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Fantasy Series - Great Films (If Only They'd Stop Messing Around)

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Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#76: May 26th 2013 at 11:56:48 AM

I found another one. The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft. It tones the horror down, but it has so many scenes that would look great on film, and Carter never actually meets anything indescribable. And it has a galley rowing to Dreamland's moon! What's not to like?

Also, the racism and all that is way toned down, as this isn't really a horror story.

Edit: Admittedly, Carter does meet what appears to be The King In Yellow atone point.

edited 26th May '13 12:01:36 PM by Zendervai

VincentQuill Elvenking from Dublin Since: Jan, 2013 Relationship Status: Sinking with my ship
Elvenking
#77: May 26th 2013 at 5:14:49 PM

Any mainstream movie (read: big budget) based on anything by Lovecraft would work, I particularly like 'Rats in the Walls', though I doubt it could be stretched to movie length, and there is the small matter of the cat's name... But any adaptation of a Lovecraft story would be good. An accurate adaptation of Dracula (Bram Stoker)might be nice as well, and American Gods (Neil Gaiman) would be interesting. Pretty much anything by Tolkien could be made into a movie also.

'All shall love me and despar!'
Lightningnettle Nettle Since: Apr, 2012 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Nettle
#78: May 27th 2013 at 1:45:13 PM

Something like the Princess Bride, where both the book and movie are good? I add another vote for the Amber books. Glen Cook's Garrett books would be fun, as perhaps Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy books. The Temeraire books could be fun as well.

edited 27th May '13 1:45:28 PM by Lightningnettle

tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#79: May 27th 2013 at 5:35:24 PM

del Toro was going to do an adaptation of Beyond the Mountains of Madness (and I think it would have been epic) but it died in development hell. Peter Jackson bought the rights to the Temeraire series but apparently decided that he'd rather make more movies out of The Hobbit than he should.

edited 27th May '13 5:36:12 PM by tricksterson

Trump delenda est
wuggles (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#80: May 27th 2013 at 6:11:36 PM

The Avatars Trilogy- It's similar to Percy Jackson but on a more global scale, with all the world's belief systems included. Like my last post on here, because of the multiracial cast I fear that Hollywood would completely botch the casting and make, say, Channing Tatum play an African weather god or something.

Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#81: May 29th 2013 at 1:15:03 PM

Zender: Not everything Lovecraft wrote is horror... :P Though doesn't one of the forms of Nyarlathotep appear in Dream-Quest in an incidental fashion?

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
Ninety Absolutely no relation to NLK from Land of Quakes and Hills Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
Absolutely no relation to NLK
#82: May 29th 2013 at 1:32:51 PM

If they cared to improve upon the books' flaws, The Kingkiller Chronicle would make great movies. Though The Wise Mans Fear would need some serious rewriting with the pacing.

edited 29th May '13 1:33:57 PM by Ninety

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.
tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#83: May 30th 2013 at 5:12:02 PM

[up][up]He appears at the end.

John C. Wright's Chronicles Of Chaos, even though I find the man's current religious and politicalviews abhorrent.

edited 30th May '13 5:12:20 PM by tricksterson

Trump delenda est
Durazno Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#84: May 30th 2013 at 8:41:06 PM

I just recently read The Alloy of Law, and it actually seemed to be better suited for a film adaptation than the original Mistborn trilogy, at least to me. I guess it would be really hard to do without the background, though.

Ninety Absolutely no relation to NLK from Land of Quakes and Hills Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
Absolutely no relation to NLK
#85: May 30th 2013 at 8:54:29 PM

Yeah, explaining the magic system would be a bitch. Which is a shame, because Twinborn are the best thing ever.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.
darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#86: May 31st 2013 at 12:46:36 PM

Going Bovine would make a good film if done right. As in retain the comedy and surrealism without sacrificing the more poignant moments.

kingtiger522 Since: Jul, 2012
#87: Oct 6th 2013 at 6:14:19 PM

Apologies for the necro, but do the Temeraire books count as fantasy? Because if so, their absence from this thread is downright criminal. Peter Jackson apparently picked up the rights years ago, and since then... nothing. Crying shame.

