If you found yourself yearning for more Lovecraftian horror following the recent Color Out of Space adaptation starring Nicolas Cage, then I’ve got some exciting news for you.
After being asked if he had any plans to keep making more films based on the works of author H.P. Lovecraft, Director Richard Stanley confirmed that he and SpectreVision, the production company also responsible for 2018’s Mandy, are currently developing a trilogy adapted from what Stanley referred to as the author’s “most important” stories. The Dunwhich Horror, which recounts a twisted tale of human-alien crossbreeding, is up next.
Stanley also confirmed that the three films will all take place in the same cinematic world, akin to what Marvel Studios has been doing with the MCU for a decade now. Elliot Knight’s hydrologist character Ward is said to be the only connective thread between the films.
Although Stanley was intentionally vague about which of Lovecraft’s stories would serve as the basis for the third film, the filmmaker did offer up some delicious details regarding Dunwich. The most noteworthy of these relates to the production’s budget, which will reportedly be larger the second time around to accommodate Stanley’s vision of rendering a convincing depiction of the Yog-Sothoth, a member of Lovecraft’s pantheon of Old Ones, an ancient race of ultra-dimensional deities who exist outside the realm of human understanding.
The sequels will also return moviegoers to Miskatonic University, a fictional campus sometimes referred to by Lovecraft’s in his stories and the central location of his iconic Re-Animator series, which itself received the feature film treatment back in 1985 thanks to filmmaker Stuart Gordon. Stanley also plans on digging into the “actual Necronomicon,” the infamous (and equally fictitious) book of the dead which Lovecraft invented and then popularized through his writing.
A production start date has not yet been determined for The Dunwhich Horror, though Stanley did mention that casting for the project is currently underway. Fortunately, interest from potential talents is much higher this time out thanks to both the critical and financial success of Color Out of Space.
While Dunwich looks like a sure thing at this point, Stanley stressed that the final film of the trilogy, while in the plans for now, is still determinate on how the second film performs.
Color Out of Space is playing now in limited release.
What do you make of this news? Are you looking forward to more Lovecraft movies from Richard Stanley? Did you even check out Color Out of Space? Sound off in the comments below and let me know what you’re thinking!
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