#this is very much inspired by the dunwich horror

[devil-doll13]

So I’ve talked about dogs hating Abby before and it’s actually due to the human element in them. Livestock acts much the same way because if it. They can sense something is ‘wrong’ with her. Wolves don’t actually care bc they are untouched by humans and exist in nature.

#this is very much inspired by the dunwich horror #and I think it makes sense #because she represents all humans are afraid of and can’t control about nature #Abigail Williams #Abigail

[rkart221]

Lyf's metamorphosis

This is an unstructured rant!! TW for lots of gore and unpleasant imagery

I think Lyf goes through a metamorphosis. While he survives the Bifrost and escapes the Yggdrasil system, he's hardly unscathed. Seeing the effects of the great old ones and directly staring into the eyes of Yog-Sothoth changes him in a way I think about often. I think he very much could've died, though due to the nature of his survival and the fact he is now rapidly travelling through the cosmos, with the knowledge of the great old ones, they keep him alive. He's insistently their unknowing vessel, subconsciously spreading their powers further and further into the galaxy. Anyway onto his metamorphosis. It starts off small. Mild headaches and aches of the body as his cells and skin struggle to compute with the sudden environment shift that happened on Midgard. Pains that only grow. I like to think being around him gives people headaches too. A sort of unexplainable crawl of the skin, an itch that doesn't go away. Taking inspiration from the Dunwich horror I like to imagine animals start to resent him, dogs growing aggressive in fear, rats and other urban animals fleeing weeks before he arrives. People start to associate him with the dread inducing call of a Whippoorwill.

After he leaves people tend to feel ill, falling sick, feeling like their insides are melting. Depending on how long they were around him it ranges from a mild headache to multiple organs shutting off as the aroma of his presence melts the body from the inside out. No matter what Lyf does he cannot stop what he causes, instead opting to keep travelling, only continuing the great old one's plan. Now on to his body. The headaches are constant, though sometimes they're weaker than other days, allowing him to think. Other days they're so bad he fears his brain will explode. Cracks start to form, his skin rotting and starting to fall off. Bald patches in his hair grow as the skin grows weaker. There's an unbearable itch beneath his skin that he's never able to get rid of no matter how hard he scratches. His bones ache, body sweats with thickening pale mucus, obviously he's sick, throwing up rather a lot. His sick is black and has the residue of oil, staining whatever surface it touches. Perhaps by occasion, eyes glance back, hidden in the inky black mucus.

Additionally taking inspiration from Wilbur Whatley, he gets the whole tendrils in the stomach thing. I like to think he binds them to still appear somewhat normal.

Whenever he gets cut or hurt by any nature it's healed. Despite his body rapidly trying to die he cannot, the old ones will not let him. The rotting is a reflection of his body unable to keep up with his mind. If he were to get a deep cut black tendrils would morph out of his skin, wrapping it air tight. Over the next few days it'll remain, slowly melting away his skin, bones, veins as it rebuilds whatever is hurt back from square one. If someone were to somehow get it away from his skin then they'd be met with a strong acid and a significant lack of skin underneath.

Anyway I wanna slowly explain all my Lyf lore because theres alot!! I think I'll just do unstructured rant posts like this, doubt anyone will care much but if anything it's useful to have all my information together :)!!!

#rkartlyf #lyfrassir edda #the mechanisms #the bifrost incident #yog sothoth

[mamahersh]

@a-mag-a-day Righto, MAG 009!

So I remember a little bit from when I listened to this the first time: I was immediately curious because it was from the perspective of a serial killer's daughter. Like, obviously not a real serial killer's daughter, but the premise intrigued me as I used to listen to Sword and Scale true crime podcast when I would go to the gym. So already we had this gal who's had to face a lot of stigma in her life for things outside her control, and then she has to deal with the supernatural on top of that? Very interesting.

Alas, for all I started interested, I've forgotten most of her statement beyond the fact she was a daughter of a serial killer, and this in part was what pushed her into the Hunt if I remember right. I'm about to find out tho, so I'll get back to this…

So in summary, Julia's dad killed 41 people in service to the Dark to keep Julia safe after his wife (who was part of the People's Church of the Divine Host) was eaten by a creature of the Dark. He did this seemingly on behalf of the People's Church under the orders of Maxwell Rayner and was basically turned into a full time murderer funded by either the cult or Rayner himself. Of some note is that we know for sure that the last person Robert Montauk killed was a member of the cult, a Christopher Lorne (who I'm fairly certain is just a one off character). This opens up the floor to several questions:

Robert told Julia "it would soon be over" and then went to kill a cult member. At the same time, his house was attacked by the Dark, and Julia was only saved because Robert's sacrifice banished the creature seemingly. So the question is: were any of his other victims cult members or were they all innocents and this was Robert trying to sent a message to the cult?

Similarly, did he know that whatever he was doing would potentially put Julia at risk and cause her to feel like she needed to call the cops? (probably not honestly, or at least I don't think he expected her to call the cops. But, I wouldn't be surprised if he was planning on calling the cops on himself after he was done with the ritual.)

Also of note: this series of events were a good 10-13 years before the actual Dark Ritual. Could Robert have, in his own way, been trying to sabotage the plans of the cult from the inside out with his last sacrifice? Obviously Julia had never noticed anything weird happening with the shed previously at night, so potentially there was something different happening with this sacrifice.

Of final interest to me personally is we get a really good outline of what physical signs are associated with the Dark: extinguishing of lights and dark, muddy, "brackish" water and closed eyes. What's interesting to note is the addition of the polluted water in these signs. I wonder if that was pulled from popular Lovecraftian mythos imagery? Honestly, the Dark seems to most frequently pull from the Lovecraftian mythos, particularly surrounding Dagon and the fish people from "Shadow Over Innsmouth"; though the symbology and weird esoterica would be closer to something like "The Dunwich Horror" impo. However, I'm not well versed in horror, so perhaps there's another source of inspiration. I know even just pulling from games like "The Call of Cthulhu" would make just as much sense or even Silent Hill.

Anyways, I've wandered into the weeds. Needless to say, this was quite the episode and I had forgotten it entirely tbh. It's so interesting to go back and listen to these episodes again now that I know about the Fears and the larger cast of characters and see how they all connect to each other. Also, I think this might be the most credulous we've heard Mr. Jonathan Sims be for his end of Statement commentary.

#tma #mag a day #a mag a day #mag 009 #wow what an episode #not even a disparaging comment from the big man himself! #I think this is the MOST credulous we've seen Mr. Sims in any statement thus far

[plotbunnytamer]

What inspired you to start writing Let’s See How Special I Am (which is a very enjoyable read thus far, by the way!)?

Too much Dommy Mommy, not enough Daddy Ethan

I honestly started writing Let’s See How Special I Am as pretty much a crack fic, because it just seemed like such a waste that our Moldy boi with insane potential never got to spread his fungal wings. I wanted to give it a spin, “New Game +” style, with Ethan having full awareness of his Molded nature and even rudimentary control over the mutamycete. As I continued to write, however, I realised this would be a chance to give Ethan some more agency, to act rather than simply react; to structure objectives and take the lead. In all fairness, I am aware of my influences and don’t claim to be completely original. I drew from quite a few sources during the course of writing, including some body horror works by Junji Ito (Dissection Girl, Honored Ancestors, Gyo), Dead Space (rest in peace, Visceral Games), Prototype (amnesiac wakes up to later discover he is merely a non-human entity with another’s memories), some older creepypastas like The Rake, and HP Lovecraft (The Outsider, Shadow over Innsmouth, The Dunwich Horror, At the Mountains of Madness...not to mention the shapeshifting Shoggoth). (Fun fact: the story Alcina Dimitrescu is reading to her daughters in Chapter 3 is HP Lovecraft’s Cool Air, which tells of a dead man trying to stave off his own decomposition by refrigerating his body through extreme methods. I thought it was appropriate given the setting!) The story is an absolute blast to write and I’m having a lot of fun. I want to give a shoutout to everyone who’s been so supportive with comments, questions, kudos, and messages on AO3 as well as Tumblr. I’ve been trying to reply to as many of the comments/reviews as possible (though my work schedule doesn’t always allow it), but each and every one of them is much appreciated. Thanks for your interest, for your question, and I hope to keep hearing from you!

#resident evil village #resident evil 8 #resident evil fanfic #resident evil fanfiction #ethan winters #body horror #fiction #fanfiction #hp lovecraft

[aion-rsa]

The Horror Movies That May Owe Their Existence To H.P. Lovecraft

https://ift.tt/2T7puxi

With Lovecraft Country finishing its acclaimed first season, you may be looking to fill that new gap in your viewing schedule with more content based on or inspired by the works of the enigmatic author from Providence, Rhode Island.

Let’s get one thing clear upfront: Howard Phillips Lovecraft was very much a product of his time and upbringing, and his views on race, ethnicity, and class — while commonplace for where and when he lived — were truly noxious, an aspect of his legacy that Lovecraft Country addresses in its own themes. But it’s also clear that Lovecraft was arguably the most influential horror writer of the 20th century, with a reach that extends to this day.

While there have been a number of movies based directly on stories by Lovecraft — including titles like Die, Monster, Die! (1965), The Dunwich Horror (1970), Re-Animator (1985) and its sequels, From Beyond (1986), Dagon (2001), The Whisperer in Darkness (2011), and Color Out of Space (2020) — you may be surprised just how many more readily available major horror films and cult favorites have been influenced by his writing in terms of plotlines, themes, mood and imagery.

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Here is a readout of 20 movies, spanning the last 60 years, in which the pervasive presence of H.P. Lovecraft had an undeniable impact, making many of these efforts into mostly effective and often great horror films. Even the Great Old Ones would approve…

X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)

Legendary filmmaker Roger Corman had just adapted a Lovecraft story in The Haunted Palace (although the movie was marketed as part of his Edgar Allan Poe cycle), but this sci-fi film also clearly channeled some of the author’s sense of cosmic horror.

