Lovecraft is not really scary.

[Johnny Impact]

You have to take into context that these stories were written a long time ago. There is very little comparable to the Lovecraftian mythos in the supernatural or horror literature of the era, and the rare stuff that comes closest, like Hodgson's The Night Land is even more obscure than Lovecraft ever was.

The pacing of the stories is also very much of that era. The aforementioned Night Land was written even earlier, in 1912, and compared to that Lovecraft's work is fast paced.

I find the atmospheric descriptions of some of the locations where the stories take place more unsettling than the monsters themselves. Pickman's Model, the Shadow over Innsmouth, The Whisperer in the Darkness and The Colour out of Space are some examples of Lovecraft evoking a very strong sense of place.

Perhaps he's not scary to a modern reader, but the ideas and, as I mentioned, the atmosphere, is way ahead of the norm for that time. I think he holds up rather well.

This about sums it up. We're inured to cosmic grotesques because we play Dead Space. We don't find killing to be any big deal because we play CoD. Also, movies and TV regularly deal with this type of thing. Back in the early twentieth century there was nothing (except a world war, of course) to give people regular doses of unnameable horror.

I still like Lovecraft's stories. Imagine learning you're an ant, and there's a kid with a magnifying glass headed your way. You won't die in service to a cause, or in the accomplishment of some great deed. You will die an empty, meaningless death to provide a moment's amusement to a being infinitely more vast and powerful than you could ever understand, who attaches no importance whatsoever to your tiny existence. Furthermore, there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent this. That's fairly horrifying.

 

[Waaghpowa]

People thought that Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven was pretty damn scary back when it was originally written. It's all about context of the times. Or maybe it's a sign of our times; people aren't so good with subtlety and wont "get it" unless it's right in their face. Kinda like modern comedies.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Lovecraft is an acquired taste, I think. Nowadays, Horror is more about well-known facets of our world peeling their masks back to reveal something wretched underneath; an action that either warrants sympathy or revulsion. It's gone to the point where the horrific and the commonplace are merging, and you end up with stuff that's not that far from Wondrous Realism.

Read stuff by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as an example, and you'll see characters react to angels falling out of the sky and into chicken coops with an utter lack of surprise. We're pretty much smack-dab in this particular phase, where everything is so known and has been revisited so many times we're down to having vampire coworkers during night shifts who barely even have to hide. Or, you know, stuff like the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Blech.

Lovecraft really speaks to how things were before. Lovecraft was really active between the years 1910 and 1930 or thereabouts, and he's got old aristocratic roots. Considering this, there's still a very English bend to what he does, a bit of a Colonialist spirit; just twisted and turned really fucking negative. Between reading him and reading Poe, there's not really a whole lot of differences. The scope is simply bigger, more or less swapping traditional Gothic Horror for Pulp Horror, which means that the notion of travel, or of something coming from a far-off exotic place comes into play often enough.

To appreciate Lovecraft and the Mythos in general, you need to remember that a lot of things we take for granted in today's science were just on the cusp of being tested or discovered, in his time. Remember how the Large Hadron Collider made people freak out before it was turned on? If Lovecraft were alive today, he'd have written something about the LHC tearing the fabric of reality apart and letting unspeakable horrors in, much to everyone's doom and assured eternal suffering.

That's Lovecraft's deal, essentially. Whatever's left that qualifies as an Unknown, no matter if you're talking about a geographic location, a scientific principle or, well, whatever lies outside of the human eye's ability to perceive the color spectrum. What really drives this point home is how bigoted, conservative and in general just plain fucking racist he was. Not because he's an asshole on paper, far from it - but because these were the societal norms, back in his day.

In a sense, and I'm really simplifying things here, Lovecraft can and will appeal to you if you can imagine that a black pharaoh (not "African" black or "African-American" black; really "pitch-black" black) ruled over Egypt at some point in time and actually was the human guise worn by one of the Great Old Ones. You have to accept the idea that there's things Man Was Not Meant to Know - and you need to have some level of tolerance for plot devices which are pretty commonplace, today. "The Whisperer in Darkness" loses a lot of its impact if you just stick to the fact that it's another rendition of "OMG, THIS WAS SOME MONSTER WEARING MY FRIEND'S SKIN THE ENTIRE TIME!!"

