In this house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

The Call of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft

Lovecraft in pop culture

"Creative minds are uneven, and the best of fabrics have their dull spots."

Video games and movies inspired by Lovecraft

Lovecraft's stories have a huge influence on the entertainment world. The ideas based on the "Cthulhu Mythos" are an inspiration for many people nowadays. Below is the list of the most popular video games and movies inspired by the great horrors writer.

Lovecraft's work in video games

Alone in the Dark

Alone in the Dark - game art with logo
  • Genre: Survival horror
  • Release:
  • Developer: Infogrames
  • Platforms: 3DO, PC
A suspicious suicide. A chilling curse. A malevolent power. And a wicked dark secret. This is Derceto, legendary Louisiana mansion - where, against your better judgement, you're drawn into a world of shadows to explore the darker side of Jeremy Hartwood's imagination. Despite a paralyzing sense of personal danger, your quest for truth drives you to investigate the old house. But, you didn't know that by entering Derceto, you'd be plunged into the daily nightmare that was Jeremy Hartwood's life. You weren't prepared for the torturous howls that resound from deep within its halls. You didn't foresee the shadowy corridors that seemingly have no end. You couldn't anticipate the brooding, gloom-filled rooms, the pervasive weight of dread, the heavy sense of evil that fills the atmosphere and teh very house itself. Had you known, you might have refused your task. But alas, you accepted, and now you must make your way through this spine-tingling adventure alone... and in the dark.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth game art with logo
  • Genres: Action adventure, Horror, Survival
  • Release:
  • Developer: Headfirst Productions
  • Platforms: PC, XBOX
Call of Cthulhu -- Dark Corners of the Earth is a first-person horror game that combines intense action and adventure elements. You will draw upon your skills in exploration, investigation, and combat while faced with the seemingly impossible task of battling evil incarnate. Other than fighting, you have the ability to interact freely with characters and the gaming environment. To increase the sense of immersion, there is no interface or 'HUD' on screen at any time during normal gameplay. Instead, more intuitive methods are available for you to assess your condition, ammunition levels, and other relevant information. The combat within the game is extremely realistic, with a detailed damage and healing system that breaks down the healing process into conditions and treatments - rather than having the typical FPS 'health packs' lying around everywhere. The game also allows you to stamp your own style onto the proceedings via an advanced AI system that can react to your method of play.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened - game art with logo
  • Genres: Adventure, Open world, Stealth
  • Release:
  • Developer: Frogwares
  • Platform: PC
A veritable adventure game licence, Sherlock Holmes returns in a superb third episode that gives a whole new angle to the series. The game rises to the challenge of being entirely in 3D; while the creators have kept classic game mechanics, the game benefits from the freedom and the immersion brought by a superb animated and detailed real time 3D environment. The game has traditional Point & Click game play, in a real time 3D environment, while offering numerous enigmas and varied puzzles including some that use physics and light for the first time. The game plunges the player into the heart of a terrifying investigation. Sherlock Holmes, assisted by the loyal Doctor Watson, investigates strange disappearances which seem related to the activity of a secret sect. The adventure begins in London, in the renowned Baker Street, taking us then to investigate a disturbing psychiatric hospital near Bale, Switzerland, then on to Louisiana and finally to Scotland.

Bloodborne

Bloodborne - game art with logo
  • Genres: Action role-playing, Hack and slash
  • Release:
  • Developer: FromSoftware
  • Platform: PlayStation 4
Bloodborne is an action RPG in which you hunt for answers in the ancient city of Yharnam, now cursed with a strange endemic illness spreading through the streets like a disease. Peril, death and madness infest this dark world, and you're tasked with uncovering its darkest secrets which will be necessary for you to survive. Armed with a singular arsenal of weaponry, including guns and saw cleavers, you'll require wits, strategy and reflexes to dispatch the agile and intelligent enemies that guard the city's underbelly. You will utility holy chalices to access an array of vast underground ruins, chock full of traps, beasts, and rewards, to explore and conquer on your own or with other people.

Sunless Sea

Sunless Sea - game art with logo
  • Genres: Action adventure, Sci-Fi
  • Release:
  • Developer: Failbetter Games
  • Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, XBOX One
Take the helm of your customised steamship and set sail for the unknown. Sunless Sea is a 2D game of discovery, survival and loneliness set in the Victorian Gothic universe of Fallen London.

Conarium

Conarium - game art with logo
  • Genres: Adventure, Horror
  • Release:
  • Developer: Zoetrope Interactive
  • Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, XBOX One
Conarium is a chilling Lovecraftian game, which follows a gripping story involving four scientists and their endeavor to challenge what we normally consider to be the ‘absolute’ limits of nature. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s novella "At the Mountains of Madness", but largely set after the original story.

Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu - game art with logo
  • Genres: Role-playing, Survival horror
  • Release:
  • Developer: Cyanide
  • Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, XBOX One
In this world, nothing is as it seems. Sanity is an irregular bedfellow, all too often replaced by the whisperings in the dark. Strange creatures, weird science, and shadowy cults dominate the Cthulhu Mythos, intent on realizing their mad schemes to bring about the end of everything. Your mind will suffer -- balancing a razor-thin line between sanity and madness, your senses will be disrupted until you question the reality of everything around you. Trust no one. Creeping shadows hide lurking figures... and all the while, the Great Dreamer prepares for his awakening.

The Sinking City

The Sinking City - game art with logo
  • Genres: Action adventure, Survival horror
  • Release:
  • Developer: Frogwares
  • Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, XBOX One, XBOX X/S
The Sinking City is an action/investigation game set in an open world inspired by the universe of H.P. Lovecraft. In this new type of adventure, you take on the role of Charles W. Reed, an investigator in the 1920s United States. No sooner have you arrived in Oakmont, Massachusetts, than you are led to investigate a mysterious flood inundating the city, in the hopes of shedding light on the darkness that has seized the place and corrupted the minds of the inhabitants - and yours...

Lovecraft's work in movies

The Haunted Palace

The Haunted Palace - movie art with logo
Loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's novel THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD, this fright flick opens with a warlock placing a curse on a group of villagers about to burn him at the stake. Generations later, the warlock's descendant returns to the village to pick up where his ancestor left off.

Re-Animator

Re-Animator - movie art with logo
Obsessed with the idea of overcoming the obstacle of death and determined to vindicate himself by backing up his theory, the ambitious medical student, Herbert West, arrives in New England, after the horrific incident at the Institute of Medicine in Switzerland. Before long, Herbert will pick up where he left off--at first, experimenting with dead feline tissue, and then, with fresh human cadavers--talking his sceptic roommate, Dan Cain, into joining his audacious project. Inevitably, as the two young scientists burrow deeper and deeper into uncharted territories, the campus will start brimming with West's reanimated corpses, catching the eye of his arch-nemesis, Dr Hill, who yearns to take credit for this astounding discovery. The dead will rise again, even with a bit of help; however, can the young re-animator harness the power of his phosphorescent green reagent?

From Beyond

From Beyond - movie art with logo
Dr. Edward Pretorius and his assistant, the physician Crawford Tillinghast, have developed the Resonator, a machine to stimulate the sixth sense through the pineal gland. When Crawford activates the apparatus, he sees creatures flying in the air and he summons Dr. Pretorius. The experiment goes out of control and Dr. Pretorius refuses to turn off the Resonator. Meanwhile their neighbor calls the police, and when the police officers arrive, they see Crawford trying to escape from his house and Dr. Pretorius beheaded. Crawford is sent to a mental institution under the supervision of the sadistic Dr. Bloch. However, the prominent psychiatrist Dr. Katherine McMichaels requests the custody of Crawford and Detective Bubba Brownlee that is investigating the case stays with them. Katherine goes with Crawford and Bubba to see the Resonator and turns the machine on. Dr. Pretorius returns in a mutant shape and attacks them, in the beginning of a gore night with weird life forms.

The Resurrected

The Resurrected - movie art with logo
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. The husband is a chemical engineer, and the smells from his experiments (and the delivery of what appear to be human remains at all hours) are beginning to arouse the attention of neighbors and local law enforcement officials. When the detective and wife find a diary of the husband's ancestor from 1771, and reports of gruesome murders in the area begin to surface, they begin to suspect that some very unnatural experiments are being conducted in the old house. Based on an H.P. Lovecraft story.

The Call of Cthulhu

The Call of Cthulhu - movie art with logo
A faithful rendition of H.P. Lovecraft's short story, presented in the style of a silent film from the 1920s. While organizing the affairs of his late Uncle, a man accidentally stumbles across a series of clues toward an ancient horror lurking beneath the sea, waiting for the time when the "Stars are Right" and it shall be free to wreak havoc upon mankind. In his investigation he learns of an artist influenced by strange dreams, a police officer discovering an ancient cult worshiping "Great Cthulhu" and ultimately a tale of sailors encountering sanity-shattering horror as they discover Cthulhu himself.

The Whisperer in Darkness

The Whisperer in Darkness - movie art with logo
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.

Color Out of Space

Color Out of Space - movie art with logo
A story of cosmic terror about The Gardners, a family who moves to a remote farmstead in rural New England to escape the hustle of the 21st century. They are busy adapting to their new life when a meteorite crashes into their front yard. The mysterious aerolite seems to melt into the earth, infecting both the land and the properties of space-time with a strange, otherworldly color. To their horror, the Gardner family discover that this alien force is gradually mutating every life form that it touches...including them.

Underwater

Underwater - movie art with logo
A crew of oceanic researchers working for a deep sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deepwater research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
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