Cthulhu Thursday: Top 5 best of Mythos, Cthulhu and Lovecraft Film, TV, Games, Stories and more… (A Work in Progress)

Updated! Oh and before I begin… important announcement! Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is now out on Steam and console!… 

This post is intended to be a work in progress. As a big fan of Cthulhu related stuff, I get through a lot, so I wanted to put together a personal list of the best of the best Cthulhu, Mythos and Lovecraft related things. Feel free to comment, email or tweet me suggestions, but note it is a personal list, so I may not agree with you…

Image from Achtung! Cthulhu RPG

Right, here we go…please note!! I list the top five(ish) in each category but they are not in order within that list, it was too hard to get all hierarchical with them 😦  Also note!!! that this is work in progress, I’m not decided all the category winners as yet, so I’ll be updating it as I do…and I do change my mind too…

The Best of Lovecraft’s Own Stories

• Call of Cthulhu: If you were to only read one of his stories, this should be it. It’s his most famous work for a reason. It has all the classic elements to a great Lovecraft work; mystery, crazy dreams, journeys that end in madness, cults, Cyclopian horror. All bound within a multiply stranded narrative. A must read. H.P.Podcraft link.
• The Colour Out of Space: This was also what Lovecraft thought of as his best work and I love this story for its depiction of something truly alien. Often in fiction the aliens are just magnified human archetypes and are not really all that alien. No so here, the thing is so different from us it’s, well alien. And that is its horror. The story is also amazingly written and so a great read. H.P.Podcraft link.
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Another classic.  It has the rambling antiquarian trying to unravel a mystery that begins to unravel him… Great stuff! H.P.Podcraft link.
• At The Mountains of Madness: This is one of Lovecraft’s longest works and best.  The narrator is writing to beg a group planning a new expedition to the Arctic to not and leave the place alone.  In warning these foolhardy new explorers he has to tell his tale and what a tale it is… H.P.Podcraft link.
• Dagon: A very short story with echoes of Call of Cthulhu and Shadow Over Innsmouth within but this time wrapped within a World War One setting.  Amazing prose and description within the short story form. H.P.Podcraft link.

Best Lovecraft Collaboration

• Lurker at the Threshold (With August Derleth): My first Mythos encounter and one I still love to read.  The story has a subtly and creeping horror that do enjoy. AND! The H.P.Podcraft people covered it here.
• Till A’ the Seas (with R. H. Barlow): A post-apocalyptic story where the horror is build around the end of days for humanity.  It has relevant with the ideas of climate change and species die-off. H.P.Podcraft link.
• Through the Gates of the Silver Key (with E Hoffman Price) : A more mystical/sci-fi story with the return of a recurring character; Randolph Carter. H.P.Podcraft link.
• The Loved Dead (with C.M.Eddy). Creepy subject matter and a creepy story. H.P.Podcraft link.
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From Cthulhu Wars game

Best Lovecraft Adaptation Feature Film

• Call of Cthulhu (2005): What an amazing idea – make the film as if it has been made in Lovecraft’s time – as a silent classic. I love this film and the people who made it (the HPLHS) have done an amazing job of adapting his work, far better that filmmakers with more experience and money have done.  It just goes to show how far creativity and passion can go.
• Cthulhu (2007): Based roughly on Shadow over Innsmouth, it is a good mix of classic Lovecraftian ideas and modern horror stuff.  A good stab at Lovecraft on film, imho.
• Re-Animator (1985): A great film that is based on the Lovecraft tale of ‘Herbert West: Re-animator‘ and updates it to a contemporaty setting. Deservedly one of the best adaptations of Lovecraft’s work.
• From Beyond (1986): From the same team of Re-Animator, another great adaptation that also updates the action to a contemporary setting.
• The Whisper in the Darkness (2012): A second feature by the HPLHS people and another hit. A great adaptation oozing atmosphere and while the effects are not all that great, given the budget they had it is amazing. Loved it!

