Lovecraft Country

:

Season 1
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Aug 16, 2020
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 161 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 85 out of 161
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 161
  3. Negative: 60 out of 161
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User Reviews

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  1. kszweda
    Aug 17, 2020
    2
    To much politics and indoctrination, not enough of the Lovecraft. The great potential of original stories wasted.
  2. Ajkrawczyk
    Aug 17, 2020
    3
    I was so excited to see a Lovecraft inspired how being on HBO. I just watched the first episode and will definitely not be watching another. Lovecraft is a very specific type of psychological horror that this show does not appear to be attempting to acheive. I'll just rewatch ReAnimator or Dagon .
  3. edicius4
    Aug 16, 2020
    2
    Very mediocre fantasy; the world-building was very poorly done - I felt we were hopping from one set to the next. Then infuse it with 2020 political agendas and you have the recipe for one painful first episode.
  4. viroodiem
    Aug 19, 2020
    2
    Far too busy trying to exact social justice on a beloved but notorious racist and trying to "take it back", Lovecraft country makes cardinal sins of entertainment. Its boring and it does not understand its source material at all.

    So watch it if you enjoy being preached to. If you want good lovecraftian horror, your options are still very limited, but Bloodborne still exists. Yet    Far too busy trying to exact social justice on a beloved but notorious racist and trying to "take it back", Lovecraft country makes cardinal sins of entertainment. Its boring and it does not understand its source material at all.

    So watch it if you enjoy being preached to. If you want good lovecraftian horror, your options are still very limited, but Bloodborne still exists.

