The Necroverse: A connection of horrors | Curation
What if all our favorite horror monsters — the Deadites, Jason, Freddy, Imhotep, even Chucky — were bound by one cursed book?
In this Halloween curation, Cor unearths The Necroverse — a grand unifying horror theory that ties together decades of macabre mythos through the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead and Jason Goes to Hell, every grimoire, mummy, and killer shares a single spine of lore.
This episode charts the full timeline of the Necronomicon, from Sumerian incantations and Egyptian rites to the Michigan cabin and beyond, exploring how horror franchises evolved from pulp fiction to pop mythology — and why our nightmares always seem to rhyme.
LITERARY CANON — The Written Lineage of the Necronomicon
1. Sumerian & Egyptian Proto-Texts
Sumerian Incantations (c. 4000–2500 BC) — The earliest “Dark Ones” writings; foundation for all necromantic scripts.
Egyptian Book of the Dead (c. 1550 BC) — Direct precursor; transforms the soul’s journey into written resurrection.
Book of Thoth (Egyptian legend) — Occult source of infinite knowledge; echoed later in Hermetic and Lovecraftian grimoires.
2. The Arabic & Greek Translations
Kitab Al-Azif (Abdul Alhazred, c. 700 AD, Damascus)**
→ First codified Necronomicon, merging Sumerian and Egyptian ideas.
Title translates to “Book of the Howlings of the Desert.”Necronomicon Ex Mortis (Greek translation, c. 950–1000 AD, Constantinople)**
→ The form cited throughout Lovecraft’s stories; the term “Necronomicon” originates here.
3. The European & Occult Eras
Latin Codex Necros (c. 1400s–1500s, Western Europe)** — Renaissance adaptation attributed to Johannes Dee, Olaus Wormius, and other historical occultists.
The Dunwich Copy (Miskatonic University Archive) — The canonical book in Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror, connecting the myth to academia and early American horror.
4. The Lovecraft Circle (1917–1937)
H. P. Lovecraft – The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, The Shadow over Innsmouth, At the Mountains of Madness, The Thing on the Doorstep, The Haunter of the Dark
August Derleth – expanded and systematized the Cthulhu Mythos; published The Lurker at the Threshold and The Watcher Out of Time.
Clark Ashton Smith – The Book of Eibon, The Nameless Offspring.
Robert E. Howard – The Black Stone, The Thing on the Roof.
All texts are canon within Cory’s “literary Necroverse,” establishing knowledge as contagion.
5. The Post-Lovecraftian & Modern Expansions
Brian Lumley – Necroscope Series (1986–1999): psychic necromancy and reanimation science.
Clive Barker – Books of Blood (1984–1985): expands the Necronomicon’s influence through the Hellraiser universe.
Simon Necronomicon (1977): modern occult reprinting; treated as a corrupted translation.
Donald Tyson’s Necronomicon Cycle (2004–2010): mythic synthesis of Lovecraft’s cosmology.
CINEMATIC CANON — The Visual Lineage of the Necroverse
1. Lovecraft Adaptations (Foundation Layer)
The Haunted Palace (1963) – first film to use the Necronomicon name.
The Dunwich Horror (1970) – formalizes the Lovecraft text onscreen.
The Necronomicon (1993, H. P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon: Book of the Dead)* – anthology framing device uniting multiple timelines.
Dagon (2001) – direct Lovecraft continuation within the same textual canon.
2. Raimi’s Book of the Dead / Evil Dead Cycle
Within the Woods (1978) – prototype of the Necronomicon Ex Mortis.
The Evil Dead (1981)
Evil Dead II (1987)
Army of Darkness (1992)
Evil Dead (2013) and Evil Dead Rise (2023)
These define the modern cinematic Necronomicon, the core artifact binding later horror franchises.
3. The “Cross-Contamination” Cycle (1990s–2000s)
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) – shows the Necronomicon Ex Mortis in Voorhees’ home, directly linking Friday the 13th to Evil Dead.
Freddy vs Jason vs Ash (comic 2007) – formal crossover confirming all exist in the same world.
The Mummy (1999) – features Egyptian Book of the Dead, positioned as a prior incarnation of the Necronomicon.
Child’s Play (1988) – Damballa incantation interpreted as a corrupted ritual from the same root text.
Hocus Pocus (1993) – Book of human skin and moving eye, referenced as a “Western European descendant” of the Necronomicon.
4. Science-Horror Convergence
Re-Animator (1985) – Herbert West’s serum viewed as scientific necromancy, linked via Miskatonic University.
From Beyond (1986) – metaphysical dimension overlap.
Event Horizon (1997) – spacecraft as technological Necronomicon; “gateway to Hell” motif.
The Void (2016) – contemporary cosmic-cult manifestation of the same faith in death’s reversal.
5. Extended “Necroverse” Continuity
Hellraiser (1987 – 2018) – Lament Configuration interpreted as parallel artifact (Book as Box).
In the Mouth of Madness (1994) – metafictional recursion; the Necronomicon becomes literature itself.