The short and sweet of it is Lovecraft can't just be gobbled up wholesale like Stephen King. Not in 2012, at least. If you're into moldy aristocracy and forgotten civilizations, though, this just might fit the bill, along with anything by H. Rider Haggard, Arthur Machen, Robert Bloch, Lord Dunsany; so on and so forth.

 

[GeneralFungi]

I have heard of Lovecraft before but I have never really made an effort to look into it. This thread piqued my interest; I might consider looking into it some more myself. I'm learning new things everyday.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

The fear in Lovecraft is a fear of the unknown. Of a universe that is so vast that humans can't even comprehend a fraction of it. We are so small and weak, whose to say there aren't things out there that are to us as we are to ants. Massive entities of such incredible age and harboring such unknowable malice for lesser existence that their mere EXISTENCE threatens our species as a whole. That if one of them were to turn an errant eye, on accident, and spy us across the vastness of the cosmos then our fates would be sealed before we could even cry for help. And no power, religion or science, can hope to stay this inevitability. Our only respite is that these beings either haven't noticed us yet, or are having too much fun molding and shaping our fragile lives.

It's the fear of the deep ocean, of great terrors so close and yet hidden from our plain sight. It's a fear of your your fellow man, of the hidden urges and desires held in their heart and your own. It's the fear of knowledge, of the insatiable thirst for understanding that leads to these truths, and the inevitable refuge in insanity that must follow.

Yeah, if you are just focusing on his monsters you have no imagination.

Beautifully put, and I've never even read any Lovecraft, or like horror stories much, but this makes me want to.

Only experience I've had with Lovecraftian tales is the game Call of Cthulhu, which was an excellent game btw.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

As others have said, times have changed. I agree with that, for the most part.

Lovecraft's writing does hold up, though. They're still wonderful stories... maybe a little melodramatic... but wonderful nonetheless. And if some of them seem cliché by today's standards, just remember that it's because people have been using Lovecraft as inspiration. He was in a class of his own in his own time.

If you want a truly good scare from a modern author, might I suggest Thomas Ligotti? Unlike other authors who try to make you afraid of the dark or a monster or the unknown... Ligotti makes you fear your own existence.

 

[CODE-D]

Yknow what Ive been mulling it over some more and I believe the biggest flaw is that his works combine giant kaiju monsters but bonks you over the skull not so subtlety with nihilism philosophies. Im just sure theres a better way about it. I mean I believe the problem is the delivery such as him explaining/talking to much about how horrible said monsters by characters(humans) who arent really your average people combined with the fact that the monsters dont do shit and are blobs and sea creatures.
In short, bark worse than bite.

 

[Preacher zer0]

Prolly been said already but I'm gonna say it anyway.

OP you are right.

Lovecraft is freaking old.
It's reasonable modern audiences would find the style a drag, I do... but I still dig the whole mythos.

The mythos is sound, it's vast and rich and very interesting.
Plenty of modern writers putting out good Lovecraftian stuff, then there's all the meta crap with the various "real" necronomicons and that whole scene.
Plenty of better writers than Lovecraft have written mythos stuff through the ages.

It's really evolved into something greater than just one dudes writing... he may have had the ideas but that doesn't mean his interpretation was "the best".

It's become more of an experience in suspending disbelief with a lot of writers going for a sort of literary "found footage" style with excerpts and manuscripts presented as genuine discoveries.
The readers role is to buy into this myth for the duration of the reading.

If you have any fave horror authors from back in the 20th century (lol) I'm pretty sure you'll find many of them have written mythos stuff.
The really great, great mythos writing is hidden away in short stories by some real heavy hitters of horror.

There have been revivals and slumps through the years but I thought the 80s was the peak of the Lovecraft mythos in horror, in terms of quality and quantity.

...or if the whole Lovecraft mythology just isn't your kind of weird, but you still wouldn't mind some weird kinda like that.

The King In Yellow.
That's all I can say... Same rules apply, pay homage to the creator but get the real good stuff from talent who took up the mantle down through the years.

 

[Thaluikhain]

IMHO, Lovecraftian stories generally completely fail to be scary. Yeah, big tentacled beasties that are going to awaken and devour all humanity bwah bwah bwah.

On the other hand, stories written by Lovecraft often were scary. He didn't use big monsters in lieu of actually writing a scary story, which alot of people do nowdays.