    Yet another pretentious and preachy HBO series. Just like The Wire, The Leftovers, or this years Watchmen. There is just nothing worth watching here, sadly. Not because it is a predominantly black centric story. Because the story misses its own point and does a lame job of telling it.    … Expand
  5. UncleWillard
    Aug 16, 2020
    2
    Boring AF. Great production values. Did they have to rey and ruin Lovecraft for me? Do we really think Cthulu gives a **** about race? Laughing My Transdementional Ancient Ass Off.
  6. susiecc
    Oct 2, 2020
    2
    This is not Lovecraft at all. The story line is a hodgepodge of disconnected stories that are supposed to be connected by this search for a device that allows transitional movement through time and space. Lovecraft? No. Maybe this is a dialog on racial injustice. I can see that hiding behind a poorly developed plot and a lot of sex. Is this metaphysical black horror? Well, the horror isThis is not Lovecraft at all. The story line is a hodgepodge of disconnected stories that are supposed to be connected by this search for a device that allows transitional movement through time and space. Lovecraft? No. Maybe this is a dialog on racial injustice. I can see that hiding behind a poorly developed plot and a lot of sex. Is this metaphysical black horror? Well, the horror is really the people who created the script. I think 7 episodes have aired so far. I watched them, wondering if they would get better. They did not.
    Whoever did this needs to go back to school to get their GSD (good script development).    … Expand
  7. Valmont
    Sep 2, 2020
    1
    As an long time fan of Lovecraftian/cosmic horror and after watching the first two episodes I just cannot feel more disappointed with the end result so far. I would say that adding the name of Lovecraft to the Tittle and showing Lovecraftian monsters here and there feel more like marketing schemes rather than real assets adding to the show and in fact the show is 90% about racism ofAs an long time fan of Lovecraftian/cosmic horror and after watching the first two episodes I just cannot feel more disappointed with the end result so far. I would say that adding the name of Lovecraft to the Tittle and showing Lovecraftian monsters here and there feel more like marketing schemes rather than real assets adding to the show and in fact the show is 90% about racism of pre-80s America in all its "done a thousand times we are tired of this already" fashion. The Directors clearly never understood what make the Lovecraft Stories so great in the first place. Lovecraft stories' subtle horror of a perceived danger or characters being hunted by the unknown and having overwhelmingly maddening odds against them, while trying to understand what they are dealing with even thou their minds and their times are not yet ready for such revelations is one of the things that they were supposed to be aiming at, but instead of that, here all that mystery and build up (found even on older shows like True Detective season 1) is replaced by flashly, in your face, over the top CGI creatures and generic HP monsters without even building any kind of tension and ultimately feeling like they don't really pose a threat to the main characters and are just there so that the trailer can grab as many as possible to HBO's subscription and then just let that audience down. Hell, it is pretty clear that the true monsters of this world all the white people who are ALL pretty scary and evil and racists... I truly had high hopes for Lovecraft country because of all the big names that the show conjures and its amazing budget, but sadly in the end and just another GoT season 8 in that it could not compare to the source materials and the fact that once the scripts are not based on the true authors and masterminds of the series/genre and instead the plot relies only on the work of copycats trying to cash in as much money as possible before the reviews come out it was pretty clear that nothing good could come out of it... I would even dare to say that now that you are subscribed to HBO go watch Chernobyl because that shows has much better production values and is far more Lovecraftian than Lovecraft Country could ever dream to be. As a final note, thank God H.P. Lovecraft is no longer alive to see how the horror sub genre he created gets butchered in the name of subscriptions, marketing and false promises.… Expand
  8. EerieEgg
    Sep 5, 2020
    0
    I can’t describe how disappointed I am — was really hoping this would be good. Feelsbadman
  9. jimmypowder
    Sep 3, 2020
    3
    Does every show these days have to be about racism. Hate to break it to the loony liberals but this is not the 1950’s and 1960’s when there really was unlike today systemic racism .
  10. AthanasiosT
    Aug 20, 2020
    3
    I loved the book, but I don't feel the same about the show. TV writers had to do it again. Removed stuff, added stuff and created an unspeakable monstrosity from beyond (just to give a lovecraftian note). Dear writers, if you have such brilliant ideas, why don't you write your own novel/book and just let other people's work alone. Nice music though.
  11. chazmax
    Aug 30, 2020
    1
    Racist, anti-white nonsense and woke tripe for progressive soy boys and idiots. EVERY white character is a racist bigot, it's absolutely laughable garbage.
  12. notings
    Aug 19, 2020
    0
    Zwiastun odkrywa wszystkie karty przed widzem. Wiemy kto jest dobry/zły , jak wyglądają potwory . Lovecraft w tytule to chyba jakaś pomyłka. Oczywiście serial jest bezpieczny dla Lgbt qztxd mamy tu walkę z rasizmem I złymi białasami. Krótko mówiąc kolejny syf pokroju nowych ghoost busters albo nowych gwiezdnych wojen.
  13. gonzalo94
    Aug 21, 2020
    0
    To much politics and indoctrination, Very mediocre fantasy, I don't feel the same about the book is very different.
  14. OlivierPiel
    Sep 9, 2020
    0
    I gave 0 to this show. In this current day and age, according to the peremptory comments in this section, that would make me a Trump supporter even though my skin colour isn't white and I am not American by far.
    This is exactly the problem with this show. It is not art, at all. It is actually the opposite: It is a clever algo-based, marketing-based product destined to the safest and    I gave 0 to this show. In this current day and age, according to the peremptory comments in this section, that would make me a Trump supporter even though my skin colour isn't white and I am not American by far.
    This is exactly the problem with this show. It is not art, at all. It is actually the opposite: It is a clever algo-based, marketing-based product destined to the safest and biggest audience (it is basically a repackaged Watchmen loosely based on Lovecraft). It is there not to challenge viewers (which is the mark of great art) but to caress their preconceived ideas and prejudice (how could a brown man like me not like a show where white people fit into a spectrum of morons to Dr. Mengele?).
    Ah yes, that good old German trope! When short of a villain, just invoke Germans from under your bed, Antartica, the moon or space.