edited 6th Oct '13 6:16:39 PM by kingtiger522

wabbawabbajack Margrave of the Marshes from Elbows out Since: Jun, 2013 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
Margrave of the Marshes
#88: Oct 8th 2013 at 7:15:15 AM

I'm not sure about Lovecraft. Film is primarily a visual medium and Lovecraft's work is decidely non-visual. Usually when a protagonist encounters the abomination he'll ramble on about how if he tried to describe the unhuman, cylcopean monstrosity standing before him it would throw him off a cliff and descending into an unending chasm of insanity. Or something. The only film adaption of HPL's that's any good is the Call of Chtulhu that was done as a silent film.

It would be unfilmable, needing hundreds of speaking roles, millions of CGI, be confusing as hell, but I'd love to see a more or less faithful adaptation of Eriksson's Malazan series.

phoenixflame Since: Nov, 2012
#89: Oct 8th 2013 at 1:39:25 PM

The Broken Empire trilogy, starting with Prince of Thorns, would totally rock. I also think it's doable. The story is very focused on the main character, but there's still an impressive scope to it. Plus, since it takes place in a far-future Earth where things have gone medieval again, it would be so cool to see the flashes of science and technology.

[up]It would take some serious adapting but I think some of his stories could work. It would take a really really good director/cinematographer team though. I'm thinking of how Black Swan had all those weird visual moments that got progressively more extreme as the film went on, but even in the beginning there was blink-and-you'll-miss-it stuff that added to the unease (like the paintings' eyes following the main character). "Rats in the Walls" could make for a great subversion of the typical haunted house film.

edited 8th Oct '13 1:45:54 PM by phoenixflame

funden u wot m8 from the maintenance tunnels Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: It's complicated
u wot m8
#90: Oct 8th 2013 at 2:41:29 PM

I don't think any of the Mythos stories would work. However, I'd like to watch the Statement of Randolph Carter, Rats in the Walls or the Temple.

vincentquill Elvenking from Dublin Since: Jan, 2013 Relationship Status: Sinking with my ship
Elvenking
#91: Oct 8th 2013 at 2:53:30 PM

Rats in the walls was my favourite of Lovecraft's writing. I'd love to see a movie version of it.

'All shall love me and despar!'
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#92: Oct 9th 2013 at 6:37:53 AM

My first thought was "The Wheel of Time", but that would actually make a way better TV series...in fact, if they throw out the more useless subplot, a well done TV series might end up way better than the books, which certainly lost their direction towards the end. But for a movie series...the Alanna Series of Tamora Pierce might work, even though those are more children books than epic stories. Nevertheless, they have the ideal structure for a movie series, enough content to grab the viewers but not so much that it gets confusing because too much has to be cut to reach movie length, as well as a proper climax at the end of every book.

tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#93: Oct 10th 2013 at 7:38:09 PM

Beyond The Mountains Of Madness was optioned by Guillermo del Toro but died in Development Hell. If there's one work by Lovecraft I would kill to see made into a movie it would be Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

edited 10th Oct '13 7:38:46 PM by tricksterson

Trump delenda est
JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#94: Oct 11th 2013 at 2:40:22 PM

Someone actually made a little independent animated film out of the Dream-Quest. I have heard good things about it.

Speaking of the Weird Tales set, Merle Prout's odd little short story "The House of the Worm" would make for an interesting riff on the now-cliché "apocalyptic plague" film.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#95: Oct 11th 2013 at 4:42:21 PM

I mentioned Dream-Quest at the top of the page.

You know, it could be an anthology film of some of Lovecraft's other stories. Like the Cats of Ulthar, because Ulthar appears in the story, and the one where the guy meets the "Other Gods" (they get referred to as the Outer Gods in the rest of the Mythos not written by Lovecraft), and you could even put the story about how Randolf Carter got to Dreamland in the first place.

RLNice Bigfoot Puncher from a computer Since: Sep, 2010
Bigfoot Puncher
#96: Oct 21st 2013 at 5:36:33 PM

Yo, I'd totally love to see The Dresden Files turn into a James Bond-esque long running series. Except a little more faithful to the source material (not like what I hear of the TV show).

A fistful of me.
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