Best Lovecraftian Feature Films

• Annihilation – Directed by Alex Garland and based on novel by Jeff VanderMeer, it is loosely following the formula of Color Out of Space, but is also it’s own thing. It’s a brilliant capturing of ‘weird’ fiction as a film.
• Event Horizon – A science mission to explore a black hole finds the space between stars and those who visit it, are changed!
• Color Out Of Space – Richard Stanley’s adaptation of Lovecraft’s The Color Out of Space story. It’s really good, go see it!
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Best Lovecraft Short Films

• Experiment 17: It’s Nazis meet Mythos and well worth a watch.
• Late Bloomer: Lovecraftian sex-education class! Very clever and funny.
• From Beyond the Beyond: Fun with the beyond from some funny guys who know their stuff! (+ see other shorts by them!)
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Best Contemporary Lovecraftian Fiction

• The short stories; A Colder War by Charles Stross: The best contemporary Lovecraft story in my opinion.  A must read and also read Twilight Turns From Amethyst by Nicola Belte: A chilling short story telling of the time when the Deep Ones have returned and we are at war with them. It’s The Handmaid’s Tale meets Shadow over Innsmouth.
• The Imago Sequence & Other Stories by Laird Barron: I recently discovered Laird and he’s AMAZING. I’ve ready all I’ve been able to get my fish-claws on. Occultation and the Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All are also brilliant anthologies and the novel The Croning blew me away (stick with it as the first chapter is odd, but it makes sense later on…)
• The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson: This is Johnson’s take on The Dreamlands. I heard an interview with her and got the book after that and it’s stuck with me ever since. Totally recommended.
• The Ballad of Black Tom – by Victor LaValle, revisiting H.P. Lovecraft’s story “The Horror at Red Hook” from the viewpoint of a black man. Excellent read.
• The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. A sequence of three books that set out to describe the indescribable, so make into words many of the things that other mythos writers just jump over. A remarkable work of fiction.

Best Contemporary Multi-Author Lovecraftian Anthology

• Shadows over Baker Street: Lovecraft meets Holmes, it’s the mashup we all wanted to see and this great anthology made happen.
• The Starry Wisdom: An anthology of stories and comics that are a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft.  Some great writers recruited to the project and some amazing work within.
• Lovecaft eZine: An ongoing project that has produced many, many stories – some real gems in the mix there and a project totally worth supporting! Get Autumn Cthulhu from them – so much good fiction!
• World War Cthulhu – I backed this on Kickstarter and really enjoyed the fiction within plus has some great art works in it too!
• Delta Green Fiction: Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy by Dennis Detwiller.  This novel is written in fragments involving a slew of characters over the course of World War 2, the fragmented quality of it really amplifies the horror a mystery. Once More, from the Top by A. Scott Glancy: The story of the Innsmouth raid by the government referred to in Lovecraft’s original.  A short story in Delta Green: Dark Theatres.

Best Lovecraftian Non-Fiction Things

• The Annotated Lovecraft: By the great Lovecraftian scholar S.T.Joshi, it’s a great way to read his works and get an insight to how he wrote them.
• H.P.Podcraft: Funny and informative companion podcast that works though Lovecraft’s works (and those that inspired him) and is a real joy to listen too. I can’t recommend highly enough. I recommend subscribing to the premium feed (I have!)
• Voluminous: The Letters of H.P.Lovecraft. If you’d like an insight into the man, this is a great listen. Each episode is a letter (or two) followed by analysis of a man who wrote A LOT of letters.
• Journal of Lovecraftian Science – As Lovecraft was very into science and rationality, this is a great project. Backed on Kickstarter, so awaiting Vol. 3.
• Auroch Digital Podcast – So yeah, another own-plug. However Season 4 Episode 5 is a potted history of Cthulhu games which is full of great info. Season 0 Episode 4 is an introduction to the Mythos.