Ray Milland plays a scientist who invents a formula that allows him to see through just about everything, eventually peering into the center of the universe itself. What he views there leads him to a shocking decision that fans of Lovecraft’s work would appreciate.

The Shuttered Room (1967)

This British production was based on a short story by August Derleth, Lovecraft’s publisher and a noted author in his own right. Derleth based his story on a fragment left behind by Lovecraft after the latter’s death, with the movie expanding on the tale even further.

Read more

TV

Behind the Scenes on Inside No. 9’s Most Terrifying Episode

By Louisa Mellor

Movies

Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the Seduction of Old School Movie Magic

By David Crow

Gig Young and Carol Lynley star as a couple who inherit Lynley’s family mill only to find something horrifying living at the top of the house. Lots of Lovecraftian elements — a cursed house, a family secret, and strange locals — are all here.

Alien (1979)

Lovecraft’s work arguably existed on that knife edge between horror and science fiction — the Great Old Ones of his Cthulhu Mythos were, after all, ancient entities that existed in the darkest corners of the universe.

One of the greatest sci-fi/horror hybrids of all time, Alien, clearly took a cue from Lovecraft’s work: the origins and motivations of its xenomorphs were utterly unknowable to human understanding, and even the look of the alien echoed the gelatinous, glistening flesh of the Old Ones (too bad later movies like Prometheus and Alien: Covenant ruined it by explaining far too much of the alien’s history).

Scorpion

City of the Living Dead (1980)

Italian director Lucio Fulci directed several films inspired by the work of Lovecraft, starting with this gorefest starring Christopher George (Grizzly) and Catriona MacColl. When a priest hangs himself on the grounds of a cemetery in the town of Dunwich (a town created by Lovecraft), it opens a portal to hell that allows the living dead to erupt into our world.

Read more

TV

Talalay’s Terrors! The Director Breaks Down Her 5 Scariest Scenes

By Kayti Burt

TV

Boy Meets World’s Slasher Episode Was Scarier Than it Had Any Right To Be

By Nick Harley and 1 other

Fulci’s movie is often nonsensically plotted and more reliant on gore than Lovecraft ever was, but the otherworldly, surreal atmosphere is definitely sourced from the master.

The Beyond (1980)

The second film is Lucio Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” trilogy (the third was The House by the Cemetery) is perhaps the most heavily Lovecraftian, with Fulci regular Catriona MacColl inheriting a hotel in Louisiana that turns out to be — you guessed it — a portal to the world of the dead.

Like the director’s other work, it’s inconsistently acted and directed, but it oozes with a surreal, unsettling atmosphere that almost becomes intentionally disorienting. Hell of an ending too — literally.

The Evil Dead (1981)

Sam Raimi was just 20 when he and friends Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell set out to make a low-budget horror movie called Book of the Dead, based on Raimi’s interest in Lovecraft. The finished product, The Evil Dead, featured plenty of Lovecraftian touches: a book of arcane evil knowledge, entities from another dimension, reanimated corpses and more.

Read more

Movies

New Evil Dead Director Has Been to the Woods Before

By Don Kaye

Movies

Evil Dead Movies: The Most Soul Sucking Moments

By David Crow

It also became one of the greatest cult horror movies of all time, spawning an entire franchise and — even as it veered more into comedy — staying true to its cosmic horror roots.

Universal

The Thing (1982)

Even though it’s squarely set in the science fiction genre, John Carpenter’s brilliant adaptation of the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There? (filmed in 1951 as The Thing from Another World) is unquestionably cosmic horror.

Read more

Movies

The Thing Deleted Scenes Included a Missing Blow-Up Doll

By Ryan Lambie

Movies

John Carpenter’s The Thing Had An Icy Critical Reception

By Ryan Lambie

Although the title creature lands on Earth in a spaceship, its immense age, apparent indestructibility, utterly alien intelligence and formless ability to shapeshift make it one of the most Lovecraftian — and terrifying — monsters to ever slither across the screen. The remote, desolate setting and growing paranoia among the characters add to the terror and awe.

Ghostbusters (1984)

Yes, it’s one of the best combinations of horror and comedy to ever emerge onto the screen. But Ghostbusters’ second half — in which an apartment building designed by an insane architect turns out to be a gateway to a realm of monstrous demons led by “Gozer the Gozerian” — is pure Lovecraft.

The monstrous nature of the menace, the ancient rites and secret cult used to summon it — all of this is still quite cosmically eerie even as it’s played mostly for laughs and thrills.

Prince of Darkness (1987)

The second entry in what came to be known as John Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy” is perhaps the least influenced by Lovecraft. But it still packs a cosmic wallop with its arcane secrets long buried in an abandoned, decrepit church, its portal to another dimension ruled over by an Anti-God, its mutated, reanimated human monsters and its mind-bending combination of religious legends and scientific speculation (credit as well to British writer Nigel Kneale, an even more massive inspiration here).

In the Mouth of Madness (1995)

Carpenter completed his trilogy (arguably his greatest achievement outside of Halloween) with the most Lovecraftian of the three, in which a private insurance investigator (Sam Neill) looks into the disappearance of a famous horror author and learns that his books may portend the arrival of monstrous creatures from beyond our reality.

Read more

Books

An Introduction to HP Lovecraft: 5 Essential Stories

By Ethan Lewis

TV

How Lovecraft Country Uses Topsy and Bopsy to Address Racist Caricatures

By Nicole Hill

Not only are the ideas right out of Lovecraft, but the movie oozes with allusions to the writer’s work and ends up being as disorienting and genuinely disturbing as some of his most famous stories.

Event Horizon (1997)

While we will always argue that the execution of this film was faulty, which stops it from becoming a true cult classic, we won’t debate its central premise: a spacecraft with an experimental engine rips open a hole in the space-time continuum, plunging the ship and its crew into a dimension that appears to be hell itself and endangering the rescue team that arrives to find out what happened.

Read more

Movies

Exploring the Deleted Footage From Event Horizon

By Padraig Cotter

Movies

Event Horizon: From Doomed Ship to Cult Gem

By Ryan Lambie

Director Paul W.S. Anderson provides some truly macabre touches to an often incoherent movie, and again the whole invasion-of-evil-from-outside-our-universe concept points right back to old H.P. and his canon.

Hellboy (2004)

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola has often cited Lovecraft as a primary influence on his long-running comics starring the big red demon (Lovecraft’s vision has impacted a slew of other comics over the years as well), and it’s no surprise that Guillermo del Toro’s original movie based on the books touches on that too. The film’s Ogdru Jahad are a take on Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones, while the movie is stuffed with references to occult knowledge, forbidden texts, alternate realities and more.

Del Toro’s own direct Lovecraft adaptation, At the Mountains of Madness, remains abandoned in development hell, but his work here gives us perhaps a taste of how it might have looked.

The Mist (2007)

Stephen King has often cited the influence of Lovecraft on his own vast library of work, and both the novella The Mist and Frank Darabont’s intense film adaptation are perhaps the most overt example.

While the premise is vaguely sci-fi — an accident at a secret government lab opens a portal to another dimension, unleashing a fog containing all kinds of horrifying monsters — the mood and the entities are Lovecraftian to the extreme, as is Darabont’s unforgivingly bleak ending (altered from King’s more ambiguous one).

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Director/co-writer Drew Goddard and co-writer Joss Whedon take on two of horror’s most criticized subgenres, the slasher film and the torture porn movie, in this sharp satire that ends up being a Lovecraft pastiche as well. The standard set-up of five young, horny friends heading to a remote cabin in advance of being slaughtered turns out to be a ritual performed by trained technicians as a sacrifice to monstrous deities — the Ancient Ones — that reside under the Earth’s crust. The ending — in which the survivors decide that humanity isn’t worth saving after all — would have met the misanthropic Lovecraft’s approval.

Stephen King’s It (2017/2019)

The more metaphysical elements of King’s gigantic 1987 novel (such as the emergence of the godlike Turtle and the journey into the Macroverse) didn’t really make it into either this two-part theatrical version of the novel or the 1990 miniseries.

Read more

TV

Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV Shows in Development

By Matthew Byrd and 6 others

Movies

How It Chapter Two Differs from the Book

By David Crow

But the influence of Lovecraft is still felt in the title menace itself, an unimaginably ancient, shape-shifting entity that can exist in multiple realities and feeds on fear and terror. The way that It slowly corrupts the town of Derry and its inhabitants over the years has precedent as well in Lovecraft tales like “The Dunwich Horror” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.”

The Endless (2017)

Indie horror auteurs Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have touched on certain Lovecraft tropes in all their films, including Resolution and Spring, but The Endless is perhaps the most directly influenced by the author. The writers/directors also star in the movie as two brothers who return to the cult from which they escaped as children, only to find it has become the plaything of an unseen time-bending entity.

Genuinely eerie and more reliant on character and story than special effects, The Endless is a good example of what a modern twist on the Lovecraft mythos might look like.

The Void (2017)

A small group of medical personnel, police officers and patients become trapped in a hospital after hours by an onslaught of hooded cultists and macabre creatures in this virtual compendium of well-loved Lovecraft tropes and imagery. Writer/directors Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie channel an ’80s horror vibe, with all its pros (and some cons) but the overall atmosphere is surreal and the story taps effectively into the sense of cosmic horror.

Annihilation (2018)

Alex Garland’s (Devs) adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s frightening novel Annihilation is brilliant and terrifying in its own right, and both serve as loose rewrites/reinventions of Lovecraft’s classic “The Colour Out of Space.” In this take, four female explorers are tasked with penetrating and solving the spread of an alien entity over a portion of the coastal U.S. that is mutating all the plant and animal life within. The sense of awe and cosmic dread is strong throughout this underseen gem.

