Horror

[jetxl]

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...
Btw. What does "Cthulhu F'thagn" mean?

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Iä R'lyeh! Cthulhu fhtagn! Iä! Iä!

I think Lovecraft ment it as a charm to awake Cthulhu.

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Spoiler

It's what the main character said when he joined the Deep Ones in The Shadow over Innsmouth.
To be honest, I don't think The Shadow over Innsmouth was a good story. The main character first runs away from Innsmouth in horor and then later he finds out he's a Deep One himself. The part where the drunk is talking is really had to read, and keeps you out of the mood. In the biografie is says that Lovecraft didn't think much of the story too. That made me happy.

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[Corey]

Iä R'lyeh! Cthulhu fhtagn! Iä! Iä!

are you trying to speak alien language ?? 

[Ishmael]

are you trying to speak alien language ??Ã, 

I think that's Latin. But not at all sure.

[Lucky]

I think that's Latin. But not at all sure.

Doesn't sound like Latin to me.

[Ishmael]

Hmm... You're probably right. There's "Ia Ia, Cthulhu F'thagn" (?) repeated on the beginning of a song, and it doesn't sound too latin, but... whatever. I still want to know what it means.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

I don't think it means anything.

[Eggie]

It means "Cthulu, baby! Have a lemon...that's it...now just go to sleep on this plate like a good boy."

Mmmmmn, calamari...

[HeirOfNorton]

I'm pretty sure that means "Dead Cthulhu the Deathless ." (edit: Just flipped through the story again) I don't speak it, or anything, I've just been reading a bunch of Lovecraft recently. And no, it's not latin. It's a bunch of nonsense Lovecraft made up because he thought it would look neat, like an ancient language. Even HE didn't know how to pronounce any of it.

For a somewhat different take on Cthulhu, I highly recommend Neil Gaiman's story "I, Cthulhu." Any of his other Lovecraftian stories are good, too, but that one's free.

HoN

[Nacho]

That's lovely... I loved the Shadow over Innsmouth, and apparently Jet does not like it. That shows that horror affect in a very different way to people. 

The film that scared me most was "Saving private Ryan". Because I know that was true, whereas I know that dead girls can't pop out of TVs and such things. Maybe that is important for more people... the most realistic situation, the most scary the thing is...

[esper]

Are you sure dead girls can't pop out of televisions? I saw in another forum specifically devoted to the horror genre that people watched the ring and were seeing Samara/Sadako all over the place. Of course, they weren't really seeing her, but they WERE, if you know what I mean. The human psyche is a weird thing. That's why the Ring is my vote for All-Time Scariest Movie. It didn't scare me when I watched it, but it sure did freak me out afterwards...

I'm not sure if Cthulhu F'thagn means anything that is set in stone, but some people say it means either Hail Cthulhu or Come, Cthulhu. The language in question is Nug-Soth, which Lovecraft invented. It's supposed to be a "mother language" that people were speaking before any set language came around. I don't think Lovecraft was a good writer by any means, or august Derleth or any of the others who continued the Cthulhu Mythos. However, I like the stories for multiple reasons...

1. I'm from Providence, originally, around which alot of his stories are set and where Lovecraft himself was from.
2. I think the element of madness is potentially more frightening than any other type of horror... As I said above, your mind can generate things that scare you a hundred times better than any movie director or author can.
3. I study all manner of subjects from religions, cultures, cryptozoology, the paranormal, the occult, and the supernatural. Although Lovecraft was a lousy writer, he was able to catch alot of things that were accurate. He didn't make up the idea of the Mythos, simply the Mythos itself. For example:
Ã,  Ã, -Cthulhu is based on an ancient Sumerian god, whose name, KTULU, appears mistranslated in the King James Bible.
Ã,  Ã, -Nyarlatothep draws comparisons to Pazuzu.
Ã,  Ã, -Yog-Sothoth, "The Gate," is easily comparable to Abaddon/Appolyon, the angel that is supposedly keeper of the abyss who will release the four demons sealed away in the bowels of the earth at the end of time to wreak havoc on the world.
Ã,  Ã, -The Inuit and Algonquin Indians tell of a beast called the Wendigo, which in their native tongue is Ithaquaa.
Ã,  Ã, -Father Dagon, from the Cthulhu Mythos, like Ithaquaa, didn't even have his name changed. He is an ancient Canaanite god, mentioned in the bible many times.
Ã,  Ã, -Dr. John Dee, court magician of Queen Elizabeth I in the 1500's, had a book called "Liber Logaeth," also known as the book of Enoch (not the same as the apocryphal Bible book) which almost directly correlates to Lovecraft's Necronomicon and its summonation of "Great Old Ones and their spawn."Ã,  Ã, 

[[Cameron]]

The scariest film I have ever seen is Mulholland Drive by David Lynch, for one scene really. Just watch what happens after the guy talks about his nightmare at winkies.
*shudders at memory*

[esper]

While we were on the subject: http://www.callofcthulhu.com/gameinfo/gameplay.html

Looks fun...

[Robot Midgets]

I stole this link from a horror board: http://waxy.org/random/view.php?type=video&filename=shining_redux.mov. Misleading Trailers: The Shining. Personally I find a lot of great and original horror movies have been coming from Korea lately.

[passer-by]

I prefer horror and thriller books, not films...Films usually have only special effects and no story at all...Books have a more lasting impression on me because, if well written, they have better descriptions and deeper character backgrounds.

[passer-by]

That's why the Ring is my vote for All-Time Scariest Movie.  Ã, 

The reason I found it scary is that the heroes did all the right things that films and books say that should be done (in our case, discovering and "freeing" the spirit) and it turned out to have been the only wrong thing to do. Scary.

[bspeers]

The scariest film I have ever seen is Mulholland Drive by David Lynch, for one scene really. Just watch what happens after the guy talks about his nightmare at winkies.
*shudders at memory*

Yes, by far.  My fiance wouldn't watch another David Lynch for months after that -- she wasn't sure if she existed.

Once you've figured out what's going on, the scene with the Spanish singer is the saddest and creepiest scene of the movie.

[Visti]

Though I haven't read that much King, I think I prefer Clive Barker to him.