SPOILERS "Guillermo Del Toro says At the Mountains of Madness is dead, thanks to

@Sigismundo, Evidently I didn't do enough research, I was simply going on what was posted here. My apologies. I still don't understand why this would be DTs passion for 20 years and he didn't go for it. Educate me. Are you saying that DTs version would be a "big budget, R rated, faithful Lovecraft adaptation with a male only cast." but they would only trust such a project in the hands of RS?

If Prometheus is based on the ATMoM premise then I now know the story of man's origin they seek. I am a Lovecraft fan and very familiar with the ATMoM story. Nothing worse than watching a movie with another familiar story's ending. I hope this isn't entirely the case. But now after the previews and certain key scenes I have a feeling this is a Lovecraftian concept. I was hoping for a different approach in the film. Now the film is ruined for me. Very disappointed that ATMoM is dead.

Well, I read one draft of the ATMOM script, and it was utter rubbish, unfaithful and missing the point. Maybe that's why it never got the go ahead.

I need to say this...just Need to...every single Lovecraftian FILM, NOT BOOK, but every single film based on any of his books, sucked so bad I do not even know where to start discussing them.

Ok, then maybe Ridley should direct an adaptation of Lovecraft (as opinion only of course) Although Duncan Jones in my opinion would do an acceptable job

I think you are right and that Ridley could do right by the Books ! Just FYI....take a look at this...I mean, they were really really generous here I think...how about you guys? Lovecraft Movies ------=-O-=------ This list includes movies that are adaptations of stories written by Lovecraft. (Note that links on movie titles lead to The Internet Movie Database.) Bride of Re-Animator (1990) Both Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott return in this mediocre sequel to Re-Animator, which actually owes more to The Bride of Frankenstein. However, some scenes, including the final one in the tomb of the Averills, were directly inspired by the original story, “Herbert West—Reanimator”. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD.) The Crimson Cult (1968) Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Steele star in this film which is ostensibly based on Lovecraft’s “The Dreams in the Witch House”. This is one of Karloff’s last films (if not the last). (Purchase from Amazon.com on VHS.) The Curse (1987) The presence of Wil Wheaton, Claude Akins, and John Schneider don’t bode well for this dull adaptation of Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space”. Inexplicably, the location of the story was moved to Tellico Plains, Tennesee, and the family name was changed to Hayes. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD or VHS.) Dagon (2001) Based more on “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” than on “Dagon”, Ezra Godden plays the protagonist and Francisco Rabal plays a difficult-to-understand version of Zadok Allen. The setting is terrific and the film is better looking than earlier Gordon productions, but the chase scene from “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” is strung out for much of the film yet lacks the manic energy of other Gordon films. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD or VHS.) Die, Monster, Die! (1965) Also known as Monster of Terror, this film takes Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space” and emphasizes the science-fiction aspects rather than the horror. Boris Karloff stars as scientist Nahum Witley, as opposed to farmer Nahum Gardner. This film is another example of a classic horror actor crippled by an awful script. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD, DVD with The Dunwich Horror, or VHS.) The Dunwich Horror (1970) Many of the elements of Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror” were kept intact, including several of the character names: Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell), Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley, Sr.), Lavinia Whateley (Joanne Moore Jordan), and Old Wizard Whateley (Sam Jaffe). However, the addition of a female lead (Sandra Dee) and psychedelic special effects end up making this film pretty average. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD, DVD with Die, Monster, Die!, or VHS.) From Beyond (1986) Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton of Re-Animator fame return in another Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon horror-fest. The events of Lovecraft’s short story “From Beyond” effectively take place before the opening credits roll, thus this fairly entertaining film could be considered a sequel to the story. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD or VHS, or watch online at Hulu.) The Haunted Palace (1963) For marketing reasons, director Roger Corman named this film after an Edgar Allan Poe poem, but it is actually based on Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Vincent Price stars as Charles Dexter Ward and Lon Chaney, Jr. stars as Simon Orne, but even these veteran actors can’t raise this film very far above average. Instead of Price acting in a dual role as both Ward and Joseph Curwen, the spirit of Curwen possesses him. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD or VHS.) Lurking Fear (1994) One of the poorer Lovecraft adaptations yet, this film is only loosely based on Lovecraft’s “The Lurking Fear”. Other than the town of Lefferts Corners and the presence of the degenerate Martense family, this film bears little resemblance to the original story. Even the manic performance of Lovecraftian actor Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator and From Beyond) and Hellraiser’s Ashley Lauren[ce] can’t save this terrible film. (Purchase from Amazon.com on VHS.) Necronomicon (1993) An anthology of three tales, with an unintentionally laughable wrapper story called “The Library” featuring Jeffrey Combs as Lovecraft himself. Combs obtains a copy of the Necronomicon and is apparently reading these three tales from it! The first segment, “The Drowned,” is based very loosely on “The Rats in the Walls” and has a few genuinely atmospheric moments – but no rats! The second segment, “The Cold,” is based a little more solidly on “Cool Air” and stars David Warner, but a female protagonist was added. The last segment, “Whispers,” was supposedly based on “The Whisperer in Darkness”, but apparently underwent so much revision that the resemblance was lost. Altogether, a very average film. (Purchase from Amazon.com on VHS.) Re-Animator (1985) Despite taking enormous liberties with Lovecraft’s “Herbert West—Reanimator”, this is one of the most entertaining and financially successful of Lovecraft films. Produced by Brian Yuzna and directed by Stuart Gordon, this scary and funny film stars Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, Bruce Abbott as Dan Cain, Barbara Crampton as Megan Halsey, and David Gale as Doctor Carl Hill. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD or VHS.) The Resurrected (1992) Based on Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, this film is perhaps the most faithful Lovecraft film to date. Directed by Dan O’Bannon (who wrote the script for Alien) and starring Chris Sarandon (The Sentinel and The Princess Bride) as Charles Dexter Ward and Joseph Curwen. The scenes in the tunnels beneath Curwen’s house are especially impressive. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD or VHS.) The Unnamable (1988) Little more than a monster-kills-teenagers-having-sex movie, this film does manage to incorporate a few Lovecraftian references and the Necronomicon, although its relationship to Lovecraft’s “The Unnamable” are minimal. (Purchase from Amazon.com on VHS.) The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1993) Taking place immediately after the events of The Unnamable, this sequel incorporates more elements of its namesake, “The Statement of Randolph Carter” than its forerunner. Still, these elements do not make up the foremost portion of the film, and the presences of John Rhys-Davies and David Warner don’t make this any better than an above-average film. (Purchase from Amazon.com on DVD.) It's actually way worse than I thought that list would be!!! All Them films were just AWEFUL. The best one there which just may be the ONLY one of them even worth even discussing IMO would be "Re-Animator" (1985).

