h.p. lovecraft's "The Outsider"

[Ichabod1982]

I agree. It's a good start, but slowing it down will help add the much needed "spookiness" that is need in a Lovecraft work. There is also a slight upturn of your voice at the end of your sentences that happen to give them an upbeat feeling. This disappears mostly towards the end replaced by a flat tone, but is very prominent towards the beginning of your reading.

Good visuals, and music. It adds the right kind of early film horror to it. Nicely done.

[JeffersonDinedAlone]

The reading needs to be at a slower cadence, with occasional pauses for emphasis. A great book about Lovecraft is H. P. Lovecraft; a Biography by L. Sprague de Camp. I have a copy in hardcover. If you can find a copy, well worth the investment.

[Jim382]

Very nice. Is 3:05 inspired by "Phantasm?"

[moparmonster1965]

At 6:04, that's the zombie from Father's Day, Creepshow, isn't it?

[PirateDuckyy]

love that story... so sad.. but i like reading it more cuz you can imagine everything so vividly, still loved the job you did of it

[cactusjack67]

(fun fact :D) THIS SHORT STORY WAS THE INSPIRATION OF AMNESIA THE DARK DECENT :D

[jaknife99]

You left out how he journeyed to the ruined cities and such.

Tsk, Tsk.

[feverfewmedia]

 I am working on a similar project myself, and would appreciate feedback if anyone is interested. I Like this video, and it inspires me to finish my own work. Right on!

[feverfewmedia]

I am working on a similar project myself, and would appreciate feedback if anyone is interested.

[pacrat90]

Having read the actual short story on paper, I found it a rather good read.. Very short indeed.

[MEareCAT]

The twist was clever with the mirror ad everything, but these famous authors really are so overrated. I didn't get a sense of what was going on and the environment and emotion, and it's like he was using long words for the sake of it.

[binarynightmare]

@MEareCAT

That's the thing with Lovecraft - he was an antiquarian and pretty much lived his life in older times. Because of his voracious reading of fairly adult and old books as a small child, he developed an antiquated way of speaking. He wasn't doing it for the sake of it, that was literally how he wrote and spoke. A certain amount of exposure leads to contamination, after all.

Also, this is very much one of his Poe pieces, a somewhat semi-autobiographical imitation of his favourite writer.

[90210411]

Wonderfully read, great music, and unique graphics. Loved it!

[TheBoonigga]

Oh My GOD! That was truly amazing.

[MAXBLAYLOCK]

Wow!

[playerofrock04]

This seems like the main inspiration for the game Amnesia - The Dark Descent

[ricky1234321]

@playerofrock04 I find that a lot of Lovecraft stories seem to be the inspiration for MANY movies! One example I can think of off the top of my head is The Whisperer In Darkness and The Lord Of The Rings... Think about some of the similarities! The was a object that showed you secrets when you touched them in both movies, as well as the tower and the burning eye.

[playerofrock04]

@ricky1234321 I can definitely see what you mean when it comes to The Whisperer. But as for Lord of The Rings, I just don't see it

[ricky1234321]

@playerofrock04 Well Im most likely wrong but it possibly could be true... I guess that wasn't a good example :/... I just remember reading the book and noticing a lot of similarities.. I cannot remember most of them

[ricky1234321]

@playerofrock04 Ohhh my goodness!!! I meant to say The Haunter of the Dark, not the Whisperer in darkness!

[dltanner99]

Horror novel see video book trailer

[ricky1234321]

What is the name of the song that you used in this video?

[SanGuevara]

This is one of the most poignant tales I've ever read. Your reading was superb.

[ricky1234321]

"I did not shriek, but all the fiendish ghouls that ride the night had shrieked for me"

[cschoon1213]

Excellent video for this story!

I am quite familiar with this short story and have read it many times.

Great job !

[ricky1234321]

This is, in my opinion, the best story written by H.P Lovecraft. And this is by far the best adaptation of one of his stories that I have ever seen. This is beautiful, and has shown exactly what I believe Lovecraft was trying to convey. It really gives a sense of sadness and makes you relate to the undead man.

Job WELL done!!

[entravisionreno]

@ricky1234321 Ricky, thank you so much. I have received a lot of praise for this, but yours was by far the nicest and most eloquent one I've received. Thank you.

[jvillard]

Great job. May I suggest the one about the German submarine captain? One of my favorites! The Tomb is also a great idea. Keep up the good work.

[Jim382]

Awesome! I rediscovered Lovecraft last summer, and you captured this story beautifully.

[Draneies]

Hey great video, but can you tell me the name of the background music?

[viper8red]

Download the libravox version on torrent. It's wayyy scarier!

[SilverNightWolf09]

ohhh! I got goosebumps :3

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

My favorite Lovecraft story.

