The Necronomicon and Me

Ramblings of: Eric North

 

In the summer of 2002, it was my greatest pleasure to partake in a viewing of the film Army of Darkness, starring Bruce Campbell. This movie, as most of you probably know features the book Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, which attempts to bite off Ash’s hand and then releases the legions of the undead on medieval England. Most of you should know this already though, because if you don’t you’ve got no business reading this and I don’t think we would get along. A few months after this holy experience of mine I stumbled across a curiosity in a used bookstore; a book that read Necronomicon. Chuckling to myself I began to flip through the pages, noticing right away a grammatically incorrect Arabic name, and finding some ramblings about someone named Cthulhu Mythos.

Some of you most likely know about Mr. H. P. Lovecraft and his writing of the end of the world and alien gods, but I knew nothing of him, nor did I care to know. In the last year or so however, I have become aware of a few things: first of all, Lovecraft’s hardcore fans are completely insane, they make Tolkien fanatics and Trekies look half way normal. I’ve met many a Lovecraftian, as I like to call them, who actually worship the entities depicted in his works (this more than anything has kept me from reading his works as I have tendency to go fanatic myself). Secondly, the Necronomicon is a fictional book that many people believe actually exists. Thirdly, Bruce Campbell rocks hardcore!

I by no means intend to belittle Mr. Lovecraft, the man had an imagination like a elephant has a memory, however the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis has a mouth and is a fuckin’ cursed item of untold evil, while the Necronomicon of Lovecraft’s world simply explained how to perform acts of untold evil. Splitting hairs, maybe, but all I know is that Ash raised and faced down an evil army of the undead, and even cut his own hand off because of that book and he came out on top. So Necronomicon or Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, Cthulhu or Evil Ash, there’s just one thing to left to say: “Hail to the King baby!”