Cthulu loves the lil' child-ren

So... caught this over at Cranky Epistles...

Personally, I have yet to see any movie that could capture the horror that HP Lovecraft created. And the reason's simple: he left most of the monster in your imagination, something Hollyweird hasn't figured out yet...

I was in Balboa Naval Hospital, when I read the scariest thing ever. It was a simple short, with two characters (we'll call 'em "A" and "B"). "A" knows all about the Great Evil in the abandoned cemetery, and "B" is sort of a tag-along...

The greater portion of the story dwells on the state of the cemetery: how overgrown, how nobody has been there in ages. Our heroes pry open on of the slabs, revealing a staircase heading into the Stygian depths, and "A" valiantly sallies forth to slay the evil (spooling out a phone line behind him, to give "B" updates)...

After awhile, "A" starts telling "B" to run and save himself... slam the slab and run... run and save yourself... culminating with a final shouted "RUN!", followed by silence.

"B" tries frantically to raise "A", but is interrupted by a new voice. A voice telling him "You fool: A is dead.".


I read that story, finishing it around 1am. Went out to the ward desk, started to sign myself out for a smoke, and got to thinking:

-A is down the hole.
-B is up top.
-No other characters.
-Who the HELL is telling B that A is dead?

I didn't sleep the rest of the night.

Lovecraft never described the monster, or what happened to A: he gave a loving description of the setting, but let your imagination run for the monster. his usual descriptions went something like this:

"Mortal minds shudder away from such Things, as we are not meant to dwell on their existence. Doing so is to court madness, and worse than madness"

NOT something that Hollyweird seems capable of figuring out...