There is a link I posted on this board to a free text version of ATMOM. Do a search and you should find it quickly. It is a short story and worth the read. The similarities to Prometheus cannot be underestimated: an ancient earth lifeform boosted genetically by aliens, an old city with culture and history expressed in art, slave races bred and modified for their purposes, an ancient city created by slaves, and finally an Ancient One that chases after the expedition. Sure, many of these points have not been proven out by the trailers and news (e.g., the slave race angle), but I feel the slaves angle is the purpose of the Engineer's "interest" in us. Human slaves may have also made the temples in Prometheus. The place of divergence appears to be primarily the Engineers appear to infect crew members and the team is wiped out (or nearly so) and ATMOM has a mystery killing of a party followed by an expedition to an ancient city were we learn the history of the Ancient One's. Aside from the large killing in ATMOM, there is only info on the Ancient one's and general fear and foreboding. There is one scene when the expedition is running from something, but they live to tell their story. Sure one story is in Antarctica and the other is in space, but the effect is the same or probably more so with Prometheus, I.e., the feeling of isolation and going into a deep pit to confront a simulacrum of the protagonist.

AWESOME WRITER BREAKS MY HEART WHAT'S BEEN DONE TO HIS WORK ON FILM.

@IB O IR ID O " I still don't understand why this would be DTs passion for 20 years and he didn't go for it." Multiple reasons. It wasn't until the past decade that Del Toro made an international name for himself, so to ask for a 150 million dollar budget for a film would be difficult. "but they would only trust such a project in the hands of RS?" Ridley Scott got the green light for many reasons: a stunning A list cast, with not one, two, but [i]three[/i] of the most highly sought after actors, (Fassbender, Rapace, Elba.) The fact that the publicity would be simple, "is it an Alien prequel? Isn't it?" It easily generated buzz. Lovecraft's work lacks female characters and love interests;, and, (in a good way), is incredibly anti-climatic. Del Toro wants a faithful adaptation of his work, so to try and pitch a R rated 150 million dollar film of that kind is incredibly difficult. In my opinion, I believe his goal was to use the success of The Hobbit to get his budget for ATMOM. (If anyone didn't know, he was originally going to direct, with Peter Jackson only attached as Executive Producer.) He, interestingly enough, dropped out of The Hobbit around the same time we all started hearing bits and pieces about Prometheus.

@Spartacus I agree, he is one of my favorite authors and it is heart breaking to watch adaptations based off his work. Ironically, the two names off the top of my head who I think could handle the scope of Lovecraft are Scott and Del Toro.

Dan O'Bannon was a huge Lovecraft fan. Here he is talking about his disappointment at having his version of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (The Resurrected) taken away from him. He says believed it would have been his best work. Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG2JRNVji-8&list=FL9KB7dulJca0X-ES-UJNf4w&index=3&feature=plpp_video

I´m SURE that the movies by DEL TORRO and RS wont be taking away much from each other, they both will be great, all the more for the fans. DEL TORRO is talking of box office sales, of course, any smaller budget production will be ´suffering´ compared to Prometheus this summer so to speak.. Spart, I dont think the films you posted are directly Lovecraft movies, they are more or less influenced AFAIK, even reanimator isnt genuine lovecraft.. [url=http://vimeo.com/9405378]this[/url] one is short but very nice..;)

Del Toro can kiss my big, hairy swingers. He claims that he's been working on an adaptation of a 225 page book for ten years.......yeah, right. I wish he wouldn't make out that his film would have been any better, because we know it wouldn't. At the end of the day Guillermo, Ridley made Alien, Blade Runner, Legend etc, and you made.....erm....Hellboy 1 & 2. Get a grip.

nope. i have to go against my O.C.D tendencies to go with my A.D.D. instant opinion. which is still nope. to blame "sales" on another directors movie is just sad and pathetic and makes me want to boycott the other movie. i would like for at least some amount of people to enjoy my comics, but if no one gives a damn im not going to point to a more popular web comic and go "ooohhh ooohhh you took all of my fans away before they could be fans to MY comic!"

@ADH0983 See "Pan's Labyrinth" before formulating an opinion on Guillermo Del Toro's work. How would you react to someone saying, "Ridley Scott? The guy who did Robin Hood and GI Jane? No thanks."

Pan's Labyrinth. Masterful. All of Del Toro's works are very well done. He is an artist.

I just read ATMOM myself. Prometheus could very easily follow along those lines. But it doesn't seem like the Engineers are quite as blameless as the Elder Ones. The engineers seem complicit in all of this.

A.E Van Vogt...that was a great writer, and so is H.P. Lovecrat Now, have read Lovecraft's works, the ties with Prometheus are like, say...the ties Lord of the Rings have with Babylon5...it is inspirational but not rulling the story. Actually farther than the exemple, as aside maybe the dark, anguished atmosphere, where you see Lovecraft's work on Prometheus??? Also At The Mountains of Madness being dead...why? The basic ideas for a given number of movies/books are always there, and that does not take credit nor interest in a given story. Basic idea - Aliens Creating Life on Earth - that i it about similarities. Both stories have a different approach to the theme, and a diferent view of things departing from the basic idea, so both have enough space to flourish! I imagine that AtMoM would be a success as good as Prometheus, and it is just a matter of not releasing it at the same time, just for marketing purposes. I surelly hope to see a movie with a true approach to Lovecraft's books and the Ctulhu Mythos...something we do not see in Prometheus, thankfully so as this is another story and style.