Vampires, after all, spent a hundred years as stinking corpses before they joined the Gothic seducer and got cleaned up. The journey from Stoker’s foreign rapist to Anne Rice’s cruising rock star took less than a century, culminating in Stephenie Meyer’s teen crush object. Now, the erotic — even the romantic — and the vampiric blend inextricably. Is it time, likewise, to embrace Cthulhu? For those worried for Cthulhu’s integrity as a horror icon, frightened that love conquers fear, they can be reassured that Near Dark and Let the Right One In remain both terrifying vampire stories and terrifying love stories. No matter how scattered his plasticity, Cthulhu will inevitably recombine in his “hateful original form.” That cannot be killed, that can eternal lie. Where he lies for now, and with whom, is up to us, his acolytes, his stalkers, his devotees.
Cthulhu fhtagn.
Jennifer Brozek
THE SEXUAL ATTRACTION OF THE LOVECRAFTIAN UNIVERSE
At first glance, there is nothing sexually arousing about the universe created by Howard Phillips Lovecraft. His writing is filled with horrific creatures, other-worldly dangers, and indescribable gods whose very presence drives men mad. None of his tales have depictions of a blatantly sexual nature, and there are almost no female characters. Those few that are mentioned are sad things, servants or pitiful creatures twisted by their contact with the Old Ones. Even in The Dunwich Horror, where it is clear that some sort of sexual contact has happened, the event is glossed over in a single paragraph, allowing only that other characters in the story wondered about the event as much as the story’s readers did:
“Lavinia Whateley had no known husband, but according to the custom of the region made no attempt to disavow the child; concerning the other side of whose ancestry the country folk might — and did — speculate as widely as they chose.”
The stories Lovecraft told were not ones that incited arousal or encouraged promiscuity between mortals, mortals and servitors or mortals and the Old Ones. And yet, Cthulhurotica is not the first book that explores the sexual nature of this universe. There are other books (both anthologies and novels), role-playing games, movies and even (dare I mention it?) Lovecraftian porn.[1]
At first blush, this seems incomprehensible. However, after taking a closer look at the issue, the reasoning behind the link between Lovecraft’s creation and erotica becomes clear. There are four main reasons that I will discuss: first is the attraction to the forbidden, second is the lush and image-filled atmosphere created by most of Lovecraft’s works, next is ability to lose control of oneself within the world, confronted by “that which man should not know,” and, finally, sex in the Lovecraft universe is the ultimate challenge — one that many cannot turn away from.
The Attraction of the Forbidden
“It was the Yuletide, and I had come at last to the ancient sea town where my people had dwelt and kept festival in the elder time when festival was forbidden; where also they had commanded their sons to keep festival once every century, that the memory of primal secrets might not be forgotten.”
Since the dawn of the written word, stories have been written in which the forbidden is attractive. Because it is forbidden, it is worthy of being desired, for why would something unimportant be purposefully hidden or off-limits? When Lovecraft set up a universe with antagonists that have secret powers and information, he set up a universe in which mortals would constantly be craving, and searching for, that knowledge. The Old Ones and their servitors represent that which man should not know, and Lovecraft’s mortals are often depicted as suffering the consequences of trying to gain access to the unspeakable, the unknowable, and the dangerous. Why would they risk their lives and their very sanity for something they understand is inhumanly wrong?
It is natural for readers of Lovecraft to want to do more than just toe the line and dabble in the forbidden, because Lovecraft’s writings are all about those who challenge the norm — cultists who study forbidden knowledge and people who fight overwhelming monsters to save this world. Readers are already attracted to rule breakers and often want to ramp up the breaking of the rules. This frequently means sex as sex is one of the most taboo-filled topics out there. Sex with the forbidden. Sex with the dangerous. Sex with that which can kill or make you crazy. Being sexually attracted to those on the wrong side of the tracks (or, in this case, the wrong side of reality) is an age old story that has been told again and again in a myriad of mediums. This is why authors, such as Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth, as well as filmmakers, like Daniel Haller and Leigh Scott, enjoy working in this universe. It is a much more provocative way of telling a familiar story.
One of the first Lovecraft movies I saw was The Dunwich Horror. I was very young when I saw it on TV. While it was frightening, there were a couple bits I could not get out of my head. Namely, the near naked actress, Sandra Dee, writhing on a stone altar and moaning as if she were in the throes of some hellaciously good sex. The director, Daniel Haller, in his instructions to the actors, added eroticism to the previously unsexy story. Sandra Dee was well known for playing America’s Sweetheart, Gidget, and wanted to expand her repertoire. She brought an amazing sensuality to the character of Nancy Wagner. Between Haller’s direction and Dee’s acting, the previously unseen eroticism in The Dunwich Horror was unmistakable. In my opinion, not many could look at all those prehensile tentacles and the writhing, sexy Sandra Dee without thinking of penises and sex.
Atmosphere, Baby
“Beyond the worlds vague ghosts of monstrous things; half-seen columns of unsanctified temples that rest on nameless rocks beneath space and reach up to dizzy vacua above the spheres of light and darkness. And through this revolting graveyard of the universe the muffled, maddening beating of drums, and thin, monotonous whine of blasphemous flutes from inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond Time; the detestable pounding and piping whereunto dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic, tenebrous ultimate gods — the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is Nyarlathotep.”
Like the desire to date the local bad boy or bad girl, very little attracts the young and foolish or old and experienced like an atmospheric setting. Lighting, location, music, dress, food — all of it makes a difference when it comes to a seduction. Each person is different in their tastes. Those who like a darker atmosphere, one that treads on the dangerous, creepy, or possible profane, know that Lovecraft, and those who follow Lovecraft’s literary aesthetic, has the goods.
1
Lovecraft porn comes in two basic flavors: manga and live action. Manga or cartoon works (often referred to as Hentai or tentacle porn that is not often Lovecraft specific but does have Lovecraft overtones) come with names such as