    Those calling it a masterpiece are probably of a generation or milieu that never read classical literature or seen true works of art    … Expand
  15. PauloRodriguesn
    Aug 23, 2020
    3
    It Is terribile. Seems like a CW TV show. Terribile script. No sense of mistery. Is light years away from true detective season 1, which Is the Ideal for a cosmic horror TV show.
  16. neurolboi
    Oct 19, 2020
    0
    poor Lovecraft, loved his work but this is pure **** seems like the directors missed his books at all
  17. EerieDemonble
    Aug 28, 2020
    3
    To keep it short.
    90% of the show - Racism is bad. Racism is really bad. Don't you know that racism is bad? We just want you to understand that racism is bad. Because, you know, racism is bad. You sure you won't forget that racism is bad? Good. Because is so bad, like, really bad.
    5% of the show - bad writing
    5% of the show - some Lovecraftian "horror"
    Another case of activism > good story
  18. striga
    Aug 17, 2020
    0
    Quite nonsensical and more of a 'ooooo spooky' take on Lovecraft than well-plotted psychological horror. It's basically what you'd expect from middling IQs taking on something out of their league while trying to push anti-racism to make up for any real substance. Yawn.
  19. Biggyninja
    Aug 19, 2020
    3
    Lovecraft Country is Like the new HBO Watchmen series. Critics will love it for its political narrative but sci fi fans will hate it because the Lovecraft universe is neglected as a result. The majority of people will be confused and bewildered, and i foresee it will die after the first Series.
    The screenplay is boring with the usual cardboard stereotypes of racism, and when the monsters    Lovecraft Country is Like the new HBO Watchmen series. Critics will love it for its political narrative but sci fi fans will hate it because the Lovecraft universe is neglected as a result. The majority of people will be confused and bewildered, and i foresee it will die after the first Series.
    The screenplay is boring with the usual cardboard stereotypes of racism, and when the monsters do show up, they look like something out of a Marvel Movie - Too CGI heavy and smash happy, rather than the mysterious Lovecraftian Nightmares from the source material - Obviously the influence of JJ Abrahams. HBO must surely realise by now that people watch Fiction for their storylines, not political narratives. If only there was a saying for franchises that suffer financially because of progressive narratives...    … Expand
  20. reeser91114
    Aug 17, 2020
    0
    god forbid we simply get a lovecraft based show instead of preachy nonsense
  21. ScienceAdvisor
    Aug 23, 2020
    2
    Typical garbage that promotes agenda over entertainment. Racial politics is the real monster in this show, not the amazing horrors that Lovecraft developed. I find it hilarious that other reviewers are suggesting that if you do not like a show, you are racist. Projection is an ugly tactic if you want to be taken seriously. Or, in the words of SJWs "Are you assuming my race"?
  22. Truejustice
    Aug 16, 2020
    0
    SJW propaganda thats trashing on lovecraft mythos... mediocre story, bad casting. This is what i call race whiner.
  23. metacritiqueur
    Aug 17, 2020
    0
    Jordan Peele, HBO, afro-american ... 10 Emmys please ! In 2020 people pay to be indoctrinated, that's crazy.
  24. shoulderoforion
    Sep 1, 2020
    0
    ***UPDATE 9/1, after watching the last episode where in the producers chose to name the racist "mengele" like doctor who kidnapped & experimented on black people, Hiram Epstein, when Lovecraft was as much a virulent antisemite as he was a racist, felt like a cheap shot, and brought up feelings of ancient Blood Libel, and others reminding me that the American black community has turned***UPDATE 9/1, after watching the last episode where in the producers chose to name the racist "mengele" like doctor who kidnapped & experimented on black people, Hiram Epstein, when Lovecraft was as much a virulent antisemite as he was a racist, felt like a cheap shot, and brought up feelings of ancient Blood Libel, and others reminding me that the American black community has turned against the Jewish community these past 10 years, regardless of how much work the Jewish community put into the fight for black civil rights, it's ruined the show for me. Reducing my score from and 8 to a 0, and won't be watching again.*** This was far better than I thought it would be, and not being a huge fan of horror I most likely would have sat this one out, but seeing all the 12 year old **** racists with their low marks, urged me to check it out, and I enjoyed it. The leads are all very watchable, the story is interesting, and I'll be putting it on my Sunday night schedule.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

40
#40 Best TV Season of 2020
6
#6 Most Discussed TV Season of 2020
4
#4 Most Shared TV Season of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 42
  3. Negative: 0 out of 42
  1. The Playlist
    Reviewed by: Robert Daniels
    Oct 5, 2020
    83
    The pacing of the near-hour long installments feature spasms of crawling. Nevertheless, the flirting beauty of the most powerful scenes, the fleeting profoundness of when poetic prose are strewn across lyrical montages, and the authentic, psychological performances by the cast, make Green’s “Lovecraft Country” a woozy, intoxicating genre odyssey.
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  2. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Lauren Michele Jackson
    Aug 24, 2020
    50
    The show’s script is weighed down by historical annotations; characters refer to themselves and others using the nomenclature of the time (Negro, white) instead of the unqualified pronouns—“we,” “us,” “them”—of actual talk. Innuendo, a staple of melodrama, and a mode in which racialized language thrives, is missing. Neither this nor the show’s cartoonish whites—as viral videos have shown, racists turn cartoonish in the light—would be so distracting if they didn’t deprive mesmerizing talents of their room to work. ... In “Lovecraft Country,” there are revelations but seldom awe.
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  3. Vox.com
    Reviewed by: Aja Romano
    Aug 18, 2020
    70
    The show finds its strongest moments when it layers realism atop metaphorical racism to induce a mounting, increasingly surreal two-fold horror. It’s weaker in terms of connecting those moments back to its overarching plot. But that weakness also feels intentional and refreshing — as if the show is also repudiating the pompous dramatics of its silly cult full of white people trying to something something pure bloodlines, something something sorcery, something something existential cosmic terror.
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