What are your favorite H.P. Lovecraft adaptations?

[Ibrahim]

Does it have to be film?

Just read a compilation of three of Gou Tanabe's adaptations in translation, published by dark horse. Lovely atmospheres. The action is indecipherable to me, though. ( Personally i can't get used to reading the text from left to right and the layout from right to left, it feels like listening to two songs of varying rhythm played simultaneously. )

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

What put me off about that was the art looked traced from 3d models.

[Mr. Veech]

I would say the original Alien is up there.

[Zaharoff]

I noticed comments about Dagon.
Over at FanEdit, one of the members has been working to turn that into a Silent film for a couple years now.
I prod him from time to time, but I am apparently the only member who is interested in his edit. I will post an update if he ever finishes.

Arkham Studios released a trailer for The Shadow Over Innsmouth in 2015.
I'll believe it when I see it.

Arkham Cinema - YouTube

Finally, as no one else mentioned Prometheus, I must confess I liked parts of it quite a bit. Other parts, not so much.
That said, an individual did rework it, removing all the stupidity.
Without violating rules, I can provide the trailer.

Prometheus Special Edition - Trailer - An Agent 9 FanEdit - YouTube

Hopefully the Lovecraft Country show is good, though it's sure to rankle many in the community for its emphasis on black people. I wish Jordan 'Get Out' Peele were showrunning, but at least he seems to have some role in production.

I thought Prometheus, despite stupid moments, was an alright film and much better than its sequel.

[Masonwire]

Quote Originally Posted by Patrick G.P

As others have mentioned, John Carpenter's work is what falls closest to me as well in terms of adaptations. The Thing is the best one of the lot I think.

For me, The Thing is the best Lovecraftian film that doesn't explicitly reference HPL. It might just be a coincidence but when Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil) presented some pictures of his adaptation of "The Colour Out Of Space" at Necronomicon, some of the images of the transformed family in the farm house bore an uncanny resemblance to the Carpenter film.

[cannibal cop]

Reanimator, no doubt.
Dagon wasn't too bad, I guess.

And though it wasn't an adaptation of a specific Lovecraft story, I thought that Cthulhu (2007) wasn't too bad, either. I'm surprised that I don't see that one mentioned more often, actually.

YouTube

It looks like the whole thing is up on YouTube, too, though the quality may leave something to be desired:

YouTube

[Robin Davies]

I quite liked Cthulhu too. The director's commentary was one of the most apologetic I've ever heard. I felt like saying to him "Cheer up man, your film's not that bad!"
I also like Dagon. Granted, the hero's repeated "choice" speech is pretty silly and I was amazed he kept his glasses on throughout his ordeal - but on the plus side it featured the best evocation of Innsmouth that I've seen, it had a more serious tone than Gordon's previous romps (Re-Animator and From Beyond) and Macarena Gomez conveyed an even more intense sexy/scary combination than Barbara Steele.

[cannibal cop]

Quote Originally Posted by Robin Davies

I quite liked Cthulhu too. The director's commentary was one of the most apologetic I've ever heard. I felt like saying to him "Cheer up man, your film's not that bad!"

Yeah, I looked at some of the negative reviews, and the vast majority have that typical internet tendency to unreasonable extremes of reaction. Everything is either umparalleled awesomeness or a crime against humanity, with Cthulhu clearly treding towards the latter.

That's what happens to anyone who dares to defy the expectations and demands of the fanboys (and -girls), the actual quality of the work be damned. The internet has only made this situation orders of magnitude worse, of course.

The movie's a bit closer to a Ramsey Campbell-style modern take on Lovecraft, I figure, rather than a strict Lovecraft piece, and God knows that's probably enough by itself to set off some purists.

Quote Originally Posted by Robin Davies

I also like Dagon. Granted, the hero's repeated "choice" speech is pretty silly and I was amazed he kept his glasses on throughout his ordeal...

I do remember the hero being a bit of a goofball, at least at the beginning, like he was doing a bad impression of the Reanimator guy, but yeah, it ended up being a lot better than I expected.

From Beyond is an entertaining mess, I guess, that's all I can really say about it.

[miguel1984]

I recently saw a bunch of Lovecraft adaptations I had missed.

This is how I classify both the adaptations and the documentaries I had seen:

Excellent:
The Music of Erich Zann (1980)
Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft (1998)
The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

Very Good:
The Haunted Palace (1963)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
Cool Air (1999)
Die Farbe (2010)
The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)

The Eldritch Influence: The Life, Vision and Phenomenon of H.P. Lovecraft (2003)

Good:
Re-Animator (1985)
From Beyond (1986)
The Resurrected (1991)
Castle Freak (1995)
Chilean Gothic (2000)
Dagon (2001)
Strange Aeons (2014)

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown (2008)

Regular:
Die, Monster, Die (1965)
The Curse (1987)
Necronomicón: El Libro del Infierno (2018)

Bad:
Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993)
The Dreams in the Witch-House (2005)