10 Prolific Figures Heavily Influenced By H.P. Lovecraft

In an example of how internationally the effects of Lovecraft’s themes could be seen, Japanese manga artist Junji Ito has incorporated many elements of cosmic horror into his pieces (in addition to scaring the pants off readers with each page turn).

Elements distinctly Lovecraftian appear in all sorts of Ito’s work like a man’s spiral into insanity due to ever-increasing length of dreams aptly titled Long Dream or his more famous work, Uzumaki, in which a town succumbs to the power of the spiral.

Ito has gone on to cite Lovecraft as one of his major influences when creating the aforementioned manga, stating “The different stages of the spiral... were definitely inspired from the mysterious novels of H.P. Lovecraft. His expressionism with regard to atmosphere greatly inspires my creative impulse.”

The comparisons are clear: many Ito works concern a mysterious cosmic force overwhelming humanity, like in The Enigma of Amigara Fault where distinctively human-shaped holes hypnotically draw people to climb inside, or the inevitability of this horror, as in Army of One. Ito’s works are equal parts cosmic and body horror, updating Lovecraft’s works for a more modern audience.