One night I had a frightful dream in which I met my grandmother under the sea. She lived in a phosphorescent palace of many terraces, with gardens of strange leprous corals and grotesque brachiate efflorescences, and welcomed me with a warmth that may have been sardonic. She had changed—as those who take to the water change—and told me she had never died. Instead, she had gone to a spot her dead son had learned about, and had leaped to a realm whose wonders—destined for him as well—he had spurned with a smoking pistol. This was to be my realm, too—I could not escape it. I would never die, but would live with those who had lived since before man ever walked the earth.
I met also that which had been her grandmother. For eighty thousand years Pth’thya-l’yi had lived in Y’ha-nthlei, and thither she had gone back after Obed Marsh was dead. Y’ha-nthlei was not destroyed when the upper-earth men shot death into the sea. It was hurt, but not destroyed. The Deep Ones could never be destroyed, even though the palaeogean magic of the forgotten Old Ones might sometimes check them. For the present they would rest; but some day, if they remembered, they would rise again for the tribute Great Cthulhu craved. It would be a city greater than Innsmouth next time. They had planned to spread, and had brought up that which would help them, but now they must wait once more. For bringing the upper-earth men’s death I must do a penance, but that would not be heavy. This was the dream in which I saw a shoggoth for the first time, and the sight set me awake in a frenzy of screaming. That morning the mirror definitely told me I had acquired the Innsmouth look.
So far I have not shot myself as my uncle Douglas did. I bought an automatic and almost took the step, but certain dreams deterred me. The tense extremes of horror are lessening, and I feel queerly drawn toward the unknown sea-deeps instead of fearing them. I hear and do strange things in sleep, and awake with a kind of exaltation instead of terror. I do not believe I need to wait for the full change as most have waited. If I did, my father would probably shut me up in a sanitarium as my poor little cousin is shut up. Stupendous and unheard-of splendours await me below, and I shall seek them soon. Iä-R’lyeh! Cthulhu fhtagn! Iä! Iä! No, I shall not shoot myself—I cannot be made to shoot myself!
I shall plan my cousin’s escape from that Canton madhouse, and together we shall go to marvel-shadowed Innsmouth. We shall swim out to that brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses to Cyclopean and many-columned Y’ha-nthlei, and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.
CREDITS
DIE, MONSTER, DIE!
(adapted from “The Colour Out of Space”)
Released October 27, 1965
Director Daniel Haller
Screenplay Jerry Sohl
CAST
Boris Karloff Nahum Witley
Nick Adams Stephen Reinhart
Freda Jackson Letitia Witley
Suzan Farmer Susan Witley
Patrick Magee Dr. Henderson
Leslie Dwyer Potter
Paul Farrell Jason
Terence de Marney Merwyn
Running time: 80 minutes
(Released in the UK as Monster of Terror)
Also filmed as:
The Curse (1987)
Colour from the Dark (2008)
COOL AIR
(adapted from “Cool Air”)
Broadcast December 8, 1971
Rod Serling’s Night Gallery
Director Jeannot Szwarc
Screenplay Rod Serling
CAST
Henry Darrow Dr. Juan Munos
Beatrice Kay Mrs. Gibbons
Larry Blake Charles Crowley
Karl Lukas The Iceman
Running time: 25 minutes
Also filmed as:
Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993)
Cool Air (2006)
Chill (2007)
BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP
(adapted from “Beyond the Wall of Sleep”)
Released 2006
Director Barrett J. Leigh and Thom Maurer
Screenplay Barrett J. Leigh and Thom Maurer
CAST
George Peroulas Mental Patrient
William Sanderson Joe Slaader
Fountain Yount Edward Eischel
Greg Fawcett Francis
Kurt Hargan Dr. Wardlow
Frank Schuler Peter Slaader
Marco St. John Dr. Fenton
Running Time: 84 minutes
CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR
(adapted from “The Dreams in the Witch House”)
