Support NeoGAF

[JareBear: Remastered]

Welcome to Lovecraft Country

Welcome to #LovecraftCountry.

HBO’s new drama series, based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff of the same name, debuts this August.

The series follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) as he joins up with his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams).

This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.

Lovecraft Country is executive produced by Misha Green, who also serves as showrunner, J.J Abrams, Jordan Peele, Bill Carraro, Yann Demange (who also directed Episode 1), Daniel Sackheim (who also directed Episodes 2 and 3) and David Knoller (executive producer on Episode 1); based on the novel by Matt Ruff.

Airs in August, 2020

Random note, after this trailer finished, a trailer for a new Perry Mason series popped up. Didn't know that was happening.


edit June 3rd

new teaser

Stories are a living thing.

 

[TwoDurans]

From watching the trailer I can tell you that H.P. Lovecraft would have haaaaaaatttteeedddd this show. That dude was so racist he probably would be an ERA user.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

From watching the trailer I can tell you that H.P. Lovecraft would have haaaaaaatttteeedddd this show.

I hate how you wrote haaaaaaatttteeedddd

(edit: I’m kidding)

I do remember Jay from RLM mentioning something about Lovecraft being a white supremacist in one of their videos, I don't know the details of that though.

Assuming that’s true, perhaps it was an influence on the story? Based on this quote from the description:

This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.

 

[rubik's dude]

I was surprised from the title that Jordan Peele would be involved in anything Lovecraft related, then I read the OP. Lovecraft helped create one of my favorite horror genres, but yeah, he was a horribly racist person, even with the mindset of "things were different back then."

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I was surprised from the title that Jordan Peele would be involved in anything Lovecraft related, then I read the OP. Lovecraft helped create one of my favorite horror genres, but yeah, he was a horribly racist person, even with the mindset of "things were different back then."

Interesting. I wonder if this is all on purpose, then.

Maybe the 2016 novel this is based on used Lovecraftian monsters as well as racism itself as a “ monster” of sorts, inspired by Lovecraft’s own prejudice? I’ll check it out sometime

 

[Tesseract]

looks fun, i'll check it out

 

[Waylon Jennings]

How did Jordan Peel go from whispering bitch on comedy central, to ruining the horror genre as a whole. But this is my idea of it.

 

[infinitys_7th]

"Lovecraft Country"

from the minds of JJ Abrams, Jordan Peele

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

"Lovecraft Country"

from the minds of JJ Abrams, Jordan Peele

Damn......

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I do remember Jay from RLM mentioning something about Lovecraft being a white supremacist in one of their videos, I don't know the details of that though.

Lovecraft was a xenophobe. I believe it was mentioned he was legit scared of other races.

It's funny though but his wife was Jewish. Unlike most racist, he actually "liked" Jews more than others because he felt they assimilated well into wasp culture.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Lovecraft was a xenophobe. I believe it was mentioned he was legit scared of other races.

It's funny though but his wife was Jewish. Unlike most racist, he actually "liked" Jews more than others because he felt they assimilated well into wasp culture.

TIL that I know less about Lovecraft than anyone else on GAF

 

[rubik's dude]

Interesting. I wonder if this is all on purpose, then. Maybe the 2016 novel this is based on used Lovecraftian monsters as well as racism itself as a “ monster” of sorts, inspired by Lovecraft’s own prejudice? I’ll check it out sometime

Definitely, I'll be checking it out too. Candyman is one of my favorite horror movies, and the basis for that was race, classism, and interracial relationships. It was a really smart and well made horror movie, but I wouldn't recommend the sequels (typical slasher garbage).

If you haven't seen Candyman, I'd recommend it. It's actually one of Jay's (RLM) favorite horror movies as well.

 

[triplestation]

of all people this was handed to jar jar abrams and jordan peele

lovecraft handed to jar jar abrams and jordan peele

you could have given this 100% to sam raimi and it could've been a blast

robert eggers (the witch, the lighthouse) would also have been a fine choice for a more mature approach

 

[Doom85]

How did Jordan Peel go from whispering bitch on comedy central, to ruining the horror genre as a whole.