The Lighthouse (2019)

The second feature from visionary writer/director Robert Eggers (The Witch) is more a psychological drama than an outright horror film — or is it? The story’s two lonely lighthouse keepers (Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe) may be going insane or may be coming under the influence of an unseen sea entity and the beam of the lighthouse itself.

Read more

Movies

A24 Horror Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

By David Crow and 3 others

Movies

The Lighthouse: the myths and archetypes behind the movie explained

By Rosie Fletcher

With its black and white cinematography, windswept location, half-glimpsed sea creatures and sense of reality crumbling around the edges, The Lighthouse is just a Great Old One away from being a genuine Lovecraftian nightmare.

Underwater (2020)

It’s hard to believe that this Kristen Stewart vehicle came out in early 2020 — given the way the world changed since, it seems like it came out five years ago. Although its story of workers on a deep sea drilling facility battling monsters from the deep was an overly familiar one, the creatures themselves were more unusual than most. Director William Eubank took it a step further by saying that the movie’s climactic giant monster was none other than Cthulhu itself, the Great Old One sleeping under the ocean and namesake of Lovecraft’s entire Cthulhu Mythos — which takes us back to where we began.

The post The Horror Movies That May Owe Their Existence To H.P. Lovecraft appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[iyliss]

Hi, sorry if you've already talked about this, but I have a question. I remember seeing some meta floating around a while back about how Season 2 of GX was based on the Lovecraftian Mythos and Cosmic Horror, but I don't know anything about Lovecraft or Cosmic Horror, but you said you did. So could you maybe tell us more about how GX was inspired by Lovecraft? I love digging into the meta of things and hearing what people are interested in! Thank you for your time.

Omgg thank you so much for asking!! I already talked a bit about cthulhu mythos and gx (you may find about inspirations of arcana forces that doesn’t have much meta, about the world and the devil that are more focus on anime interpretations and that very scary looking reply about judai being randolph carter). But I can sure develop about season 2, and GX in general, since this was about more specific points. I’ll try to keep it decently readable, Im sorry if i get carried away ^^ Also I hope I don’t make too many mistakes, I’ve red most of the stories I will refer too, but not all, and a part comes from other sources so it might not be exact (and I might reconsider some aspects as I keep reading). Also I will avoid repeating things I said in the 3 posts linked up there. First of, why would Gx and s2 more specifically be related specifically to the Cthulhu Mythos, amongst other inspirations? Beside the arcana forces being quite obvious references, there are some narratives, aesthetics and themes in common. Amongst other things:

An entity from outer space partially coming to earth and leadingit to it’s destruction

The mix of weird sci-fi (aliens, space, white holes...) and occultism (tarot, spirits, ghosts...)

A sect. A whole sect right there.

A general mystery of some aspects of the universe (what is the light of destruction? What is the extent of it’s power, and influence? Where does it and gentle darkness come from?)

About “knowing too much” (mostly Saiou knowing the future, but you can see a bit of it in Judai’s evolution)

And so many aspects of Saiou but it’s harder to explain it all

I think that even without having red anycosmic horror litterature, the villain being the leader of a sect that try to destroy the world in honnor of an out of space (and reality) super-powerful entity screams lovecraft. Ill try talking about other points down there that are less obvious. In a way, the “main” characters of s2 (judai, edo, kenzan and saiou) follows lovecraftian main characters archetypes. Judai ressembles characters such as, well, Randolph Carter, and Charles D Ward. Innocent, a bit naive and immature, generally nice though lacking some sense of consequences. There’s often this kid who doesn’t actively try to get involved in things, but have some strong relationship with occult things and will get in all kind of trouble that never really ends well. Edo… is more about how he loves litterature, doesn’t have much friends, has a (black) cat, drink tea and is american but more about European style. That sounds stupid but it’s also an important part of lovecraftian imagery. Kenzan is interesting cuz he’s an paleontologist (at least of passion), but in a very stupid way. That may be an unwilling coincidences but I swear the number of incredibly unprofessional (and unrealistic) field rescearcher/archeologist there are in those stories… And Saiou… There’s this underlying theme (fueled by lovecraft’s racism tbh) about beings/people that are weird, monstruous, different (=not white american protestant men for him), and they probably know some secret dangerous occult magic that will destroy the world, because that is obviously what they want. And that’s pretty much how Saiou was treated. But, what makes those stories more interesting than simple racist metaphores is that said « monsters » are never shown actively doing anything bad (the dunwich horror mostly, and the shadow over innsmouth are especially interesting. In the first, it actually makes more sense than our main monster Wilbur Whateley actually tries to save the world). Which well also goes with Saiou’s story.

And it’s actually hard to explain deeply because I am often scared to associate scenes and aspects that are just a bit alike. But if i have to develop on some specific lovecraft stories, beside The dream quest of the unknown Kadath for s3 and Through the gate of the silver key for s4... In s2 some aspects reminds me of The repairer of reputation (old, very close friend of a good man have been slowly becoming the leader of a cult that does quite shady things and want the return of an old god, while maintaining a good face to his friend who noticed nothing despite everyone else thinking he’s strange), the dunwich horror (Boy hated by everyone deals all alone with an incredibly powerful entity that only brings destruction, ambiguously helping or stoping it, until at the very end the other characters finally realizes that they have to stop it too), at the mountain of madness (Hero with an affinity for spiritual things discover aliens are a thing, but they’re actually nice. But there’s also something evil those aliens tried to fight and failed, and now it’s after the humans), or The case of Charles Dexter Ward (Well meaning boy brings back his very powerful and evil double-from the past- at first tries to deal with him alone, gets all kind of trauma, asks for help as a last resort and no one understands. Notice it works both for the light/Saiou and Haou/Judai). But for that I actually think it’s more that similar themes (which could be  more likely inspired by typical Cthulhu mythos tropes and stories) leads to similar scenarios than direct references. However, s2 strongly feels like an incredibly good “adaptation” of cthulhu mythos, especially because it deals a lot more with the dehumanization and trauma that are only implied in the stories. I say adaptation because this universe is actually much more vaste than just H.P. lovecraft (and that’s why I say “cthulhu mythos”, because it’s not just him) and, at this point, is more about the tropes and themes than the characters or creatures. Also I want to conclude with insisting that, while the extend of lovecraftian inspiration in S2 is debatable, it’s clear that there’s at least one person behind ygo who has a very good knowledge of cthulhu mythos, and has it as a strong inspiration. Not only in GX, but also in the tcg (outer gods), in zexal (i personnaly have some thoughts about don thousand being based of Nyarlathotep) and in Vrains (tindangles being Tindalos Hounds).

#thanks again im so happy to talk about this ;w; #there are so many things to say about s2 and Saiou #I might try to make some kind of chart someday #I hope it makes sense and is decently pleasing to read! #gx #ask

[readersguidetotheuniverse]

Holiday season is upon us and with it a whole bunch of holiday-themed books! This month we take a look at some of the spooky and mystery reads we’ve enjoyed the most.

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin

Although not a terror book itself, this fantasy short novel is one of the spookiest of the genre, and witten by one of the best (if not the best) female fantasy writers. Imagine releasing a shadow powerful enough to end you that chases you to the end of the world... literally. The sheer anxiety of being followed by an undefined shapeless evil entity, not knowing when or where it will strike.. It is one of the creepiest books I’ve ever read. Plus there’s magic!

The Dunwich Horror, by H.P. Lovecraft

Lovecraft is one of the masters of horror in literature, and has inspired thousands of books, movies, tv series (soon in HBO!), rpgs, video games, board games... Almost any of his writings could be in this list, but I have chosen Dunwich Horror because it is one of the shortest and the edition I’ve read has the creepiest, most disturbing drawings by Santiago Caruso (if you don’t know him, check him out!). If you’re into horror classic lit and haven’t read him yet... What are you waiting for?!

Two Can Keep a Secret, by Karen M. McManus 

Karen M. McManus' specialty is young adult crime thrillers and this one ticks all the boxes to be in this list of spooky books. Mysterious unsolved murders, secrets, ominous messages all over town, disappearances, a very halloween-y amusement park called Fright Farm... It's just perfect for this time of the year and for people who like Halloween and spooky things but don't enjoy terror too much. Won't scare you but will definitely surprise you.

Cold Skin, by Albert Sánchez Piñol

If you’re into sci-fi movies, this title may ring a bell. Made into a movie in 2017, this book was published originally in 2002. When the main character got off in a stranded island near the Antarctic Circle to work as a weather observer and there’s no sign of the current lighthouse keeper. He soon starts to glimpse signs of weird creatures near the lighthouse. It is not the usual horror stuff, as one may think, but a claustrophobic psychological horror novel.

The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater

This one is closer to paranormal than spooky but still very appropriate and a very interesting read. Spirits, witches (sorry, clairvoyants), prophecies... the world of the dead was never so alive. This is the first of 4 books (I have the other three in my ongrowing to-read list!) and a very promising start. The characters are charming and lovable, which makes it hard because the first thing you find out is... one of them is destined to die.

The best stories of Edgar Allan Poe

When I was in high school, our English teachers made us read an adaptation of The Black Cat. When I came across a collection of his short stories, I read The Masque of the Red Death, I fell in love with his writing. Short spooky stories to read in a sitting for good seasonal mood.

Stalking Jack the Ripper, by Kerri Meniscalco

In this retelling of the story of Jack the Ripper two young adults will have the only key to unlocking the mystery of the infamous murderer. I loved the fact that the main character was a woman in Victorian London that does not give a s*** about her father's wishes and goes on to study corpses/medicine under her uncles tutelage.