[StreangestdreaM]

What an amazing style! a true reader of the outsider! what a delight! you´re one heck of an artist!

[Benj80]

This is one of Lovecraft's best stories and my personal favourite. Very good reading and fitting music.

[perplacymp]

I believe that, with the portrait of the deceased, you have made the same mistake Alvin Swartz did with the illustration of "The pale woman". This is not nessecarily a story of undead ones, but perhaps one closer to "The Elephantman" or "Beauty and the Beast", albeit filled to the rim with angst and narration.

[TheCrazyTalkKid]

@perplacymp Actually I believe I read an artical that said the outsider was a ghoul, one of Lovecraft's more notable beings he used. Mind you I might be wrong but based off of evidence I think if the creature were "alive" in the normal sense it would need food and having none to speak of it seems more in the undead cateogory.

[frididjurhuus]

@TheCrazyTalkKid Also, how the hell did he learn to read if he had never talked to or heard anyone?

Good story though.

[Soliloquy33]

This was always beautiful. Great video and reading. Well done.

[TheCaptainLulz]

One of his best. Thanks for the story!

[WillOsef]

Can someone explain me what exactly is the nepenthe ?

[BoyintheMachine]

@WillOsef

Ancient Greek drug, possibly opium or some other plant. Supposed to remove sorrow, probably by getting high.

[WillOsef]

@BoyintheMachine Thanks man,I always wondered

[rockpop1]

when you post more storys of Lovecraft on youtube i realy expet to see this

[GeorgieGanarf]

COOL!!!!

[ricky1234321]

This is very good... Well Done!

[sodomye]

One of the best video on youtube. Epic. Thank you very much.

[rockpop1]

it was amazing H.P lovecraft is the best horror writer ever you did a great job please make more videose like that i cant wait

[rockpop1]

Lovecraft is the most amazing book writer ever int he 2nd place it will be Roger Zilazni but Lovecraft always the best

[noahm123]

sick

[wratched]

If you think about it for more than a second, this story makes no sense. How could this kid have learned English? Or learned to read? Or never looked at his own hands or the rest of his body? Or had any concept of his own hideousness, since he had nothing to compare it to? But it works so well as a metaphor for a lonely childhood I'm willing to forgive it.

[Gentledawn]

@wratched - It's a dead person. He climbed up out of a tomb and into a Mausoleum before heading to the outside world. From the story itself (after he climbed the "tower" ... a long-forgotten water-well perhaps?):

"{...}since all that I found were vast shelves of marble, bearing odious oblong boxes of disturbing size. More and more I reflected, and wondered what hoary secrets might abide in this high apartment so many aeons cut off from the castle below."

Oblong boxes = coffins

[galiant609]

@Gentledawn

So the dude was dead? a zombie perhaps?

[Gentledawn]

@galiant609 - Perhaps.

"For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men. This I have known ever since I stretched out my fingers to the abomination within that great gilded frame; stretched out my fingers and touched a cold and unyielding surface of polished glass."

In the end, the "polished glass" he touched was a mirror.

This video is not the full-written story. It's an edited version.

[Gentledawn]

@wratched - "Or never looked at his own hands or the rest of his body? Or had any concept of his own hideousness[..]?"

"It was never light, so that I used sometimes to light candles and gaze steadily at them for relief, nor was there any sun outdoors, since the terrible trees grew high above the topmost accessible tower."

-no light when he lived below ground

-the "trees" down there were probably root systems belonging to trees above

Read the unedited story to get the whole picture.

[wratched]

So he had enough light to read by but not enough to see his own body?

[mAcCoLo666]

Oh come on, that's just a story...

[agmundel]

-wratched- ...you're willing to "forgive it" ??? You do realise the being had been confined to a coffin for god knows how long.. don't you?? Look at what Gentledawn wrote; he does seem to use his brain to understand Lovecraft's narrative, Unlike You. Thing is, the story does make complete sense, if, and only if, you read it making use of reason and logic, things which you clearly either have never done or are opposed to. Don't "forgive" Lovecraft, you imbecile, you're not doing him any favour.

[TheAnonymousgirl12]

I must read more of his work.

[tuseroni]

ah lovecraft...i love you...and your craft...

i love this story especially (though the animation did kinda give away the ending, he never explicitly mentioned gravestones, only ground and a church. leaving you unaware til the end that he was...whatever he is (zombie?)

though i thought there was more to this story. i remember it being longer.

[enaouaoui]

the lovecraft he was a american writer..talk about a madarab..his name Abdul Alhazred.

[Gettopimp187]

Alhazred was a childhood alter ego of Lovecraft. He loved this oriental setting when he was very young and one of his relatives named him Abdul Alhazred as an allusion of one of his relatives last name which sounded akin to it.