Even if one doesn't care for Get Out or Us, I would hope one would at least recognize more effort went into them than 95% of the found-footage films that weren't Blair Witch or Cloverfield. And yes, that includes the Paranormal Activity films, there's a difference between building suspense/ambience and actually just not having anything happen! Even when shit wasn't like that, we'd get garbage like the worst Halloween films: Resurrection and Rob "I'm going to pay tribute to Halloween by doing everything Carpenter wouldn't do!" Zombie's two shit sessions. Or god, lazy ass shit like Wrong Turn, let's just rip off Texas Chainsaw Massacre but suck at it, and yet somehow Wrong Turn got like 5 sequels?! Were people so desperate for slashers during those years they were like, "well, this garbage is better than nothing"?

Don't get me wrong, Peele certainly didn't start the horror revival, I think James Wan was mostly responsible for that with The Conjuring as that seemed to get the ball rolling on filmmakers actually trying to make horror movies with actual effort, but FUCKING CHRIST American film horror was shit tier on an unheard of level in the 2000's decade. In fact, I'm struggling to think of a movie genre that had a worse decade ever than horror did in the 2000's, it's that terrible to me.

If Peele is "ruining horror", then for the love of god keep "ruining horror", as Get Out and Us were more entertaining than virtually any of the "horror" movies of the 2000's decade.

Edit: Plus, it's LOVECRAFT. Films that actually just go full Lovecraft instead of just being influenced by it (like In the Mouth of Madness) tend to be shit, although I heard the new Colour out of Space with NICHOLAS CAGE of all people is apparently decent. So it's not like Peele could even fuck up a string of good adaptations when there's barely been any. Might as well be upset if Peele were doing a new Leprechaun movie. "Oh no, Peele is going to ruin the integrity of the Leprechaun movies!" said no one ever.

 

[teezzy]

I dig Jordan Peele. Dude's sharp witted, well spoken, and he digs horror movies. I heard his Twilight Zone remake was fairly bland and that's a bummer. Still, it's nice to see a Mad TV alum staying relevant.

I never got around to watching Us. Didnt Chris Rock want to direct a Saw movie or something after that came out though? Lmfao

 

[DKehoe]

TIL that I know less about Lovecraft than anyone else on GAF

Guess what his cat was called.

 

[Nymphae]

I was surprised from the title that Jordan Peele would be involved in anything Lovecraft related, then I read the OP

Perfect chance to subvert original intentions of the material, lovecraft is hot, wokeness is hot. Hard pass on this. I wish he was still making Key & Peele sketches.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Guess what his cat was called.

Garfield?

Edit

just googled it

yikes

 

[Waylon Jennings]

Even if one doesn't care for Get Out or Us, I would hope one would at least recognize more effort went into them than 95% of the found-footage films that weren't Blair Witch or Cloverfield. And yes, that includes the Paranormal Activity films, there's a difference between building suspense/ambience and actually just not having anything happen! Even when shit wasn't like that, we'd get garbage like the worst Halloween films: Resurrection and Rob "I'm going to pay tribute to Halloween by doing everything Carpenter wouldn't do!" Zombie's two shit sessions. Or god, lazy ass shit like Wrong Turn, let's just rip off Texas Chainsaw Massacre but suck at it, and yet somehow Wrong Turn got like 5 sequels?! Were people so desperate for slashers during those years they were like, "well, this garbage is better than nothing"?

Don't get me wrong, Peele certainly didn't start the horror revival, I think James Wan was mostly responsible for that with The Conjuring as that seemed to get the ball rolling on filmmakers actually trying to make horror movies with actual effort, but FUCKING CHRIST American film horror was shit tier on an unheard of level in the 2000's decade. In fact, I'm struggling to think of a movie genre that had a worse decade ever than horror did in the 2000's, it's that terrible to me.

If Peele is "ruining horror", then for the love of god keep "ruining horror", as Get Out and Us were more entertaining than virtually any of the "horror" movies of the 2000's decade.

Edit: Plus, it's LOVECRAFT. Films that actually just go full Lovecraft instead of just being influenced by it (like In the Mouth of Madness) tend to be shit, although I heard the new Colour out of Space with NICHOLAS CAGE of all people is apparently decent. So it's not like Peele could even fuck up a string of good adaptations when there's barely been any. Might as well be upset if Peele were doing a new Leprechaun movie. "Oh no, Peele is going to ruin the integrity of the Leprechaun movies!" said no one ever.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

It's based on a book written by a white man. I'll watch it as it airs. Is it just one season or they hoping to drag it out?