Pumpkinheads, by Rainbow Rowell

Look, I needed to bring back some light into this post because the creepy cralwers are all over it and I don't read horror... like, at all (can Wuthering Heights be considered horror?). So here's my cutesy recommendation for the month of the PSL and cozy afternoons in with a good book. Or, in this case, comic.

The Diviners, by Libba Bray

This whole saga is amazing and crazy and spooky at the same time. The 1920s in New York City were a decade to remember. It's after the war but before the depression so everyone is feeling happy and drunk, right? Not Evie. For her, New York is an escape to the strange murder in her hometown. Will she solve the mystery or will the killer find her first?

#horror #spooky #halloween #terror #books #top #ranking #review #spooky books #book #goodreads #thanksgiving #fall #autumn #fantasy #sci-fi #sci fi #list #book list #read #to read #october

[tlbodine]

Books Read in October

Spooky season! (not like I don’t read predominantly horror all the time) 

Slumber Party - Christopher Pike

One of a small stack of vintage YA horror books @comicreliefmorlock dropped on my door as a covid isolation prize. I ranted about this one at great length in another review post, so I won’t get into it here, but suffice to say that this book isn’t just terrible, it’s aggressively terrible, omfg. 

A Head Full of Ghosts - Paul Tremblay

The second Tremblay book I’ve read. Famously, people who like this one don’t tend to like The Cabin at the End of the World very much and vice versa, and since Cabin was one of my favorite books of the past couple years, I wasn’t sure how I’d like this. Verdict: It’s very good, although it didn’t affect me as much as Cabin did. The pitch is that a 14-year-old girl develops sudden onset of schizophrenia-like symptoms, but after mental health interventions don’t seem to help, her family opts to try an exorcism -- and the entire thing is filmed for reality TV. The book is told through a combination of flashback, interview, episode recaps, blog analysis etc. predominately centered on the girl’s younger sister. It’s a really interesting, disturbing story about stories and inspiration and the way words can manipulate us and the way memory changes with each retelling. Forewarning that the ending is both brutal and ambiguous, so if you don’t like stories that fail to answer their central mystery, you won’t like this. I will say that the book is kind of a perfect sister-novel to Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places, which tells a similar kind of story about a similar kind of circumstance, in its own way. I’d definitely recommend reading them as a pair. 

The Perfume - Caroline B. Cooney

Another Point-Horror YA book, this one from the early 90s. It’s...ok. It’s weird. Weird in ways that’s hard to pin down. It’s just...I can’t even say it’s bad because I’m not even entirely sure what it is. Ostensibly it’s about a girl who tries some perfume and it awakens an alternate personality inside her. If you’re expecting this to be like The Haunted Mask, forget that right away because that’s not at all what this is. Nothing much happens in the book other than the main character having a lot of arguments with herself. The prose is surprisingly florid and overwrought for a kid’s book. Sometimes it’s kind of good in a weird “this book sounds like it was written by an alien who is only vaguely familiar with how human beings work” way, but mostly it’s just...weird. What the fuck was going on with these Point Horror books. 

The Dunwich Horror - H.P. Lovecraft

A short story. I bought a “complete Lovecraft” ebook on sale once and figured I should probably start reading it because I, uh, have never actually read Lovecraft, just things inspired by him. This story is about a small, sleepy town where all of the rich people are getting weird and weak from inbreeding and an albino woman gives birth to a swarthy, big-nosed, bearded, curly-haired child who seems like devil-spawn? (how was anyone ever surprised by how racist these books are....) but surprise actually it’s the old gods because that’s not quite the same thing! Dark magic shenanigans ensue. 

#amreading #am reading #books

[robbyrobinson]

Thoughts on the Dunwich Horror

Aside from the 1920 poem Nyarlathotep, what got me into Lovecraftian literature was his 1929 short story The Dunwich Horror which was later adapted into a 1970 film among other things. In the town of Dunwich, Massachusetts, there lived the infamous Whateley residence led by its mad patriarch Old Whateley. In 1913, his albino daughter gave birth to two twins, one named Wilbur...but the other one resembled his biological father more. Wilbur grew at an unnatural rate, possessing facial hair at ten years of age among other things. Then came some renovations in the house and when Old Whateley dies, he reminds Wilbur of his destiny to “open the Gate” by finding page 751 of the Necronomicon. 

After having read The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, I learned that the novella was one of the things that inspired the Dunwich Horror with the whole idea of an eldritch abomination impregnating a human resulting in a demigod of sorts. The descriptions of the titular Dunwich Horror and Wilbur Whateley’s corpse are very haunting and disturbing. You’re put on edge by what the Whateleys were keeping secret; Old Whateley keeps telling his grandson to feed something, but it’s deliberately kept under wraps until the pivotal moment of the story when it escapes from its holding place. It also enforces mystery in regards to who Wilbur’s father was.

On the downside, didn’t care too much for the dialogue. Lovecraft uses a type of dialect in some of his works that I often found hard to read because the words were oftentimes not decipherable. 

But other than that, a lovely tale. I’ll give it a 9.5/10.

#dunwich #dunwich horror #the dunwich horror #wilbur whateley #old whateley #eldritch abominations #great god pan #yog-sothoth #H. P. Lovecraft #horror #review #dunwich massachusetts #old ones #necronomicon #cthulhu mythos

[alcalavicci]

(Disclaimer: if you wrote this and don’t want it up, send me an ask and I’ll take it down)

Claire:

Hi, Jill,

Thanks for all the messages to make me feel welcome in the Sassies.

Well, well, where to begin. I guess I'll start from the beginning. First of all, I'm 49, and I became a Dean fan when I was 16 years old. I went to a showing of "The Dunwich Horror" with my boyfriend, and became absolutely captivated by the man on the screen. And speaking of "Dunwich," I loved the e-mail you forwarded to me where the merits of "Dunwich" were being discussed. Many people make fun of this film because of the low-budget special effects, but as was pointed out in the e-mail, Dean's performance was truly mesmerizing. You could tell he had really done his homework for that role.

After seeing that film, I began to research everything else he had done to that point (mind you, this is circa 1970). Then my life began to change, because I was put in touch with such classics such as "Sons and Lovers", "Long Day's Journey Into Night", "Compulsion", not to mention all the wonderful stuff he had done as a child actor.

Now here's the interesting part, in 1977, my husband took a job in Newport Beach, California (we had been living in my hometown in W. Va.). I remember shortly after we moved out thinking to myself, "Gosh, I'm close to Hollywood now, what if I can meet Dean Stockwell? Two years later, I was reading the Arts section of the LA Times, and saw where Dean was directing a small play called "Man With Bags" by Eugene Ionesco at the Pilot Theater in Hollywood. I told my husband that we just had to go. Being the good sport that he was (and tolerating my movie star crush) we went, and even got there an hour early. I walked into the lobby of the theater as the cast was coming in. And lo and behold, who was in the lobby pacing around. You got, Mr. Stockwell himself in full regalia. He was wearing the cowboy hat that he always wore around that time and the trademark sunglasses.

I mustered up all my nerve (remember I'm in my early 20s and fresh off the turnip truck), and walked up to him and said, "Dean Stockwell, you've been my favorite actor since I was 16 years old!" He looked me up and down (as only he can) and with that unforgettable Dean look, said, "Oh, and you're 17 now?" Well, he made me laugh and that took away a lot of my nervousness. Then if that wasn't enough, as each cast member came in, he introduced me to them like I was some long-lost friend. I'll never forget that act of generosity.

Okay, hang on, if that wasn't enough, two weeks later, I read where the artist, George Herms, was going to be at the Newport Harbor Art Museum with a retrospective of his work. I knew he was a close friend of Dean's so I, once again, asked my husband to go with me since it was right down the road. The show was wonderful (George is a marvelous artist), but no Dean. Then about halfway through it, George is up on stage and says to someone in the back, "Where's Dean? I can't go on without Dean. I need to show "Moonstone." My heart started racing. About 15 mins. later Dean comes walking in with Joy (whom he had just started dating, and Russ Tamblyn and Russ's wife (at the time) Elizabeth.

At the break, my husband and I went out the patio for refreshments. Dean who was crossing the patio came face to face with me. My husband nudged me, like "Say something!" So I said, "Hi, Dean, why aren't you at the play?" He stopped dead in his tracks with a look like "I know you, don't I?" And he said, "The play closed two weeks ago." I told him how much we enjoyed it, and then he said "Where did you get that?" And he's pointing at my wine glass. So I showed him, and he walked away to get a drink. I thought, "Okay, that's it. Well, at least I got to speak with him again. Well, guess what, instead of walking back to where Russ and Joy were, he came back and stood right beside me. This was too much, I knew I should say something, but I was shaking really hard. So I blurted out, "George was wondering where you were." And he started joking around saying, "Jeez, gimme a break already, I was just 15 minutes late!" But he said it like he was joking about George getting too up tight. He continued to just stand there, because I truly believe now looking back on it some 20 odd years later, he realized I was someone who really appreciated him for who he was and he felt comfortable around me. But my youth did me in, as I was absolutely tongue-tied at that point. I turned my head away from him and my husband said Dean turned to talk to me, saw my head was turned and bit his lip and walked away. Naturally, I went home and cried, but vowed I would never get so nervous with anyone again.

And believe it or not, that incident actually got me into what I do today. I teach an improv class for kids ages 8-12 (my daughter's 10 and in the group). I decided one must always be prepared for anything, and practicing improv is a good way to do that. We had our first "Open Mic Nite" last May. The kids started out doing improv warm-ups, then we wrapped up the evening with them performing either a poem, song, dance, skit, jokes, magic act, whatever. It was highly successful and I could see the kids get all into the moment and just blossom. I'm currently devising a class to be taught through the City, which incorporates these concepts. Also, I'm a writer, and have been for the past 25 years. I've been on staff of several national publications, but currently I'm freelancing. I published my first book this year for Entrepreneur Media. It's a trade book on home inspection. I'm also writing my own book based on my improv experiences with children. It's called "Quick on Their Feet--How Improvisational Techniques Help Children Succeed."

