The works of H.P. Lovecraft are some of the most popular in all of horror fiction, but they’re also notoriously difficult to translate into feature films. There have been several such adaptations, but they’ve for the most part been either very niche or been based on Lovecraft’s stories only in the loosest sense.

Part of that’s because Lovecraft mainly wrote short fiction rather than novels, and partly because his most famous stories largely rely on flowery descriptions of sights human beings can scarcely comprehend, and which would drive mad those who looked upon them. Which is naturally rather difficult for film, a visual medium, to convey. And if a film could convey such sanity-demolishing sights, it’d be kinda irresponsible to release it to the public, now wouldn’t it?

Nevertheless, this is a thread for people to pitch how they would turn one or more of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories into feature films.

I would opt for an adaptation of “Pickman’s Model”. You could adapt the events of the story almost precisely as the first act of the movie. The plot would then continue on after the protagonist/viewpoint character has discovered Pickman is basing his paintings (or maybe 3D digital constructions, if we’re updating the setting) off of real abominable creatures.

The story would then follow our hero investigating and eventually confronting Pickman, essentially going, “What the hell? You’ve discovered nightmarish monsters living in our city and all you do is use them to fuel your art career?”

The movie would play coy about the source of the monsters, only that they started appearing around Pickman just as he was desperately wishing for just such monstrous models. Whether Pickman’s desires summoned the creatures to him, or if they’re born from his imagination, would remain unclear, but what would quickly become clear is that they’re not as under control as Pickman thinks and have begun terrorizing the people around him.

Monsters run amuck, mayhem ensues, and lots of scares are had by all.

What are your thoughts?