The Curious Case Of The Mystery Mythos Movie

Memory is a funny thing.

Yesterday I mentioned that that one of my first exposures to the works of Tom Sullivan, and the Mythos as a whole, was via an article in Starlog magazine back in the 70's. I based this assertion on my very distinct memory of reading an article about an independent Cthulhu film when I was a wee lad and this passage from Mr. Sullivan's Myspace page :

"My first significant illustration assignment was creating artwork and maquettes (small sculptures of monsters) for Bill Baetz's The Cry of Cthulhu. My first Lovecraftian film project. I was never paid for anything and the film was never made but Bill got some of my art published in articles about the film in Cinefauntastique and Starlog. I was on the board, so to speak."

Naturally, I assumed one of the articles he mentioned was the one I read all those years ago. A little Googling and I discovered that "The Cry of Cthulhu" was first mentioned in Starlog #6 back in 1977, but I couldn't find a scan of the article in question. Then a very helpful reader emailed this over:



Aha! The missing story on "The Cry of Cthulhu" from Starlog #6!

Except, despite it almost certainly being one of articles Mr. Sullivan is referring to in his recollection, it's not the article I remember reading. My article featured at least two color photographs of creatures that, I assume, were created as armatures for stop-motion animation. Both were clawed, skeletal things that were particularly notable for not having legs- from the waist down they had a segmented tail like an insect. Armed with a little more information, "little" being the key word, some more Googling revealed that some kind of Lovecraft-based film, perhaps "The Cry of Cthulhu", was featured in Starlog #24 from 1979.



Now I just have to get my hands on that issue, or a scan of the article in question, to determine if it's the one I'm remembering. Or maybe I'm relying on a three decade old memory and obsessing waaaaaaaaaay too much. In my defense, both Mr. Sullivan's sculpts and the ones from my mystery movie would be some of the oldest Mythos props in existence. It's likely they've long since succumbed to age or misfortune, but there's a chance that they're still floating around somewhere.

Swords Against the Outer Dark

Thanks to Shane Magnus for adding me to his "Blog-Sothoth" roll at Swords Against the Outer Dark , where he has a very interesting take on blending the tropes of conventional sword and sorcery gaming with the cosmic horror of the Mythos. It's an approach that's lately been gaining some attention, but it also hearkens back to the very roots of the hobby.

More On Tom Sullivan

Yesterday's post touching on Tom Sullivan's depiction of the Necronomicon in the "Evil Dead" movies, and his subsequent influence on the pop culture conceptions of the dread tome, prompted a kind emailer to point out that Mr. Sullivan has a page on MySpace . Much to my surprise, it seems I was exposed to his work far, far earlier than I had ever assumed. For years I've had clear memories of seeing special effects photos from a Mythos-based film that appeared in Starlog magazine way back in June of 1977.



It turns out that Mr. Sullivan sculpted the Cthulhoid critters that helped illustrate a story on "The Cry of Cthulhu", a failed independent film based on Lovecraft's writings. My Google-fu is weak and I can't dig up any scans of the article in question online, but I can still picture it in my mind. Then again, I spent a week reading and re-reading that magazine during a family camping trip when it rained every single day.

The Necronomicon: Woormius Edition

From Woormius, a fragment of the Necronomicon based on it's depiction in the "Evil Dead" movies. The grungy weathering job is quite nice.



As an aside, there's a pretty solid case to be made for Tom Sullivan being the most influential mythos artist of all time. His Necronomicon design has become the de facto interpretation of the cursed tome in popular culture, with hundreds if not thousands of copies of his work floating around.

Alchemist's Box

This Alchemist's Box is a wonderful piece of work by "Zombie Armadillo". I love the neatly ranked collection of ingredient bottles and glassware all held in place by leather straps, but the detail work on the Alchemist's Tome really stands out.

Tsathoggua Idol

From artist Richard Svensson comes this intriguing Tsathoggua idol.

"You shall know Tsathoggua by his great girth and his batlike furriness and the look of a sleepy black toad which he has eternally." There's been quite a few Cthulhu idols made and I thought I'd do another deity from the Mythos. Tsathoggua is worshipped in Clark Ashton Smith's primeval Hyperborea. This idol is about 35 cm tall. It's cast in black plastic resin and drybrushed with bronze paints. The original sculpture was made with Chavant clay and a silicone mold was made for making castings. Tsathoggua was created over two weekends while Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jethro Tull was blaring from my workshop stereo (for no particular reason).

"At the Mountains of Madness" Antarctica Map

After waiting far too long I'm finally able to offer up my "At the Mountains of Madness" prop map.



This is a 17.5" x 22.5" map of Antarctica based on the one done by John Bartholomew for the 1922 "Times Survey Atlas of the World". I've cleaned up some dirt and a few small tears and corrected the color registration, but the weathering along the edges was left intact because I like the way it looks. The level of detail in the map is absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, that also means the file is gigantic- 89 megs.

You can download it over here.