Lovecraftian horror is a sub-genre of horror fiction which emphasizes the psychological horror of the unknown (in some cases, unknowable) over gore or other elements of shock, which may still be present.^[1] Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the reader. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Origin

H. P. Lovecraft refined this style of story-telling into his own mythos that involved a set of supernatural, pre-human and extra-terrestrial elements.^[2] His work was informed by and similar to that of previous authors such as Edgar Allan Poe^[3] and Algernon Blackwood. The hallmark of Lovecraft's work was the sense that ordinary life was a thin shell over a reality which was so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person. Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction. ... Cthulhu and Rlyeh The Cthulhu Mythos encompasses the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and associated horror fiction writers. ... Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... Algernon Henry Blackwood (March 14, 1869 – December 10, 1951) was an English writer of tales of the supernatural. ... Sanity considered as a legal term denotes that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legal responsibility for his or her actions. ...

Lovecraft's work was also steeped in the insular feel of rural New England, and much of the genre continues to maintain this sense that "that which man was not meant to know" might be closer to the surface of ordinary life outside of the crowded cities of modern civilization. However, Lovecraftian horror is by no means restricted to the countryside; 'The Horror at Red Hook', for instance, is set in a crowded ethnic ghetto. This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background live as a group in seclusion, voluntarily or involuntarily. ...

Themes of Lovecraftian horror

Several themes found in Lovecraft's writings are considered to be a component of a "Lovecraftian" work:

• Anti-anthropocentrism, misanthropy in general. Lovecraft's works tend not to focus on characterization of humans, in line with his view of humanity's insignificant place in the universe, and the general Modernist trend of literature at the time of his writings.
• Preoccupation with viscerate texture. The "horror" features of Lovecraft's stories tend to involve semi-gelatinous substances, such as slime, as opposed to standard horror tropes such as blood, bones, or corpses.
• Antiquarian writing style. Even when dealing with up-to-date technology, Lovecraft tended to use anachronisms as well as old-fashioned words when dealing with such things. For example, he used the term "men of science" rather than the modern word, "scientist" and often spelled "show" as "shew".
• Detachment. Lovecraftian heroes (both in original writings and in more modern adaptations) tend to be isolated individuals, usually with an academic or scholarly bent.
• Helplessness and hopelessness. Although Lovecraftian heroes may occasionally deal a "setback" to malignant forces, their victories are temporary, and they usually pay a price for it. Otherwise, subjects often find themselves completely unable to simply run away, instead driven by some other force to their desperate end.
• Unanswered questions. Characters in Lovecraft's stories rarely if ever fully understand what is happening to them, and often go insane if they try.

Anthropocentrism (Greek άνθρωπος, anthropos, human, κέντρον, kentron, center), or the human-centered principle, refers to the idea that humanity must always remain the central concern for humans. ... Misanthropy is a hatred or distrust of the human race, or a disposition to dislike and/or distrust other people. ... Characterization is the process of conveying information about characters in fiction. ... This article focuses on the cultural movement labeled modernism or the modern movement. See also: Modernism (Roman Catholicism) or Modernist Christianity; Modernismo for specific art movement(s) in Spain and Catalonia. ... For other uses, see Green slime (disambiguation). ... Inmates at Bedlam Asylum, as portrayed by William Hogarth Insanity, or madness, is a semi-permanent, severe mental disorder typically stemming from a form of mental illness. ...

Collaborators and followers

Much of Lovecraft's influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. Many of these also worked with Lovecraft on jointly-written stories. His more famous friends and collaborators include Robert Bloch, author of Psycho; Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian; and August Derleth, who codified and added to the Cthulhu Mythos. Robert Albert Bloch (April 5, 1917, Chicago-September 23, 1994, Los Angeles) was a prolific American writer. ... Psycho is a 1959 pulp thriller by Robert Bloch. ... Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936)[1] was a classic American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. ... Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Cthulhu and Rlyeh The Cthulhu Mythos encompasses the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and associated horror fiction writers. ...

Subsequent horror writers also heavily drew on Lovecraft's work. While many made direct references to elements of Lovecraft's mythos, either to draw on its associations or to acknowledge his influence, many others drew on the feel and tone of his work without specifically referring to mythos elements. Some have said that Lovecraft, along with Edgar Allan Poe, is the most influential author on modern horror. Author Stephen King has said: "Now that time has given us some perspective on his work, I think it is beyond doubt that H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the Twentieth Century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."^[4] Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror novels. ...

By the late 20th century, Lovecraft had become something of a pop-culture icon, resulting in countless reinterpretations of and references to his work. Many of these fall outside the sphere of 'Lovecraftian horror' proper and are not discussed here; see instead Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture. The word icon can have the following meanings: The word icon in the general sense is used to mean symbol -- i. ... The following is a list of media featuring H.P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture. ...

