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I'd rank the real HPL-movies (not those merely inspired by him, because then I wouldn't know where to draw the line) I've seen in the following order, from best to worst:

1. Call of Cthulhu (the black-and-white silent one) - Simply awesome! Very true to both the source and the old silent films it imitates. One of the best movies I've seen in years.

2. Shatterbrain / Resurrected - An interesting take on the Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Creepy and well acted throughout, although it feels a bit dated in the wrong kind of way. Still, a very good movie.

3. Dagon - A surprisingly entertaining modern horrow movie (which is quite an achievement, considering how many modern horror movies are pure crap). Has many flaws and is not quite true to the source, but the Innsmouth-atmosphere is strong enough to carry almost the whole movie.

4. Re-Animator - A corny, almost comedic take on one of HPL's worst stories. Barely watchable, unlike the sequels that are horrible.

-Villain

Whats the general opinion of the Lovecraft adaptations that place them in the modern setting. I know that a few people dislike Re-Animator for the "Corny" factor, but what was the opinion of it being set in the modern day?

I personally thought it worked for Re-Animator, but am not sure how well it would work for all of them.

I can live with a modern day retelling of the stories. "Dreams in the Witch House" was dedone as one of the masters of Horror series and was set modern day and still very enjoyable. I think the actual time period is less important then keeping the overall "feel" of the story.

Kithicus said:

Yea, I personally feel that if you set them in the modern world, but with some slightly anachronistic elements, such as costume or props, you also can get that strange setting that so many of the stories convey.

Ebonrook said:

He also often killed off children in his stories. This doesn't happen as often in modern narrative.

Yes, it's very much a literary and cinematic double-standard. Children, despite their physical inferiority and general naivety, apparently don't go down so easily when all hell breaks loose.

It's called Infant Immortality .

Gosh, how did I know, before hovering it, that that link would be to TV Tropes?

Those guys have classified and categorized every cliché out there, haven't they?

I also just occurred to me that Arkham Horror isn't subject to this cliché. There are a couple encounters in Curse of the Dark Pharaoh where not only is a child in imminent danger of life and limb, but the investigator can choose to ignore the situation.

Reflecting upon this fact, I have even more respect for Dark Pharaoh than I had before.

ANOTHER addendum:
It's 4 in the morning here and my inhibitions are down. Let me dispel the apparent morbidity collected in my previous comments by making it clear that it is the gritty realism of these situations that I appreciate, not the fact that harm has come to children. I do not kill children all the time! It only happens by mistake, I swear!

Tibs said:

No animals were harmed in the making of this post.

So...y'know...thank goodness for THAT.

Tibs said:

TV tropes are fun and serve a valuable purpose which is primarily allowing me to piss off my family by solving every cop drama they ever watch in the first 10 minutes (once before the opening credits rolled). They do over analyze things at times, case and point the link I posted about small children and animals having plot protection links to another page categorizing a type of danger that is only deadly to adults which is for all practical purpose the same thing. Comparing it to Lovecraft though does prove that these tropes are largely created by society and are not hard fast rules of story telling. Though I do think that the trope about killing dogs just to prove how evil a character is holds true in Dunwitch Horror as it is mentioned that Wilbur often kills dogs because they go nuts around him. But to be honest I think that aside from a single offence of breaking and entering the dog killing is the only evil thing he seems to actually be guilty of.

Tibs said:

Always let those kids die, they're just dead weight on your investigation! (Especially after they're dead).