Anyway, thanks for letting me relive a very special time in my life. Have I seen Dean since? Once about five years later, when he was appearing in a dinner theater production of "Relatively Speaking." After the show, he was in the restaurant with his manager. No one was really around, so I walked up and told him how much I enjoyed the show and then I gave him an iris (because it's the symbol of the rainbow, and Dennis Hopper had dubbed him "Rainbow Razorbrain." He seemed truly touched. He autographed my playbill and held my hand. All I can say is he truly is a gracious, humble, almost self-effacing person. I'm sure time has only made him more so. Like that little girl said at one of the "Quantum Leap" reunions. "Dean, are you an angel?" Well, my answer is a resounding, yes!

Take care, Claire

(Note: A fan in the early 2000s, inspired by this, asked Dean about the Rainbow Razorbrain nickname. Apparently it was a nickname Dean had given himself.)

#stockwell sassies

[draculaurennn]

GO FOR OPHELIA

. — OPHELIA ::  21 Asks for D&D Characters (and OCs) 1. What influenced or inspired the creation of this character?

yikes, a lot of things. she was my first dnd character, so i pulled from a lot of my theme interests: lovecraft, especially call of cthulhu and the dunwich horror. botany, poison gardening, and dangerous insects. victorian horror, like frankenstein, and circus sideshows. she’s also a little inspired by tomie and d.gray-man, so she definitely pulls a lot of influence from a lot of things. ALL PACKED INTO ONE MUNDANE CHARACTER. 

2. What is your character’s relationship with their family? Family is a word which here refers to biological relatives, close companions, and/or the individual(s) who raised them.

uhhh TERRIBLE. if she could, she’d kill her father, but she’s a little meek, so the deep desire to do so is easily overcome by her need to stay out of trouble… and also not go to trial like someone she knows. 

3. Who is the closest person to them?

right now, her closest friend is – AMAZINGLY – the party’s paladin, himeleth. himeleth is a love ancient elf, the last survivor of a golden age of elves, and she’s pretty sympathetic to ophelia. likewise, because ophelia’s personal relationship skills involve an unhealthy attachment to the people who show her any sort of affection, she’s pretty glued to himeleth. so much so that she lost an arm to revive her from the dead LOL

4. What were the conditions surrounding their formative years?

her mother died when she was really little, and ophelia was born into poverty with a father who was never good at managing their finances to begin with. not to mention he was terrible, and just didn’t want her, so he sold her to a circus. she did well enough at the circus; she was like, five or six when she was sold there, and wasn’t ADOPTED by, but she was sort of mentored by a pair of conjoined sisters. this was when ophelia learned to utilize knives, and she was an excellent knife target, knife thrower, and self-mutilator. then, when she was fifteen or so, a young man – probably in his 20s – named alvaire crescenti buckthorne convinced his very rich parents to buy ophelia from the circus, because he was quite smitten with her. ophelia, who was so blown away that anyone could like her so much to buy her out of labour, wound up falling disgustingly in love with him, and married him. and they lived together until he died when she was thirty. 

5. What creature would they like to have as a pet?

a bat ! they’re cute, and eat fruit, and would be excellent for the ecosystem of her greenhouse. 

6. Do they have any bad habits?

lets see… she peels the skin off her fingers when she’s stressed, she has no reservations about stabbing herself to get answers from her patron’s go-between, she keeps secrets (sort of; there’s a confused line between reality and hallucination that she won’t admit exists), she chews her hair in conversations that probably would require she didn’t. i’m sure i could sit here all day.

7. Is there anyone they’d die for? Kill for?

YES. ophelia became a warlock when she sold her soul to an eldritch goddess in order to raise her husband, alvaire, from the dead. she believed that would lead her down the path of a necromancer. so far, it’s led her down the path of deceit and misery. she has, at this point, sacrificed an arm to resurrect himeleth, the paladin from the dead, and… might go to some weird lengths to revive hakem and ka’rex. (it’s up for debate because they tend to get mad at her, so she’s quite afraid of them.)

8. Who was their first love?

her dead husband. 

9. How would this character react to someone confessing their love for them?

apparently by marrying them. ophelia’s pretty sheepish, so i think she’d be quite reserved and jumbled in her excitement, honestly. 

10. How old is this character?

thirty-one.

11. Are they normally peaceful or aggressive?

she was pretty peaceful in the past. she does like to try to solve problems without brute force, but sometimes, things require more than just talking and finesse. lately, as she’s becoming more confused, more scared, and more lost in her choices, she’s becoming a might bit more aggressive. 

12. How does this character handle stress?

by shutting down. or stabbing it. or setting it on fire. this is on a scale of 1 to 10, ten being destroy. she rarely passes 5. 

13. Does your character consider themselves lucky?

absolutely not. 

14. What is their favorite holiday?

she’d probably like christmas. it’s so cheery, and it smells good. she never gets to be that cheery anymore. or smell that good. 

15. What is the best gift they could receive?

at this very moment in the campaign, the best gift she could receive would be to wake up, realize she’s been having a very long and detailed nightmare for the last few months, and go downstairs to tell her husband about it. 

16. If they could instantly kill one person in the world without consequence, who would it be?

Barraxis. there is a general, a miserable, horrible man who has been in charge of everything terrible that has ever happened to her. he corrupted her husband with these stupid human experiments that he hid from her, he was responsible for the death of her closest friend, grey, and this is all not to mention that he is leading a global militant organization called the Order of the Prime to end the world. if the last good thing she could do would be to rid the world of him, she would. 

17. If they were in possession of a trio of wishes, what would their three wishes be?

 the end of umbra and barraxis, the restoration of her arm, and the restoration of himeleth’s people. 

18. What is their favorite spell or method of attack?

she has two preferences, either close quarters striking with her pact weapon, starless athame, or ranged attacks with eldritch blast. with both she can generate extra damage through hex, hexblade’s curse, or maddening hex, so they’re her general choices to end a conflict quickly. 

19. What are their guilty pleasures?

she doesn’t have any anymore. 

20. What is something this character is or could be addicted to?

honey custard. maybe alcohol at this point LOL

21. Have you actually played this character yet?

yes and i love her.

#ophelia buckthorne #dnd oc #silverblighted #thanks for always givin me asks ; 3;

[amandajoyce118]

Aquaman Easter Eggs And Comic Book References

I’ve seen Aquaman a few times over the last couple of weeks, and I finally got around to sitting down and typing up my list of Easter eggs. It’s unlikely I caught everything, but you know, it’s always fun to try.

There are spoilers in the list for the movie since plenty of the plot points where Easter eggs occur are major moments in the movie. By this point, you know the drill. I kept mainly to comic book references, but there’s the odd pop culture one in here as well.

Obviously, there are other pop culture references as well. Everything from The Karate Kid to Pinocchio seems to get a shout out. The more general pop culture knowledge isn’t going to be here. I also didn’t list every single character who comes from the comics unless I thought there was something specific about their appearance that deserved a nod.

DC Logo

Because Warner Brothers produces all of the DC Comic movies, the DC logo appears following the Warner Brothers one, usually. This time around, the logo doesn’t just flash in its cute CGI glory. Instead, it appears as though it’s underwater.

The Opening Sounds

In addition to the DC Logo being submerged, there’s also the sound of a sonar ping and a humming that you wouldn’t really notice as anything important. Turns out, it matches the sounds made by the trident at the end of the movie. (I only noticed this on a second viewing.)

Jules Verne

Arthur’s narration that opens the movie gives a nod to genre writer Jules Verne as he quotes the author. The hidden sea also provides a nod to Verne’s classic Journey To The Center of the Earth (though it is also a comic book locale from a recent story where Mera and Arthur discovered Atlanna was alive and leading an island full of exiled Atlantean descendants).

Amnesty Bay

This is the comic book location where Arthur Curry makes his home on land. The whole Tom Curry as his dad, owning the lighthouse, etc, is out of one of the newer comic book origin stories. The difference is that in the comics, when Arthur is an adult, his father is dead. It’s nice that the movie kept Tom alive. (In modern comics, as in, last year, Mera even lives in Amnesty Bay while she’s recovering from injuries.)

1985

I don’t know why this year in particular struck me, but I thought Atlanna ending up in Amnesty Bay that year had to be significant. After all, Jason Momoa was born in 1979, so it’s probably not a result of trying to get his age lined up with Aquaman. Here are a few things that happened in 1985: Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) was born and the Crisis on Infinite Earths event debuted. The latter seems more likely of an Easter egg nod, but we may never know.

The TV Show

The show playing on Tom Curry’s television when he brings Atlanna back to the lighthouse? That would be Stingray, a show that used puppets as underwater heroes. The group had their own submarine and a princess from an underwater kingdom. The show originally aired in the 60s, the same decade the Aquaman comic book series was originally published.

Dunwich Horror

The book under the snowglobe on the coffee table is by H.P. Lovecraft. It’s a collection of short stories, one of which is the title story. In it, a son is born of two different species, much like Arthur.

Atlanna’s Crafty

She’s got a box on the table at the lighthouse, yes? You’ll notice that its design is very similar to the motherbox. Perhaps she spent a great deal of time guarding it. That might be why we get Mera saying (in Justice League) that Arthur needed to retrieve it, since Atlanna would have been responsible for it. As a bonus, we also get Mera mentioning the events of Justice League to Arthur later in the movie.