Literature and art

Lovecraft's work, mostly published in pulp magazines, has never had the same sort of influence on literature as his high-modernist literary contemporaries such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald – some of the most influential authors in American history. However, his impact is still broadly and deeply felt in some of the most celebrated authors of contemporary fiction.^[5] The fantasias of the Argentinian short story writer and essayist Jorge Luis Borges display a marked resemblance to some of Lovecraft's more dream influenced work,^[6] and Borges dedicated his story, "There Are More Things" to Lovecraft. The controversial French novelist Michel Houellebecq has also cited Lovecraft as an influence and has written a lengthy essay on Lovecraft entitled H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life in which he refers to the Cthulhu cycle as "the great texts." Flynns Detective Fiction from 1941. ... Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ... Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American Jazz Age author of novels and short stories. ... Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986) was an Argentine writer. ... Michel Houellebecq (pronounced ) (real name Michel Thomas), born 26 February 1958, on the French island of Réunion is a controversial, award-winning French novelist. ...

Lovecraft's penchant for dreamscapes and for the biologically macabre has also profoundly influenced visual artists such as Jean "Mobius" Giraud and H.R. Giger. Giger's book of paintings which led directly to many of the designs for the film Alien was named Necronomicon, the name of a fictional book in several of Lovecraft's mythos stories. Dan O'Bannon, the original writer of the Alien screenplay, has also mentioned Lovecraft as a major influence on the film. With Ronald Shusset, he would later write Dead & Buried and Hemoglobin, both of which were admitted pastiches of Lovecraft. Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (born May 8, 1938) is a French comics artist. ... Birth machine Hans Ruedi Giger (pronounced: GEE-ger) (born at Chur, Grisons canton, February 5, 1940) is a Swiss painter best known for his design work on the film Alien. ... Dan OBannon (born Daniel Thomas OBannon on September 30, 1946 in St. ... Ronald Shusset is an artist who is best known for this creation of the alien design in the film Alien along with Dan OBannon. ... Dead & Buried is a 1981 horror movie directed by Gary Sherman and starring Melody Anderson and James Farentino. ... The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. ...

Movies and television

With the advent of film, Lovecraftian horror truly became a sub-genre, fueling not only direct adaptations of Poe and Lovecraft, but providing the foundation upon which many of the horror films of the 1950s and 1960s were constructed. One notable movie-maker to dip into the Lovecraftian well was 1960s B-movie maker, Roger Corman, though in 1965 Die, Monster, Die! (an adaptation of The Colour Out of Space so loose that it was nearly unrelated), caused movie makers to re-consider the value of Lovecraftian horror. Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Roger Corman. ... The Colour Out of Space is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. ...

Rod Serling's 1969-73 series, Night Gallery, adapted at least two Lovecraft stories, "Pickman's Model" and "Cool Air". The episode "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture", concerning the fate of a man who read the Necronomicon, included a student named "Mr. Lovecraft". Another five minute short was called "Ms. Lovecraft Sent Me", about a babysitter and her strange client. Rodman Edward Rod Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, most famous for his science fiction anthology television series, The Twilight Zone. ...

In the late 1970s a revival of the horror movie genre was based on the success of Stephen King and Brian de Palma's Carrie; John Carpenter's Halloween; and Dan O'Bannon and Ridley Scott's Alien. All three movies bore Lovecraftian influences to one degree or another, and their authors were deeply influenced by Lovecraft's works. As the 1980s and 1990s played out, Lovecraftian horror became a recognizable film staple in such varied films as the self-referential In the Mouth of Madness, the comedic Re-Animator, and Carpenter's Antarctic horror The Thing. Brian De Palma (born James Giacinto DePalma on September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is a prolific, and controversial American film director. ... Carrie is a 1976 American horror film directed by Brian De Palma based on the novel by Stephen King, with a screenplay written by Lawrence D. Cohen. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... Halloween (also known as John Carpenters Halloween) is a 1978 American independent horror film set in the fictional Midwest town of Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween. ... Dan OBannon (born Daniel Thomas OBannon on September 30, 1946 in St. ... Sir Ridley Scott (born November 30, 1937 in South Shields, County Durham) is an influential Academy Award-nominated English film director, and producer. ... Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, is an extremely popular and influential science fiction/horror film that spawned several sequels and imitators. ... In the Mouth of Madness (also known as John Carpenters In the Mouth of Madness) is a 1995 horror film (originally intended for a 1994 release) directed by John Carpenter and written by Michael de Luca, who was at the time in charge of New Line Cinema. ... Re-Animator (1985) is the first in a series of films based on the H.P. Lovecraft story Herbert West: Reanimator. ... John Carpenters The Thing is a 1982 science fiction film directed by John Carpenter. ...

