H.P. Lovecraft

   First of all, I am a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft.    His writing is a dreadful world of forbidden knowledge and rituals, slumbering monstrosities, and creeping evils.  There is something very disturbing about his work- it's truly nightmarish. Lovecraft writes like no other.  His hellish visions are chilling, and it's an utter mystery why there has never been a truly great adaptation of any of his stories.  Sure, there have been some- most notably "Re-Animator" and "From  Beyond".  But nothing worthy of the stories themselves.
     So many classic horror stories to choose from- I mean, we've got "The Colour Out Of Space",  "In The Mountains Of Madness", "The Call Of Cthulhu", "The Dunwich Horror", "The Shadow Out Of Time", and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", just to name a few.  A favorite story of mine is "The Whisperer In Darkness".  It's about the whispered legend of a hidden race of monstrous beings who lurk somewhere among the remoter hills of Vermont, and how a particular farmer becomes involved in a terrifying and nightmarish fight for survival. This is imaginative, disturbing stuff, and in the right hands, could be a most excellent horror film.  Sadly though, we keep getting pallid, unnecessary remakes of established, classic movies instead of delving into the cinematically uncharted territories of H.P. Lovecraft and other autors.  Supposedly, there are big-screen adaptions of "In the Mouth Of Madness", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Dunwich Horror", and "The Whisperer In Darkness" in the works- but whether any of these transpire into anything worthy we'll see.          
     Still, Lovecraft is arguably and universally considered one of the fathers of modern horror.  He is probably most famous for his "Cthulhu Mythos" stories, which involved a "race who, in practicing black magic, lost their foothold and were expelled, and yet live on outside ever ready to take possession of this earth again". Also his fictitious book, "The Necronomicon", is referred to in many of Lovecraft's stories and even mentioned in Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead". I would love to one day visit mysterious and spooky Arkham in the hands of a skilled director.  But until then, I can always lose myself in the dark and blood-curdling stories he wrote.  If you're any sort of fan of the genre whatsoever, I distinctly recommend grabbing the first books you can get your grubby little hands on.  It's great stuff indeed.