Manta

Black Manta is (perhaps obviously) a comic book villain. His origin gets a bit of a tweak here, and I like the joke for just why ends up with the giant helmet. (And the nod to Jaws there with “I”m gonna need a bigger…” you get it.) What’s great is that before he actually declares himself Black Manta is all the nods to his ocean inspiration. You’ve got the experimental craft that’s shaped like a manta ray, you’ve got the engraved manta on the knife, and you’ve got his family backstory as well. (Fun fact: Michael Beech, who plays his dad, was originally cast to voice Black Manta for an animated series, but rights issues meant the name of the character had to be changed.)

Lifting The Sub

That shot of Aquaman lifting the submarine is straight out of the comics. A lot of the big money shots in the movie are, like Aquaman holding the trident in front of his face when he activates its power. The team did a good job at nailing the comic book aesthetic.

Languages

Probably not an Easter egg, but I find it interesting that Aquaman appears to pick up on other languages pretty well, just like the Amazons. It feels like a nod to the fact that Atlanteans and Amazons have been around for centuries and have lived hidden from humans, but have still learned a thing or two about them.

GBS

The news station that pops up is the Galaxy Broadcasting System. It’s part of Galaxy Communications, part of a multimedia company from the comics. It’s kind of like Supergirl’s CatCo.

Dr. Stephen Shin

Okay, I know he kind of seems ridiculous and cartoonish in the movie compared to a lot of the other characters, but… he’s pretty on par with the comic book character. The character actually knows Aquaman in the comics. Arthur even comes to him for help once in a while, but Shin ends up disgraced because of his involvement with Aquaman, and Arthur won’t even let him prove that some of his research is accurate. So, yeah, I could see him going the supervillain route.

Annabelle

When Mera and Arthur pay a visit to Vulko, there’s a doll on the ocean floor outside the sunken ship (BTW, is that a sunken galleon, as in the name bar Arthur and his dad frequent?). It looks just like Annabelle. It makes sense that we’d see some horror nods since that’s James Wan’s wheelhouse.

Nereus

Mera’s father is a comic book character, just like every main character in the movie, but his comic book backstory is very different than what you see in the movie. For one thing, he wasn’t her father. Instead, Nereus was a military general for the Xebel people. He was also Mera’s betrothed before she left Xebel behind on a mission to kill the King of Atlantis (yeah, her comic book backstory is a little different too). It’s an interesting twist on his character, though Nereus is very jealous of Atlantis and pushes for war a time or two, so he’s not that far off.

Atlantean “Tribes”

Some of the different groups of Atlanteans are rooted in the comics. Mera and Nereus lead the Xebels, for example. In the comics, Xebel is an extradimensional pocket for Atlantean separatists were sent long ago. It was basically a prison, but the people evolved and adapted. The royals learned magic that allowed them to control water, hence Mera’s abilities. Those in the Trench? They were a species of sea animals that lived in a literal trench in the comics that were dying out. Mera and Arthur ended up trapping them to prevent them from trying to eat humans.

Ocean Master

The name Orm spouts as the leader of all of the Atlantean tribes is Ocean Master. That term is also his supervillain name in the comics. It’s a cute way to change it up for the DCEU.

Man of Steel Reference

Okay, I frequently forget that Man of Steel technically started this cinematic universe, but when Orm takes Arthur to task for the way the surface world poisons the oceans, we get a nod to it to remind us. One of the images used is a collapsing oil platform. It’s the same one that fans theorized Aquaman saved Superman from by sending whales in to help him during Man of Steel.

Octopus On Drums

In the 1960s, back when Aquaman first got his solo series, he had a slew of sidekicks, both animal and Atlantean. One was an Octopus named Topo. I like to think this Octopus was a nod to Topo, but also, a nod to The Little Mermaid, because, come on. We all notice Mera’s fondness for ship wrecks, her red hair, and her not staying underwater like everyone wants her to, right?

Leigh Wannell

This guy appears in a cameo role as the cargo plane pilot. He’s a close friend of director James Wan. Like Wan, he’s a big horror guy. In fact, he’s an actor, director, writer, and producer for the Saw and Insidious franchises.

Africa

The sequence that sees Mera and Arthur rising from the water with the Africa remic playing in the background? That’s intentionally shot as an homage to the Fast and Furious franchise, according to James Wan. I mean, sure. I guess if you got to play in that world, and one of your stars became a DC superhero, and then you got to direct a DC movie, why wouldn’t you want to come full circle there?

The True King

Arthur becomes the True King when he gets the trident and comes back to battle Orm for the throne. Before that though, he has to find the trident with the help of the “true king” in Italy. That turns out to be Romulus. It’s a nice parallel since Romulus becomes the first true king of Rome when he defeats his brother Remus.

Murk

Played by (Power Rangers Black Ranger) Ludi Lin, Murk is one of Orm’s inner circle, and high ranking in the guard in the movie. In the comics, he’s also high ranking in security when Arthur is King. He looks a little different in the comics. He looks more like a big gladiator than Ludi Lin. He also has a harpoon for one of his arms. When he fights Mera in Italy though, she gets one very deep slash to his arm, so maybe we’ll see that come to fruition in the future.

Khal Drogo’s Kelp

The scene where Arthur wakes up on a boat after his fight in Italy? His injuries are wrapped with kelp in a very specific way. Game of Thrones fans will see that as a nice nod to Khal Drogo, the role that really put him on the genre map.

The Trident And King Atlan

There’s a whole thing in the comics with the “Dead King” coming back and trying to get control of his kingdom, wanting to use the world. There’s also his scepter in the comics, which does a lot of what his trident does in the movie. Atlan’s clothing, and the ceremonial armor Arthur ends up in, are also a nod to Aquaman’s gear in the comics.

The Karathen

The comics label this sea monster as the Karaqan, but it sounded like it was pronounced differently by the actors, so choose your spelling. The sea monster looks exactly like it does in the comics. The effects guys did a great job. More than that though, they gave it a better story. In the comics, the animal went a little crazy and Arthur ended up having to kill it because he couldn’t communicate with it. I prefer the movie version where he’s the only one who can communicate with it. Bonus: the giant sea monster is voiced by the classic Julie Andrews. She actually didn’t cameo in Mary Poppins Returns (which opened in theaters the same month!) because she chose to do this voice role instead.

Aquaman Rides A Seahorse

The Superfriends TV series had a lot of silly moments for Aquaman. One of those things was him riding a seahorse into the thick of battle. It’s one of the things that has made a lot of people make fun of the character over the years, but now, it’s also iconic. The movie gets to put its own (much more badass) spin on that idea as Arthur grabs a seahorse to meet his brother in the climactic battle.

Coast City

This DC comics locale gets a nod in the post credits scene. It’s one of the locations where Dr. Shin has a newspaper clipping from. Coast City is home to Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris of the Green Lantern comics.

That’s all I’ve got for this one! Let me know if you guys spotted anymore!

#aquaman #aquaman movie #DC comics #aquaman easter eggs #easter eggs #i wrote a thing

[antiquery]

el’s guide to the lovecraft mythos

hey! so this is mostly a post for my dear friend will @wellsforboys, who asked for a primer of sorts on the best lovecraft stories, because his collected works are such a doorstopper, and reading them all in chronological order is quite an intensive task. these are, in my opinion, the cream of the crop; keep in mind that, for a lovecraft fan, my tastes tend towards the unconventional, and if you ask someone else you might get a very different list. i’m going to try my best to avoid the most intensely, egregiously bigoted, but if there’s something i feel merits inclusion despite the aforementioned bigotry i’ll include a warning. i’ll also provide links to all of these stories through the free online archive, but if you’d like to get a hard copy and delve deeper, i recommend this one from arcturus or this one from barnes & noble. if you’re strapped for cash and/or would prefer to read more online, here’s the link hub for the complete works. let’s get started!

lovecraft stories are typically broken up into two categories: the “mythos” stories, and the “dreamlands” stories. the former are the stories you typically think of when you think of lovecraft, if you know weird fiction— they tend more towards hard sci-fi, and usually deal with doomed scholars, hubris-ridden scientific exploits, the massachusetts countryside, outer gods, and various types of aliens. they’re far more famous than the latter, most of which concern the adventures of various vaguely keatsian protagonists in a narnia-ish realm dubbed the dreamlands, which is internally consistent and frequently cross-referenced. the distinction between these two types of stories is only a very broad one, though; characters, locations, and themes. frequently appear in both. the term “mythos” is rather misleading— all the stories take place in the same ‘verse, with the same gods and the same cosmology. really, it’s a division of style and subject material. personally, i prefer the dreamlands stories, but most lovecraft fans (unsurprisingly) prefer the mythos tales (which i will admit are more technically, narratively apt). i’ll try and include a roughly equal amount of both, so that you can get a feel for what you prefer.

so, without further ado, here’s the list! in chronological order:

the statement of randolph carter: first story, first appearance of my boy! here he’s wracked by ptsd from the great war and the recent eldritch demise of his boyfriend research partner; the story is told in the form of a police statement. this is one of the most gothic of lovecraft’s tales, and also the one with Alternate Universe Florida. it’s a fave.

celephais: sort of a dry run for the dream-quest of unknown kadath, but clever and unique in its own humble way. it’s got the same themes of refuge in dream, and it’s got a sweet ending that’s cleverly subverted by the protagonist’s later appearance in the dream cycle.

from beyond: people have mixed opinions on this one, but i’m fond of it. while usually classed as a dream cycle tale, it has that element of scientific hubris that pops up so often in mythos stories, and an absolutely chilling central premise.

nyarlathotep: first appearance of probably the most well-known mythos baddie after cthulhu. here he’s terrorizing innocent humans in the guise of Eldritch Modernist Nikola Tesla. will, for you specifically— if you like nikola orsinov from the magnus archives, you’ll like nyarlathotep (both the character and the short story).

