H.P. Lovecraft Meets The X-Files In HBO's 10-Part Horror Thriller Masterpiece

While HBO once managed to mix HP Lovecraft’s cosmic horror with the accessible format of The X-Files, the short-lived run of this acclaimed show proves the problem with adaptations of the author’s work. Few TV shows have had as big an impact on the industry as the ‘90s classic The X-Files. When Fox green-lit the police procedural back in 1993, there is no way the network could have known what it was unleashing on the future of TV.

In the years since, the basic setup of The X-Files, which combines the reliable formula of a procedural show with monsters drawn from the worlds of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, has influenced more series than one could count. There are the straightforward supernatural crime thrillers like HBO’s Stephen King adaptation The Outsider, but also the lighter, more playful shows that borrowed their monster-of-the-week approach of The X-Files. Grimm, Evil, Supernatural, and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer could all be slotted into this broad category.

Meanwhile, there are also shows that take the basic supernatural investigation setup of The X-Files and aim to do something more ambitious with this premise. After the popularity of True Detective season 1, which was steeped in the writings of cosmic horror authors like Thomas Ligotti, Robert Chambers, and HP Lovecraft, HBO went all-in on the genre with the 2020 series Lovecraft Country. Based on the 2016 novel of the same name by author Matt Ruff, this terrifying travelog was an entirely unique genre blend.

Lovecraft Country Mixes The Accessibility of The X-Files With Lovecraftian Horror

Set in the Jim Crow South, Lovecraft Country was a period piece that never shied away from the real-life horrors of racial segregation and discrimination. However, the show was also a full-fledged cosmic horror, and its story used the setup of The X-Files to marry these two divergent story strands perfectly. As Jonathan Majors’ Korean War veteran Tic Freeman traveled the South searching for his missing father, Jurnee Smollett’s photographer Leti joined his search to unearth the dark secret behind the disappearance.

Although True Detective’s success inspired Sharp Objects, Mare of Easttown, and plenty of other bleak, dark detective dramas, few shows that followed in the wake of the HBO hit committed to the horror side of things as hard as season 1's occult story had. Lovecraft Country took the opposite tack, making explicit the implied monsters that were never revealed in the earlier show.

While True Detective season 1 hinted at the existence of some sort of malignant paranormal entity, Lovecraft Country brought many of Lovecraft’s lesser monsters to life onscreen through jaw-dropping special effects. The show was unabashedly a full-blown supernatural horror, although its human villains were often just as monstrous as its literal Cthulu-inspired cosmic horrors.

Lovecraft Country’s Brief Run Explains Why So Few Lovecraft Adaptations Work

Bringing Lovecraft’s monsters to life onscreen is something that even the most ambitious sci-fi and horror shows rarely attempted, even after the success of The X-Files, since many of the controversial writer’s stories emphasize how unexplainable these monsters are. Not only is Lovecraft’s work deeply problematic in terms of its racist tropes, but a lot of his stories feature creatures that defy conventional geometry, and characters are often driven mad by the very sight of them.

This has not stopped some ambitious creators, like the creatives behind Lovecraft Country, Dagon and Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon, and Color Out of Space’s Richard Stanley, from taking a stab at this. However, the brief one-season run of Lovecraft Country proves just how tough a task it is to pull off.

Lovecraft Country was met with almost universally great reviews, but didn’t become a major mainstream sensation in the way that The X-Files managed. This could come down to the reality that, while viewers could get their heads around the aliens, ghosts, and monsters of The X-Files, Lovecraft Country’s Lovecraftian villains remained too strange for the mainstream.