At Last – Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘At the Mountains of Madness’
by Ben Bussey
I should hope you’re already aware of this by now. Since the story was broken by Deadline, it’s popped up all over the net. But regardless of whether this is news to you or not, I don’t think we’d be doing our job as a horror website if we didn’t at least acknowledge what may very well turn out to be THE horror movie news of the decade.
Since Del Toro quit The Hobbit, speculations have been rife as to what he’d be doing next. With numerous potential projects on the backburner, from the obligatory Hellboy 3 to a new rendition of Frankenstein, it was hard to guess which would get off the ground first. Then, with the surprising news from last week’s San Diego Comic Con that he is to co-write and produce a reboot of Disney’s The Haunted Mansion, some of us began to fear the great man might be veering off course somewhat.
We couldn’t have been further from the truth. Because this is the big one. This is the one he’s been trying to get off the ground for years. This is the movie that Guillermo Del Toro’s career has been building toward, and may very well wind up being the one he’s remembered for.
At the Mountains of Madness is arguably the cornerstone of HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. It follows a scientific expedition into the dark, frigid depths of Antarctica, where we come face to face with the Elder Things, beings so monumental and hideous that the mere sight of them is enough to drive men to insanity. Blurring the lines between horror, science fiction, and fantasy, the influence of Lovecraft’s work can be felt in untold numbers of horror movies, novels, video games, heavy metal and prog rock albums, and so on and so forth.
And now Guillermo Del Toro will be bringing this to the screen, with none other than the King of the World at his right hand. And while opinions may vary on Jim Cameron’s merits as a filmmaker, there’s no question he’s a guy that gets things done, and on a large scale. Nor is he one to impede a director’s vision or style when serving as producer: witness Soderbergh’s Solaris. (Of course, it’s no great shocker that At the Mountains of Madness is going to be in 3-D; but again, if Cameron’s involved we can at least be sure it’ll be good 3-D.)
As CHUD quote Del Toro as saying, “ATMOM is a delicate project to push through a studio: no love interest, no female characters, no happy ending… but I believe it’s time to resurrect the BIG TENTPOLE horror movie. The EVENT HORROR movie. Like THE EXORCIST was or THE SHINING or ALIEN or JAWS in their time…”
Am I getting over-excited? Perhaps. But after Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone, I should think there is little doubt in anyone’s mind that Del Toro is one of the finest filmmakers working in horror and fantasy today. Thus far he’s done a good job of balancing the more intimate personal films with the glossier, more commercial likes of Blade 2 and the Hellboy films. At The Mountains of Madness should bring those two approaches crashing together; an epic horror story told on an epic scale…
