Movies
‘At the Mountains of Madness’ – Guillermo del Toro Shares Never-Seen CGI Test for Unmade Movie
As most are aware, Guillermo del Toro was at one point knee deep in a film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s 1931 novella At the Mountains of Madness, which of course never came to fruition. The project’s origins date back to 2006, and the plan was for the film to be a rated R affair with a big budget and both Tom Cruise and James Cameron on board to produce.
The would-be H.P. Lovecraft adaptation essentially tells of a disastrous Antarctic expedition that encounters unspeakable horrors after discovering ancient ruins.
Several studios ultimately ended up passing on the big-budget project, spelling the end of del Toro’s Lovecraftian dreams. But we’re still asking ourselves… what could have been?
We may never know, but Guillermo del Toro has at least taken to his just-launched Instagram account this week to share some never-before-seen test footage from the project!
Del Toro captions the footage, “All CGI test for a rig – ILM [Industrial Light & Magic] for At the Mountains of Madness (a decade ago) never-before-seen.”
The footage runs 25-seconds long and shows an explorer in the mountains (of madness) being attacked by a tentacled beast, and it can certainly be described as “Lovecraftian.” The monster splits open and reveals a humanoid form within, before unleashing its long tentacles and swallowing up the doomed explorer. It’s a small but delicious taste of GDT going full HPL.
At the Mountains of Madness may be no closer to reality but Guillermo del Toro has brushed up against H.P. Lovecraft in his new Netflix series “Cabinet of Curiosities,” which features two Lovecraft adaptations. A few of the other episodes are of the Lovecraftian variety as well, particularly the Panos Cosmatos-directed “The Viewing,” which will totally melt your mind.
In his most recent comments about the At the Mountains of Madness project, del Toro had noted that his vision has evolved over the years, and a new script would have to be written.
View this post on Instagram
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.