Tales from Beyond the Pale: H. P. Lovecraft's The Hound

By: Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon

Narrated by: Larry Fessenden, Glenn McQuaid, Barbara Crampton, Ezra Godden, Chris McKenna

H. P. Lovecraft's The Hound, directed by Stuart Gordon, written by Dennis Paoli, with music by Richard Band.

The allure of a jade amulet proves troublesome for two aristocratic grave robbers.

Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid's award-winning Tales from Beyond the Pale, now entering its sixth year, has produced over 40 audio dramas from a wide array of today's leading genre writers and directors. Season three was produced by Larry Fessenden, Glenn McQuaid, and Jenn Wexler. The full list of narrators includes Ezra Godden and Chris McKenna.

©2015 Tales from Beyond the Pale, LLC (P)2015 Tales from Beyond the Pale, LLC

"Where is the amulet?" "Under the shrunken head!"

The source material is Lovecraft's "The Hound." which he himself described it as "a piece of junk." More positively, one reviewer thought it was written "with tongue at least partly in cheek." This is about how a couple of louche grave robbers stole from the wrong tomb, "and then a hell beast ate them," to quote Garth Marenghi. No great literature was harmed in the making of this audiobook..

This kind of material can't be played straight, which makes it perfect for the people from Re-Animator and From Beyond. If you think that adding a character like Eve to get Barbara Crampton into this was a bad idea, you see it much, much differently than I do, and if you're surprised by the kinkiness, you've never seen From Beyond. Actually, that scene is hilarious, the equivalent of those old cartoon panels in which Popeye gets into a fight and all you see is a cloud of motion lines with a couple of fists sticking out. I have no idea what's supposed to be happening, and I doubt any of the performers did either.

Everything about this is well done, including the music. All of the cast is excellent, but Barbara Crampton is brilliant. I've listened to this a couple of times just for her, and plan to hear it again.

I'm not a fan of star ratings, and it's particularly obscure what to say here. "Overall," okay, "performance," okay, but "story"? The story was of course terrible, but the writing was a lot of fun. It ain't about plot.

Fun production, not the best story

What did you love best about Tales from Beyond the Pale: H. P. Lovecraft's The Hound?

The performance was a blast! Obviously most people that buy this will do so for the quasi reunion of Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, Barbara Crampton and (possibly) Ezra Godden. The characters and gratuitous kink feels right at home with the 80's classics, The Reanimator, From Beyond and the later Dagon.,

What was most disappointing about Dennis Paoli and Stuart Gordon ’s story?

The story selection, obviously they did the best they could but this has never been a favorite Lovecraft story and this production didn't change my mind although I was quite open to it.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Everything. This is much more an audioplay, than a narration. And what sells the download for me was entirely the narrators/actors.

If you could rename Tales from Beyond the Pale: H. P. Lovecraft's The Hound, what would you call it?

Well that's the best title really, but if I had written the story idk the kinky tomb raiders get their comeuppance? Story titles shouldn't be put in my hands really...

Any additional comments?

It's really short so I'm not sure it's worth a credit, but for the two bucks or so that is the member prize it feel it's worth the prize, fairly fun for the performance even if the story itself wasn't great.

Not quite what I expected...

In general it was a well preformed piece, well done voice acting, and I could hear the emotions they were trying to convey. What I did not expect however, was the additional character of Eve, who made things slightly awkward, and I find that to be putting it lightly, seeing as how, thanks to her inclusion, I ended up listening to an S&M scene. Ya, that was an experience that I'd rather not have again.
Other then that, pretty good.

not feeling this one

a fan of h.p. lovecrafts but not this story! the only thing good about this one was the acting.

Great performances, but...

The Hound has always been one of my favorite stories by H. P. Lovecraft, though it's typically an unpopular one as his work goes. As for this dramatization, it fell very flat. Your journey in the shadow of the companionate ghouls is disjointed, you don't experience their secret museum with nearly the same lushness, and I don't at all understand the addition of the Eve character-- rather than complimenting the story in any way, she wholly detracted from it. Ultimately, this was a disappointment, and I regret the purchase.