Customer Reviews

H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness

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The world needs more people like the guys at the HP Lovecraft Historical Society.

First, they produced a movie adaptation of Lovecraft's classic CALL OF CTHULHU. And did they do the obvious, and update the tale to the 21st century, film it in living color, with photorealistic CGI effects and self-consciously edgy modern characters? Nope. They did it right, as a picture-perfect impersonation of a silent film contemporaneous with the publication of the original story.

Now, they've followed that up with an adaptation of Lovecraft's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. Not a silent movie this time, but a radio play in the classic style of LIGHTS OUT or SUSPENSE (complete with commercials!). See, these guys know what I know: That cineplex- and ratings-driven fashion have not made artistry and style obsolete. If you know it, too; if you love good, old-fashioned urbane horror; if you love the timeless ambiance of a radio dramatization (played in the dark); if you want a Lovecraft adaptation that's appropriate to the life and times of the man himself, then do yourself a favor and buy this CD. You'll get well over an hour of Lovecraftian goodness and you won't be disappointed.

I just wish more people had this much respect for the style and artistry of the past.

As a lifelong fan of both H.P. Lovecraft and the genre of Old Time Radio plays (especially Suspense, X Minus One, and Quiet Please), this modern retro radio play-style adaptation of 'Mountains of Madness' is a real gem.

Capturing the feel of the old radio plays perfectly, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society delivers a dramatic, suspenseful version of one of the master's greatest achievements in sci-fi horror. There are moments (like when the characters are on an aeroplane) that the dialog is hard to hear, but that's perfectly in keeping with the OTR feel.

Even the charmingly tongue-in-cheek 'advertisement' for the bogus Fleurs-de-Lys brand of cigarettes is a hoot. It's all about attention to detail, and what old radio play ever had no annoying advertising?

Excellent voice performances, terrific sound effects, and a solid adherence to Lovecraft's story make this a must-add to any Lovecraft fan's collection. An added bonus are the inserts for the CD, which include a newspaper cutting from the Arkham Advertiser, photos of the City of the Elder Things, and a page from Danforth's sketchbook.

The HPLHS has also released a 'Dark Adventure Theatre' adaptation of 'The Dunwich Horror'.

Now this is how it should be done!

Adapting the stories of HP Lovecraft to other media has always been a thankless & mostly futile task. But the creators of this adaptation have succeeded wonderfully, because they had the sense to recreate the times & atmosphere in which Lovecraft wrote, setting his tale in context.

How?

By recreating the glory days of radio drama, right down to the static & commercials & slightly over-the-top acting style of the 1930s. You can practically hear the vacuum tubes warming up when you put this CD on to play! The attention to detail & authenticity is truly astounding, from beginning to end. You'll swear that you're listening to something contemporary with Orson Welles' famed "War of the Worlds" broadcast.

At the same time, they don't focus so much on details that they lose sight of the story. Everything is in service to Lovecraft's vision of an ancient, titanic city in the frozen waste of the Antarctic mountains, created by weird alien beings & their monstrous servants, now long dead ... or are they? The hapless expedition of mere mortal men will discover the horrifying truth before long!

So settle down in a cozy chair, turn the lights down low, and enter the theater of the imagination. But be prepared for some chills! For both horror & classic radio fans, this is a treat. Highly recommended!

Lovecraft's unique style of cosmic horror is particularly suited to audio drama. Film and television are visual media that rely on flashing an image in front of you, while Lovecraft always believed that what he didn't show would be much scarier than anything he could describe. Such a natural combination has been done several times, from the 1945 version of "The Dunwich Horror" for the radio program "Suspense" to the phenomenal versions made in the 1960s by the California-based radio show "The Black Mass." More recently Atlanta Radio Theater Company recorded a 30-minute adaptation of "At the Mountains of Madness" live at the 1992 World Horror Convention and done in the style of the Golden Age of Radio.

Dark Adventure Radio Theater carries on and updates this tradition with gusto. A branch of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, taking Lovecraft to radio is a natural next step for the group that also produced the beautiful silent film The Call of Cthulhu. Both the film and radio series are from the same innovative concept; What if Lovecraft's works had been adapted in the era in which they were originally written?

"At the Mountains of Madness" is the first outing from "Dark Adventure Radio Theater." From the get-go, you can tell that this adaptation is quite different from the Atlanta Radio Theater Company version. Because they recorded in a studio instead of live, they are able to do more with sound effects and audio tricks. Also, instead of doing only the main story, Dark Adventures Radio Theater recreates elements of OTR like advertisements and radio news serials. These clever details deliver a full package of one of Lovecraft's most famous stories of an adventure to Antarctica and the uncovering of an ancient civilization that appeared before the dawn of man.

As the first offering from Dark Adventure Radio Theater, "At the Mountains of Madness" is not without its flaws. Instead of diving right into the story, the first twenty minutes are taken up with scratchy clips from "World Wide Wireless News" covering earlier accounts of the Dyer expedition. I liked the effect and authentic sound of these clips, but they could be somewhat hard to hear and there was too much exposition before the main story. After the twenty-minute mark, however, when Professor Dyer begins to give his personal account the story begins to envelope the listener.

The voice acting is well-done, and noticeably improves as the story goes along. Too often actors adopt some sort of corny "over the top" style when imitating OTR, which is entirely unsuitable an unauthentic. There is some of this in "At the Mountains of Madness," especially at the start of the story. Give a listen to old radio series like "Suspense" and "Inner Sanctum" and you will find voices as subtle and commanding as any modern film. The natural style of modern radio giants like the ZBS Foundation, such as in their adaptation of Karl Edward Wagner's Sticks, shows just how effective weird fiction can be when done in naturaly acted audio drama.

