With the 90th Academy Awards wrapped up and Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape Of Water" winning the Oscar for best picture, I have to wonder, what is next for the acclaimed horror director? Del Toro has always expressed great interest in making a film adaptation of Howard Phillips Lovecraft's legendary tale, "At The Mountains Of Madness," even before he directed the renowned "Pans Labyrinth."
"At The Mountains Of Madness" is a true testament to an underused sub-genre of horror know as eldritch horror, basically meaning a story about something that defies all natural law as we humans on earth perceive it.
To sum up "At The Mountains Of Madness," it is about several arctic explorers in search of an ancient city, and, when they discover it, they also discover the eldritch horror within it.
Why has Guillermo not made his passion project yet?
Let me just clear some things up; the script for the Lovecraft story has been written and has in fact been pitched to Warner Brothers, who have not in fact said no. However, the project has been "on hold" ever since, which feels like a curse. A YouTube video entitled "Why We'll Never See 'At The Mountains of Madness'" states that Warner Brothers' biggest problems with the movie was how much it would cost. We all know that horror movies (besides Ridley Scotts "Alien" saga, as one example) do not get large budgets.
Also, Del Toro really pushed for an R rating which WB did not like for audience demographic purposes.
So... is the film a hopeless fantasy for us horror fans? It will always be a possibility and Del Toro will want to make it. Though Del Toro mentioned the project during press for "The Shape Of Water," the most recent words spoken that I can uncover about it was at the 2014 Comic Con.
Though this panel is three and a half years old it is absolutely still relevant right now, especially after Del Toro's win.
Where is the Lovecraft love in Hollywood?
I personally was not a fan of the horror genre as a whole before I started reading HP Lovecraft. His work sparked something inside me, so I began to search for Lovecraft-inspired films.
I quickly figured out that there aren't really any well made movies directly based on his work, but you can find films with Lovecraft elements, such as "IT," "The Babadook," and even "Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2" (to an extent), to name just a few. The newest film that comes to mind that I am very happy with is the Netflix film, "The Ritual." He is everywhere if you know what to look for. What frustrates me is that these stories have not been made into Hollywood films. Guillermo Del Toro may be the only one working today that can break this curse.
