Night of the Cephalopods

This is a fantastic little number from Spooky Squid Games. On the surface, it's a pretty ordinary isometric action game, but what makes it special is the dynamic narration that describes your gradual loss of sanity as the game progresses. From the official site:

Throughout the game your status, the actions you take and the locations you explore are narrated back to you in the style of classic horror master H.P. Lovecraft with full high quality voice acting.

To get a sense of how the narration works, check out the slightly spoilery video, or just go and download the damn thing.

Re-Animator, the Younger

A few days ago, Bloody Disgusting dropped a tasty bit of news about an upcoming TV series based on Lovecraft's Herbert West—Reanimator. Apparently, Transition Entertainment is putting together a pilot for a sci-fi series that depicts "a teenage Dr. Frankenstein" as he dabbles with raising the dead.

B-D has now dropped a few more hints, thanks to a courtesy call from writer William Butler:

"This project in no way is connected to/or like the original classic movie [RE-ANIMATOR], which we respect and honor with all of our being, but rather a growing narrative inspired by all of HP Lovecraft's early works as well as new science fiction elements." (emphasis added)

Presumably, the series will draw from all areas of the Mythos, rather than just Reanimator, and perhaps from other sci-fi realms. It could be a stroke of genius, or it could be an unimaginably terrifying abomination.

Link (via JustPressPlay).

Lovecraft on Stage

Now here's something we (unfortunately) don't see everyday: A stage play based on a Lovecraft story. Specifically, we're talking about WildClaw Theatre's adaptation of The Dreams in the Witch House, which runs from now until 21 December at Chicago's Athenaeum Studio. Tickets are a cool US$20, so if you live in or near Chicago, there's no reason why you shouldn't head along.

Link (via Ghost Radio).

Lovecraft Spotting: Fallout 3

Fallout 3 players: Spend some time at the Dunwich Building, which you can find in the southwest corner of the map.

Spoiler: As told through a series of personal audio logs, a poor soul, seeking refuge in the building, discovers a 'book', written by a certain Arab, which eventually turns him... well, you know the rest.

If it weren't for the ghouls trying to tear you to shreds, it wouldn't be particularly scary -- in fact, it would have been creepier if Bethesda had ditched the ghouls altogether. Still, the obelisk that the ghouls were (presumably) worshiping is pretty neat.

(Sadly, the Necronomicon isn't in the building -- or if it is, I couldn't find it).

More Mountains of Madness Madness

Guillermo Del Toro has been shooting his mouth off about his forthcoming adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness. When Del Toro signed up with Paramount to work on The Hobbit, the status of AtMoM was uncertain, but it seems the deal has turned out to be quite fortuitous for the project. Del Toro speaks to Fear.net:

"Part of the arrangement with Universal – in being essentially there for now until 2017 – part of the arrangement was they would finance research and development for Mountains of Madness. And we are doing it."

And how's the R&D going? According to Del Toro, Lovecraft didn't take into consideration the limitations modern CG technology when he described AtMoM's Shoggoths and Elder Things:

"If you talk about shape-shifting to the degree that these creatures do, then you're talking about, essentially – if you're using traditional tools – you're going to need to generate 30, 40 models fully rendered per creature. That's A, limiting and B, incredibly expensive."

Apparently, like Peter Jackson did with Lord of the Rings, Del Toro will need to create original technology to handle the modelling (which he says will be called 'The Howard'). I admire directors that adapt technology to their vision, rather than the other way around, but I also think there are clever ways to represent the Mythos bestiary without resorting to CG. Case in point: the HP Lovecraft Historical Society's spectacular radio play.