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

The book is well reviewed. Paperback is cheaper than the kindle version so I just ordered it on Amazon

 

[haxan7]

That trailer actually got me excited for it

 

[darkangel-212559]

You wanna watch a Lovecraft movie? Watch The Color Out of Space.

The best Lovecraft movie out there and Nicolas Cage is great in it.

I'll be checking this series out. Really got into Love Craft recently and this series is taken from a great book which deals with Racism as another horror along side the cosmic horror.

 

[darkangel-212559]

Perfect chance to subvert original intentions of the material, lovecraft is hot, wokeness is hot. Hard pass on this. I wish he was still making Key & Peele sketches.

This isn't taken from Lovecraft source material. It's taken from a book that very much deals with American apartheid era racism...

So not really a subversion then...

 

[Mr Nash]

Not sure what to think. It has an aggressive monster chasing them down, but I always liked the indifferent things skulking in the background exuding an intangible wrongness to them. Hopefully they'll be able to do that bit of Lovecraft's work justice.

 

[mr.dilya]

No thanks, woke horror isn't my cup of tea, and you know that's what this is gonna be.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

You wanna watch a Lovecraft movie? Watch The Color Out of Space.

The best Lovecraft movie out there and Nicolas Cage is great in it.

I'll be checking this series out. Really got into Love Craft recently and this series is taken from a great book which deals with Racism as another horror along side the cosmic horror.

Yeah it’s a pretty popular movie on here from what I’ve seen. It’s really good. Between it and Mandy, Cage is on a roll again

 

[Sign]

No thanks, woke horror isn't my cup of tea, and you know that's what this is gonna be.

Everything I've seen Peele do outside of comedy has just been crying about white people. He is very one note and boring.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Everything I've seen Peele do outside of comedy has just been crying about white people. He is very one note and boring.

I would argue that Us wasn’t primarily about race. It was about classism, but the two aren’t one in the same, necessarily.

 

[darkangel-212559]

You could also read Get Out as a critique against psychotherapy and cults. It doesn't only have to be about racism.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

You could also read Get Out as a critique against psychotherapy and cults. It doesn't only have to be about racism.

That’s what made it interesting to me. They weren’t stereotypically racist. They weren’t acting out of hatred. Perhaps there’s an element of racism in the concept of “putting our white brains in black bodies,” but the only overt display of racism in that film was the cop from the beginning, from what I remember anyway.

I don’t think Peele is all about “white people bad.” I like his stories.

I know he had that interview comment about not being interested in casting a white lead. That probably wasn’t a great choice of words.

 

[darkangel-212559]

In my mind the best type of horror deals with the very real horror which can be found in humanity.

Look at IT, yes it has a scary, child eating monster, but what makes it so horrific is that it feeds off human trauma and fears. The book deals with child sexual abuse, rape, guilt of being the only survivor of a horrible family tragedy... I could go on.

I think that's why I appreciate Lovecraft horror so much, because it centres on the horror of the unknown and the existential threat that cosmic horror can unleash upon humans. What can be more horrific then that?

 

[infinitys_7th]

Everything I've seen Peele do outside of comedy has just been crying about white people. He is very one note and boring.

Maybe he would work better for Lovecraft than I thought? A lot of his shit is as annoyingly on-the-nose as "The Horror at Red Hook".

People ignore that Lovecraft grew substantially through his short life; a lot of his xenophobia was due to prolonged social isolation from social disorders he had, and when he was with his wife and communicating with his literary circle he opened up dramatically. Compare two of his best works IMO ("At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Shadow Out of Time") to schlock like "The Horror at Red Hook" and you see a clear evolution in his views. In the Dream Cycles he eventually pulls back on the Old Ones being external horrors and establishes them as aspects of the collective unconscious, just another side of humanity reflecting what we put into them.

Lovecraft is a tragic figure - mental illness and physical illness isolated him and warped him. All the antiquarian explorers he writes about were projections of his own desires to explore the world and learn its history, but he never could push himself to do it. All the mentions of science were projections of his desire to become a scientist, which were cut short by his complete lack of mathematical ability.