Past 2000, the genre continues to grow in influence. 2004's Hellboy, for example, is an adaptation of the comic book of the same name. Its creator Mike Mignola has described the books as being influenced primarily by the legend of Dracula and the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.^[7] Hellboy (also known as Super Sapiens in some countries) is a film based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Mike Mignola (born in Berkeley, California on September 16, 1960) is a American comic book artist and writer. ... Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. ...

Games

Lovecraft's characters and settings have appeared in many video games and role-playing games. Some of these used Lovecraft's creations chiefly for 'name value' (again, see also Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture), but others have embraced Lovecraft's characteristic mood and themes. This article is about computer and video games. ... This article is about games in which one plays the role of a character. ... The following is a list of media featuring H.P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture. ...

Roleplaying

In the early 1970s, Dungeons and Dragons drew from many of the most popular fantasy settings including those of some of Lovecraft's contemporaries. However, Lovecraftian elements in the game would wait until Dragon magazine issue #12 in 1978 with Robert J. Kuntz's, "The Lovecraftian Mythos in Dungeons & Dragons."^[8] In 1980 a hardcover collection of the various fantasy and historical pantheons available for the game was published under the title, Deities & Demigods. The first and second printings contained a version of the Cthulhu mythos, but that section was removed in the third and subsequent printings for copyright reasons.^[9] The original Dungeons & Dragons set Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) published by Gary Gygax and David Arneson in January 1974. ... The cover of the 300th issue Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products. ... Robert J. Kuntz (born September 23, 1955) is a game designer and author of role-playing game publications. ... The cover of the first printing of the first edition, featured artwork by Erol Otus. ...

As the game has evolved, many of the creatures (e.g. the illithid) and even gods (e.g. Tharizdun) that were introduced were inspired by Lovecraft's works; and in October 2004, Dragon magazine published a lengthy article titled "The Shadow Over D&D: H. P. Lovecraft's Influence on Dungeons & Dragons" discussing these influences.^[8] In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, illithids (commonly known as mind flayers) are monstrous humanoid aberrations with psionic powers. ... In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Tharizdun is the god of Eternal Darkness, Decay, Entropy, Malign Knowledge, Insanity, and Cold. ...

Dungeons & Dragons was not the only roleplaying game to incorporate Lovecraftian horror, however. Perhaps the most overt example was published in 1980. Call of Cthulhu is directly based on the Cthulhu mythos. In keeping with its source material, and unlike most other role-playing games, characters who attempt to confront its monsters directly are likely to die or be driven insane rather than succeed. This is reinforced by the game's best-known feature, a mechanic by which knowledge about mythos entities can only be gained at a permanent cost to one's sanity.^[10] Following this roleplaying game into a modern era with an emphasis on military hardware and espionage wetware is Delta Green in which characters fight with the Mythos and its conspiracies more directly. Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on the story of the same name written by H.P. Lovecraft and the so-called Cthulhu Mythos the story inspired. ... Delta Green is a setting for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Tynes of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishing. ...

Steve Jackson Games' GURPS, a genre-neutral game system, was first published in 1986 and brought diverse elements of fiction and non-fiction together across their lengthy list of published supplements which included Cthulhupunk, a licensed adaptation of Call of Cthulhu into a cyberpunk setting. Steve Jackson Games (SJG) is a game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. ... The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, commonly known as GURPS, is a role-playing game system designed to adapt to any imaginary gaming environment. ... Berlins Sony Center reflects the global reach of a Japanese corporation. ...

Video games

Video games, like films have a rich history of Lovecraftian elements and adaptations.^[11] In 1987, The Lurking Horror was the first to bring the Lovecraftian horror sub-genre to the multiple computer platforms. This was a text based adventure game, released by Infocom, who are best known for the Zork series. This article is about computer and video games. ... The Lurking Horror is an interactive fiction computer game released by Infocom in 1987. ... Adventure is a genre of video games typified by exploration, puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters, and a focus on narrative rather than reflex-based challenges. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar Zorkmid... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I • Zork II • Zork III Beyond Zork • Zork Zero Enchanter trilogy Enchanter • Sorcerer • Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer • Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis • Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters • Kings • Creatures Timeline • Magic • Calendar Zorkmid...

As 3-D computer graphics games developed, so too did the Lovecraftian influences. In 1992, Alone in the Dark was published by Infogrames for the PC, claiming to be inspired by the works of Lovecraft on its retail box. The rewrite of this article is being devised at Talk:3D computer graphics/Temp. ... Alone in the Dark (1992) is a survival horror video game developed by Infogrames (now Atari). ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

The same company also published the cult classic graphic adventures "Shadow of the Comet" and "Prisoner of Ice". Shadow of the Comet (later repackaged as Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet) is a computer game in the adventure game genre. ... Prisoner of Ice (also Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice) is a 1995 computer game based on H.P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu Mythos, particularly drawing inspiration from At the Mountains of Madness. ...

