I’m one of those people who starts the Spooky Season on September 1. It runs through Hogmanay, too. I love everything about it — the crispness in the air, the shift toward autumnal light, the lingering of Indian Summer… the pumpkin spice (judge me if you must, I care not).
Most of all, I revel in the close proximity of Fennario, that American land where history and folklore meet and tryst, where the wolves are running ’round… along with ***other*** creatures.
Thus, I welcome our first real glimpse of Hammer Films forthcoming tale of frontier horror, Ithaqua.
As a brutal winter grips the Canadian wilderness and the fur trade begins its collapse, the isolated inhabitants of a remote trading outpost enlist Cole Franklin, an American mercenary haunted by his past, to investigate the silence that has fallen over a nearby Indigenous settlement. What he discovers is a scene of unimaginable terror and an overwhelming sense that something ancient and unnatural still lingers in the wilderness.
As fear spreads back to Fort William, an unseen presence begins to take hold. Paranoia, hunger and violence consume the isolated community, driving neighbour against neighbour as reason gives way to madness. With the fort descending into chaos and survival hanging by a thread, Cole must draw upon his military experience to lead a desperate band of survivors against a force that cannot easily be understood – or escaped.
Sounds like a Wendigo tale… but it’s not, exactly. Ithaqua is a part of the Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos, first unveiled in an August Derleth tale. Per the Lovecraft Wiki:
The Thing That Walked on the Wind is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by the late American author August Derleth. It was first published in Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror in January 1933. It has since entered the public domain, and has been reprinted many times in both periodicals and anthologies.
The story is notable as featuring the first appearance of the Great Old One Ithaqua, a creature which has been extensively reused in later Mythos works, perhaps most notably in Brian Lumley’s Titus Crow series, where it acts as the main antagonist.
Derleth’s tale is set in 1931.
Filmmaker Casey Walker conceived of a tale set earlier, in a frontier outpost of a declining 19th Century Fur Trade. He described the project in a lengthy interview with Jennie Kermode:
I came up with the story initially and wrote a pass on the script, but then there was a significant amount of indigenous lore, and quite frankly, pure history that I was not aware of. My friend Pascal Trottier brought on his writing partner, Peter Vicaire, who’s a First Nations Canadian unpublished author. Because he’d been working for the American government, he’s a dual citizen. That’s where it started to flesh out on the historical side, but also the accurate elements of the wendigo. It was not inspired by Algernon Blackwood and stuff. I grew up around the religion and the lore my whole life, so it was already there. It’s just, like, I’m not Catholic, so I’m not going to write a movie about Catholicism. So Peter brought a lot of that to the table. We were discussing it. He’s indigenous, I’m a white dude. And we’re like, ‘Are we going to make something here that, when it comes out, the conversation’s not going to be about the movie, it’s going to be about that fact that this white dude made a movie about indigenous culture?
Peter and I are both huge Lovecraft fans, and he was like, ‘What about Ithaqua?’ And it just clicked. Someone else had already taken all those things down the line to create something new that was already part of the thing were doing. So then we blended the Ithaqua lore and the wendigo lore together to become our own thing.
We found a doctor who specialises in indigenous religious iconography and studies at the University of Nebraska. We sent him the script and our process and everything, and he gave us a glowing review on how we didn’t fuck it up.
Well, that all sounds good to me. I look forward to donning the snowshoes and trekking out on a long, strange trip to this frozen Fennario as soon as it’s available for streaming.
feudist says
Oh so in.
JimC says
Right? My instant reaction.
The Black Tyrone says
I’m in on this one, but fool me once shame on you, fool me twice…shame on me. Also I am excited and waiting to read Buffalo Hunter by Stephen Graham? Please Keep me posted if any Partisans have read this and would like to share their thoughts. This novel is getting quite a bit of attention in the appropriate circles.
JimC says
Read it and liked it. Probably his best work.
Matthew Ilseman says
Derleth grew up in Wisconsin so he would have known the North.
He is known today for his pastiches of Lovecraft and Arthur Conan Doyle series with his Sherlock Holmes like character Solar Pons. I have heard though his regionalist novels were his best. Some Lovecraft really don’t like him and his fiction. I even saw part of a video that called him “a monster” and that he “ruined Cosmic Horror.” I didn’t see all of the video because that’s absurd and ignores the fact Lovecraft may not have been remembered if Derleth hadn’t started his publishing house to publish Lovecraft. Deuce has also wrote some defense of him.
JimC says
Monster?
Matthew Ilseman says
Yeah, the guy on the video literally called him that because he did not like his writing. Seriously…
JimC says
Uh… OK…
deuce says
“Deuce has also wrote some defense of him.”
Indeed, thanks to Haefele’s book, A LOOK BEHIND THE DERLETH MYTHOS. That book–written by an REH fan–made me do a 180. My previous views had been shaped by Joshi–a man who dislikes Howard and hates the pulps.
However, I’d think that the likes of Ramsey Campbell and David Drake defending Derleth would be enough.
BTW, yesterday I watched the first few seconds of the video you mentioned, read the comments and clicked away.
deuce says
“Thus, I welcome our first real glimpse of Hammer Films forthcoming tale of frontier horror, Ithaqua.”
Nice to see Hammer Films back in the game!
“Peter and I are both huge Lovecraft fans, and he was like, ‘What about Ithaqua?’ And it just clicked. Someone else had already taken all those things down the line to create something new that was already part of the thing were doing. So then we blended the Ithaqua lore and the wendigo lore together to become our own thing.
We found a doctor who specialises in indigenous religious iconography and studies at the University of Nebraska. We sent him the script and our process and everything, and he gave us a glowing review on how we didn’t fuck it up.”
Sounds promising. The thing is, Ithaqua was never really supposed to be ‘indigenous’, exactly. Ithaqua is a being from OUTSIDE who is (mostly) circum-polar. As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, Ithaqua–as presented by Derleth and, later, Lumley–has quite a bit of an Odinic/Wild Hunt feel to him. Lumley portrays a VIKING cult of Ithaqua in his ‘Borea’ novels. So, I’m not sure how things could be wildly ‘fucked up’.
It would be nice if more filmmakers were THIS concerned about accurately portraying, say, American ‘rednecks’ or the European Middle Ages.
Paul McNamee says
Funny enough, though Hammer are largely remembered for the horror standards like Dracula and Frankenstein, one of the earliest Hammer horror films was THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN.
deuce says
I seem to recall seeing a movie poster for that. Cool!
Hopefully, this one turns out great and Hammer makes some more quality ‘eldritch’ movies.
Ugly Hombre says
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wendigo/Chapter_1
“A considerable number of hunting parties were out that year without finding so much as a fresh trail; for the moose were uncommonly shy, and the various Nimrods returned to the bosoms of their respective families with the best excuses the facts of their imaginations could suggest. Dr. Cathcart, among others, came back without a trophy; but he brought instead the memory of an experience which he declares was worth all the bull moose that had ever been shot. But then Cathcart, of Aberdeen, was interested in other things besides moose—amongst them the vagaries of the human mind.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wendigo_(novella)
Tis’ getting to be the season of the Wendigo.. thought I would share this. Just found it after reading the thread. Big Halloween nerd in the past loved the bar hopping Halloween parties but nowadays its some scary movies and stay at home. Glad Hammer is back in action. I hope for a remake of “Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires.” lol.
JimC says
I hear that — and somehow it’s just as much fun.
Ugly Hombre says
Yes Sir and no hang overs lol
https://cinescopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/goksung_ver9_xlg.jpg
Check this one Jim if you have not seen it? its helluva good literal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g01g2ZhaWi4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wailing_(2016_film) ( some spoilers in the weki link don’t read if you are gonna get the film up to you)
Cheers!
Paul A Cantin says
Been hearing about alot of various interesting movies on the blogs here. Look forward to seeing them.