“I Am the Key” illustration by Galen Dara, story by Mike Davis

I have some news that I’m very excited about: We are creating a series of short films based on stories from The Lovecraft eZine!

We will be filming three at a time, back to back.  Our plan is to fund this with a Kickstarter, several months from now.

Both I and the film company did a lot of (re) reading to decide which three stories we should begin with.  The Lovecraft eZine contains many wonderful Lovecraftian tales — if I didn’t think so, I would not have published them — but some stories are more “filmable” than others.

With that in mind, we have selected the following three stories:

• Jar of Mist, by Jeffrey Thomas
• The Treatment Room, by Kevin Crisp
• I Am the Key, by Mike Davis

(Lest anyone should feel I’m getting special treatment: The film guys I’m working with were strongly in favor of using my story, and said it will film very well.  And, we have the added advantage of not having to pay the author.)

Jeffrey Thomas and Kevin Crisp have given me their permission to film their stories and are excited about this as well.

Stay tuned to Lovecraft eZine for news on this.  You can sign up for email notifications on the top right side of this page, if you wish.

Here is the official press release:

H.P. LOVECRAFT INSPIRED SERIES IN DEVELOPMENT

Production Company Teams Up with Publisher to Bring Lovecraftian Horror to Life

Alien Jungle Bug Productions and Lovecraft eZine have announced a new anthology series currently in development. The series will adapt short stories from the popular Lovecraft ezine into standalone episodes, in a similar vein as “Twilight Zone” or “Outer Limits.”

“We are excited to join forces with Lovecraft eZine. Over the years, editor Mike Davis has turned his online magazine into a major community hub for Lovecraftian fans around the world,” said executive producer Marx Pyle. “I personally have wanted to make an anthology series since I was a kid and am thrilled to not only be creating one now, but to have found such a unique angle for the series. Lovecraftian means slightly different things to different people, but I see it not only as a story that may deal with themes or the mythology used by Lovecraft, but also as a horror genre that can scare you without needing to throw endless gore at you.”

H. P. Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author who achieved fame after his death through his influential works of horror which have influenced many creators over the years, including author Stephen King, comic book writer Alan Moore, director Guillermo del Toro, director John Carpenter and many more. King actually called Lovecraft “the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.”

In life, Lovecraft encouraged others to borrow ideas from his stories and many other writers have referenced his creations, such as the Necronomicon, Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Arkham and many more. Between that and much of his work now in public domain, Lovecraft’s creations have far outlived him and have garnered a huge fan following, which has only grown exponentially with the growth of the Internet. Now there are a number of film festivals and conventions just for Lovecraftian films and references of Lovecraft’s work are in countless books, graphic novels, games and films.

The Lovecraft eZine grew out of this fan base and has become a hub for new original Lovecraftian short stories, poetry, essays, artwork, audio stories, weekly video chats with authors and filmmakers… and now film.

“There are some high quality films based on Lovecraft’s original stories, and several of those stories have been adapted more than once. As a Lovecraftian editor, I feel that it’s time for filmmakers to focus on stories that have NOT yet been told. There are many, many excellent Lovecraftian-themed tales that have been published. Why not turn some of those stories into movies?” said editor Mike Davis. “So that is what we are focusing on here.  The Lovecraft eZine has been in existence for over three years, so we have many stories to choose from.”

Pyle said that filming is scheduled for later this year with plans to premiere in late 2014. The official title for the series, selected stories and additions to the creative team will be publicly announced as development continues.

About

Alien Jungle Bug Productions is best known for the award winning sci-fi action/comedy web series “Reality On Demand,” the short film “Silence of the Belle,” and the podcast GenreTainment. They are all about thinking outside the box, with high quality imaginative projects often made on a limited budget.

Executive producer Marx H. Pyle is a graduate of Vancouver Film School and has worked on dozens of films and various Reality TV shows. His web series experience includes being the executive producer/director/co-writer of “Reality On Demand,” co-producer & director/director of photography of four episodes of “Book of Dallas” (which has over 2 million views), director of photography for two episodes of “Star Trek Phase II”/”New Voyages” (a Hugo nominated series & TV Guide winner), stunt coordinator/camera operator for the award winning sci-fi series “Aidan 5,” and more.

He is a member of The International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV), was a judge for the 2014 IAWTV Awards, judge for the 2013 Geekie Awards, a board member of the Indiana Filmmakers Network, and has a book scheduled to be published in late 2014.

The Lovecraft eZine is a monthly online magazine, founded by Mike Davis, which is devoted to Lovecraftian horror and whose main goal is to publish quality Lovecraftian fiction from well-known writers, but also from first-time writers. It has become so popular that it caught the attention and approval of literary critic S.T. Joshi, considered by many to be the leading expert on H.P. Lovecraft.