crunch he can impress her…

The Call of Cthulhu — in this case made at the end of a less than successful blind date:

Finally, there’s Calls of Cthulhu (US-1996; dir. Brand Gramblin) — the network chat show!

Synopsis:

This comedic send up of H.P. Lovecraft’s master work, “Call of Cthulhu” takes the main character (Cthulhu, an alien god, bent on the destruction of man in an orgy of chaotic destruction) and presents it as a fluffy puppet who is running his own call-in show. People call in to ask for relationship advice, farming suggestions, and cooking tips. The answer, more often than not, is a foaming rant confirming for the caller that Cthulhu will one day swallow their souls. (IMDb)

• Episode One:

• Episode Two:

• Episode Three:

See Brand Gamblin’s YouTube Channel for more.

And here, for those who are still with us, is a story of my own. Not a film. Sorry.

The Call of Cthulhu’s Mum:

Psychiatrists reckon our behaviour as adults originates in the deep past. I spent many a dismal evening with that old fart Abdul Alhazred while he babbled on about his miserable childhood, citing exposure to the alchemical substances his father smoked as the cause of his persistent hallucinations regarding the nature of reality. Alchemical substances! Low-grade horse shit more like! No wonder he has such a dodgy grasp on reality. Have you read that crap he wrote in the Necronomicon? Half of it is subtextual drivel regurgitated straight from my granny’s recipe scrapbook! (The scrapbook disappeared after a visit he made once, but granny only noticed a few days later when she went to the kitchen to cook up her family-favourite Tuna and Cheese Manicotti. Sure enough, the recipe turned up on page 254 of the Necronomicon as a spell to incarnate Dagon! That’s why the Deep One’s always so pissed off when anyone drags him into the world; he can’t abide tuna. “Too much like eatin’ my second cousin,” he told me once. “Have you seen my second cousin?”)

Clearly there’s some truth in the claim that childhood trauma forms the basis of latter-day attitudes, though. I was only a youngster of maybe 14 winters when I first heard the Call of Cthulhu’s Mum. The gut-quivering roar of it echoed across the jagged landscape of our neighbourhood like Yog-Sothoth on a bender: “Cthulhu! Dinner’s on!” Trees shook, mountains trembled, and profound pits of darkness began to reconsider their lifelong aversion to silence.

Read it all.

• Thanks to Kaiju Search-Robot Avery for his help in compiling the festival program.

Some scepticism about their motives has been expressed by the Lovecraftian Society of Arkham but spokesdemon Yog-Sothoth has denied the claim that they are merely intending to subvert the next generation of humans by “educating” them at an early age. “I love children,” he said. “We all love children. Bugg-Shash frequently takes a picnic-basket of them on rambles in the bush, Ythogtha, the Thing in the Pit, likes nothing better than to play peek-a-boo and Nyogtha has run guided tours of the nether depths for centuries. He loves showing kiddies the ropes.”

But do the Great Old Ones have the expertise to take care of young humans.

“Are you kidding?” Yog-Sothoth exclaimed. “Dagon will hold swimming classes, Ithaqua will show them how to walk on the wind, Yibb-Tstll, the Watcher in the Glade, will teach them patience, and Cthugha, the Burning One, will introduce the delicious little darlings to fire safety. Ammutseba, Devourer of Stars, will be in charge of the catering, Arwassa will take care of any wailing that is deemed necessary, and Cthulhu… well, he’ll handle Sleepytime — he’s good with kids [see picture above of the Master of R'lyeh cuddling a little one]. Gol-goroth will do something or other, but I’ve forgotten what.”

Apparently Zvilpogghua, otherwise known as Ossadagowah, will be taking elocution classes, teaching the kids how to pronounce difficult names, and Othuyeg, the Doom Walker, will be organising nature hikes.

“There’s a lot of us,” Yog-Sothoth added, “so everyone will be able to bring something to the feast.”

Source of picture: Dark Roasted Blend. Go have a look and check out some other pretty scary playgrounds while you’re at it.

Call of Cthulhu’s Mum

Psychiatrists reckon our behaviour as adults originates in the deep past. I spent many a dismal evening with that old fart Abdul Alhazred while he babbled on about his miserable childhood, citing exposure to the alchemical substances his father smoked as the cause of his persistent hallucinations regarding the nature of reality. Alchemical substances! Low-grade horse shit more like! No wonder he has such a dodgy grasp on reality. Have you read that crap he wrote in the Necronomicon? Half of it is subtextual drivel regurgitated straight from my granny’s recipe scrapbook! (The scrapbook disappeared after a visit he made once, but granny only noticed a few days later when she went to the kitchen to cook up her family-favourite Tuna and Cheese Manicotti. Sure enough, the recipe turned up on page 254 of the Necronomicon as a spell to incarnate Dagon! That’s why the Deep One’s always so pissed off when anyone drags him into the world; he can’t abide tuna. “Too much like eatin’ my second cousin,” he told me once. “Have you seen my second cousin?”)

Clearly there’s some truth in the claim that childhood trauma forms the basis of latter-day attitudes, though. I was only a youngster of maybe 14 winters when I first heard the Call of Cthulhu’s Mum. The gut-quivering roar of it echoed across the jagged landscape of our neighbourhood like Yog-Sothoth on a bender: “Cthulhu! Dinner’s on!” Trees shook, mountains trembled, and profound pits of darkness began to reconsider their lifelong aversion to silence.

Read the full “Call of Cthulhu’s Mum” here.

This is the cover of a long-running American fanzine, Crypt of Cthulhu. The artist is the magazine’s original editor, Robert M. Price.

The picture comes courtesy of Leigh Blackmore, who unearthed it from his vast archive of genre material.