iClassics’ iLovecraft, like their other productions, takes a small collection of classic short stories and illustrates them with digital interactive drawings. When I first saw these available on the App Store I was dubious as to whether they would be enjoyable or not; seeming to be either a great, fun idea, which might bring something different to the stories, or an awful one. A gimmicky-nightmare-one. It is, disappointingly, not a gimmicky-nightmare choice.
They aren’t offensive, but nor are they particularly enlightening. Rather, they feel like a harmless ‘pop-up’ adaptation of Lovecraft in the most comic book way possible; placing Lovecraft firmly in the harmlessly weird side of horror rather than truly plumbing the depths of madness.
Which is probably the best way to take him.
Reading Lovecraft can often feel like you’re reading someone trying to sound like Lovecraft. It’s as camp as all hell; with tortured grave diggers collecting relics only to be haunted by unnameable beasts – what did you expect, hmm? Well, anyway, his work swings back and forth with me. I’d love to know how seriously he took it.
In terms of the illustrations then, we find ourselves in somewhat cartoonish territory; though certainly not for children. There’s gore, and of course the odd floating yonic-monster. But they’re not scary per-se and as such can water down those moments in Lovecraft where it gets genuinely creepy. I wonder whether – rather than the big roaring monster – a less literal approach would have better emphasised the text’s subtler qualities.
Some of the best interactive illustrations were those which let you admire an artefact with a disembodied light source, or required you to illuminate the text, or reveal further text by panning the camera in a scene. I understand why they included the big roaring monsters, but personally I found they broke the immersion of the stories.
Additionally, I did find a couple of niggling issues when using reading this on my iPhone 5. In particular sometimes swipes would lag – giving away that the next page would have something dramatic on it. Also, on pages where you’re able to move a light source around (or move an object on the page), the app seemed to find it difficult recognising a page swipe over a simple movement of the light source. This could be quite frustrating, but didn’t ruin the experience overall.
They aren’t offensive, but nor are they particularly enlightening. Rather, they feel like a harmless ‘pop-up’ adaptation of Lovecraft in the most comic book way possible; placing Lovecraft firmly in the harmlessly weird side of horror rather than truly plumbing the depths of madness.
Which is probably the best way to take him.
Reading Lovecraft can often feel like you’re reading someone trying to sound like Lovecraft. It’s as camp as all hell; with tortured grave diggers collecting relics only to be haunted by unnameable beasts – what did you expect, hmm? Well, anyway, his work swings back and forth with me. I’d love to know how seriously he took it.
Some of the best interactive illustrations were those which let you admire an artefact with a disembodied light source, or required you to illuminate the text, or reveal further text by panning the camera in a scene. I understand why they included the big roaring monsters, but personally I found they broke the immersion of the stories.
Additionally, I did find a couple of niggling issues when using reading this on my iPhone 5. In particular sometimes swipes would lag – giving away that the next page would have something dramatic on it. Also, on pages where you’re able to move a light source around (or move an object on the page), the app seemed to find it difficult recognising a page swipe over a simple movement of the light source. This could be quite frustrating, but didn’t ruin the experience overall.