Adapting H.P. Lovecraft‘s works for the screen in any capacity is not an easy feat. The terrors in the horror author’s works are so ambiguous and inexplicable that they rarely translate well to the big and small screens. Despite these challenges, though, some filmmakers have managed to defy expectations and deliver compelling Lovecraftian adaptations. One of these filmmakers is Ridley Scott.
In Ridley Scott’s long line of movies and TV shows, there are no direct Lovecraftian adaptations. However, his magnum opus, Alien, arguably qualifies as a cosmic horror movie with loose Lovecraftian elements. Director Guillermo del Toro, too, seems to agree with this.
In a recent AMA (via Reddit), Guillermo del Toro not only discussed the Lovecraft stories he would want to adapt, but also praised Ridley Scott’s Alien by calling it “the best adaptation of Lovecraft.” He said that it is basically a loose adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. He even called John Carpenter’s The Thing the second-best take on Lovecraft’s work.
Guillermo del Toro’s intriguing review of Ridley Scott’s Alien makes it hard not to question whether the iconic sci-fi horror movie deserves to be labeled as “Lovecraftian,” or is the claim a bit of a stretch?
Is It Fair To Call Alien Lovecraftian?
The core theme in almost all Lovecraftian stories highlights how the universe neither centers around humans nor is it inherently evil. It is simply uncaring and occupied by incomprehensible alien beings and “gods” whose existence violates human comprehension. Alien seems to translate the exact same theme with its sci-fi horror story.
In its opening moments itself, Alien is reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness when the crew of the Nostromo lands on LV-426. They soon find the derelict spacecraft and its fossilized pilot, realizing that they have encountered something ancient, non-human that precedes human history. It is pretty much like a Lovecraftian god.
Even the appearance of the Xenomorph in Alien is almost as eldritch and natural biology defying as Lovecraft’s monsters. Its whole life cycle, too, almost violates humanity’s understanding of autonomy and reproduction. When Ash the Android describes them, he almost reflects Lovecraftian awe by saying:
”I admire its purity. A survivor…unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.”
Even the portrayal of how Weyland-Yutani blindly sacrifice human lives in pursuit of weaponizing an entity they cannot comprehend has parallels to the cult worship of the Great Old Ones in Lovecraftian horror.
Prometheus Caused The Cancellation Of Guillermo Del Toro‘s First Lovecraftian Movie
Guillermo del Toro was deadset on delivering an R-rated take on H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. He even demanded a budget of $150 million from Universal Studios. Unfortunately, since cosmic horror movies are usually hard to sell, Universal refused to invest in the project unless it was PG-13.
Although the director has still periodically teased his interest in still adapting the project, he had once completely abandoned it because of how similar it seemed to Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. He revealed (via The Playlist) that his take on At the Mountains of Madness and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus had everything from similar Lovecraftian connections to almost identical endings and twists. Even their major set pieces were very similar.
Given how it has been over a decade since Prometheus first premiered, though, it seems like a good time for Guillermo del Toro to reconsider his Lovecraftian adaptation. Hopefully, he will think about finishing the unrealized project or adapting other H.P. Lovecraft stories he admires. Ridley Scott, too, has reportedly been planning a new Alien movie, which gives sci-fi horror fans a lot to look forward to.