Aliens that had come from the unknown vastness of space to settle on a planet beyond Neptune isn't scary. Even aliens that come to Earth aren't scary, if they are here just to quarry stone that doesn't occur where they live, and go out of their way to avoid humans isn't scary. But they were scary when written by Lovecraft.

...

On the other hand, Lovecraft is also unsettling because of of his issues. Half his stories seem to be about good, clean humans being corrupted by interbreeding with degenerate races. Lovecraftian fish people do not fight for their rights as US citizens, and interbreeding does not happen after a human and alien hook up at a party.

Sure, product of his times and all, but that doesn't stop his stuff from seeming very dubious at times nowdays.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

The fear in Lovecraft is a fear of the unknown. Of a universe that is so vast that humans can't even comprehend a fraction of it. We are so small and weak, whose to say there aren't things out there that are to us as we are to ants. Massive entities of such incredible age and harboring such unknowable malice for lesser existence that their mere EXISTENCE threatens our species as a whole. That if one of them were to turn an errant eye, on accident, and spy us across the vastness of the cosmos then our fates would be sealed before we could even cry for help. And no power, religion or science, can hope to stay this inevitability. Our only respite is that these beings either haven't noticed us yet, or are having too much fun molding and shaping our fragile lives.

It's the fear of the deep ocean, of great terrors so close and yet hidden from our plain sight. It's a fear of your your fellow man, of the hidden urges and desires held in their heart and your own. It's the fear of knowledge, of the insatiable thirst for understanding that leads to these truths, and the inevitable refuge in insanity that must follow.

Yeah, if you are just focusing on his monsters you have no imagination.

Ordinaryundone gets it. The Lovecraft world is frightening, but you have to get into the mythos and appreciate the whole that he is conveying. This isn't about a scary monster, no this is about the inevitable decline of all that is normal, all that we consider good. If you attract the attention of these entities, if your family line gets polluted, you are f*cked. If there are rats in the walls of an old estate you inherited, if you receive a correspondence from an old gentleman whose dogs keep dying, doom approaches.

A lot of horror isn't scary, but Lovecraft is very good at description and in creating a setting. I think Japanese horror is generally spookier, but Lovecraft is a wonderful mix of sci-fi and horror. Some of this tales, like the ancient world tales are also not meant to be scary, they are more travel pieces that take you on a journey.

Also if murder, rape and digestion by fish-men, ghouls or shoggoths doesn't scare you, I guess you must be tough. You might be just keeping distance and preventing yourself from getting into the material though.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

IMHO, Lovecraftian stories generally completely fail to be scary. Yeah, big tentacled beasties that are going to awaken and devour all humanity bwah bwah bwah.

On the other hand, stories written by Lovecraft often were scary. He didn't use big monsters in lieu of actually writing a scary story, which alot of people do nowdays.

Aliens that had come from the unknown vastness of space to settle on a planet beyond Neptune isn't scary. Even aliens that come to Earth aren't scary, if they are here just to quarry stone that doesn't occur where they live, and go out of their way to avoid humans isn't scary. But they were scary when written by Lovecraft.

...

On the other hand, Lovecraft is also unsettling because of of his issues. Half his stories seem to be about good, clean humans being corrupted by interbreeding with degenerate races. Lovecraftian fish people do not fight for their rights as US citizens, and interbreeding does not happen after a human and alien hook up at a party.

Sure, product of his times and all, but that doesn't stop his stuff from seeming very dubious at times nowdays.

Ha ha! Well put.
"interbreeding does not happen after a human and alien hook up at a party."

Lovecraft isn't mass effect.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

Lovecraft's style is essentially that we're all ants in a universe filled with giants and incomprehensible landscapes. They don't care about us and will crush us without a second thought. Personally, I find to be a refreshing divergence from the typical "Normal but with something really wrong" style of horror where you can relate to the character but instead have a world where there are creatures so horrifying that looking at them drives people insane. Then you can let your mind do the work for you.

My favourite piece of his mythos is R'lyeh, the sunken city with impossible architecture. It's something that you can imagine being so alien that it's terrifying.

This.

I'd even argue that they're less about being "scary" and more about philosophy than anything. It's about being so insignificant, sheltered, and self absorbed we fail to see the real terrors in the world and therefore go mad just by the sight of them. It's like trying to have an insect comprehend neuroscience.

