At the Mountains of Madness Movie. I'm not mad, just disappointed.

Sadly - this book does not cause insanity as implied. 

It's on pretty much every blog that covers film, geek culture and literature yesterdady that Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan's Labyrinth and, up until recently, screenwriter for The Hobbit, has been pegged to direct an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's 1931 novella At the Mountains of Madness.

As one of the originators of the horror and sci-fi literary genres, it's no surprise that so many people are excited about this film. Lovecraft's stories, including The Call of Cthulhu and "The Shadow over Innsmouth," have been made into low-budget films before (the 2007 Cthulhu was written by Seattle local Grant Cogswell and filmed partially in Astoria). 

But this film has the a major studio behind it; James Cameron is producing and, wouldn't you know it, it's going to be shot in 3-D.

I'm excited to see this film when it comes out (I originally heard rumors of a film when I was reading the story for the first time in college), don't get me wrong. But it's the type of film that's going to diverge so immensely from the original story as to possibly ruin it.

More opining after the jump.

Mountains is set in Antartica, where an expedition discovers undiscovered life forms and a buried city of unknown, but certainly un-human, origins. There's a little bit of action, but the core of the story is two expedition members interpreting the story of ancient and alien life on earth through the buried city's stone art.

It's an exciting notion to see it adapted for film, because it's basically a great introduction to Lovecraft's stories, which are alluded to in many stories and films: Gotham City's Arkham Asylum get's its name from a fictional city in Lovecraft's stories. Other works like The Thing, Hellboy and any creative work that references the word "Necronomicon" or features a library with an occult section (The Simpsons: "Treehouse of Horror III") owe a debt to Lovecraft.

But Lovecraft's stories, characters and general ideas have also been borrowed, or straight stolen, for several other films with disappointing results. 

Most heinously, the core story of Mountains was condensed into a three minute scene in Aliens Vs. Predators, where a team discovers an ancient city, filled with aliens. Coincidentally, the city's art describes an ancient alien history on earth. 

Since the storyline of the original is not exactly a thrill ride, whatever Cameron and del Toro do, it'll have to branch off pretty far to be distinguishable and exciting as a film.

In other words, while I liked Madness, I don't think what comes out of this film will be that book. It is, nonetheless, the coolest title Lovecraft devised. 

That being said - you should read the book.