Details from IMDB:
Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown
A chronicle of the life, work and mind that created the Cthulhu mythos.
- Director
- Writer
- Stars
Initial Thoughts:
For me I was introduced to Lovecraft not from his writing (short stories or novels) but from the role-playing game “Call of Cthulhu” which I’ve been playing (and more recently running) since I was a teenager (over 30 years). It was only the past 3 years since I’ve been a Keeper of Secrets (Cthulhu name for the Dungeon Master) that I’ve developed and an interest in his writing and his personal life. So as it was a quiet weekend for me, I had this on my Amazon watchlist and finished it this morning.
Main Points:
I need to put some disclaimers here. This documentary does feature an interview with Neil Gaiman, who has been accused of sexual assault by 5 women, I made a point not to put him as a keyword as I don’t want him celebrated or recognized, this could be a trigger for some people. Also Lovecraft (for anyone who doesn’t know) was an angry anti-Semite, who (for at least some of his life) hated immigrants and believed in racial superiority, suffice to say his views were very offensive, ignorant and stupid, I say this once more in case it’s a trigger for you. How an anti-Semite married a Jewish woman is something I will never be able to understand, I agree with documentary that she was certainly a saint! I enjoyed this documentary, it’s not long and they interviews are quite good. I was aware of his writing but didn’t know much about Lovecraft’s personal life (other than his offensive ideals) and the struggles he went through as a writer.
It comes as no surprise why someone who was lonely and isolated as a child (and had no friends until well into adulthood), had little affection from his mother and had his father die at a young age, would have a dark imagination and suffer from mental afflictions. Lovecraft despite his many flaws was a brilliant writer who had an incredible imagination and created what we now call Cthulhu Mythos and was a huge influence on modern day horror movies/TV/books/video games and other media. I think the fact an obscure writer (at the time of his death at just 46) who died almost 100 years ago is still popular (check out “Lovecraft Country” on HBO, awesome show!), shows the huge influence he had and is quite impressive. He was also certainly an artist who was not appreciated in his time and sadly would have become much more famous if he had lived another 5-10 years.
They documentary explains his style of writing, which was old-fashioned even for the 20s and 30s, and how he came up with his system of gods aka Cthulhu Mythos very well. I also learned that he did write some sci-fi and even some poems along with a couple of novels. He was also very critical of his own work, leaving a lot of his work to not be published until after his death. I also quite enjoyed how they talked about the role-playing game “Call of Cthulhu”, conventions, toys, comics and artwork all inspired from his work. Lovecraft wanted people to carry on and contribute to his work and I hope that as a Keeper I am doing some small part in that.
Final Thoughts:
I wanted to say that the artwork featured throughout this documentary was excellent and it’s so nice to see it all credited at the end. As this came out in 2008 it’s also nice to know none of it is AI, which will soon no longer be the case. This documentary made me want to discover more of Lovecraft’s work and do more of my own writing. While it’s not for kids I would say ages 12+ would be fine. I watched this on Amazon Prime but I believe it’s also on Tubi. I give it a solid 7.5 out 10 and would highly recommend it to any Cthulhu, horror or writing fan. It does look amateurish and I would have liked more discussion on the “Call of Cthulhu” role-playing game and video games but otherwise quite enjoyed it.