the nameless city: this might just be my favorite one-off tale (though i am fond of the lovecraft reread’s hypothesis that the unnamed protagonist might be our boy randy carter, because this is precisely the kind of stupidity he’s so prone to). top-notch archaeological horror about exploring a deserted city that might not be as empty as it seemed.

the music of erich zann: lovecraft doing chambers, basically. it’s a clever little tale, and has an innovative use of auditory horror, which wasn’t all that common for hpl.

hypnos: probably the second most homoerotic story lovecraft ever wrote (though there are a lot of those, surprisingly enough). local keatsian meets a supremely beautiful, nameless man, they fall into dreaming (and opium addiction) together, things go downhill from there.

herbert west— reanimator: this one’s a bit longer, but it’s a cult classic, adapted into a delightfully campy 1985 film starring jeffrey combs. it’s about a scientist who goes Too Far, in the frankenstein sense, in pursuit of...well, you can guess from the title. it’s a fun modern (for the twenties) twist on the gothicism of mary shelley, and the title character is so much fun.

the hound: another super-gothic tale, and probably the single homoerotic story lovecraft ever wrote. actually, it’s kinda like a mini the secret history via poe. local decadents get into the occult over their heads, pay the spooky spooky price. gotta love it.

the rats in the walls: this one’s another classic poe-esque story, pretty clearly a riff on fall of the house of usher. it’s a wonderfully psychological piece of gothic horror, but huge trigger warning for The Infamous Cat Name. aside from that bit of unpleasantness, this is one of the first pieces where lovecraft handles the horror of ancestry well, with the classic conceit of a literal decaying house (or priory, as the case may be), and it’s pretty cool to see him really come into his own with something that’d so fundamentally define his work.

the unnameable: another carter story! this time he’s acting pretty transparently as lovecraft’s author avatar, talking about the value of horror fiction and, uh, fainting in terror at the slightest hint of any actual horror. better luck next time, randy. we’ll check in with him again in a few.

the festival: first canon mention of the necronomicon! exciting! and, if i recall correctly, the only story actually set in kingsport, one of the small massachusetts towns (along with arkham, dunwich, and innsmouth) that make up the major landmarks of lovecraft country. it’s about, as the title suggests, a Nefarious Ritual, and also astral projection? cool. it’s a pretty neat bit of creepery, nothing really special, but a good example of the kind of regional horror lovecraft was starting to handle particularly well.

the call of cthulhu: i’m basically obligated to include this one, though to me it’s not really a standout, because it’s so damn famous. it does get points for a clever and thematically intelligent narrative structure, and the astoundingly creepy idea of artists’ dreams being influenced by an Imminent Horror. 

pickman’s model: another super chambers-esque story, and one where the monologue formatting works loads better than it did in statement of randolph carter. like in music of erich zann (and, to some extent, call of cthulhu) this is lovecraft wrestling with the cosmic-horror implications of the fine arts. it’s also got a lovely twist at the end, one of those really chilling clincher lines lovecraft is starting to develop a knack for.

the silver key: chronologically the third carter tale, though no one’s entirely sure where it fits in the narrative sequence of his stories. it’s basically a modernist diss track, wherein our boy wrestles with the ennui that comes from, uh, reading t.s. eliot? (funnily enough, this is basically “the hollow men” via keats.) it’s not really a horror story, but it’s one of my favorites nonetheless.

the dream-quest of unknown kadath: FINALLY, we get to my favorite. this is a short novel chronicling randolph carter’s adventures in the dreamlands as he seeks out a dream-city that the gods have denied him. it’s the odyssey via lord dunsany, with a few twists— carter’s not really an epic hero, polutropos or otherwise, and it’s fun to watch him navigate a treacherous landscape in such an unconventional fashion. it has an excellent, atypical twist ending, and my favorite appearance of nyarlathotep ever. it’s also the chronological end of the carter cycle,* and our boy goes out with a very pratchett-esque bang.

the case of charles dexter ward: a lengthy slow-build tale of an evil necromancer and his impressionable descendent. it moves somewhat slowly, but it’s so delightfully atmospheric that you don’t really mind. bonus points for the clear riff on wilde’s the picture of dorian gray. also, first appearance of mythos deity yog-sothoth!

the dunwich horror: aaaand now we get into the string of very well-known mythos tales that lovecraft wrote around 1930. this is a classic, about an insular family with a destructive predilection for the occult.

the whisperer in darkness: a lovely slow-build and partly epistolary tale, featuring the classic Intense Stupidity of mythos protagonists. also featuring aliens from...pluto? and the first real appearance of the theme of bodily dissociation, which lovecraft got super into near the end of his career.

at the mountains of madness: this one’s so good. it’s more of a novella than a short story, about a doomed expedition to the antarctic sponsored by our favorite Dark Ivy, miskatonic university. it’s an awesome piece of worldbuilding about the pre-human earth, and a near-unique bit of sympathy for the non-human. it was also the inspiration for john carpenter’s 1982 classic the thing, as well as a tragically abortive guillermo del toro adaptation.

the shadow over innsmouth: i’d call this the climax of lovecraft’s writing on hereditary horror, and it’s brilliant. the ending is one of my favorite final paragraphs in all of lovecraft, maybe surpassed only by dream-quest. the story proper is about a young massachusetts native investigating the strange coastal town of innsmouth, and just why, exactly, something isn’t quite right about it. it loses points, though, for a truly horrible and lengthy application of dialect, and for being a very obvious metaphor about interracial marriage. sigh.

the dreams in the witch house: probably my favorite story after dream-quest of unknown kadath. it’s...kind of dark academia-y, actually, about a miskatonic undergrad who moves into a house formerly owned by a famous witch and discovers a method to travel to other dimensions— at a price, of course. lovecraft was never good at character building, but he did manage to create a genuinely sympathetic protagonist in walter gilman, which makes the ending all the more chilling. there’s also an awesome rock opera adaptation of this story, which i highly recommend.

the shadow out of time: another favorite! it’s the culmination of lovecraft’s late-career fondness for body-swapping horror, and as well as being genuinely cosmically terrifying (and wondrous) it’s quite psychological, in a way lovecraft wasn’t usually very apt at. it’s got alien civilizations! anticipatory soviet terror! the horrors of interplanetary colonialism! awesome libraries! what’s not to love?

the haunter of the dark: the last independent story lovecraft wrote before he died in 1937, it’s a beautiful send-up of providence, hpl’s hometown, and a delightful final appearance of my man nyarlathotep (albeit in a new form). plus...eldritch journalism? it’s great. also, i can’t mention this story without referencing this fic, which you should absolutely read immediately after the actual tale. 

and that’s it! happy reading!

* you can read “through the gates of the silver key” if you want, it’s technically the culmination of the carter cycle, but it was mainly written by e. hoffman price and edited by lovecraft, and i (along with plenty of other hpl scholars) don’t really consider it canon. it was lovecraft’s first real foray into body-swap horror, but because he’s trying to shove it into a character arc that’s already over and done with it doesn’t do very well. you get essentially the same narrative with “the shadow out of time,” done much more skilfully. to me, “gates” smacks intensely of derleth, lovecraft’s “posthumous collaborator” and Mythos Manichaean, which...ack.

#bookshelf blogging #o do not ask what is it #sorry will this took foreeeeever to get down on rhetorical paper but It Is Here #it's time for elizabeth's opinion! #mine

[recentanimenews]

Heeding the Call: Cthulhu and Japan

Depending on your interests, the name Cthulhu may stir feelings of some strange familiarity, or an excited, nearly existential sense of horror to come. Despite the fiction that birthed much of the “Cthulhu Mythos” being moderately popular, the cosmic horrors introduced by H.P. Lovecraft have morphed into a life of their own thanks to the work of his protege, August Derleth, leaving future generations to encounter the unknowable in various forms spanning video games, tv shows, movies, and perhaps the most popular forms, table-top roleplaying and board game experiences. Perhaps less well known, though, is the fact that the Cthulhu Mythos is exceedingly popular in Japan, and has a wide and exciting history of adaptations, works, and impact upon many of the genres we love in Japan to this day. Today, we’ll be taking a look and exploring that history!

The history of Cthulhu in Japan is a bit more diverse than you might initially think, and isn’t as unified as it might seem! The first bits of spreading horror came from translations of H.P. Lovecraft’s original works into Japanese in the 1940s, appearing in the horror publication Hakaba (or Graveyard) Magazine, translated by Nishio Tadashi. These early translations would prove vastly popular, and over the years ended up leading to numerous Japanese adaptations and inspirations based on Lovecraft’s original works.

Anime and manga fans are likely somewhat familiar with Kaoru Kurimoto, creator of Guin Saga, Hideyuki Kikuchi, creator of Vampire Hunter D, fan favorite horror author Junji Ito, and legendary mangaka Shigeru Mizuki, who all claimed Lovecraft as a direct influence on their works at some point. That existential, cosmic, unknowable horror is certainly present in Ito’s works like Uzumaki, and Mizuki’s interest in folklore and yokai make an attraction to the Cthulu Mythos a lot more understandable. Mizuki actually drew an adaptation of the classic story The Dunwich Horror under the title Chitei no Ashioto, simply moving the story and characters to Mizuki’s beloved setting of rural Japan.

Perhaps one of the most influential Lovecraft inspired creators in anime though is Chiaki J. Konaka, likely best known to many for his work on series like Serial Experiments Lain, Digimon Tamers, and Big O, as well as other series like Armitage III (which takes its name from a Lovecraft character!), RaXephon and Texnolyze among many others. Konaka’s career extends into the Tokusatsu side of things as well, having worked on numerous Ultraman series ranging from Tiga, Gaia, Max, and more, as well as many other series. Konaka worked in references to the Cthulhu Mythos into many of his projects, and even wrote his own short fiction; one of them, Terror Rate, was even published in English, and was even a guest of honor at the HP Lovecraft Film Festival in 2018!

