This appears to be an age of comeback stories, the fallen rising again to reclaim their former glory. Nicolas Cage has been back for a couple of years, with Mandy rocking horror fans to their core In a gross mishmash of a vengeance thriller. It was a glorious little affair that worked out well for everyone involved and brought the nutjob back to the spotlight. Each time he gets this opportunity he’s managed to blow it, but there’s a change in the wind and I see new shades of his career on the horizon.
Over twenty years ago there was an attempt to film an adaptation of the marvelous H.G. Wells novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau. It was a hopeless mess, helped in no way by the presence of Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando in all of their lazy, egotistical nonsense, but Kilmer took it all too far. He drove the director up into a tree where the man slowly went insane, eventually retiring to France and not returning.
Until now we’ve wondered about the return of Richard Stanley. He’s an absolute weirdo, hiring wizards and all sorts of the ilk to try to get his films made. This time he’s done a number, or so the whispers say. In his hands, we may finally get the first true, great, and wonderful H.P. Lovecraft adaptation. Behold:
So that’s a thing, yeah? I’m psyched as hell about it, and so many will agree with me in wondering just how this glorious-looking film will turn out. The wait has become all but unbearable and I’m beyond ready to see this thing. Lovecraft is problematic for so many, the period he exists in complicated and full of…ahem…racism. What we see here, however, is a modern and updated setting that manages to feel faithful and incredible to behold. And isn’t his work all about that which is beyond our comprehension to behold? I would have loved to see a world with Del Toro’s version of At the Mouth of Madness or a really wondrous version of The Dunwich Horror but hey, this looks rad and I’ll be perfectly happy with it.
WRITE DRUNK; EDIT DRUNK 