It's not every day you hear a TV creator suggest googling "Satanism," "preschool," and "Louisiana," but those mad-lib-sounding search terms were apparently the recipe for Nic Pizzolatto when he was writing "True Detective" season 1. Traveling back along the "flat circle" of time, as Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) would call it, "True Detective" made its series premiere on HBO in January 2014. Almost immediately, it became a water cooler phenomenon, as viewers grew obsessed with its nonlinear crime narrative involving Cohle, his partner Marty Hart, and their investigation of a dead body crowned with deer antlers in a sugarcane field.
Throw in weird-fiction references to the mythical city of Carcosa and the Robert W. Chambers horror story collection, "The King in Yellow," and "True Detective" would begin to take on some quasi-supernatural shadings. Yet as its title suggests, it was also tapping into an interest in true crime, the way the Peabody Award-winning podcast,...
Throw in weird-fiction references to the mythical city of Carcosa and the Robert W. Chambers horror story collection, "The King in Yellow," and "True Detective" would begin to take on some quasi-supernatural shadings. Yet as its title suggests, it was also tapping into an interest in true crime, the way the Peabody Award-winning podcast,...
- 6/5/2023
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
For those who haven’t heard of them, Cadabra Records is a boutique record label that specializes in creating audio plays of fantastic horror stories. They did it with The Yellow Sign by Robert W. Chambers and have done stories from Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft. Today we’re thrilled to help them announce their new project, […]
The post Exclusive: Cadabra Brings Chilling Eeriness With M.R. James’ Casting the Runes appeared first on Dread Central.
The post Exclusive: Cadabra Brings Chilling Eeriness With M.R. James’ Casting the Runes appeared first on Dread Central.
- 12/14/2017
- by Jonathan Barkan
- DreadCentral.com
We have to go back almost ten years ago when we first wrote about an Italian production called The King in Yellow: Interludes. We were directed to a trailer from the micro budget production, a multimedia project inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and R.W. Chambers according to its description. Then we never heard of it again. Until now. Ten years later. Some of the footage has been cobbled together into a short called The Room to once again give a sense of the nightmarish vision that could have been. It is nightmare fuel of the highest and most hallucinogenic order. You can watch the resurrected footage below but fair warning, the content is graphic and some of it is sexual in...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/24/2017
- Screen Anarchy
If, like many of us here at DC, you were obsessed with the first season of “True Detective,” you should be aware of the “King in Yellow” mythos created by Robert W. Chambers. Now a new book, Cassilda’s Song, has… Continue Reading →
The post Cassilda’s Song Brings Female-Authored Tales Inspired by the King in Yellow Mythos appeared first on Dread Central.
The post Cassilda’s Song Brings Female-Authored Tales Inspired by the King in Yellow Mythos appeared first on Dread Central.
- 2/22/2016
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
When it comes to horror especially in fiction I always find myself looking to H.P Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe at times because I like the way they take the normal things in life and pull the extraordinary into them, be it by the extraordinary or the morbid. When watching True Detective they introduced us to The King in Yellow, which then led to people looking into just what that was (remember all the articles?). This exposed the horror community to the work of Robert W. Chambers, a writer who proceeded the lies of Poe and Lovecraft and influenced their work. With those credentials, how can you lose?
The King in Yellow was first published in 1895, but now it is finding more interest through True Detective. This is probably one of the reasons that I.N.J Culbard has taken up the task of creating a graphic novel from the work.
The King in Yellow was first published in 1895, but now it is finding more interest through True Detective. This is probably one of the reasons that I.N.J Culbard has taken up the task of creating a graphic novel from the work.
