Conducted by Woodruff Laputka, May, 2006
Introduction: Hello everyone. I’m Woodruff Laputka, greeting you Live from The Eldritch Gazette Headquarters in Miskatonic Universities department of Journalism, here with our guest Mr. Andrew Migliore, Founder of the H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival and C/O of Lurker Films. Andrew, its so good of you to join us this evening:
Q: Now, Andrew, tell us, do you mind sharing what got you into the Lovecraftian scene in the first place? How did you begin your work with Lurker Films and what brought you to make the decision that this is what you wanted to do?
A: Well, in 1995 my Essential Saltes were reconstituted and I saw the opportunity to create a website that reviewed and documented Lovecraft influenced films. This site was called beyond-books.com and I created it so that I could learn about websites and ISPs for my job as a Software Engineer. Because of the website many people started to contact me. John Strysik (The Music of Erich Zann) and Aaron Vanek (The Outsider) were the first. After doing an interview with John and discussing doing a screening of his film the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival (HPLFF) was born and started in October of 1996. After awhile the beyond-books.com website (which morphed into thelurker.com) was looking a lot like a book. So I teamed up with Strysik to create Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft in 1999. In between and since then I've dabbled in movies, I did a version of From Beyond with Ken Avenoso in 1997 and did Return to Innsmouth with Aaron Vanek a bit later. By then I was releasing on video tape various films on the web but not really promoting it. In 2004 my job situation was becoming unbearable so in July of that year I decided to quit and pursue the Lovecraft film market and launched Lurker Films in July of that year. Bryan Moore who did Cool Air was the first to sign up and has been a long time supporter and friend. The reason I went for it was that I had spent 10 years building up the Lovecraft film community and wanted to attempt to make a business of it before it was too late and didn't want to have any regrets later in life.
Q: I know your always busy with various affairs, but wanted to note on a most recent addition, called the “Zompire Film Festival.” Care to share a little about that with us?
A: Well there are many films I do not show at the HPLFF, for the most part the selection criteria is very narrow. But there are other films that interest me, apoplectic films, zombies, and vampires. So I thought to myself hey looks like another film festival to me. My feeling is that it will grow much faster than the HPLFF and should be fun too.
Q: The H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival is with out doubt one of the biggest Lovecraftian events of the year. You’ve had such wonderful adaptions as Bryan Moor’s Cool Air and The Call of Cthulhu from the HPLHS premier at the festival for the first time, as well as such guests as S.T. Joshi, the notable Lovecraft Scholar, Christopher Heyerdahl, who played H.P. in the Bravo! Presentation, “Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft”, and I hear even Stuart Gordon “Director of Re-Animator, Dagon, Dreams in the Witch-House” is on for this year. Tell me, how did this all begin? What was the spark that fueled this peculiar flame of fandom?
A: The festival is pretty big we are at capacity pretty much. We can't fit any more vendors after this year and the crowds are over 1500 were had to turn people away on Saturday night.
We've also been premiering a lot more films at recent festivals. Stuart Gordon, who has been a great supporter of the festival all these years, managed to get us permission to premiere "Dreams in the Witch House" before it even the television series aired on Showtime! Stuart also invited me up to Vancouver to see the set of Dreams during filming. All of us lurkers affectionately call him Uncle Lurker.
Regarding what fueled this flame... persistence and word of mouth. THe festival has been around 11 years and this will be our 13th festival (counting the Salem, Mass and Vancouver B.C. festivals).
Q: Would you say you have an all time favorite Lovecraft Film?
A: Ugh! Everyone asks me this and I have no clear answer. I like the Resurrected (I even tried to get Lion's Gate to license it to Lurker Films) because it is really based on "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" and is pretty effective. Re-animator is great fun but not as serious as I would like. Out of Mind is neither scary nor a direct adaptation but is a great balance between information about the author and his works. Some of the shorts I find to be my favorites, Bryan Moore's Cool Air and HPLHS's Call of Cthulhu make for great viewing for real Lovecraft fans.
