Adaptations and Dreams of the Witch House

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The art of adaptation in media is a tricky one. Taking a story created for one medium and retelling the story in another medium requires changes. Guillermo Del Toro’s new horror anthology series, The Cabinet of Curiosities, are mostly adapted short stories. Two of these stories are from Lovecraft: Pickman’s Model and Dreams in the Witch House. Unfortunately, for fans of cosmic horror, neither adaptation stayed true to Lovecraft’s themes. Both are gorgeous, visually, but they lack the vision of cosmic horror. In particular, Dreams in the Witch House, lost its entire story. Instead, Walter Gilman is a spiritualist trying to put his dead sister’s soul to rest and uses the Witch House as a way of traveling to purgatory. The Cabinet version is a simplified tale of good versus evil, despite the addition of several new characters and elements. I think it’s the most purely Hollywood adaptation I’ve seen of a Lovecraft story. I was disappointed in it because it seemed like they wanted to tell another story and felt like they had add some elements of the original story because it’s an adaptation.

This isn’t to say the series doesn’t have excellent adaptations. The highlight is The Autopsy, based on a Michael Shea story. It’s a great horror story and actually veers into cosmic horror territory, as it has a brutal and uncaring alien menace. I actually liked one of the more controversial episodes, The Outside, which is adapted from an Emily Carroll web comic. Its visual style is a bit excessive though. It gives the main character a retro 70s aesthetic in a contemporary setting, which was a distracting choice for me. The entire series is worth watching if you’re a horror fan.

What I’ve realized is adapting a story doesn’t mean you have to slavishly follow the original but it should examine its core themes. Otherwise, why bother adapting the story in the first place? Dreams in the Witch House is a story of cosmic horror and any adaptation should speak to that. To Lovecraft, it’s a fearful meditation on the infinite vastness of an uncaring and cold universe. A new adaptation should focus on that theme of infinity, of vast alien spaces and things lurking beyond our perception. Perhaps focus on the witch Keziah Mason instead of Gilman as the main character. Imagine her as a brilliant mathematical genius in Salem 1692, and desperately wanting to escape narrow-minded puritanical society. We can see her corruption as she makes a pact with Azathoth and the Black Man and commits horrible crimes. View her experiences of traveling through countless dimensions over the centuries until Walter Gilman stays in her room in 1932 and the events of the short story unfold. That’s just one way it could have been adapted and I’m sure any decent writer with a knowledge of the story and the concept of cosmic horror could come up with an interesting take. I think it’s clear from this adaptation they weren’t interested in the idea of cosmic horror, which is ironic, because it’s the reason why anyone remembers the original story. If you’re not interested in commenting on a source material’s original theme, why bother adapting it? It’s fine to reject source material or critique it in an adaptation, but just pretending it doesn’t exist is boring, which is the only unforgivable sin of adaptation. That the Netflix version commits this sin is a disappointment, to say the least.

Episodes

​After Hours: Synnibarr Book of Fate. Caleb Stokes called this book "A tacit surrender of the author to any idea of organization or technical writing" and that parts read like "LeVey Satanism" - Dare you listen to find what other secrets the Synnibarr Book of Fate holds?

​Night Clerk Radio: New Releases from our Old Favorites: We review a cool mallsoft album and a JRPG video game-inspired concept album and both are great new works for vaporwave fans!

​Ludonarrative Dissidents S2 E1: Our first episode of season 2 of Ludonarrative Dissidents, we review Coyote and Crow.

Links

​Mork Borg Bare Bones: Interested in Mork Borg but don't want to deal with its layout? Check out its free text only version!

​Why Everyone is Playing Stalker: A fascinating short video essay on the source materials of adaptations of Roadside Picnic and Stalker.

​Ryan Gosling wrote a key scene in Blade Runner 2049: Art is often collaborative and this story shows why.