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.
I said “Designing a Lovecraft house is easy. Selling it is hard.”
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.
“We want a house where/with...”
Seeds - “Humanity is extinct and plants have taken over.”
Nightingales - “Banshees in WW1.”
Winter’s Night - “A snow-covered haunted cemetery.”
Body Collectors - “Creepy dudes harvesting body parts.”
Vamp 55 - “Vampires attacking a 1950s homecoming parade.”
Face-Off - “Monsters created on/inspired by the show ‘Face-off.’”
Foresaken - “Ghost pirates attack a fort.”
See? They can be grabbed in a single sentence as accessible without sounding silly. Movies do it. Shows do it. Books do it. It’s an entertainment staple.
Now, with Poe that’s easy. “Scenes based on Edger Alan Poe stories.” Because Poe is ubiquitous, the approver will automatically start filling in gaps themselves. The elevator pitch works.
Lovecraft, however, isn’t that simple. People don’t know the stories, so you can’t go the Poe route. And saying, “Cult worships/summons fish monsters and alien gods” sounds too preposterous to get an approver. It requires the approver to already have context for the idea, putting the onus on THEM to know stuff instead of just being told. It’s a huge reason why Hollywood is so hesitant to actually do Lovecraft. His stuff is too weird.
(For some context, every quarter a #PitMad will take place on Twitter. This is literally writers providing elevator pitches to agents and publishers. It’s a great opportunity to see great pitches and bad pitches.
Get Ready for #pitmad! | Pitch Wars)
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.
You’re describing my Literary Terror house.