Ain't no "Mountain" for Del Toro or Lovecraft fans.

How does one kill a Lovecraft monster?
Option it to Universal Studios.

Even after the much ballyhooed – at least in genre circles – of the melding of director Guillermo Del Toro, producer and current 3-D deity James Cameron, Tom Cruise and one of author H.P. Lovecraft’s best stories, Universal Studios has decided not to go forward with the proposed big-budget adaptation of “At the Mountains of Madness”.

The story first broke late Monday afternoon when Deadline reported that the plug had been pulled on the project – this after Ain’t It Cool News and other outlets had been reporting that one of the film’s producers had confirmed a start date for shooting.

What followed was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Personally – yes, I’m bummed that it’s not going to be made but I understand the reason behind it. When you’re looking to spend 150 million dollars of someone else’s money, you’d better make damn sure you give the best chance possible for that person – or in this case, the studio – to make its money back. As described by Del Toro and others, the film was to be horror on a grand scale and unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

Therein lies the problem.

The movie going public wants something familiar and they aren’t willing to take chances on anything new and possibly challenging.  At least that’s what the studios think. And the certainly don’t want anything that will keep away the prized teen demographic. Del Toro had always said this movie would be “R ” rated and, in the end, that is what killed the project. Sadly, until that kind of thinking changes, these “Mountains” might never see the light of day (for a more detailed and insightful take on this, check out Drew McWeeny’s take on this at HitFlix).

As for me, I will head back into the shadows and wait for the stars to be right once again.