Q: Lovecraftian Film making can be seen as a rather intriguing phenomena that redefines our views of what is filmable and unfilmable. Of course, certain projects have failed miserably in the wake of various other adpations that presented such incredible atmosphere and spirit to the mythos and tale. Do you find that, in this day and age, there are still limitations as to what can and cannot be done regarding Lovecraft stories adapted to film, such as The Crawling Chaos, Colour out of Space, or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath? What story do you think would be the most difficult to adapt?
A: I think they are all doable if you use the story as a springboard or a framing. Today with all the amazing CGI effects that LOTR and similar films have pulled off I think they can do anything. The bottom line is that is all about money and marketability. Lovecraft is becoming much more well know. Last year there were full page articles about Lovecraft in the LA Times, Washington Post, New York Times, and even the Wall Street Journal! But still studios and financial backers are conservative and Lovecraft is still too much of a nitch. This will change.
I think Colour of Space is very doable, Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath to do right would be very difficult. There would have to be changes to make it accessible and interesting to a wider cross-over audience.
Q: Do you find that perhaps the film adaptation of this particular weird author is somewhat of a proverbial slap in the face to his intended legacy? Lovecraft himself had been quoted with much distaste for, what in his time was called, the novel and garish dramatization of pictures.
A:Lovecraft also marveled at several motion pictures like Phantom of the Opera and was actually inspired by one film Berekley Square for his story Shadow out of Time. I have to agree with Lovecraft however that the majority of films made are just dreadful and created for consumption at the herd's level. But I truly think what I've and other lurkers have established here with our community is carrying on his tradition of generosity and collaboration and celebrating his interest in man verses the cosmos.
Q: Lovecraft has survived through the age of his small pulp popularity; now even viewed as one among the literary masters of the 20th century, by the efforts of his readers through out the decades. Such notable efforts would be that of August Dereleth and Arkham House, who published the first collection of Lovecraft tales. Now that were coming into the 21st century, with global communication at an all time boom, how well do you think his work will fair for the coming generations? Will it continue as it has, inspiring one new generation after the next, or does it face the threat of fizzling out like a menial pop-fad, or like so many other authors of his genre and his time?
A: I think if Arkham House hadn't published Lovecraft's works someone else would have but hats off to august for doing so. I also think that there is something that resonates with readers (as with Phillip K. Dick) that transcends the actually Lovecraft's writings themselves. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. But it is all relative. I believe there will always be a segment of the populating that will respond to Lovecraft's writings or to those inspired from it. Whether that segment will decrease as percentage of the overall population who can tell. Personally I believe the human race will face some serious challenges in the future that will limit the time for such frivolity.
Q: I see our producer Mr. Jack Schaffer over there, pointing at his watch, so unfortunately we must bring our interview to a close before anyone knows were in the studio….But, before we go, would you give us your thoughts on what to look for in the future? For Lurker Films, for the Lovecraft Film Festival, for Lovecraftian Film in general?
A: We are planning to release The H.P. Lovecraft Collection Volume 4: Pickman's Model this summer and Aaron Vanek's The Yellow Sign on our Weird Tale Collection. The new edition of Lurker in the Lobby has been published by Night Shade Books and is available now. And please submit your Lovecraftian films and artwork to the Lovecraft Film Festival!
Q: Any last words before campus security bursts in to arrest us?
A: Make sure you have gathered up the *complete* remains before attempting to raise up anything, least ye obtain the liveliest Awfulness ye can imagine.
Exiting Comment: Thank you very much for your time Andrew. Its been great talking with you, and I look forward to meeting you in Portland for this years H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival, Oct 6th through the 8th at the beautiful Hollywood Theater.
Thank you and good luck with the Gazette!
Interview conducted by Woodruff Laputka, Chief Editor, The Eldritch Gazette, May of 2006.
Produced by Jack Schaffer of the department of Journalism at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, and under the guidance of Professor Henry Armitage, ever looking the other way so we can do this great stuff with out getting expelled.
Special thanks to Andrew Migliorie for his time and answers.