Dark & Twisty

The monster of Cthulhu stands out among the other monsters in horror.  He is not a created creature like Frankenstein’s monster.  He’s not a reanimated corpse or the undead, like zombies and vampires respectively.  Lycanthropy does not apply to him. Although he possesses mystical powers, a witch he is not.  He’s a god-like, alien creature that looks like an octopus mated with a dragon.  Cthulhu was an original monster born somewhere in space and resting deep in the ocean.

Lovecraft formulated an interesting character with Cthulhu.  He broke away from some of the monster conventions of the time and made his own creature.  Before this creation, Lovecraft wrote about Dagon the fish god of the Philistines, and other creatures he created seemed to come from a Piscean or amphibian background. 

Many Lovecraftian monsters including Cthulhu sprang from an oceanic background.  Perhaps this because at the time he was writing, Lovecraft could imagine nothing more alien than the creatures of the deep sea. 

Now I’m going to talk about all the creatures Lovecraft and his beloved Cthulhu have spawned.

Would any of the movies of the 1950’s with their weird space aliens and giant creatures from beneath the waves have been possible with out good Cthulhu?  Even the creature that lived in the Black Lagoon is a child of the squid-man himself.  Then venture out to creatures that look like his description.  Several characters (minor for the most part) in the Star Wars movies were Cthulhu-esque.  Jabba’s palace alone should have been on planet Lovecraft, not to mention Admiral Ackbar, and that weird thing on the Millennium Falcon with Lando during the battle scene in Return of the Jedi. 

The Simpsons are not excluded from the call of Cthulhu.  The characters of Springfield get a visit every Halloween from their good friends, Kang and Kodos, squid-like aliens bent of world domination.  Disney took two stabs at Cthulhu.  Admit it; you think Ursula from The Little Mermaid is sexy, with all that body language and giant wad of tentacles.  Don’t forget the last Disneyfication of Cthulhu, Davey Jones.  I very much doubt that the captain of the Flying Dutchman looks like Cthulhu, even if he’s bumped into him in the briny depths.