Lovecraft Country (2020)

created: Misha Green
directed by: Daniel Sackheim and others
written by: Shannon Houston, Kevin Lau Wes Taylor and others,
based on the novel by Matt Ruff.
music by: Laura Karpman and Raphael Saadiq
stars: Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, Wunmi Mosaku
imdb

Lovecraft Country arrived with the names of J.J.Abrams and Jordan Peele as producers. The idea was to take the world of one of the most notorious horror writers, but a notorious racist, and to turn it into a denounce of the sufferings of black people in America during the 50s. The idea is very powerful and the potential of using horror as a metaphor is well-known. Unfortunately, Lovecraft Country fails at all levels. 

The main problem of the show is that it seems that the creator and/or writers don't know where they want it to go: the show started with a promising first episode (more precisse would be to say that the first half of the first episode was promising) that, despite some non-Lovecraftian monsters, manages to provide what is expected: depicting the hardships of blacks in the 50s in an America full of magic. Unfortunately, every episode after the first goes in a different direction: an episode about secrets societies, another one a sort of Nicholas Cage's National Treasure (2004), then the haunted house... The fact that Lovecraft Country tries to make the show seem cooler by introducing gore and (pretended) scandalous elements only makes the disappointment worse. When we remove the cheap provation, what we have is an extremely bland show.

But the worst failure of th show is in bringing the most characteristic element of the Lovecraft world: the atmosphere. Even the delirious B-movie 'Dagon' (2001) managed to bring the atmosphere better than Lovecraft Country. The first episode almost achieved this.

The failure of this show confirms the Lovecraft curse: only The Dunwich Horror (1970) and the Lovecraft-inspired In The Mouth of Madness (1995) have managed to bring succesfully the Lovecraft world to the screen.