Though his works are approaching 100 years of age, the cosmic horror and weird fiction of H.P. Lovecraft has remained on the forefront of genre fans, and has even seemingly hit an all-time high in the past 10 years. While his stories were all about indescribable eldritch monstrosities and hideous ancient evils that more often than not drove the often-unnamed narrator completely mad, Lovecraft’s work has also inspired a series of children’s books, which in turn have become animated films. Now, the second in the Howard Lovecraft film series can boast voice actors of the caliber of Mark Hamill and Christopher Plummer.
According to a report from Deadline, Shout! Factory—which produces the animated Lovecraft series—will be mounting the second film, Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom, for release later in 2017. The first movie came out in 2016 and was entitled Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom. The films feature a young H.P. Lovecraft and weave in elements of his actual life with points from his stories to create a Gothic family adventure. He meets a friend he calls “Spot,” for example, which is actually Cthulhu himself.
Plummer did a voice in the first film, along with Hellraiser star Doug Bradley, both of whom will be back for the second feature, reprising their roles as Dr. Herbert West and Nyarlathotep, respectively. Hamill will be joining as Dr. Henry Armitage, while Lovecraft feature film veteran Jeffrey Combs (who has played everyone from Dr. Herbert West to Lovecraft himself) has been cast as King Abdul.
Fans of Lovecraft will find the animated movies a cute sort of Tim Burton-esque fairy tale take on a very strange and troubled man and his writings that tend toward madness. But also, super adorable Cthulhu!
Let us know what you think about this casting, and if you saw the first of the movies, in the comments below!
Images: Lucasfilm / Shout! Factory
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and the host of the horror documentary series One Good Scare. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