Much of the spread and popularity of Cthulhu fiction in Japan is owed to a few people, one of the most notable being Ken Asamatsu. Asamatsu has spent much of his career translating and spreading Lovecraft’s works in Japan, running fanzines and other publications in order to spread his love of the existential dread universe. While Asamatsu has worked on a few manga himself, he isn’t exactly an anime or manga creator, but without his input and dedication, it is unlikely that these works would ever be as popular as they are today!

Existential, creeping, unknowable horror translates well to other mediums as well, so it should come as little surprise that video games share various callbacks and influences from the Cthulhu Mythos as well. Atlus’s Shin Megami Tensei series and its many spin-offs feature numerous callbacks to Cthulhu Mythos characters and creatures, with some of the most obvious being Nyarlathotep’s direct role in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona and Persona 2. Many of the other titles reference things like the Necronomicon, with that same text being the initial persona of Persona 5’s Futaba Sakura.

        Aside from Shin Megami Tensei, there are less obvious, but somewhat hard to miss, references to many of the tropes and unique style of horror in the Cthulhu Mythos in From Software’s Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and most directly Bloodborne games. Demon’s Souls in particular draws heavily on the existential, unknowable horror that is descending upon the kingdom of Boletaria and the secrets behind its true collapse, and the Dark Souls games similarly feature somewhat Lovecraftian ideas and monsters. Of the three, Bloodborne is the most direct with its inspirations, with characters routinely discussing the fact that seeing more of the truth may drive one mad, cosmic entities controlling, mutating, and destroying humanity, fish people (a staple of Lovecraft’s works), and humongous, tentacle-faced monsters (here known as Amygdala).

        Ironically, however, there is actually another reason for the popularity of Cthulhu Mythos in Japanese media that helped spread its flavorful influence amongst various genres, and it actually has little to do with Lovecraft’s actual writings themselves. Instead, many Japanese fans encounter Lovecraft’s elder gods through the table-top role-playing game Call of Cthulhu, first published in Japan 1986, and the explosion in popularity was not only a staggering success, but it continues to this day! Although many Western fans might assume that TTRPG games like Dungeons and Dragons are popular in Japan due to some of their influences in fantasy anime, Call of Cthulhu reigns supreme as the most popular TTRPG in Japan, and its popularity likely helped introduce many Japanese to the TTRPG genre in the first place!

Call of Cthulhu is, essentially, a group mystery adventure game, and that seems to have really hit big with Japanese audiences far and wide, because the game has remained in print since its initial introduction in the nineties, and has fans of all ages and genders playing in groups, to the point that some places will find their rooms for group meetings rented out to play games of Call of Cthulhu! Recently, the game even got some favorable air time in an NHK news segment, talking about the game itself and the fun that can be had with it! With this popularity came the growth of a somewhat unique phenomenon: Replays, essentially narrative, semi-novelized versions of Call of Cthulhu campaigns collected and printed for other people to read, similar to today’s popular “actual play” podcasts and videos such as Critical Role or The Adventure Zone. Even today, Call of Cthulhu replays are extremely popular, with new versions being printed all the time, sometimes even adorned with amazing, cute anime styled art and other interesting little design choices, like semi-doujinshi level works featuring Touhou characters, and more! These Replays became so popular that they soon spread to other types of TTRPGs, and are the inspiration behind anime such as Record of Lodoss War, Slayers, and many others!

    If one were to search Cthulhu on Amazon.jp, you’d actually find that most of the results are these colorful and interesting Replay books, almost more so than you’d even find the original novels and stories by Lovecraft himself! There are many other fascinating fan inspired books about the Cthulhu Mythos, including a personal favorite of Cthulhu monsters arranged in a book similar to those of Kaiju and Tokusatsu stylings (even featuring a cartoon Lovecraft on the cover doing the famous Ultraman pose). There are other small Cthulhu publications in Japanese, include a manga anthology called Zone of Cthulhu and numerous adaptations, and Gou Tanabe’s versions are even being translated into English, with The Hound and Other Stories already available, and At the Mountains of Madness coming later this year.

Of course the Cthulhu love isn’t limited to just print media; many anime have featured some nods and callbacks to the mythos, such as in the visual novel and anime of the same name Demonbane, which is even set in Lovecraft’s beloved Arkham. Main character Kuro Daijuji works with Al Azif, the living personification of the Necronomicon, to defeat the nefarious Black Lodge (a very probable nod to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks here). As mentioned above, numerous works by Chiaki J. Konaka draw from the Cthulhu Mythos, but Digimon Tamers might be the most surprising, with callbacks to Miskatonic University and Shaggai, as well as a computer AI that seems to have more in common with the Great Old Ones than it does Skynet! Another example is a fairly popular series, Bungo Stray Dogs, where one of the characters... is actually named Lovecraft! But that's not all! His "The Great Old Ones" ability is a reference to Cthulhu's origins. Probably one of the most famous examples is Nyaruko: Another Crawling Chaos, where the monsters of Lovecraft’s works are revealed to actually be aliens, but still very weird! The anime is a comedy featuring numerous Mythos characters repurposed or slightly renamed, such as Nyarlathotep as Nyaruko, the Yellow King Hastur, and more. The series of novels proved popular enough to spawn 3 anime seasons and other spin offs, proving that even if you take the horror out of the Mythos, people will still find it entertaining and… cute?

Speaking of cute, this brings us to a few interesting final tidbits about the Cthulhu Mythos and Japan. Aside from the direct popularity, the language change and differences have led to a few running gags in Japan about the series, one of which has to do with the somewhat infamous Cthulhu cultist chant, “Ia Ia Cthulhu Ftaghn,” with “Ia Ia” being pronounced very similar to the Japanese expression “iya iya”, which has a few various uses in casual Japanese, either meaning something similar to “um” or “no” depending on how and where it is used. The second comes from the fact that Japanese, being a syllabic language, actually has an easier time pronouncing the supposedly “unpronouncable” names of the Cthulu Mythos creatures, with Cthulhu being translated as クトゥルフ, or “Kutourufu”, which is not only a lot easier to actually say, but sounds oddly cute for the sinister elder god!

Cthulhu mania seems as popular as ever both outside and inside of Japan, with new games, movies, comics, and more drawing inspiration from the titles. Although Lovecraft’s own works are less popular than when the fascination started, the current passion for his ideas stems from the attractive allure of the unknown, the potential darkness lingering in shadows and dark pools of water. Whatever the reason people flock to the Cthulhu Mythos, it seems like we can look forward to numerous adaptations, inspirations, and callbacks for years to come… until perhaps even Cthulhu awakens! Until then, it’s best to keep your wits about you and stock up on your esoteric lore… You never know where the elder gods might pop up next during your next anime, manga, or video game binge!

Have any secret and mysterious ancient Cthulhu influences we didn’t mention? Know of any other influences on Japan you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments!

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Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

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[invokingbees]

THE 30 DAY MONSTER CHALLENGE HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE

14. Favorite invisible monster

The obvious one would be The Dunwich Horror, but Wilbur's big twin...eh? Dunwich Horror is a fine story, but Wilbur is far more interesting than his twin. No, my favourite invisible monster comes from the French author Guy de Maupassant's story 'The Horla'.

The story is told via the journal of a man who seems to be assailed by a sudden and terrible depression, anxiety, paranoia and vague horror he just can't seem to shake off, which only gets worse. Mental illness colours much of this story and it should be noted that de Maupassant was suffering from syphilis when he wrote The Horla. If you wanted to be Romantic about it, you could say he was mad when he wrote it. There's much talk in the story of unknowable, unseeable forces, of the feebleness of human perception and of the outside sources of things that affect us. The narrator travels to other parts of France and stays with relatives, but every instance, as well some terrifying personal ones, only seems to strengthen his suspicion that he is under attack from some malign ingtelligence he calls 'the Horla'. It’s a word which can be translated as 'the outsider' or 'the other', and is an entity he comes to believe is the vanguard of some extra-planar invasion of invisible masters. Similar ideas certainly pop up throughout Lovecraft but they take centre stage in 'From Beyond', where the totality of nature in all its unrelatable horror is laid bare. The Horla in fact inspired part of H.P. Lovecraft's 'The Call of Cthulhu', via the idea of some alien force affecting people through dreams.

The story seems very much to be about the deleterious effects of untreated mental illness, but if you take it as Lovecraft did, as a weird tale, it kind of completely works as a supernatural horror story (much like Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper', although there's a LOT more going on there, HPL found it to be a masterful ghost story, so much so that he uses the name Gilman in his stories). Something about the idea of a race of invisible alien psychic nightmare overlords is just cool, man, it really stuck with me. Creatures that we can explain as the root of sudden depressions, fears and night terrors, beings making us their playthings and test subjects, who may in the future exert their terrible powers upon the entire human race and we'll never see it coming. I kind of want the Horla and its monstrous kind to make a comeback, they'd be a fantastic antagonist, and just imagine what one might look like...

#30 day monster challenge

[lovecraft-adventures]

ehi okame, I know tat your OC is inspired from Lovecraft's stories, but I'm very curious about what are the stories. Can you give me the titles of them, because now I totaly wanna read them

Oh god, I have so much stuff to say about H.P. Lovecraft. His universe is too big, and scary, and abyssal. To be honest It's really hard to resume him. But if you really want to read his story please be careful, he writes some of his story really good, so don't read if you can become paranoid quickly. In other hands, You may know him for creating the "Necronomicon" or "cthulhu". He writes so much thing. Maybe you can begin with "Dagon", "The call of Cthulhu" "The Dunwich Horror". But he has a lot of others books. I invite you to search a little. Lovecraft touch a universe really strange, where the spirit is the only enemies ad the invisible god punish the men who want to know to much.