An imaginary book cover by Toby Melville-Brown.
• At the Internet Archive (for a change): Directory 1979, a collection of John Cooper Clarke’s poetry designed by Barney Bubbles; 25 issues of Wrapped in Plastic, the magazine devoted to all things David Lynch; and Cinefantastique, 1970–2002, the magazine about special effects in cinema whose making-of articles were often the first such analyses published anywhere. No contents list for the latter, unfortunately, but the covers shown here give an idea of the main features.
• “Physicist Andreas Schinner recounted a rumor that the Voynich manuscript can be ‘pure poison’ for a scholarly career, because when studying the manuscript there’s ‘always an easy option to make a ridiculous mistake.'” Jillian Foley on the strange quest to decipher the Voynich manuscript.
• At the BFI: Stephen Puddicombe examines six mysterious paintings on film, and Anna Bogutskaya selects ten examples of Lovecraftian cinema. Regarding the latter, I deplore the omission of Huan Vu’s Die Farbe (2011).
• In The Driver’s Seat: Neil Fox on the demented fun of Nicolas Winding Refn’s streaming site for cinematic obscurities, ByNWR.
• “Feed your head”: Akim Reinhardt on the progress of a White Rabbit from Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s novel to Grace Slick’s song.
• Mixes of the week: Marshland: The Andrew Weatherall Mix, and Music’s Not For Everyone, hours of Weatherall mixes at NTS.
• Borderland, an album of music by Fordell Research Unit based on The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.
• At Dangerous Minds: Thirteen-year-old Mariangela and her adventurous pop album, produced by Vangelis, 1975.
• Heavy Metal, Year One: Kory Grow on the inside story of Black Sabbath’s groundbreaking debut.
• “Theire Soe Admirable Herbe”: How the English Found Cannabis by Benjamin Breen.
• Derek Jarman and friends in Dungeness: unseen pictures.
• Closing periods at Flickr.
• Heavy Rock (1976) by Sound Dimension | Heavy Denim (1994) by Stereolab | Heavy Soul (2002) by The Black Keys
Yeah strange they missed DIE FARBE. Actually I thought the new COLOR OUT OF SPACE was pretty blah. I do highly recommend Benson and Moorhead’s THE ENDLESS from 2017 although I thought it was more Algernon Blackwood than Lovecraft.
I still think the most Lovecrafty movie ever made is the third of the original Quatermass series, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT with Andrew Keir and of course a script by Nigel Kneale. I prefer it to the earlier BBC series. It hits just about all of Lovecraft’s tropes. The ambiguity between the alien and the occult. The idea of DEEP TIME and cosmic dread. I still think the best scene is when the drill rig techie is possessed by the spirit of the crashed spacecraft and flees to the church where he describes his vision of life on ancient Mars.
Hi Stephen. I can forgive ignorance about Die Farbe elsewhere but expect better of the BFI. I’ve got the blu-ray edition of The Endless which I thought was very impressive. The set includes the prequel/companion Resolution which fills in the story of the two guys in the shack. I didn’t think it was really Lovecraftian either but I enjoyed the way they gave you the weirdness without feeling the need to explain things too much. A film that’s closer to Lovecraft in its concerns with the sea is Lucile Hadžihalilovic’s Evolution which I recommend if you can find it.
I’ve got all the Quatermass films and TV serials. The Pit is my favourite, and I find it hard to choose one over the other with the different versions; they both complement each other. The film may have a higher budget and better effects but I think André Morell is the best Quatermass of them all, and the longer storyline has some advantages. The ending where he declares “We are the Martians!” is a key line, and a very advanced statement for the time.