In the seminal 3D first person shooter, Quake in 1996, environments, creatures (including names such as Shub-Niggurath), and the atmosphere of the game emphasized many traditionally Lovecraftian features, with the architecture of the otherworldly dimension resembling many of Lovecraft's descriptions of ancient ruins and alien worlds. The three sequels, as of 2005, contain no Lovecraftian elements, however, and have opted for a more typical science fiction and mainstream horror approach. A first-person shooter (FPS) is a computer or video game where the players on-screen view of the game world simulates that of the character, and there is some element of shooting involved. ... Zombies attacking the player at the starting of Episode 1, Mission 3: The Necropolis. ... Artistic portrayal of Shub-Niggurath, along with her Thousand Young. Shub-Niggurath, often associated with the phrase The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Eternal Darkness, a 2002 GameCube game by Silicon Knights, was extremely Lovecraftian. The game focused on the actions of a number of humans, who throughout history had learned of the 'unknowable reality' present in Lovecraft's works, and had fought back against the manipulations of the 'Ancients,' deities very much like Lovecraft's. Monsters drained the sanity of the protagonists, and until the very end of the game, each character ended his or her chapter in seeming failure, providing only minor or temporary setbacks for the Ancients. Eternal Darkness: Sanitys Requiem is a survival horror video game exclusive for the Nintendo GameCube, based loosely on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. ...

The Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth game for the Xbox and PC in 2005 is directly set in the world of Lovecraft, largely based around the short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". The game contains many settings of "Lovecraft Country", as well as alien worlds and planes of existence. "Shadow over Innsmouth" was also referenced in the Xbox 360 and PC game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which had a miscellaneous quest entitled "Shadow over Hackdirt" where the player had to rescue a girl from cultists in that town. The Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console produced by Microsoft Corporation. ... Lovecraft Country is the New England setting, combining real and fictitious locations, used by H.P. Lovecraft in many of his weird fiction stories, and later elaborated by other writers working in the Cthulhu mythos genre. ... The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a game currently under development by Bethesda Softworks for the PC, Xbox 2, and Playstation 3. ...

The Shadow Hearts series draws heavily from Lovecraftian lore. The designs of the monsters, as well as the dark and frightful sceneries. H.G. even appears as a character in Shadow Hearts: From the New World. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Notes

1. ^ Harms, Daniel (2006). The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana: A Guide to Lovecraftian Horror. Chaosium. 
2. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1992). Crawling Chaos: Selected works 1920-1935 H. P. Lovecraft, introduction by Colin Wilson, Creation Press. 
3. ^ Bloch, Robert (August 1973). "Poe & Lovecraft". Ambrosia (No. 2). 
4. ^ Wohleber, Curt (December 1995). "THE MAN WHO CAN SCARE STEPHEN KING" (volume 46, issue 8). 
5. ^ Stentz, Zack (1997). "Return of the Weird" (January 2-8, 1997 issue). 
6. ^ Lord, Bruce. Some Lovecraftian Thoughts On Borges’ “There Are More Things”.
7. ^ Fassbender, Tom. Interviews: Mike Mignola. Dark Horse.
8. ^ ^{a b} Jacobs, James (October 2004). "The Shadow Over D&D: H. P. Lovecraft's Influence on Dungeons & Dragons". Dragon (#324). 
9. ^ The Acaeum page on Deities & Demigods. Retrieved on 2007-02-21. shows contents of different printings.
10. ^ MacLaurin, Wayne and Neil Walsh (1997). Call of Cthulhu: A Look at Chaosium's Horrifying Journey into the Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft, Part I.
11. ^ Zenke, Michael. Dreading the Shadows on the Wall. The Escapist.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction. ... Robert Albert Bloch (April 5, 1917, Chicago-September 23, 1994, Los Angeles) was a prolific American writer. ... James Jacobs is the current editor-in-chief of Dungeon magazine, published by Paizo Publishing. ... The cover of the 300th issue Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Bloch, Robert (August 1973). "Poe & Lovecraft". Ambrosia (No. 2). 
• Fassbender, Tom. Interviews: Mike Mignola. Dark Horse.
• Harms, Daniel (2006). The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana: A Guide to Lovecraftian Horror. Chaosium. 
• Jacobs, James (October 2004). "The Shadow Over D&D: H. P. Lovecraft's Influence on Dungeons & Dragons". Dragon (#324). 
• Lovecraft, H. P. (1992). Crawling Chaos: Selected works 1920-1935 H. P. Lovecraft, introduction by Colin Wilson, Creation Press. 
• Zenke, Michael. Dreading the Shadows on the Wall. The Escapist.