Props must be given to the amazing supplemental materials that come with this CD. The CD case pull-out has a publication history of "At the Mountains of Madness," and there are incredibly realistic re-creations of a torn out newspaper article from the Arkham Advert about the expedition, a page from Dyers' sketchbook showing the murals and bodies of the Elder Things, as well as two old-style photographs of the walled city. I have spent several months leading a group through Chaosium's Beyond the Mountains of Madness with the Antarctic Expedition Pack, and the supplemental materials that came with that game were amateur-hour compared with what comes with this CD. A lot of love and passion went into creating this release, and it shows.

For a first effort, "At the Mountains of Madness" is a triple-play if not a grand slam. I have listened to the 4 Disc Boxed Set (More to come? I hope!) and I know that Dark Adventure Radio Theater learns with every recording, with H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Out of Time being absolutely phenomenal.

Length:: 2:15 Mins

I love listening to classic radio dramas. The strong, chilling narrator's voice along with the sound effects were the perfect fit for this audio production. I was pleased to feel like I went back in time. H.P. Lovecraft never lets me down. Instead of listening to this in the comfort of your own home, listen to it on a long road trip during a dark, stormy night. That's the experience I shockingly enjoyed!

Picked this up for a road trip (along with the other release). One of my favorite Lovecraft stories done well in the style of 30s radio dramatization. Creepy and intense for the most part. The first 20 minutes are rather annoying with the mock shortwave radio interviews of the expedition in the story, you can barely hear it, though that may be because I was listening to it while traveling. After that moment though, it is quite engrossing and well told. Lovecraft stories are notoriously hard to put into scripted drama, but these radio styled performances have done it quite well, and not surprising, it is done by the Lovecraft guild (or whatever the group is called). I think these people also did the fantastic silent film "Call of Cthulhu" that recently came out). Besides the opening few moments, a well done pieces of radio fun.

The stories of HP Lovecraft still haunt us years after his death and despite the fact he is still relagated to general obscurity. Ask your average person who he is, and you'll likely get no response. When I was younger, in my teens, it was popular to read his works. They were a taste of the wierd and horrible and it was chic to know names such as Cthuhlu and make references to Miskatonic University or the writings of certain mad arabs.

Years later I went back to his work and found it all the more thrilling and horrific. My younger mind couldn't pick up the subtle terror of the unknown that I believe Lovecraft mastered.

When I discovered one of his greatest works and one of his view 'novels' had been turned into a Radio Drama, I leapt at the chance. This is not just a 'reading' of the Mountains of Madness, it is an honest to goodness radio drama done in the style of the 1930's when radio was king and cigarettes were just darn good for ya! The voice acting, music and sound effects work to take the Mountains of Madness to where modern film could not go. The radio drama leaves much for the listener to imagine, the same as the written work. While film often destroys imagination by 'showing' you horror, the radio drama simply guides you into your own nightmareish visions.

Is the radio drama perfect? No. The beginning is a bit repetative with a series of 'World Wide News' stories which set the backdrop of the tale. A listener might get a bit frustrated hearing the morse code and musical jingle of the radio station over and over. However, once Professor Dyer begins his tale in earnest, listeners are left with the frozen wastes of Antarctica, the wonder of a forotten city, and the horror of what truly happened to Professor Lake.

What lies beyond the Mountains of Madness await and I strongly reccomend you let Dark Adventure Radio take you there!

Very well done and the props that come with it only add to the experience. If you enjoy Lovecraft, you love this product and the others from Dark Adventures Radio Theatre!

Loved this item. It was a blast to listen to. Everything about the cd I ordered was top-knotch. The voice acting on this item is of a surprisingly high (and delightfully over-the-top) caliber and the props ( faux newspaper clippings, sketches and expedition photos) packed in with the cd add an unexpected level of enjoyment to the "Dark Adventure Radio Theatre" experience. I do have one small gripe about this production; early on in the recording, one of the characters is being interviewed via some sort of remote radio connection. The amount of artificial static that was added to this passage in order to affect the type of poor audio quality available from such a remote locale made for some tough listening, as it substantially muffled the dialogue. This is a small inconvenience but one that deserves mention. The rest of the recording is crystal-clear, the musical score-appropriately dramatic and the sound effects-creepy.

I've also purchased the Dunwich Horror and the Shadow Out of Time cds and found those items to be even more enjoyable. I'll be adding the fourth cd available (The Shadow Over Innsmouth) to my collection in the next couple of days. I'm not too sure, but I think the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society is responsible for creating these cds. I don't really know a lot about the HPLHS but I hope they have more Lovecraft recordings in the works. It might be neat, (and perhaps blasphemy) if the HPLHS looked to bring the work of similar authors to radio drama form as well. Just a thought. Either way, I hope more Lovecraft radio dramas see the light of day!

Amazon's service was timely and the item arrived undamaged. So far, all of the Lovecraft cds have arrived undamaged. A nice component of a very enjoyable shopping experience. Good show all around!

that takes you to the long lost days of "wireless" and serialised dramas. OK I wasn't born when radio had its heyday but I've heard enough here and there to know what an authentic, yet innovative, adaption of HPL's masterpiece this is. Its radio drama authenticity is unquestionable (check out the way the guys at HPLHS package and receipt their stuff to know how authenticity INSANE they are!!!) but there are enough self-reflexive nods and quiet in-jokes to situate this adaption firmly in our post-modern 21st century. But don't get me wrong, there's nothing at all jokey or camp about this CD and some of the audio chapters stand alone as superb drama in their own right. Gripping character dynamics and voicing, fascinating sound effects, music and faux-advertising and a grimly imaginative adventure put together with exceptional production standards. TEKELILI!!!