(John Carpenter, US/Canada, 95 min., 35mm)
Not adapted directly from Lovecraft’s work, but heavily inspired by it, the final film in director John Carpenter’s loose “Apocalypse Trilogy” finds Sam Neill as John Trent, an insurance agent on the trail of missing author Sutter Cane. Cane’s publisher is concerned that the author has gone insane and run away, leaving his latest manuscript unfinished. Meanwhile, a string of violent incidents arise, tracking back to people who have read Cane’s books and gone mad. On Cane’s trail, Trent tracks him down to a seemingly fictional town and begins to question whether or not he lives in a world created by Cane. Carpenter’s final masterpiece is an exploration of the way in which narratives influence our day-to-day existence while also plumbing our deepest fears.
35mm print from Warner Bros. via Hollywood Film Company.
Upcoming Events in this Series
Film Screenings | The Haunted Palace (35mm)
Lovecraftian A delightful descent into the macabre, this film that borrows the title of an Edgar Allan Poe poem, but is actually based on H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, is one of George Eastman Award recipient Roger Corman’s best-remembered films.
Film Screenings | Re-Animator (DCP)
Lovecraftian H.P. Lovecraft’s novelette is adapted by first-time writer-director Stuart Gordon into a lovingly blood-soaked ode to the impermanence of death.