- Jun 28, 2017
- 1,822
- 2,302
when it's been 29 years and there's still no lovecraft house, so you decide to do it yourself
Eh. I actually understand why it hasn't been done. Frankly, Lovecraft ain't Poe.when it's been 29 years and there's still no lovecraft house, so you decide to do it yourself
Eh. I actually understand why it hasn't been done. Frankly, Lovecraft ain't Poe.
Poe - more specifically, his works - are well-known by the general population. Almost everyone can name at least one piece of his (The Raven). Most people can name between five and ten. When a house consists of ten scenes that works incredibly well. Additionally, his characters are all human/real. There's no pressure to "create" based on the written word.
Lovecraft is, essentially, the exact opposite. Most people, if they even know who Lovecraft is, would struggle to name any of his stories. Nevermind that most people only know Cthulhu and none of the other Great Old Ones or creatures he decided. There's the added struggle of creating "impossible" monsters that satisfy fans and don't confuse everyone else.
I think a Lovecraft house is easy to design. I also think it's (rightfully) incredibly hard to sell.
Thanks @Legacy I only remembered Poe. I wish I could of seen Castle Vampyr, since shared some Anne Rice's work elements. Love Anne Rice. Lovecraft would be amazing, be nice if they decided to do it this year. I wonder if there is any kind of house they could do off of either Dean Koontz or John Saul's books. I know Dean Koontz had a book or two turned into the movie, which I can say most of the time the book is way better than the movies, like ODD Thomas movie was ehhh, book way better.Poe is the only "direct" book/literature house they've done. Cirque did Freak was based on the John C. Reilly movie, one of several "based on movies based on books." And they have a Lovecraft house designed they're "waiting for the right time to do."
They've also done stuff that's influenced by some literary stuff. Castle Vampyr shares some elements with Anne Rice's work.
I have Ghostlight, based on the works of Shakespeare and Literary Terror based various books (which I still need to shift to my online portfolio).Legacy didn't you start working or doing concepts for your own haunted house based on a book or music, I remember last year seeing a post with your white statue hallway. That looked very amazing. Thanks again, is it September yet.
The image of pigs walking upright from Animal Farm had always weirdly freaked me outSpeaking of literature-based houses I’d love to see a house based on demented takes on classic literature. Imagine something like Slaughter Sinema or HR but with Tom Sawyer, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, Anna Karenina, and Moby Dick.
Also does anyone have ideas as to what we could have for scare zones this year?
Speaking of literature-based houses I’d love to see a house based on demented takes on classic literature. Imagine something like Slaughter Sinema or HR but with Tom Sawyer, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, Anna Karenina, and Moby Dick.
The image of pigs walking upright from Animal Farm had always weirdly freaked me out
They've also done stuff that's influenced by some literary stuff. Castle Vampyr shares some elements with Anne Rice's work.
I’m next to certain that they aren’t all public domain. I just think the idea would resonate, especially if you were to choose the type of literature everyone read in high school.Not sure whether all of those are public properties, but god this would be awesome. Imagine a 1984 scene, with a giant rat puppet and/or air blasts to simulate rats crawling all over you.
I said “Designing a Lovecraft house is easy. Selling it is hard.”Regarding the feasibility of a Lovecraft house:
They just did a house based on sentient plants in a shopping mall. That’s pretty Lovecraftian in and of itself. They could easily do a very good Shadow Over Innsmouth house.
You’re describing my Literary Terror house.Speaking of literature-based houses I’d love to see a house based on demented takes on classic literature. Imagine something like Slaughter Sinema or HR but with Tom Sawyer, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, Anna Karenina, and Moby Dick.
There’s a thing in media called an “elevator pitch.” The principle is that a creator should be able to coherently present their idea in the time it takes to ride one story on an elevator (about 2-5 sentences). They give enough detail to allow a vision to form, and use well-known things as comparisons so the idea “clicks” with the approver. Elevator pitches are HARD, but apply to everything Universal has done.
The King in Yellow would be a rather droll house. It’s an interesting/compelling read, but there’s no overbearing atmosphere, interesting “creatures,” or connective thread between the stories apart from a play we never actually read.I love Lovecraft, but the essence of his work cannot easily be translated into something visual for a house, interestingly enough though, if we were to get The Thing, that I'd consider Lovecraftian. What makes Lovecraft Lovecraft though is always a feeling, something that can't be put into words, let alone an image. Though it would be equally impossible to make a proper house of this, an original bearing the name: the king in yellow would be interesting.
I agree, only could really be done as an asylum type house, which was the setting for the King In Yellow story, though even that was vague, and most of the story was just weird dialogue. That said, it would be nice to have an inmates run the asylum house just named King In Yellow, something a tad like last year's Carnaval Graveyard, but in an asylum, so unlike the regular dark asylum aesthetic, this would be a bit more bright, and most rooms would consist of the inmates putting on little vignettes that illustrate their madness. If I am not mistaken there's an older horror film called "Mansion of Madness" that was like that, obscure little title, directed by Moctezuma.The King in Yellow would be a rather droll house. It’s an interesting/compelling read, but there’s no overbearing atmosphere, interesting “creatures,” or connective thread between the stories apart from a play we never actually read.
Even the play itself only references three characters.
You will lose almost every approver at “frog people.” It doesn’t matter what adjective you put in front of it, “frog people,” “fish people,” “giant flying squid god” sounds more silly than scary. The immediate question that comes from someone who knows nothing about the source material is “how is that scary?”Shadow Over Innsmouth: “Man gets stalked by horrific frog people through a creepy seaside town.”
IDK sounds like it would be worth a second look to me.
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of his stuff would be very difficult to translate, but Shadow and/or Dunwich are two of the easier ones. It’s not like they’re Color Out of Space or anything...
Nicolas Cage to star in Richard Stanley's Color Out of Space | EW.com