Cthulhu by David Kirkby (kirkd.co.uk/cthulhu)

Best RPG Game

• Call of Cthulhu: Chaosium’s original RPG based on Lovecraft’s works. This is how I discovered the mythos. It’s a gateway drug! Stand out adventures include Masks of Nyarlathotep and Beyond the Mountains of Madness: A great revisit of a classic Lovecraft setting.
• Delta Green: A great mixing of contemporary UFOs and conspiracy theory with the Cthulhu mythos. Looking forward to current offerings! 
• Achtung! Cthulhu: It’s the shadow war of WW2 – how the Nazis try to turn the mythos into a means to win the war and how the Allies tried to stop them. Brilliant RPG setting from Modiphius.
• Currently redacted but I have high hopes for The Yellow King.

Honourable mention: Dark Mirror (cos I wrote it!)

Best Cthulhu Video Games

• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth: A first person shooter set in the realm of the Mythos.  Like it!
• Cthulhu Saves the World: A fun interpretation of the role Cthulhu plays in our lives.  This time he’s the hero.
• The Last Door: Brilliant Lovecraftian point-and-click adventure.
• Darkest Dungeon – A super-Lovecraftian strategy/dungeon crawler game. So much great stuff in the game, well worth it!
• Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land: Ok so I designed this game, but people (e.g. below) suggested it be included, so I reluctantly agreed 😉 The game is no longer available for sale, but it’s a project I’m very proud of! Same for Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics– again, I worked on this, but I’m super proud of the game and what we did with the source material and sort-of follows on from Wasted Land,so I’m putting it here. Deal with it.

Best Cthulhu Physical Games

• Cthulhu Wars – Great area control tactical boardgame set when the Great Old Ones have claimed the earth. Amazing design too!
• Arkham Noir – Nice card art and quite a fun solo card game. I’ve only played Case #2 and Case #1 is on my ‘want’ list.
• Hyperspace – A 4x style strategy boardgame from the creator of Cthulhu Wars that features the mythos races and the spacecraft they use! So hyped for this!!
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Best Cthulhu Artists

• John Coulthart: Did an amazing version of Call of Cthulhu in The Starry Wisdom and that got me into him.  Brings the visceral horror to Lovecraft’s visions.
• Howard V. Brown: Did the great Astounding Stories art for At the Mountains Madness. (See below)
• Michael Bukowski: A reworking on the Mythos giving a fresh take on it’s denizens.
• John Kenn Mortensen: His children’s book-like images have a horror all of their own.
• Goomi: Who does the more comic Unspeakable Vault of Doom (which is great) and more serious Cthulhu stuff.

Best Lovecraftian Comics

• Alan Moore’s Providence (& The Courtyard, Neonomicon): Quite simply a masterwork. Amazing. I’m going to write more on this soon.
• Alan Moore’ Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths: Very disturbing at times, but then this is the Mythos…
• Fall of Cthulhu: A journey into the Dreamlands well worth taking.
• John Coulthart’s Haunter of the Dark: Collects his Lovecraftian comic work and illustration.
• Necronauts – The ultimate supernatural team-up; Charles Fort, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. P. Lovecraft and Harry Houdini get together to face off against the dark.  (Hat-tip to David for reminding me!)

Best Cthulhu/Lovecraftian Music

• Cthulu Dildonomicon: Breakcore does Cthulhu! Free! Nuff said. (Plus the brilliant Jason Forest is involved!)
• The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets: Cthulhu themed rock!
• H.P.Lovecraft: Also the name of a brilliant psychedelic rock band. Well worth checking out!
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Best Cthulhu Mashups

• Ogrethulhu: A cybernetic tanks mashed with Cthulhu? Of course!
• Tintin vs Cthulhu: The adventures he wished didn’t happen (run Tintin, run!!)
• Dr Seuss does Cthulhu: What kids should not be reading (but will love)
• Cthulhu Charlie Brown: Snoopy discovers the stars are right…
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(Cthulhu Thursday is a dose of Mythos to brighten darken your week. More on the idea can be found here and a list of posts thus far, here. Also some upcoming Cthulhu news, sign up to the Auroch Digital’s newsletter. Enjoy!)

PS. Important announcement! Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is now out on Steam and console!… plus if you wanted our ‘Vote Cthulhu’ card game, it’s available now 🙂