Filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro has shared test footage from one of his unrealised projects titled At The Mountains of Madness. Del Toro has been open about wanting to make a feature film adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. The book is one of the horror author’s most critically revered works, it was originally published in 1936.
It follows a group of explorers who uncover a set of otherworldly artefacts and creatures during an expedition in Antarctica. The findings prove that humans are but an insect-like byproduct of god-like creatures who once ruled the earth.
In the mid 2000s, it was announced that Del Toro was developing the project with James Cameron attached as a producer and Tom Cruise roped in to star as the lead. The director was reportedly planning to make it an R-rated film, without compromising on the vivid details and gory imagery from the book.
The project eventually died due to multiple reasons and now Guillermo Del Toro has released the footage on his social media page. While the test footage is done in complete VFX, the pre-visualisation footage would serve as a reference while filming. The film was planned as a live-action feature.