An insect that cannot even begin to stop eating its little leaves to see what is the truth!

 

[DarkRyter]

Well, duh. It's just a bunch of words.

You can just NOT read them. It's that easy.

 

[Hallow'sEve]

Well, duh. It's just a bunch of words.

You can just NOT read them. It's that easy.

Better yet, you can BURN them. Show them stupid words who's boss.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

The man who was not scared, quickly destroyed the books and all they contained.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I mean, horror aside, your judging a work of entertainment by modern standards.

It's like being a present day WWE fan and going back and watching a wrestling match from the 50's. Watch wrestling today, it's a LOT more actiony then it was in the 50s. More jumps, bigger moves, way less headlocks.

Also, Lovecraft scary is mostly scary just in the idea of it... like the whole idea of creatures that drive you insane is suppose to make you feel like an insignificant powerless human in the grand sheer scope of the universe. The horror is these are beings that can use/manipulate us and we don't even have the luxury of trying to rebel, because we'll go insane just looking at them. The horror is in the sheer hopelessness of it all.

 

[MammothBlade]

Also if murder, rape and digestion by fish-men, ghouls or shoggoths doesn't scare you, I guess you must be tough. You might be just keeping distance and preventing yourself from getting into the material though.

I would be honoured to be eaten by Cthulhu.

Also, anyone looking for a cosmic horror story which probably will make you lose control of your bowels, Saya no Uta is the best there is.

People thought that Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven was pretty damn scary back when it was originally written. It's all about context of the times. Or maybe it's a sign of our times; people aren't so good with subtlety and wont "get it" unless it's right in their face. Kinda like modern comedies.

True. A lot of modern audiences are all about cheap scares. Stupid dead stupid teenager films.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Cool.

What's your point? Fear is 100% subjective.

Mmmmyep. You hit the nail on the head with that one.

I loved the stories personally. The locales seemed to be the main characters, all with their own personalities and mysteries. I loved all of the stories taking place in the dreams of Randolph Carter, a recurring character in the mythos. Lovecraft is the only author whose writings have given me actual nightmares. Reading the stories really isn't that bad but thinking about them later and, having the situations and, locales fresh and simmering in the depths of the unconscious mind were enough to give me actual nightmares. I love the stories for that.

 

[Alhazred]

As much of a fan as I am Lovecraft, I have to admit I wasn't scared by many of his stories. That doesn't diminish his importance, however. As Neil Gaiman put it:

"HP Lovecraft built the stage on which most of the last century's horror fiction was performed"

And of course, when the stories were actually scary, they were REALLY scary. The Rats In the Walls, The Lurking Fear, The Colour Out Of Space, At The Mountains Of Madness and The Dreams In The Witch-House all creeped me out considerably.

 

[Kahunaburger]

The fear in Lovecraft is a fear of the unknown. Of a universe that is so vast that humans can't even comprehend a fraction of it. We are so small and weak, whose to say there aren't things out there that are to us as we are to ants. Massive entities of such incredible age and harboring such unknowable malice for lesser existence that their mere EXISTENCE threatens our species as a whole. That if one of them were to turn an errant eye, on accident, and spy us across the vastness of the cosmos then our fates would be sealed before we could even cry for help. And no power, religion or science, can hope to stay this inevitability. Our only respite is that these beings either haven't noticed us yet, or are having too much fun molding and shaping our fragile lives.

It's the fear of the deep ocean, of great terrors so close and yet hidden from our plain sight. It's a fear of your your fellow man, of the hidden urges and desires held in their heart and your own. It's the fear of knowledge, of the insatiable thirst for understanding that leads to these truths, and the inevitable refuge in insanity that must follow.

Yeah, if you are just focusing on his monsters you have no imagination.

I think that one of the reasons Lovecraft's brand of horror is less "scary" today is that, sans monsters, the whole "we are tiny monkeys living on a tiny rock floating through a universe we do not (and probably cannot) understand" thing is something that we have basically come to terms with over the last century.

That's not to say that I don't think Lovecraft is worth a read - his stories are absolutely fascinating in terms of how influential they were over the SF and horror genres. IMO if you can get past the racism there's some really good writing there.