The Lurker in the Lobby:
The Guide to Lovecraftian Cinema
by: Andrew Migliore & John Strysik
Book:
There have been quite a few Lovecraft movies made you know. Some of them are actually good! But which ones, oh which ones? If only there were a handy guide cataloguing and critiquing all the ... Hey!
Comments:
'Lurker in the Lobby' was previously released in 2000 to the obscured applause of dozens of people nationwide. This new 352 page expansion by Night Shade Books recently caught my eye, and I'm happy to say, my attention wasn't wasted.
The concept is simple, but oddly virgin territory; an examination of the history (and of late, burgeoning industry) of Lovecraft film adaptations. The introduction is a small gem in itself. It contains snippets from some of Lovecraft's film related musings, including his opinions regarding a few early horror films. (Which keeping in tone with his misanthropic pedantry, were uniformly dour. HP died unfortunately early, which is why we apparently needed John Simon and Pauline Kael to tell us how bad everything good is.)
Migliore/Strysik are remarkably on topic and insightful. (I guess it's telling that I'm always surprised when I find such qualities in a film critic.) Reviews tend to hit most rusty, blood-soaked nails straight on the head, elucidating the finer points and keying into major problems. The book offers informed recommendations and also takes a few shots, if measured and genteel, in the right spots. (It's about damn time a reviewer had the guts to say that watching someone wander around a big house for an hour and a half is not the perfect, endless well of thrills Roger Corman seemed to think it was.)
Unfortunately, while the reviews are insightful and concise, they are often far too short to really dig into the subtext of a film; often no more than a page or two. While Lovecraft adaptations are renowned for shallow suckiness-and thus many do not warrant a detailed examination-I would have liked to see the authors go all Herbert West-elbow deep in the chest cavity of more layered works. I will say that while they are neither Shumatian in depth nor Beggian in heft (Is there even enough paper? ;-) the synopses are fair enough.
Best of all, quite a bit of homework has gone into this list. The book excels in tracking down and illuminating obscure or even semi-detached Lovecraft adaptations. A minor quibble of mine is that the book takes a rather dodgy approach when determining just what makes a story Lovecraftian. (No Evil Dead? Really?) My only real complaint however would have to be the rather big chunk of the book handed over to interviews.
I've always been much more interested in
examining work rather than those who craft it, but for those that appreciate
them, the interviews a nice addition. (Although, let's be honest, the whole
section's just there to bulk up the book.) They're well done, steering
relatively clear of irrelevant cul-de-sacs; but for me learning the inner
workings of Stuart Gordon's mind is pretty much just a big chunk of dead weight.
We do however get words of wisdom from such auteurs as John Carpenter and
Guillermo del Toro. (Which some folk would skip right over. It's all a matter of
what flavor of nerd you are I reckon.)
As it is, the book is a bit unbalanced. While a small selection of production
and concept art from stillborn and upcoming Lovecraft projects is featured, it
is much too tiny altogether. (The brevity of this section can be excused, if not
appreciated. I'm sure it would be costly to procure oodles of copyrighted work.)
Even if the short shift given to reviews and art was necessary, a more in-depth
look at "the shunned shorts" would have been appreciated. (And a few
details on where we could get our hands on a few of these films would have been
especially helpful.)
One general rule of thumb would be that when
your attention is split in multiple directions, nothing you're working on gets
done very well. However, even noting this generalization is an odd type of
praise, for 'Lurker'. For its size and scope, there's really no reason the book
should work as well as it does.
'Lurker' is a very nice read; unfortunately it's just not all that
indispensable. It's, charming, well written, and I'm sure a collector's item for
obsessive types, but I wouldn't part with the retail cash for it.
7.5