I guess this is start of an attempt to sanitize his stories and "reclaim" them for the SJWs, like what they are doing with D&D and like what they have tried with games and comics. It's sad to see the real legacy of Lovecraft get twisted into its polar opposite.

 

[xrnzaaas]

It's funny how a Lovecraft show is co-produced by a man who's openly racist towards white folks. It's like they couldn't pick a better guy to suck it to Lovecraft who as we know wasn't "open" to other races.

 

[kunonabi]

Premise and creative make this pass for me. Peele is a talented director but as a writer/producer he's kind of awful. His Twilight Zone was abysmal.

 

[sol_bad]

That’s what made it interesting to me. They weren’t stereotypically racist. They weren’t acting out of hatred. Perhaps there’s an element of racism in the concept of “putting our white brains in black bodies,” but the only overt display of racism in that film was the cop from the beginning, from what I remember anyway.

I don’t think Peele is all about “white people bad.” I like his stories.

I know he had that interview comment about not being interested in casting a white lead. That probably wasn’t a great choice of words.

The white people weren't even racist.

Spoiler

They wanted to be black people because black people are cooler and have better genetics in various ways.

From what I remember.
lol

 

[kittoo]

Just finished the book. A very very strong first half and then it keeps going downhill continuously. By the time it ends, it remains just average.
Also, there are barely any monsters. It's really not like Lovecraft. It's mostly about racism in Jim Crow America with some other stuff thrown in, which I won't spoil.
Very very minor spoiler ahead

Spoiler

the book just forgets about the couple of monsters it does have. It just ends and the story about monsters is just left hanging. As I said, it's not about the monsters and so much so that the author himself forgot about them at the end

 

[TheSadRanger]

Even if one doesn't care for Get Out or Us, I would hope one would at least recognize more effort went into them than 95% of the found-footage films that weren't Blair Witch or Cloverfield. And yes, that includes the Paranormal Activity films, there's a difference between building suspense/ambience and actually just not having anything happen! Even when shit wasn't like that, we'd get garbage like the worst Halloween films: Resurrection and Rob "I'm going to pay tribute to Halloween by doing everything Carpenter wouldn't do!" Zombie's two shit sessions. Or god, lazy ass shit like Wrong Turn, let's just rip off Texas Chainsaw Massacre but suck at it, and yet somehow Wrong Turn got like 5 sequels?! Were people so desperate for slashers during those years they were like, "well, this garbage is better than nothing"?

Don't get me wrong, Peele certainly didn't start the horror revival, I think James Wan was mostly responsible for that with The Conjuring as that seemed to get the ball rolling on filmmakers actually trying to make horror movies with actual effort, but FUCKING CHRIST American film horror was shit tier on an unheard of level in the 2000's decade. In fact, I'm struggling to think of a movie genre that had a worse decade ever than horror did in the 2000's, it's that terrible to me.

If Peele is "ruining horror", then for the love of god keep "ruining horror", as Get Out and Us were more entertaining than virtually any of the "horror" movies of the 2000's decade.

Edit: Plus, it's LOVECRAFT. Films that actually just go full Lovecraft instead of just being influenced by it (like In the Mouth of Madness) tend to be shit, although I heard the new Colour out of Space with NICHOLAS CAGE of all people is apparently decent. So it's not like Peele could even fuck up a string of good adaptations when there's barely been any. Might as well be upset if Peele were doing a new Leprechaun movie. "Oh no, Peele is going to ruin the integrity of the Leprechaun movies!" said no one ever.

I keep hoping that David Mitchell will bring something to the table for horror sometime soon.

I liked It Follows and was hoping he would use that film to make something even better. He has long gaps between his films though so it might be a while.

 

[Doom85]

I keep hoping that David Mitchell will bring something to the table for horror sometime soon.

I liked It Follows and was hoping he would use that film to make something even better. He has long gaps between his films though so it might be a while.

That would be cool, within a month of seeing It Follows for the first time I had two separate nightmares involving the concept. I love that rotating shot in the campus where the characters are just getting the one guy's home address and there's this person always getting closer to them each time the camera comes back around to them but they drive off before the person gets within reaching distance of them. The movie doesn't draw particular attention to the walking person and it might have just been an ordinary person, but it's that uncertainty that makes it even more unsettling.

