Born on August 20, 1890, during his lifetime, Lovecraft's stories were not widely known. However, over time, his work gained popularity and became firmly rooted in pop culture. This was undoubtedly influenced by numerous inspirations from the Cthulhu mythology.
Stephen King has mentioned more than once how Lovecraft's work frightened him in his youth. The king of horror hid many references to Lovecraft's work in his early writings. We can read about the book De Vermis in “Jerusalem's Lot” or the character Yog Soggoth in “Needful Things”. In comics, perhaps the most popular reference is the name of the psychiatric hospital from the Batman series - Arkham Asylum. In Lovecraft's stories, Arkham was the city where many of his works took place.
Moving on to cinema, the appearance of the aliens in the film “Alien” was heavily inspired by H. Giger's paintings depicting descriptions from the myths. Screenwriter Dan O'Bannon admitted that he drew a lot of inspiration from Lovecraft's work, including borrowing words and scenes, such as the discovery of the alien temple. Director John Carpenter, inspired by Lovecraftian horror, directed “In the Mouth of Madness” and “The Thing”.
However, we find by far the most references in games. From “Call of Cthulhu: Alone in the Dark” from 1981, through “Half Life”, “The Witcher” series and “Bloodborne”, Lovecraft continues to inspire. Not only large studios, but also small teams like us, Astrolabe Stories. We encourage you to check out our works: “Last Threshold” and the demo “Threshold of Awakening”.
