#meanwhile Lovecraft games biggest failing is somehow thinking the core of cosmic horror is about shooting monsters with guns

[voluptuarian]

Lovecraftian video games as a whole have their issues but I've never come out of one angry-- meanwhile I've had that experience repeatedly with movie adaptations.

I think part of it is so many of them are super hyped and then disappointing, whereas people seem to be more honest about games and give more genuine ideas of their quality. But another fucking element is how movie adaptations have decided sexually menacing women is the core element of Lovecraft plot for some reason?? (Even recent ones like Deep Ones which is from 2021 is a Rosemary's Baby situation??) So you'll end up going into something you've heard nothing but high praise for and come out not only disappointed at the gap between what you were sold and what you actually got but with a bad taste in your mouth from unnecessarily sexual peril aimed at women characters if not outright sexism (this was my experience with Regenerator, although I would actually have enjoyed that if it weren't for the callousness of the sexism).

But by far the worse one is Dagon. I watched it bc I heard so many reviews that were like "this doesn't have a big budget but it's probably the best Lovecraft adaptation ever" (which like, that doesn't mean much but whatever) and despite having seen it months ago I still regularly feel mad about it 🤣 it's just 0 stars, the characters are shallow and kind of unlikable, the cosmic horror elements are there but they don't feel right, the fear of hybridization is much more akin to fear of disabled people with the mc chased through the city by what amounts to a freakshow that made me uncomfortable in a way I hope was unintended, it's full of added unnecessary lurid nastiness that doesn't match Lovecraft's tone or horror style and doesn't even really make sense (why are we skinning people? And why alive?? And we dont even do anything with the skins apparently? Beyond "ooh they're nasty and gross" what does it accomplish for the plot? Why did this woman need her arms ripped off, especially since the whole reason she was here is to get pregnant and now she's going to bleed out?? It doesn't have any real logic, it doesn't make internal sense, it doesn't add anything, and it's not in the spirit of the material being adapted, it's just schlock and nasty??) And the women serve literally no purpose other than as sexual targets. Even the priestess, who's probably the most developed character only exists to simultaneously seduce and repel the mc with her body. (I did like her design and her her little ceremonial outfit, and thought her situation of being powerful but trapped was interesting-- basically the entirety of good things I have to say about this movie 😂) But even that could have been an interesting way of signifying the fear/attraction of transformation if every other woman wasn't also there to get sexually assaulted and exploited! (Also, and I'm being petty here, the fucking constant rain didn't add to the atmosphere, it was just annoying and made it harder to see.) Like there was basically nothing about this movie that I liked, thought was well done, or honored or enhanced the source material and so much that I deeply disliked about it. In fact it offended me on an artistic level. And all that after seeing so much good press-- I now have like a personal vendetta against this movie.

I don't know why if felt gripped with the need to trash this movie right now, but in summary don't believe the reviews, it's not worth your time.