- 6/17/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Like some elaborate act of God and conspiracy that crosses timelines and layers of philosophy and perspective worthy of True Detective itself, a dense conversation has formed over the last week regarding whether True Detective showrunner Nic Pizzolato plagiarized the character and idea of Rust Cohle off of similar ideas in the book Conspiracies Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti. The debate first started when writer Mike Davis over at The Lovecraft Zine posted an interview he conducted with the head of Thomas Ligotti online, Jon Padgett. The article cites numerous instances of fairly similar expressions and turns of phrase that feel inspired by the Ligotti novel from 2010, including arguments that Pizzolato only brought up Ligotti in interviews when prodded and never alluded to the author on the DVD commentary. Padgett alleged that this was particularly serious because Rust’s character helped make the show unique:
The most egregious...
The most egregious...
- 8/8/2014
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
True Detective wrapped up last night, and if you have spent any time on the internet, you probably have noticed that it is the most talked-about series since Breaking Bad. It was a show that flew in under the radar - I didn’t see much advertising for it before it aired - and, on the surface, appeared to be a fairly straight-forward (but damned good) procedural. Of course, that all changed very quickly, and by last night’s season finale, the series was one of the darkest hours of television currently airing.
Luckily in this age of blu-ray, DVD, online streaming, digital downloads, and a myriad of other ways to get content, just because True Detective wrapped up its season last night doesn’t mean you can’t discover this modern classic for yourself. In an attempt to entice you into the series, here are some of the most horrifying things we saw.
Luckily in this age of blu-ray, DVD, online streaming, digital downloads, and a myriad of other ways to get content, just because True Detective wrapped up its season last night doesn’t mean you can’t discover this modern classic for yourself. In an attempt to entice you into the series, here are some of the most horrifying things we saw.
- 3/10/2014
- by Alyse Wax
- FEARnet
"True Detective" Season 2 hasn't been greenlit yet, but based on the fervor surrounding the Season 1 finale, chances are the announcement of a second season won't be long in coming.
Creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto already has some pretty clear ideas of the direction he wants Season 2 to take, and it sounds like he's going to remedy the whole lack-of-strong-female-characters issue from Season 1 in it.
In an interview with HitFix, Pizzolatto offers a brief tease of what he has in store for Season 2. "This is really early, but I'll tell you [it's about] hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system," he says.
As for what he learned from Season 1 that he will apply to "True Detective's" next season, Pizzolatto says, "It's that I realize I need to keep being strange. Don't play the next one straight." Those out there who wanted Season 1 to be more...
Creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto already has some pretty clear ideas of the direction he wants Season 2 to take, and it sounds like he's going to remedy the whole lack-of-strong-female-characters issue from Season 1 in it.
In an interview with HitFix, Pizzolatto offers a brief tease of what he has in store for Season 2. "This is really early, but I'll tell you [it's about] hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system," he says.
As for what he learned from Season 1 that he will apply to "True Detective's" next season, Pizzolatto says, "It's that I realize I need to keep being strange. Don't play the next one straight." Those out there who wanted Season 1 to be more...
- 3/10/2014
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
I'm not going to pretend there aren't little Easter eggs peppered throughout HBO's "True Detective" for fans to argue over and add more layers to the eight-episode, first season anthology, which came to a close last night. I will say, though, such naval-gazing is unnecessary as the sentient meat of the show's achievements is found in a narrative built on the idea of character-first and Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Monaghan delivered. As a matter of fact, the speculation, as much fun as it may have been for some, was largely all for naught. Who is the "Yellow King" and what clues does Robert W. Chambers' "The King in Yellow" holdc Maybe there's something in there that tells you the real killer was the hillbilly mowing the church grass somewhere around episode four, but looking back on it now it's clear why those doing the speculation overlooked this gentleman,...
- 3/10/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
1. The McConnaissance has officially hit its peak.
It's now belaboring the obvious to state that Matthew McConaughey has morphed into one of the most interesting actors working today — an unpredictable phenomenon that we can carbon-date back to 2011 and his Rockford Files-esque turn in The Lincoln Lawyer. His career-resurgence modus operandi was simple: kiss off the typical leading-man roles that were slowly suffocating him and go moody (Mud), dowdy (Bernie), psycho-ugly (Killer Joe), or campy, where-are-my-bongos batshit-crazy (The Paperboy). Where once his two modes were open-shirted or altogether shirtless, McConaughey started...
