Customer Reviews

H.P. Lovecraft in Popular Culture: The Works and Their Adaptations in Film, Television, Comics, Music and Games

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

A sloppy book. Not at all scholarly, although the author is a professor - basically this book consists of lists of pop culture items (films, TV shows, comics, etc.) with some Lovecraft connection. Some of the items are reviewed, but the reviews are very uncritical. The lists are arbitrary and leave out many obvious items. For example, the section on music goes on at some length about the late 60s/early 70s group H. P. Lovecraft, but that's the whole section.

The author's understanding of Lovecraft seems to derive from August Derleth - he shows no signs of being conversant with recent Lovecraft scholarship. Lovecraft enthusiasts may find some pop culture references with which they were unfamiliar, but otherwise I can think of no reason to buy this book.

The real glory of this book is the introduction of movies and authors that are Lovecraftian in nature that one may not have been familiar with. In the case of movies, these are adaptations from Lovecraft stories, such as Re-Animator. But the author, Don G. Smith, also allows us the other side of the coin and gives us a glimpse of authors that influenced Lovecraft himself. All-in-all this was a very good book, a quick read of 180 pages, and quite scholarly, though I do believe the author could have delved deeper in many of the chapters.

The book is divided up into Nine chapters: One: is a quick synopsis of Lovecraft's stories. Two: Focuses on the Cthulhu Mythos. Three: Films based on Lovecraft's work with much focus given to the Poe/Corman-esque films. Four: More films that were influenced by Lovecraft's writings. Five: Lovecraft on television, containing a few references to Night Gallery. Six: Lovecraft in comic books. The weakest of the chapters as this is more of a list. Seven: A look into the music group H.P. Lovecraft. Eight: a three-page chapter on a roleplaying game. Nine: explores authors past and present that influenced and were influenced by Lovecraft, such as Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Lord Dunsany, Robert Bloch, and Stephen King.

H.P. Lovecraft In Popular Culture is a survey and critique of pop culture phenomena derived from the horror stories and mythos of author H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was especially well-known for creating inhuman fiends such as Great Cthullu that slept for eons and periodically awoke to torture and enslave humanity; his vision of a merciless universe and the near-omnipotent, diabolically cruel entities that ruled it has provided inspiration for role-playing games, television shows, comic books, movies, varieties of music, and more. Numerous individual pop culture works are succinctly summarized and critiqued, in this handy, easy-to-use reference for casual Lovecraft fans and serious literature students alike.

H.P. Lovecraft In Popular Culture is a survey and critique of pop culture phenomena derived from the horror stories and mythos of author H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was especially well-known for creating inhuman fiends such as Great Cthullu that slept for eons and periodically awoke to torture and enslave humanity; his vision of a merciless universe and the near-omnipotent, diabolically cruel entities that ruled it has provided inspiration for role-playing games, television shows, comic books, movies, varieties of music, and more. Numerous individual pop culture works are succinctly summarized and critiqued, in this handy, easy-to-use reference for casual Lovecraft fans and serious literature students alike.

H.P. Lovecraft In Popular Culture is a survey and critique of pop culture phenomena derived from the horror stories and mythos of author H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was especially well-known for creating inhuman fiends such as Great Cthullu that slept for eons and periodically awoke to torture and enslave humanity; his vision of a merciless universe and the near-omnipotent, diabolically cruel entities that ruled it has provided inspiration for role-playing games, television shows, comic books, movies, varieties of music, and more. Numerous individual pop culture works are succinctly summarized and critiqued, in this handy, easy-to-use reference for casual Lovecraft fans and serious literature students alike.

H.P. Lovecraft In Popular Culture is a survey and critique of pop culture phenomena derived from the horror stories and mythos of author H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was especially well-known for creating inhuman fiends such as Great Cthullu that slept for eons and periodically awoke to torture and enslave humanity; his vision of a merciless universe and the near-omnipotent, diabolically cruel entities that ruled it has provided inspiration for role-playing games, television shows, comic books, movies, varieties of music, and more. Numerous individual pop culture works are succinctly summarized and critiqued, in this handy, easy-to-use reference for casual Lovecraft fans and serious literature students alike.

H.P. Lovecraft In Popular Culture is a survey and critique of pop culture phenomena derived from the horror stories and mythos of author H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was especially well-known for creating inhuman fiends such as Great Cthullu that slept for eons and periodically awoke to torture and enslave humanity; his vision of a merciless universe and the near-omnipotent, diabolically cruel entities that ruled it has provided inspiration for role-playing games, television shows, comic books, movies, varieties of music, and more. Numerous individual pop culture works are succinctly summarized and critiqued, in this handy, easy-to-use reference for casual Lovecraft fans and serious literature students alike.

H.P. Lovecraft In Popular Culture is a survey and critique of pop culture phenomena derived from the horror stories and mythos of author H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was especially well-known for creating inhuman fiends such as Great Cthullu that slept for eons and periodically awoke to torture and enslave humanity; his vision of a merciless universe and the near-omnipotent, diabolically cruel entities that ruled it has provided inspiration for role-playing games, television shows, comic books, movies, varieties of music, and more. Numerous individual pop culture works are succinctly summarized and critiqued, in this handy, easy-to-use reference for casual Lovecraft fans and serious literature students alike.

H.P. Lovecraft In Popular Culture is a survey and critique of pop culture phenomena derived from the horror stories and mythos of author H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was especially well-known for creating inhuman fiends such as Great Cthullu that slept for eons and periodically awoke to torture and enslave humanity; his vision of a merciless universe and the near-omnipotent, diabolically cruel entities that ruled it has provided inspiration for role-playing games, television shows, comic books, movies, varieties of music, and more. Numerous individual pop culture works are succinctly summarized and critiqued, in this handy, easy-to-use reference for casual Lovecraft fans and serious literature students alike.