**Obviously, the following has big story and script spoilers so if you’d rather not know, move on.**
If there are two things James Cameron likes to do it’s a) talk and b) boast about his work, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that when asked by Wired about Guillermo Del Toro’s forthcoming adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness” Cameron, who is producing the film, wastes no time in drawing a straight line to one of his own saying, ““It’s going to be an epically scaled horror film and we haven’t seen anything like that in a really long time — I guess since ‘Aliens.’”
Anyway, that simplistic comparison aside, “At The Mountains Of Madness” centers on an arctic expedition in the 1930s that uncovers something otherworldly. Set to be shot in 3D and clearly being geared as a big tentpole for Universal, it shouldn’t be any surprise that the script, by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins (“Mimic,” “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark”), amps up the action and creature creeps from the source material. The Temple Of The Ghoul blog have a review of an older draft of the script (apparently its gone through three revisions since) but if the architecture of the story remains the same, it points to an intriguing film.
Calling the project “a ‘Hellboy’ movie without Hellboy, with a light dose of Carpenter’s ‘The Thing'” TOTG says that the draft they have points to “an R-rated monster-fest and there’s no way of cutting it down to a PG-13 or some such shit without throwing more than half away.” But you can bet there is no way Universal is making an expensive, 3D monster movie only to limit the audience with an R-rating (look no further than “The Wolfman” for the reason why).
As for the story, the script keeps things simple, “the bulk of the film is made up of a flashback narration by the last survivor of the previous expedition to the South Pole from 1930” with the plot boiled down to it’s bare essentials: “Scientists go to Antarctica, resurrect primeval monsters, mayhem ensues.” Of the two things TOTG says fans should expect the first is “more monsters, creatures, mutants, hybrids than in the entire Lovecraft’s opus.” What this means is that the shape-shifting protoplasmic Shoggoths from the book are in the film, but “they are a perfect alibi for countless scenes of cool monster action – those blobs swallowing, partly digesting and re-creating humans (and dogs) into shapes nature never intended.” Also scheduled to appear are The Old Ones (though briefly and most notably for a human dissection sequence), the albino penguins (largely as creepy bystanders) and a Cthulhu-esque deity figure.
The other thing TOTG tells us to expect is “More action, action and action than in the entire Lovecraft opus.” The review reveals that “There are fights, flights, chases, shoot-outs, cliffhangers, last second salvations, big explosions….The pace is quick: once the action starts, around the 30 minute mark, it never stops. NEVER. So, once this gets made and you go to the theater (as you should!), grab your popcorn in time and go to the bathroom BEFORE the film, because there’s not a minute of non-action here to waste.”
So, lots of creatures and action, what’s not to like? Well, in this draft, characterizations apparently leave a lot to be desired. The main character Dyer is described as “pretty lame, defined solely through the either/or dilemma: pregnant wife at home or scientific breakthrough at the South Pole. (Enter the moralizing tone, typical for Del Toro, and totally absent in Lovecraft – even more obvious in the character of an unscrupulous Doctor Lake, a comic-book Mad Scientist sacrificing everything and everyone to reach his goal….).” Also sacrificed on the altar of spectacle is any atmosphere, with “very little space for poetry and weird, alien beauty of the landscape” and probably most egregious for Lovecraft fans “The section from the novel when the expedition goes deep, deep, insanely deep into the bowels of the Mountains of Madness is entirely gone. Perhaps the scariest part of the book is gone completely. The submerged city in the deep caverns, too. None of that here.” Morever, the ending has changed too; “Don’t expect the same ending as in the novel. Expect a more predictable one.”
But again, this is a review of an older script and things have changed in subsequent drafts. TOTG reports that they did receive word from some sources close to the production about those changes, though TOTG thinks they are “minor.” The source also stresses that a lot of detail and missing “poetry” is visual, and will be on screen even if it’s not on the page; but obviously that remains to be seen. And with production still not slated to begin until next year, there is still lots of time to tinker.
And if you’re worried about James Cameron getting his hands on the film, don’t be. He openly admits to not particularly liking producing and really only seems to be on board to make sure that Del Toro has all the tools he needs to do it the best way possible saying, “Guillermo brings an eye for design that is so original and so quirky and so steeped in the lore of movie design and horror design, but always fresh and unexpected. Frankly, I just want to see what he comes up with and I want to enable the nuts and bolts of the production so he doesn’t have to worry about that. I want to help him work in 3-D.”
Dang. I understand that with a huge budget tentpole flick you gotta make it accessible, but right now this sounds like it will disappoint. This is probably the one opportunity to throw this level of resources at a Lovecraft product. I'd like to have faith in Del Toro, but I think they're aiming this the wrong way. I hope that whoever is working with the script will find some rhythm and give the picture some space for the creepy atmosphere the pervades the novella.
I don't mean to be negative, but as a big Lovecraft fan, it sounds like they're basically just taking the source novella's mind-bending cosmic horror and turning it into a big dumb action film. Del Toro did something very similar with Hellboy – took away all the brooding, meloncholy, mythic aura of Mignola's comics, and produced (in The Golden Army) little more than a light-hearted, forgettable creature FX demo. Dunno, just seems like he's doing the same thing here – taking out all the good parts.
@Tristan Eldritch amen about Hellboy.
I thought the novella was 95% build-up, 5% mindfuck.
Not an action-heavy piece at all, from what I've gathered. None of Lovecraft's work was.
HPL intended this work–like all of his stuff–to be about horror (terror and disgust), not strictly fear (flight from imminent danger). Reducing AtMoM to a horror/action piece like Aliens would destroy the source material's otherworldy allure, that feeling of the fearful sublime that we love most in him and which seems the hardest aspect to recreate cinematicaly, not only here but in all adaptations of the sublime. Kubrick could do it; Polanski could do it. GDT may be in over his head on this one, but at least it's from the guy who did Cronos and Pan's Labyrinth and not someone like Michael Bay. W/ Cameron hanging back as producer GDT has an enormous opportunity to finally give HPL the finances needed for a realistic portrayal of his magnum opus … if he can restrain his fanboy/comics urges and concentrate on the unspoken tensions of the short novel he's bound for gloryland.
Yeah that's basically my other fear. That Mountains will be shaped into another comicbook type franchise, loud and fast, with cash-in "graphic novels" and at least one sequel.
The sublime, as you put it, is certainly one of the most difficult but rewarding aspects of cinema, if captured. Unfortunately, I doubt they will take that risk.
Part of the "mind=bending cosmic horror" is in realizing the sheer scope of the story. The eons of time involved for cycles of civilization and decay, long before man discovers Antarctica. I really hope that gets through beyond "oh shit run! We woke up some strange monster!"