It's now belaboring the obvious to state that Matthew McConaughey has morphed into one of the most interesting actors working today — an unpredictable phenomenon that we can carbon-date back to 2011 and his Rockford Files-esque turn in The Lincoln Lawyer. His career-resurgence modus operandi was simple: kiss off the typical leading-man roles that were slowly suffocating him and go moody (Mud), dowdy (Bernie), psycho-ugly (Killer Joe), or campy, where-are-my-bongos batshit-crazy (The Paperboy). Where once his two modes were open-shirted or altogether shirtless, McConaughey started...
- 3/10/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Culminating a remarkable first season in fine, moving form, True Detective’s finale, titled “Form and Void,” took us to the heart of darkness at the vortex center of its weird fiction — as well as the final stage of its meta-commentary on the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, for better and worse. It was a tale that ripped dark marks on our bellies, then soothed us by “making flowers” on us. So to speak.
We start on the outskirts of the infernal plane. We begin in hell on earth. The ersatz underworld of The Yellow King — a.k.a.
We start on the outskirts of the infernal plane. We begin in hell on earth. The ersatz underworld of The Yellow King — a.k.a.
- 3/10/2014
- by Jeff Jensen
- EW.com - PopWatch
Earlier tonight, "True Detective" concluded its first season — and, with it, the stories of Rust Cohle and Marty Hart. I reviewed the finale here, and as a bookend to a conversation we had before the season started, I spoke with the show's creator, Nic Pizzolatto, about the finale and the season as a whole (along with a vague but intriguing hint about season 2, which hasn't been officially ordered yet, but only because I suspect HBO is waiting until they've signed the actors they want before announcing). That's coming up just as soon as I strike you as more of a talker than a doer... The structure of the series means you could have done anything with the ending, up to and including killing the two leads, because you get a clean slate with the next season. Why did you choose this particular way to end the story? Nic Pizzolatto:...
- 3/10/2014
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
"True Detective" has been a big hit for HBO this winter -- more than 10 million people watch the show each week once repeat airings and multi-platform viewing are counted. It has also been, hands down, the most discussed, dissected and debated show of 2014 thus far.
Expect even bigger numbers and more chatter for Sunday's (March 9) season finale. Want to know what everyone's going to be talking about on Twitter? Don't want to miss out on the office talk on Monday? And don't have seven hours between now and Sunday night to do a series binge? Zap2it is here to help.
In honor of the literary underpinnings of "True Detective," here's a CliffsNotes-style guide to what you need to know ahead of the finale.
The case
The show jumps back and forth in time, primarily taking place in 1995 and 2012, with some scenes set in 2002. In 1995, Louisiana State Police detectives Rust...
Expect even bigger numbers and more chatter for Sunday's (March 9) season finale. Want to know what everyone's going to be talking about on Twitter? Don't want to miss out on the office talk on Monday? And don't have seven hours between now and Sunday night to do a series binge? Zap2it is here to help.
In honor of the literary underpinnings of "True Detective," here's a CliffsNotes-style guide to what you need to know ahead of the finale.
The case
The show jumps back and forth in time, primarily taking place in 1995 and 2012, with some scenes set in 2002. In 1995, Louisiana State Police detectives Rust...
- 3/9/2014
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
If you’ve watched one episode of True Detective, HBO’s gritty meditation on good vs. evil, you’ve likely consumed them all — rabidly, and multiple times. Not since Lost has a television series so deeply tapped into our obsessive conspiracy theorist sides. And not since fans asked “What is the Island?” has the Internet been pondering one singular TV question: Who is the Yellow King?
