Lovecraft Country: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''Arkham, Dunwich

Most examples are [[Literature|literary]], as successful adaptations to other media are seldom seen.

 

 

{{examples}}

* Forget the current [[Word of God]] that it's in New Jersey, or the usual assumption that it's "New York at night": [[Batman|Gotham City]] is clearly smack in the middle of Lovecraft Country. In fact, Arkham Asylum, the [[Cardboard Prison]] all of Batman's villains end up in, is named after one of Lovecraft's towns.

* Much of the ''[[X-Men]]'' craziness takes place in New York. Including the ancient evil of the N'Gari. One of their entrance points into our realm happened to be on Xavier's property. Oops.

 

== Film ==

* The 2001 film ''[[Dagon]]'' transplants Innsmouth to Imboca, a town on the coast of Galicia in Spain. It's still Lovecraft Country, just made safely foreign for American audiences.

* ''[[Yellow Brick Road (film)|Yellow Brick Road]]'' is a horror film set primarily in a vast New Hampshire woodland where the population of an entire town committed suicide.

 

== Literature ==

* Joseph Citro wrote several horror novels set in various parts of Vermont, and has actually written several non-fiction books about the state's ghost lore and monster legends.

 

* ''[[Kingdom Hospital]]'', the U.S. remake of Lars Von Trier's excellent darkly humorous ghost story ''[[Riget]]'' (known as ''The Kingdom'' to Anglos) is set in a New England hospital, possibly because the legacy of Lovecraft Country in fiction assured that it would be perceived as the most suitable locale, but also because the adapted screenplay was written by [[Stephen King]].

* ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]'', the 1960s gothic soap opera about supernatural horrors, takes place in Collinsport, Maine. Clearly this town, with its witch trials and monsters, is to be found in Lovecraft Country.

* ''[[Haven]]'' takes place in a New England town of the same name, where bizarre mysteries abound (and based on a [[Stephen King]] story to boot).

* ''[[Storm of the Century]]'' was a [[Stephen King]] miniseries set on Little Tall Island (a central character in [[Kingdom Hospital]] evidently came from there). Apart from a veritable brew of dark secrets, much of the town engaged in a pact with darkness.

 

== Music ==

* John Perreault, in his song "The Ballad of Louis Wagner," tells the tale of the tortured soul of Louis Wagner, who in 1873 murdered two women on Smuttynose Island, part of the Isles of Shoals, off the coast of New Hampshire. Quite some creepy verses, and a suitably creepy locale, worthy of Lovecraft Country (especially on a dark and stormy night).

 

* The various ''[[The World of Darkness]]'' gamelines, New and Old, like these:

** The sourcebook ''Rage Across Appalachia'', a crossover between ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' and ''[[Changeling: The Dreaming]]'', covers the area exactly how one would expect from the World of Darkness. I.e., it's a playground for Black Spiral Dancers, unseelie fae, and wouldn't you like to know what else.

* And, well, ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]''.

* The ''[[Arkham Horror]]'' boardgame.

 

== Video Games ==

* Bright Falls of ''[[Alan Wake]]'' is as close to this setting as the Pacific Northwest can get, with a [[Town with a Dark Secret]] and an [[Eldritch Abomination]] of some sort living in the lake.

* The titular seaside New England [[Town with a Dark Secret|town]] of ''[[Anchorhead]]'' rests firmly within Lovecraft Country, replete with grim weather, crumbling buildings, a [[Cult|town-wide]] [[Ancient Conspiracy]], a [[Big Screwed-Up Family]] which has engaged in ''nearly four centuries'' of {{spoiler|[[Demonic Possession]] and [[Parental Incest]]}}, ''and'' an approaching [[Eldritch Abomination]].

 

== Web Comics ==

'''Georgie:''' So basically you live in a charming, old-timey black hole of death.

'''Marlene:''' Yes, it has a certain something. }}

 

== Web Original ==

* The [[Whateley Universe]]: [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]] is an easy walk from Dunwich (although the authors set it in New Hampshire) and a nice drive from Arkham. Even closer are a variety of Class X sites so Lovecraftian and dangerous that even superpowered mutants can't deal with what's there. There's even a truly horrific site in the campus sewer system.

* ''[[Seeking Truth]]'' has parts here, particularly the parts that have [[Cowboy Cop|Zeke]] visiting the isolated homes of the victims. Quite effective here, as the trees provide plenty of cover for the [[Humanoid Abomination]] [[Slender Man|we've all come to love....]]

 

== Western Animation ==

* [[The Secret Saturdays]] love these places.

* ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' places [[Batman|Gotham City]] in Connecticut.

 

== Real Life ==

* [[Invoked Trope]] by the city of Salem, Massachusetts, whose tourist marketing paints it as a real-life [[Halloweentown]].

 

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{{reflist}}

[[Category:Indexed States of America]]

[[Category:The National Index]]