Excellently designed black & white animated film, just under six minutes, A Lovecraft Dream (2008) with zero dialogue depicts an actual dream of H. P. Lovecraft, to a perfectly apropos soundtrack composed by Leonardo Manna.

Besides just being beautiful to look at, this little film seriously captures a sense of Lovecraft's cosmic mythos & decadent architectural structure, moving to a world of the sea to reflect Lovecraft's actual phobia about fish.

We see the rising of the submerged city, the return of the old ones, HPL himself falling into a black pit & landing in a world of gargantuan buildings & tentacled beasts, & whisked away by a winged demon into cosmic space, while hideous musicians play

Howard awakens in a cold sweat & sits down to write what he had dreamed, & the Cthulhu Mythos is born. Brilliant! For a devottee of Lovecraft this is a true, pure homage to a great writer.



French animated short, under six minutes Ryleh (2003) shows us a fisherman on rowboat whose net brings up a chest from the sea. As he attempts to open it, he receives a psychic shock.

He brings the chest to his fisherman shack, which is an amazingly designed animated set of pure fantasy.

He's able to pry the chest open at last, & finds a grimoire within. As he peruses the eerie texts, light seeps in at the cracks of his shack; reality shifts.

He opens the door & finds himself in a world of light & cathedral music. Through the light he strides, & finds his way into the darkness of the city of Ryleh.

But in reality he's still at sea, his body floating beside his boat, gazing blindly toward the bottom of the sea. Absolutely stunning! And an amazing score to match the visual beauty.

For more animated Lovecraft,
continue to Michele Botticelli's:
Dagon (2007) and Nyarlathotep (2007)

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl