At the Mountains of Madness

By: H. P. Lovecraft

Narrated by: H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society

Length: 1 hr and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale of a polar expedition meeting unspeakable horrors is brought to life in the style of a 1930s radio drama, featuring a large cast of actors, thrilling sound effects, and original music.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

Public Domain (P)2007 HPLHS, Inc.

some portions unintelligible

In one segment, half the dialogue was unintelligible because of excess background airplane noise - the remainder of the program good. it was their first Radio Theatre, improved since then

Great dramatization!!!

I think this was the first production of Dark Adventure and its amazing! Unlike many modern productions of Lovecraft's work this is not campy or silly. It's a faithful dramatization of the story that goes beyond just listening to someone read the book. The news broadcasts give it a realistic feel in the same vein as Orson Wells production of War of the Worlds. Fans of Lovecraft and/or old time radio will love this!

Keep in mind it's DART's first radio play

So it is understandable that they're still tweaking things. As other reviewers have said, the "old news" segments are indeed really, really noisy. It's not incomprehensible, but if you're wearing hearing aid or have problem hearing in noise, I suggest that you avoid it. Otherwise, if you can make through that part, the rest of the play is really good. Performances of Professor Dyer and Danforth are commendable, the framing device works very well, and managed to overcome a lot of the excessive exposition problems that HPL originally had.

Very good, when you can hear it

This was really well done, and gives that authentic old-timey radio show feel. My only real criticism was how inaudible some of the (supposed to be static-heavy) early transmissions about the antarctic expeditions were. Listening on a commute with background noise made those parts practically impossible to understand, and I had to try listening to them again later in total silence to try and make anything out.

Great Teaser

The story felt like it was the middle of a good book
I would've loved it more if it could have had a solid beginning and end. Just all around more of a story.

Dreadful!

Big fan of the works HP Lovecraft, but this production is so intentionally distorted in post production that it is almost unlistenable. The attempt at period audio processing makes this a travesty of a production and the HP Lovecraft historical society should be ashamed of its release.

Not an audiobook

Be warned, as Alexa did not warn me before I purchased this: This is not an audiobook, it is a radio play. Framed as an old-timey radio news show interviewing the people involved, they set it up well, but they go way too deep with the audio effects; you're not thinking, "Wow that really sounds like someone broadcasting from the south pole," you're thinking, "Wow I can't make out a single word that guy is saying."

radio transmissions barely audible

I love these performances. but in this story these radio transmissions are barely audible and incredibly difficult to understand

best way to listen to hp lovecraft.

I love the old radio style of it and the performances of the cast. well done. bought more from this guys since.

I appreciate the effort

I felt this performance was a genuine effort to retell this story in a theatrical manner, an effort which I appreciate. However, I felt most of the static-ridden radio calls were nearly unintelligible and, while era appropriate, made my listening experience difficult.

Superb Dramatisation of a Classic story of horror

The production on this dramatisation is superb. The characters are well portrayed by excellent actors. The sound effects are superb too. The whole story comes together to be told in a frightening first class production.

Different. Better at the second go around

Update: Second time listening to this story I was rewarded with a much needed understanding.
I would need to listen to this audiobook a few more times before I can review it properly.
It starts out as radio news casts and then ventures forth into a story told. It's different than the others.
That said I still want to support the developers with my 5 stars for the work that they put into their creation.

Sub-par.

The original story 'At the Mountains of Madness' is one of H. P. Lovecraft's best stories, and I heartily recommend it. The BBC also Did a great radio adaptation of it years ago, which makes for a chilling listen.

This version however, sadly misses the mark. The first half is so obscured by radio static that it's almost impossible to follow what's going on. The framing device of a radio interview massively detracts from the horror of the original, by making it almost feel tabloid esque. It's very "vintage", but it's not very scary or even very interesting. It would have been better to keep it as a straight re-telling, with voice actors.

This being said, Dark Adventure Radio Theatre does have some great Lovecraft adaptations to listen to. So my advice is to check out one of their other ones. Give this one a miss.

Fun to listen

If you are a H.P Lovecraft fan, you will love this book. Dark adventures narration is always a joy to listen to and never gets boring from start to finish!

Spoiled by effects

While I did enjoy it, I found the over-use of the radio noise annoying. I was struggling to hear what was being said in places. The later sections without that effect were much better.

Great story rendered inaudible on Audible!

Having read this story some years ago, and having listened to it read by a traditional narrator also, I was looking forward to hearing this production. However, the crude attempts at sound effects rendered it unlistenable, indeed painful to the ear. I could not bear to listen beyond the second chapter. Awful!
Shame, because their version of The Shadow over Innsmouth was not bad at all.

Definitive

I consider this to be the definitive audio adaptation and can't think of anything I'd change.

Greta story

Loved it. Radio sounds are a bit irritating but still great story. Looking forward for more.

Wear your headphones!

A really great retelling of the Lovecraft tale in radio play form. Good acting and production values, as I’ve come to expect from the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre works.

One minor gripe - the early part of the tale, told through snippets of old news footage, includes a lot of heavily distorted radio transmissions, supposedly from the Antarctic. It’s a fun idea, but the amount of static is perhaps a little too realistic, making it very hard to make out these sections. Definitely one to listen to whilst wearing decent headphones.

A great story hampered by bad effects

I really enjoyed 3/4 of this audio production of this excellent story. However the first chapter, which is setting up the story is done as though a radio broadcast and this obnoxious static effect is put over the voices to the point it's almost impossible to hear.