At its core, True Detective is a story about two detectives, Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson), partners who are haunted by a grisly occult murder that took place in Louisiana in 1995. (Spoilers ahead,...
At its core, True Detective is a story about two detectives, Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson), partners who are haunted by a grisly occult murder that took place in Louisiana in 1995. (Spoilers ahead,...
- 3/9/2014
- by Amber Ray
- EW.com - PopWatch
iO9 did a wonderful job during the first few episodes of HBO’s “True Detective,” laying out all the weird fiction-genre literary references that the show evinced. Especially Robert W. Chambers' “The King in Yellow,” a collection of short stories published in 1895. Writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto is heavily influenced by the genre and its themes of nihilism, solipsism, existential dread and whatnot have clearly made its way into the show. But then things got out of hand, and the crazies quickly took over. Or rather, the article’s original posit that the show could go supernatural, like the literature that influenced it, began to take over. (Sorry, no.) That narrative began to overwhelm, and soon the conspiracy theories took hold. If you’ve bothered to go down the rabbit hole of many of them—absurd notions, such as: Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle character has been the killer all...
- 3/5/2014
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
The gripping nightmare that has been True Detective’s first season is almost over, and like all dreams, there’s a monster at the end of it. He’s a real grim reaper, only he comes decked in green, not black, and his blades are motorized, and actually, he’s a friendly neighborhood guy, in a Mr. Rogers meets Slingblade sort of way … if you can get past him being mucho psycho. Behold the demon lawn barber of Carcosa: The Lawnmower Man, an agent of an ancient cult that swears by the Greek goddess of magic Circe, serves the Greek...
- 3/3/2014
- by Jeff Jensen
- EW.com - PopWatch
HBO’s much praised crime anthology True Detective is nearing the climax of its engrossing eight-episode first season with a head of hard boiled steam and so many mysteries. Who really killed Dora Lange? Might our enlightenment-challenged heroes – pessimist grump Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and dim Everyman Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) – actually be the villains? Will an otherworldly spaghetti monster soar and seize control of the godless Louisiana waste? We brought creator Nic Pizzolatto in for questioning and tried to make him spill. “In our third act, timelines, action and character all align. In that way, they may play as...
- 2/27/2014
- by Jeff Jensen
- EW - Inside TV
HBO’s much praised crime anthology True Detective is nearing the climax of its engrossing eight-episode first season with a head of hard boiled steam and so many mysteries. Who really killed Dora Lange? Might our enlightenment-challenged heroes – Nihilist grump Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and dim Everyman Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) – actually be the villains? Will a supernatural spaghetti monster rise up from hell and seize control of the godless Louisiana waste? We brought creator Nic Pizzolatto in for questioning and tried to make him spill. “In our third act, timelines, action and character all align. In that way, they...
- 2/27/2014
- by Jeff Jensen
- EW - Inside TV
Nic Pizzolatto has entertainingly, wickedly and delightfully done what "Lost" attempted but couldn't pull off: referencing literary and ideological touchstones that have actual bearing on the narrative and characters of the show. But it does mean that any viewer will watch "True Detective" so closely that they may be seeing things that aren't there. So forgive me if I go down a rabbit hole (or two) tying together thematic threads that may not be there. With Robert W. Chambers' 1895 book "The King In Yellow" a clear reference point in "True Detective" (and now a surprise best seller), please indulge me for a moment as I chase down a couple other things that I couldn't shake after this week's "Haunted Houses." Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) is unable to let go of the growing suspicion he feels about a larger, deadlier conspiracy surrounding the Dora Lange killing, potentially involving Lee Tuttle's religious organization,...