Released April 15, 1970
Director Vernon Sewell
Screenplay Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln
CAST
Boris Karloff Professor John Marsh
Christopher Lee J.D. Morley
Mark Eden Robert Manning
Barbara Steele Lavinia Morley
Michael Gough Elder
Virginia Wetherell Eve Morley
Rupert Davies The Vicar
Running Time: 89 minutes
Also filmed as:
Dreams in the Witch-House (2005)
THE UNNAMABLE II: THE STATEMENT OF RANDOLPH CARTER
(Adapted from “The Statement of Randolph Carter”)
Released March 10, 1993
Director Jean-Paul Ouellette
Screenplay Jean-Paul Ouellette
CAST
Mark Kinsey Stephenson Randolph Carter
Charles Klausmeyer Eliot Damon Howard
Maria Ford Alyda Winthrop
John Rhys-Davies Professor Warren
Peter Breck Sheriff Hatch
David Warner Chancellor Thayer
Running time: 104 minutes
Also filmed as:
The Statement of Randolph Carter (2005)
The Statement (2007)
The Statement of Randolph Carter (2008)
THE UNNAMABLE
(Adapted from “The Unnamable”)
Released June 1988
Director Jean-Paul Ouellette
Screenplay Jean-Paul Ouellette
CAST
Mark Kinsey Stephenson Randolph Carter
Charles Klausmeyer Howard Damon
Alexandra Durrell Tanya Heller
Laura Albert Wendy Barnes
Eben Ham Bruce Weeks
Blane Wheatley John Babcock
Mark Parra Joel Manton
Running time: 87 minutes
Sequels:
The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1993)
THE DUNWICH HORROR
(Adapted from “The Dunwich Horror”)
Released January 14, 1970
Director: Daniel Haller
Screenplay: Curtis Hanson, Henry
Rosenbaum, and Ronald Silkosky
Sandra Dee Nancy Wagner
Dean Stockwell Wilbur Whateley
Ed Begley Dr. Henry Armitage
Lloyd Bochner Dr. Cory
Sam Jaffe Wizard Whateley
Joanna Moore Jordan avinia Whateley
Talia Shire Nurse Cora
Running time: 90 minutes
Also filmed as:
Dunwich (2006)
The Dunwich Horror (2009)
Sequels:
Beyond the Dunwich Horror (2008)
RE-ANIMATOR
(Adapted from “Herbert West—Reanimator”)
Released October 18, 1985
Director Stuart Gordon
Screenplay Dennis Paoli, William J. Norris, and Stuart Gordon
CAST
Jeffrey Combs Herbert West
Bruce Abbott Dan Cain
Barbara Crampton Megan Halsey
David Gale Dr. Carl Hill
Robert Sampson Dean Alan Halsey
Gerry Black Mace
Carolyn Purdy-Gordon Dr. Harrod
Running time: 86 minutes
Sequels and spinoffs:
Bride of Re-Animator (1990)
Corpse-o-Rama (2001)
An Imperfect Solution
: A Tale of the Re-Animator (2003)
Beyond Re-Animator (2003)
Re-Animator 1942 (2008)
PICKMAN’S MODEL
(adapted from “Pickman’s Model”)
Broadcast December 1, 1971
Rod Serling’s Night Gallery
Director Jack Laird
Screenplay Alvin Sapinsely
CAST
Bradford Dillman Richard Upton Pickman
Louise Sorel Mavis Goldsmith
Donald Moffatt Uncle George
Jock Livingston Larry Rand
Joshua Bryant Eliot Blackman
Joan Tompkins Mrs. Dewitt
Running time: 27 minutes
Also filmed as:
Pickman’s Model (1981)
Chilean Gothic (2000)
Pickman’s Model (2003)
Pickman’s Model (2008)
THE CALL OF CTHULHU
Released October 7, 2005
Director Andrew Leman
Screenplay Sean Branney
CAST
Ramón Allen, Jr Louis
Leslie Baldwin Greta Johansen
Daryl A. Ball Officer Cassidy
John Bolen Listener
Ralph Lucas Professor Angell
David Mersault Inspector Legrasse
Clarence Henry Hunt Castro
Patrick O’ Day Johansen
Chad Fifer Henry Wilcox
Running time: 47 minutes
FROM BEYOND
(adapted from “From Beyond”)
Released October 24, 1986
Director Stuart Gordon
Screenplay Dennis Paoli
CAST
Jeffrey Combs Crawford Tillinghast
Barbara Crampton Dr. Katherine McMichaels
Ted Sorel Dr. Edward Pretorius
Ken Forree Bubba Brownlee
Carolyn Purdy-Gordon Dr. Bloch
Bunny Summers Neighbor
Bruce McGuire Jordan Fields
Karen Christenfeld Nurse Briden
Andy Miller Patient
Running time: 86 minutes
Also filmed as:
Beyond Lovesauce (2007)
DAGON
(adapted from “Dagon” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”)
Released October 31, 2001
Director Stuart Gordon
Screenplay Dennis Paoli
CAST
Ezra Godden Paul Marsh
Raquel Meroño Barbara
Francisco Rabal Ezequiel
Macarena GÓmez Uxia Cambarro
Brendan Price Howard
Brigit Bofarull Vicki
Ferran Lahoz Priest
Running time: 95 minutes
Also filmed as:
Screamers (1979)