The Spirit of Lovecraft
by joehiggins217 | created - 23 Aug 2014 | updated - 23 Aug 2014 | PublicMovies inspired by, based on and embodying the spirit of the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Some seem like a bit of a stretch, but I feel that without the works of Lovecraft, many of these ideas wouldn't work so well. Especially themes of madness as an alien or demonic force.
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1. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
R | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Sam Neill, Jürgen Prochnow, Julie Carmen, David Warner
Votes: 79,312 | Gross: $8.95M
2. Prometheus (I) (2012)
R | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron
Votes: 644,076 | Gross: $126.48M
3. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 950,306 | Gross: $78.90M
4. Spiral (2000)
90 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The inhabitants of a small Japanese town become increasingly obsessed with and tormented by spirals.
Director: Higuchinsky | Stars: Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Shin Eun-kyung
Votes: 8,986
5. Ghostbusters (1984)
PG | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Three parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis
Votes: 449,995 | Gross: $238.63M
6. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,486 | Gross: $13.78M
7. Mimic (1997)
R | 105 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Three years ago, entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease. Now, the insects are out to destroy their only predator, mankind.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Alexander Goodwin, Giancarlo Giannini
Votes: 55,645 | Gross: $25.48M
8. Re-Animator (1985)
Unrated | 84 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Votes: 71,492 | Gross: $2.02M
9. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,363 | Gross: $2.40M
10. Hellboy (2004)
PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A demon raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair, John Hurt
Votes: 349,930 | Gross: $59.62M
11. The Mist (2007)
R | 126 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Votes: 340,264 | Gross: $25.59M
12. The Ring (2002)
PG-13 | 115 min | Horror, Mystery
A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone one week to the day after they view it.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox, David Dorfman
Votes: 374,951 | Gross: $129.13M
13. Oculus (2013)
R | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A recently released inmate from a mental asylum learns from his sister that the murders he was convicted of committing were actually orchestrated by a supernatural entity, the Lasser Glass mirror.
Director: Mike Flanagan | Stars: Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane
Votes: 139,716 | Gross: $27.70M
14. Session 9 (2001)
R | 97 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Tensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back.
Director: Brad Anderson | Stars: David Caruso, Stephen Gevedon, Paul Guilfoyle, Josh Lucas
Votes: 62,892 | Gross: $0.38M
15. Event Horizon (1997)
R | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson
Votes: 197,118 | Gross: $26.67M
16. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Five college friends head out to a remote cabin for a getaway, but things don't go as planned when they start getting killed. They soon discover that there is more to the cabin than it seems.
Director: Drew Goddard | Stars: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz
Votes: 450,608 | Gross: $42.07M
17. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
PG-13 | 151 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Jack Sparrow races to recover the heart of Davy Jones to avoid enslaving his soul to Jones' service, as other friends and foes seek the heart for their own agenda as well.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport
Votes: 767,500 | Gross: $423.32M
18. Pacific Rim (2013)
PG-13 | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day
Votes: 530,728 | Gross: $101.80M
19. Cronos (1992)
R | 94 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A mysterious device designed to provide its owner with eternal life resurfaces after four hundred years, leaving a trail of destruction in its path.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel
Votes: 33,122 | Gross: $0.62M
20. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
When residents of their nursing home start dying of dubious causes, an aged Elvis and an African-American senior who claims to be President John F. Kennedy discover that the perpetrator is an Egyptian mummy with murderous intentions.
Director: Don Coscarelli | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Bob Ivy, Ella Joyce
Votes: 51,488 | Gross: $2.00M
21. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Horror, Musical
A nerdy florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed.
Director: Frank Oz | Stars: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Levi Stubbs
Votes: 86,340 | Gross: $38.75M
22. Shutter Island (2010)
R | 138 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 1,456,221 | Gross: $128.01M
23. Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Votes: 117,854 | Gross: $26.12M
24. The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)
Not Rated | 103 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Based on the H. P. Lovecraft story of the same name, a folklorist investigates reports of unusual creatures in Vermont only to uncover more than he bargained for
Director: Sean Branney | Stars: Stephen Blackehart, Autumn Wendel, P.J. King, Barry Lynch
Votes: 3,553
25. Marianne (2011)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
After the death of his beloved wife a man begins to fall apart mentally, having dreadful nightmares and finding his family and career affected. As time goes on, he begins to rapidly slip away.
Director: Filip Tegstedt | Stars: Thomas Hedengran, Peter Stormare, Tintin Anderzon, Sandra Larsson
Votes: 547
26. The Call of Cthulhu (2005)
Not Rated | 47 min | Horror, Mystery
While sorting the affairs of his late Uncle, a man accidentally stumbles across a series of dark secrets connected to an ancient horror waiting to be freed.
Director: Andrew Leman | Stars: Matt Foyer, John Bolen, Ralph Lucas, Chad Fifer
Votes: 8,891
27. The Dunwich Horror (1970)
R | 90 min | Horror
Wilbur Whateley travels to the Arkham Miskatonic University to borrow the legendary Necronomicon. But, little does anyone know, Whateley isn't quite human...
Director: Daniel Haller | Stars: Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner
Votes: 5,175 | Gross: $0.45M
28. The Descent (2005)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller
A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.
Director: Neil Marshall | Stars: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder
Votes: 246,867 | Gross: $26.02M
29. The Haunted Palace (1963)
Not Rated | 87 min | Horror
Charles Dexter Ward arrives at a small village to visit the house he inherited from his ancestor who died there 100 years ago.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jr., Frank Maxwell
Votes: 8,464 | Gross: $2.62M
30. From Beyond (1986)
R | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ted Sorel, Ken Foree
Votes: 30,741 | Gross: $1.26M
31. The Curse (1987)
R | 92 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When a meteorite lands near his family farm during a storm in Tennessee, the son of a struggling farmer believes it's connected to strange plague-like events afflicting the crops, the farm animals and even the family themselves.
Director: David Keith | Stars: Wil Wheaton, Claude Akins, Malcolm Danare, Cooper Huckabee
Votes: 3,877 | Gross: $1.93M
32. The Resurrected (1991)
R | 108 min | Horror
Charles Dexter Ward's wife enlists the help of a private detective to find out what her husband is up to in a remote cabin owned by his family for centuries.
Director: Dan O'Bannon | Stars: John Terry, Jane Sibbett, Chris Sarandon, Robert Romanus
Votes: 4,914
33. Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993)
R | 96 min | Horror
Lovecraft visualizes 3 stories in Necronomicon: The Drowned, The Cold and Whispers, about bringing a dead wife and child back to life, extending life and aliens.
Directors: Christophe Gans, Shûsuke Kaneko, Brian Yuzna | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Tony Azito, Juan Fernández, Brian Yuzna
Votes: 6,951
34. Creep (I) (2004)
R | 85 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Trapped in a London subway station, a woman who's being pursued by a potential attacker heads into the unknown labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city's streets.
Director: Christopher Smith | Stars: Franka Potente, Sean Harris, Vas Blackwood, Ken Campbell
Votes: 31,735
35. 1408 (2007)
PG-13 | 104 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A man who specialises in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.
Director: Mikael Håfström | Stars: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub
Votes: 294,089 | Gross: $71.99M
36. Cloverfield (2008)
PG-13 | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.
Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, T.J. Miller
Votes: 420,588 | Gross: $80.05M
37. Monsters (2010)
R | 94 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion, a cynical journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.
Director: Gareth Edwards | Stars: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able, Mario Zuniga Benavides, Annalee Jefferies
Votes: 97,625 | Gross: $0.24M
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