- 2/24/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Nothing like a creepy name to capture the imagination of the TV obsessive who has become primed to expect mythology and “Easter eggs” in everything they watch. True Detective diehards have been discussing the Yellow King for weeks, ever since the name was first mentioned in episode two, plucked out of murder victim Dora Lange’s journal alongside mentions of black stars falling and a place named “Carcosa.” And in an interview with The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog on February 2, novelist and show writer Nic Pizzolatto name-dropped Robert W. Chambers’s 1895 story collection The King in Yellow as part of the show’s galaxy of influences. But it was an io9 piece, titled “The One Literary Reference You Must Know to Appreciate True Detective,” that spread the name far and wide.As that piece explained, The King in Yellow of the collection’s title is a play that...
- 2/19/2014
- by Gilbert Cruz
- Vulture
True Detective, Season 1, Episode 5: “The Secret Fate of All Life”
Written by Nic Pizzolatto
Directed by Cary Fukunaga
Airs Sundays at 9pm Et on HBO
The climax of episode 4 of True Detective, titled “Who Goes There’” is a feat of technical mastery that would sit proudly along side the work of a master director like Alfonso Cauron. Cary Fukunaga and his Dop Adam Arkapaw have clearly forged an excellent partnership. The big showpiece sequence - a single long tracking shot — which lasts a shade under six minutes – is a masterclass of filmmaking. The ways Fukunaga places, moves, and times his cast and camera to be at the right place at a precise time is brilliant, and a feat accomplished without the aid of post production magic. Every episode of True Detective has so far exceeded its predecessor in terms of quality, and as we pass the half-way mark, we...
Written by Nic Pizzolatto
Directed by Cary Fukunaga
Airs Sundays at 9pm Et on HBO
The climax of episode 4 of True Detective, titled “Who Goes There’” is a feat of technical mastery that would sit proudly along side the work of a master director like Alfonso Cauron. Cary Fukunaga and his Dop Adam Arkapaw have clearly forged an excellent partnership. The big showpiece sequence - a single long tracking shot — which lasts a shade under six minutes – is a masterclass of filmmaking. The ways Fukunaga places, moves, and times his cast and camera to be at the right place at a precise time is brilliant, and a feat accomplished without the aid of post production magic. Every episode of True Detective has so far exceeded its predecessor in terms of quality, and as we pass the half-way mark, we...
- 2/19/2014
- by Ricky da Conceição
- SoundOnSight
“Certain experiences you can’t survive, and afterward, you don’t fully exist, even if you failed to die. Everything that happened…is still happening, only now it’s 20 years later, and what happened is just story.”—from the novel Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto
“Strange is the night where black stars rise.” – from The King In Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
True Detective is many things at once—an immersive character study, a gripping head-trippy murder mystery, a psychological profile of the anti-hero zeitgeist, a tour de force for Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. But simply and deeply, it is...
“Strange is the night where black stars rise.” – from The King In Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
True Detective is many things at once—an immersive character study, a gripping head-trippy murder mystery, a psychological profile of the anti-hero zeitgeist, a tour de force for Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. But simply and deeply, it is...
- 1/13/2014
- by Jeff Jensen
- EW - Inside TV
In less than a week is Labor Day, traditionally the end of summer for many Americans, though the official end is not until Sept. 22nd, the date of the autumnal equinox. Time for fun in the sun is drawing to a close. I’d like to recommend some horror stories and nightmarish novels to give you some chills for the few hot days left in 2010.
Let’s start with some downloadable stories in audio form, and begin with some of the classics. These are all free (they’re in the public domain), and will remind you of some of the greatest monster movies ever made.
The first is “The Picture in the House”, a story by the influential horror author H. P. Lovecraft. With themes of cannibalism and insanity, it reminds me of Hannibal Lecter of Silence of the Lambs, of the mad clan in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and...
Let’s start with some downloadable stories in audio form, and begin with some of the classics. These are all free (they’re in the public domain), and will remind you of some of the greatest monster movies ever made.
The first is “The Picture in the House”, a story by the influential horror author H. P. Lovecraft. With themes of cannibalism and insanity, it reminds me of Hannibal Lecter of Silence of the Lambs, of the mad clan in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and...
- 9/1/2010
- by Max
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
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