Apr '23
I should start by saying that Re-Animator is a top 5 movie of all time for me. So I can't really disparage all that he's done. I also love From Beyond and Dagon. And that's about it. So I guess it's really only Stuart Gordon's adaptations of his works that I like.
As far as his writings, I find it difficult to get through an entire sentence without falling asleep. Now this stuff was written like a hundred years ago, so you might just be able to say that it was a different time, and writing was different back then. It's just my modern millennial brain that can't comprehend the nuances or whatever.
But here's the thing. The things I always see Lovecraft praised for, is how he can't even describe what his monsters look like. People are always saying how great his work is because he leaves it up to your imagination. Saying shit like, "it was so horrifying that it was beyond description."
I'm sorry, but how the fuck is that good writing? You're not even able to describe the thing you're talking about? What if I were to tell a joke, and instead of giving you a punchline, I just told you that the conclusion was so funny I couldn't even describe it? Would you laugh? That's a bunch of fucking bullshit! A writer's job is to describe things. Just telling the reader to make it up themselves is as lazy you can possibly get.
As far as his writings, I find it difficult to get through an entire sentence without falling asleep. Now this stuff was written like a hundred years ago, so you might just be able to say that it was a different time, and writing was different back then. It's just my modern millennial brain that can't comprehend the nuances or whatever.
But here's the thing. The things I always see Lovecraft praised for, is how he can't even describe what his monsters look like. People are always saying how great his work is because he leaves it up to your imagination. Saying shit like, "it was so horrifying that it was beyond description."
I'm sorry, but how the fuck is that good writing? You're not even able to describe the thing you're talking about? What if I were to tell a joke, and instead of giving you a punchline, I just told you that the conclusion was so funny I couldn't even describe it? Would you laugh? That's a bunch of fucking bullshit! A writer's job is to describe things. Just telling the reader to make it up themselves is as lazy you can possibly get.
Having said that... I have generally tended to be a fan of his stories, if not exactly of his writing, since I was in... around tenth grade. What you are describing is definitely lazy as hell, but it becomes sort of a game after a while. He rarely describes his creatures clearly, and often the witnesses just go insane immediately when they see the creatures, so they can't describe what they saw to other characters. That becomes part of the fun of reading his stories. You know roughly what you will be getting, before you sit down to read a story. You know there will be indescribable minions of the elder gods, lurking in the shadows, or in other dimensions, or wherever. It's just part of the fun of it.
Also, he uses certain words that have become sort of buzzwords to a certain kind of nerd. Any time you hear a nerd using the word "cyclopean," or talking about "vigintillions" of years, odds are they talking about Lovecraft stories. Lovecraft was also very into using British spellings of common words, which is part of what creates the atmosphere in his stories, and is one of the things that is impossible to translate directly to film.
I just want to also say, The Rats if the Walls has always been one of my favorite stories by him, and I hardly ever see anyone mentioning it. I recommend the living daylights out of it. Wow, there are several Youtube accounts that have uploaded it. If you don't feel like taking the time/money to find it in print, you could watch it on Youtube. Just a heads up.
To sum up: Nerds!