The One Horror Movie That H.P. Lovecraft Fans Need To Watch

The terrifying tales from H.P. Lovecraft have scared readers for generations, and it's no secret why. As the father of cosmic horror, Lovecraft produced work that features alien gods that are beyond human understanding, and they aren't friendly either. Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos" represents an entirely new genre of horror fiction that revolves around the unknown, and many directors have attempted to crack film adaptations of these stories with uneven success. 

Many filmmakers have dabbled in the Lovecraftian genre in order to come up with their own stories, too — films that pay homage to the uncanny aesthetic of H.P. Lovecraft without actually cribbing any of his familiar plots. While there are a great number of excellent Lovecraftian horror flicks, there is one that definitely stands out from the rest. In fact, it's one that a handful of horror fans on Reddit absolutely can't get enough of — and it's surprisingly recent, too.

Here's the one horror movie that H.P. Lovecraft fans really need to watch.

In a Reddit thread, a user asked horror fans for Lovecraftian film recommendations. While a handful of films such as The Blob and The Ritual were recommended, Color Out of Space was mentioned and praised multiple times. Funny enough, this film was one that the user had already seen, but couldn't remember the title of. After being told about Color Out of Space, the original poster praised the film for its ability to bring the cosmic horror lurking in the movie to life. "HPL movies are hard to make look good because the monsters are so weird and hard to make," they wrote.

For those who haven't seen the 2019 film, Color Out of Space is based on the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name. The movie follows the Gardners, a farming family of five living in the quiet New England countryside. Their entire life gets turned upside-down after a meteor falls right on their property and gets struck multiple times by lightning. Although shocking at first, most of the family doesn't think too deeply about it except for Nathan Gardner (Nicolas Cage), the family's father. Claiming to have seen incomprehensible colors radiating from the space rock, Nathan gets a strange feeling about the meteor that doesn't sit too well with him.

As the film progresses, the Gardner family ends up going through terrifying ordeals, as strange fauna and insects begin to make their home around the rock. Additionally, the family's alpacas also mutate into terrifying monstrosities that are sure to give viewers the chills. The film really amps up the terror by forcing the audience to watch the Gardner family slowly become engulfed by whatever entity is emanating from within the meteor. 

For those who are looking to satisfy that cosmic horror itch, Color Out of Space is definitely worth watching.