[thecrimsonfloyd]

A lot of people seem to think that H.P. Lovecraft was insane, but if you read some of his essays, you realize he was pretty normal.

[ellinlvx]

Fine, fine job! I think this is my favourite, although "He" and "The Music of Reich Zann" are up there. The words are the thing! I don't like images too confined because it kills the creativity to a certain extent. The Words!!! The earliest works have the right words.

[quacksacker]

You have done Grandpa proud. Please, more adaptions. Might I suggest The Tomb or The Hound?

[silverfishimperitrix]

Thanks for your kind words. I am currently working on 2 lovecraft adaptations plus an original that I will be posting here on youtube in the next several months. They are:

The terrible Old Man

The Festival

Lovecraft vs. Jason

I will be posting these separately on youtube, and hope to have them done in time for the Lovecraft Film Festival, under the title "H.P. Lovecraft's Thrillogy of Terrors." Thanks Again

[agmundel]

Absolutely Fabulous, Silver.

A true pleasure for any and every Lovecraftian fanatic.

Thankyou for the post, and keep up the excellent work.

[pzgdr]

good...really good..you caught the atmosphere of this tale so well..alienation at its finest...

[crescenti0]

i like the song of this by unproject, its kinda of awesume and way better

[timfode]

So I've decided its not the story that scares me its that I like it so much. ;D

[schizoidboy]

In some weird way the story is something of an autobiography, Lovecraft was someone who was a loner who spent his life going over old books.

[smiledammit24]

His aunt used to lock him in the closet when company came over so that they wouldn't have to see her "hideous" nephew.

[MrWilum]

This is a myth and not true. It was his mother who used to tell neighbors that her son hid from the world because of his hideous face. There are many rumors and myths about HPL that are not to be trusted. For a superb book on his life & mind, see S. T. Joshi's H. P. LOVECRAFT -- A LIFE.

[Maciejka0111]

@MrWilum

Truth, false, still sad at the ending.

[PeterRoeder31]

Excellent story.

[yumsalad]

Excellent!

[typicalwhiteperson7]

My God . . . I am a new fan.

[GoWithinARock]

this is my favorite short story of lovecraft, great job on the video, when I first read this story, I was so into it, that I had a dream about it that night, It will always be my favorite short story of his!

[easychord1]

Beautifully done! Please make more!

[GrgMlln]

Wonderful video and tribute. The Outsider is one of my favorite Lovecraft tales and this video really brings it "to life" visually.

[dreamheadstudio]

ow that is a good clip for the story hope to see more in time :)

[grds67]

are you going to make unther

[silverfishimperitrix]

I am working on "the terrible old man," and then plan on doing "The festival."

[Mindfuckedproject]

Really looking forward to those two!

[ltdbassplayer]

Awesome, and kudos on the Clockwork Orange reference "Tolchock Productions".

[silverfishimperitrix]

Thanks. You are the only person who's ever picked up on the ACW reference. Good job!

[Strider1978]

@silverfishimperitrix As soon as I saw 'Tolchock' ACO came into my head also, nice that it gets around :)

[grds67]

i lovwe it qwit nice

[JanderStrahd]

Omg. Lovecraft is rolling over in his grave. No one makes ANY good vids of his work...

[CCLovecraft]

Wonderful work!

[leFlook]

That´s one of my favourits ^^

Great... You do very well with the reading...

[Stickletickle]

my favorite Lovecraft novel,

looks like the zombie picture is from creepshow "wheres my cake its fathers day"

[glade20]

yea very artful and very well done

[silverfishimperitrix]

Thank You

[hypnodance]

Yeah, that's where I know it from.

[silverfishimperitrix]

Yep. that's where it's from.

[Mindfuckedproject]

This is really well done. Great music and great voice-over.

Great job!

[BobbyJenkins]

Simplistically, but yet masterfully done. Really brought life to the story that I didn't expect.

[robochibi]

What is the background music youre playing? its perfect and really suits the story well.

[silverfishimperitrix]

It is an original compositon done by a former work colleague of mine. He just plugged in his organ and played along with the video. He certainly did a great job

[yitz28]

omg hes so awesome!

[silverfishimperitrix]

no, you are!

[jobywonkanobi]

this is the story that got me into lovecraft that ending freaked me out.

[Wintermute10101111]

This is probably Lovecraft's most uncharacteristic work. Great stuff and thanks for making this.

[nightowl8936]

Did you make this yourself?

This is the first modern adaptation of this story I have seen.

I enjoyed reading the story a while ago, but seeing an animated version of it and the images you used was a really great thing.

I doubt your video will ever be as popular as the trashy crap that is mostly on YouTube, but I appreciate the artistry of what you have done.

My only suggestion is to re-record your narration and enunciate the words more clearly.

5 stars for something original and home-made.