It’s been ten years since the cancellation of Guillermo del Toro's At the Mountains of Madness adaptation, and he’s finally giving fans a glimpse at the project. While it’s not a very long clip, the director posted a video of unfinished CGI from the film, which reveals a look at his version of the story’s creatures.
At the Mountains of Madness originated as a novella by pioneer and influencer of all things weird fiction H.P. Lovecraft. It was first published in 1936 and concerns a scientific expedition into Antarctica led by Professor William Dyer of Miskatonic University (a location that recurs throughout Lovecraft's mythos). After an advanced group discovers ancient, alien creatures and is subsequently slaughtered by their reanimated remains, Dyer goes further into the landmass, where he encounters an impossibly ancient and impossibly large city constructed by these same creatures.
Being a Lovecraft story, there are various creatures from beyond the stars and unnamed evils haunting the protagonist throughout his foray into the encampment - perfect material for del Toro. On Instagram, del Toro shared some footage of his largely unfilmed adaptation. The footage features unfinished CGI and depicts one of the members of the expedition being attacked by a shape-shifting, tentacled creature. Del Toro simply captioned the post, "All CGI test for a rig - ILM for AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS (a decade ago) never-before-seen."
Del Toro's adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness was very close to being made. The release of Prometheus, which faced a few shortcomings, however, made the studio wary of retreading similar ground. The film's rating also made executives worried. They insisted that the project be PG-13, a prospect that del Toro did not agree with, and the film was ultimately dropped. Had everything gone as planned, At the Mountains of Madness would’ve been produced by James Cameron, been rated R, cost $100 million, and would have starred Tom Cruise.
It's unclear what creepy, tentacled monsters were being depicted in the clip of the Lovecraft adaptation. Though the story's primary antagonists are the Elder Things, the shifting and difficult-to-make-out shape of the creature resembles the shoggoths of the story more closely. While the Elder Things are six-foot-long, radially symmetric aliens, the shoggoths are their servants who are able to take on any form (a feature which proved to be the Elder Things' undoing in the distant past).
Del Toro has had some success at Netflix recently, with his self-titled series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities being one of the streamer's more recent horror offerings. Del Toro has a deal to produce content over at Netflix, so hopefully, At the Mountains of Madness could still be made. The CGI test that del Toro presents here certainly makes it look like a fascinating and creepy project.
Source: Guillermo del Toro/Instagram