The little detail I appreciate is how the "curse" can come back to you even if you've passed it on. Too often in horror it feels that sort of "curse" is either passed on and that's the end of it, or when it does come back it's not really fully explained how it did making it feel cheap. Here, we get a clear explanation of how passing the "curse" to someone else doesn't guarantee your safety and you'll live your entire life feeling unsafe. Truly creepy.

 

[Papa]

Smollett alert

Appropriating "Lovecraft" for a black culture movie seems like intentional erasure, or at the very least overwriting.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

Was chuckling when I read "Lovecraft" and then saw the black actor...

 

[Reptars Revenge]

Smollett alert

Appropriating "Lovecraft" for a black culture movie seems like intentional erasure, or at the very least overwriting.

She so hot

 

[Papa]

She so hot

yeah but that stupid fuckin name

and a double barrelled surname is a feminist danger alert

 

[Sakura Doritos]

While Lovecraft was a xenophobic recluse and several of his characters had slurs baked into their names, in the end he was a very troubled man and a product of his time.

However, the ideas his mythos puts forward expand as the idea of Man expands. So I don’t think it is quite fair we dismiss Peele’s attempt to add to the mythos out of hand.

I just hope it doesn’t go woke. And I hope it doesn’t skim the surface like True Detective season 2 and 3.

 

[Whataborman]

I just hope it doesn’t go woke.

Unfortunately, the book this series is based on is definitely "woke" and the author, Matt Ruff looks exactly like you'd think an older, woke, male feminist would look. I can only hope that Peele realizes that he needs to tone the social justice aspect down to garner a much larger audience. I certainly thought he did a good job with Get Out and US.

I tried reading Lovecraft Country when it first came out and just couldn't do it. On the surface, the plot - a black family dealing with Jim Crow America and Lovecraftian horrors sounds great but the execution was terrible. First, the author insists on hitting you over the head with "Jim Crow is bad" to the point where there isn't a single "good" white person in the whole book. I mean, literally every white person in the book is either a villian or racist. Second, the writing is just terrible. Ruff is not a good writer and it shows. I made it through maybe 1/3rd of the book and then skimmed the rest.

 

[DeafTourette]

Smollett alert

Appropriating "Lovecraft" for a black culture movie seems like intentional erasure, or at the very least overwriting.

How is this a black culture movie? And how is it appropriating HPL? It's based on a book... Which I'm hoping Peele and Abrams expand on for the last half of the story. It takes place in the Jim Crow south...

And if it's a black culture movie, does that mean "oh it's not for non-black people to watch"?

 

[Papa]

How is this a black culture movie? And how is it appropriating HPL? It's based on a book... Which I'm hoping Peele and Abrams expand on for the last half of the story. It takes place in the Jim Crow south...

And if it's a black culture movie, does that mean "oh it's not for non-black people to watch"?

Appropriating the name Lovecraft and reassociating it with black culture. Very sneaky.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Smollett alert

Appropriating "Lovecraft" for a black culture movie seems like intentional erasure, or at the very least overwriting.

lol the fuck?

It's not a black culture movie.. it's a horror movie based on racism.. I can't think of a more apt name than including Lovecraft in your title who was a racist who wrote horror fiction, horror fiction likely influenced by his racism.

How is it erasure to pay homage to one of his key attributes? That he was a racist piece of shit.

 

[Papa]

lol the fuck?

It's not a black culture movie.. it's a horror movie based on racism.. I can't think of a more apt name than including Lovecraft in your title who was a racist who wrote horror fiction, horror fiction likely influenced by his racism.

How is it erasure to pay homage to one of his key attributes? That he was a racist piece of shit.

Erasure because they’re subtly changing the association of his name. That’s how ideologues operate.

Lovecraft grew up in an era when it was abnormal to not be racist. But sure, look back through your anti-racism monocle from atop your current_year perch. Any erasure or replacement can be justified when you hold dead historical figures to your modern moral sensibilities. Who knows, maybe the same will happen to Jordan Peele in future when the whims of the mob change again?

 

[IntentionalPun]

Changing the association of his name from what, to what?

From horror... to.. horror? What is being erased here?

And here I sit on my lofty perch... who think people who thought most of humanity were less than animals 100 years ago (and felt the need to use their influence as a writer to espouse these views, influence legislation, etc.) were pieces of shit.. my "anti-racism" monocle.

ROFL