The Thing (1982)* – alien infection read as the biological counterpart to necromantic reanimation.
Color Out of Space (2019)* – modern Lovecraft adaptation restoring cosmic unity.
The Evil Within (2017)* – psychological iteration within the Necroverse framework.
THE CINEMATIC NECROVERSE – IN-UNIVERSE CHRONOLOGY
I. The Ancient Origins (c. 4000 BCE – 1890s CE)
The Book first manifests as the Sumerian incantations and Egyptian Book of the Dead before splintering into early occult copies and colonial relics.
The Mummy (1999) – rediscovery of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and Book of Amun-Ra; raises Imhotep.
The Mummy Returns (2001) – the resurrection cycle expands globally; demonstrates the Book’s twin nature (life and death).
The Scorpion King (2002) → The Scorpion King 2-4 (2008-2018) – mythic prequels showing the first keepers of the text.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) – Chinese variant of the Book emerges; the curse migrates east.
The Mummy (2017, Dark Universe) → Van Helsing (2004) → connected by Universal’s shared relic network – the Book now weaponized by modern secret orders.
(By extension, 2025’s announced sequel continues the same canon.)
II. The Lovecraftian Age (1890s – 1930s)
Scholars and occultists awaken the literary Necronomicon, binding the Book of the Dead to cosmic entities.
The Thing (Pre-Cambrian) – the alien organism predates humanity; later rediscovered in the Antarctic (1930s).
The Haunted Palace (1963) – set in 19th-century New England; first on-screen use of “Necronomicon.”
The Dunwich Horror (1970) – Wilbur Whateley’s attempt to summon the Old Ones using the Greek Ex Mortis.
Dagon (2001) – Innsmouth cults maintain the coastal branch of the Book; timeline overlaps 1920s Lovecraft events.
Re-Animator (1985) + Bride of Re-Animator (1989) + Beyond Re-Animator (2003) – Miskatonic scientists revive the dead; alchemical echo of the Necronomicon’s promise.
From Beyond (1986) – expands the same laboratory cosmology; direct sequel-spirit to Re-Animator.
The Necronomicon (1993) – anthology spanning centuries; establishes that all prior events are pages in the same book.
Color Out of Space (2019) – chronological coda to Lovecraft’s New England cycle; cosmic contamination resumes in modernity.
III. The Sumerian Awakening (1970s – 1300 CE – 1970s Loop)
The Raimi branch: A version of the Book resurfaces in the American wilderness and triggers time displacement, confirming the temporal recursion at the Necroverse’s core.
Within the Woods (1978) – first modern reactivation of the Necronomicon Ex Mortis.
The Evil Dead (1981) – cabin incident; written incantations release the Deadites.
Evil Dead II (1987) – recapitulation and dimensional rupture; Ash drawn into the past.
Army of Darkness (1992) – 1300 CE medieval loop; establishes that the Book predates its own discovery.
Evil Dead (2013) – later timeline; the Book reappears after multiple centuries of burial.
Evil Dead Rise (2023) – confirms multiple surviving copies worldwide.
IV. The Scientific-Occult Convergence (1980s – 1990s)
The Book’s logic infects science; resurrection becomes technology.
The Thing (1982) – Antarctic research base discovers pre-human entity; biological necromancy replaces textual.
Hellraiser (1987 – 2018) – the Lament Configuration emerges as a mechanized Book of the Dead; cults worship Leviathan.
Event Horizon (1997) – spaceship using dimensional drive becomes a technological Necronomicon; gateway to the same infernal plane as Hellraiser.
The Void (2016) – cult attempts to merge flesh and spirit, referencing the same cosmic deities as Lovecraft’s.
In the Mouth of Madness (1994) – the Book becomes literature itself; meta-infection turns fiction into reality.
V. The Curse-Born Lineages (1970s – Present)
Parallel artifacts and rituals evolve from corrupted Necronomicon fragments.
Child’s Play (1988 – 2019) → Chucky (Series 2021-present) – Damballa spell derived from West-African adaptation of the Book; soul-transfer necromancy.
Hocus Pocus (1993 & 2022) – “Book” with moving eye identified as Western-European derivative.
Friday the 13th Saga (1958 – 2009) – Jason Voorhees repeatedly resurrected; Jason Goes to Hell (1993) reveals Ex Mortis in his house, canon-linking the franchise.
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 – 2010) – Freddy Krueger’s dream-realm powers tie to infernal energy invoked in Evil Dead 2’s portals.
Freddy vs Jason vs Ash (Comic 2007) – confirms all branches coexist; Necroverse officially unified.
VI. The Modern Recursion (2000s – Future)
The Book and its ideas persist as symbols of self-aware horror — reality itself infected by the story.
The Evil Within (2017) – the text now internalized as mindscape; the Necroverse collapses inward on the Storyteller.
The Mummy (2017) & Universal’s Dark Universe tie-ins – governments weaponize resurrection technology; civilization enters “controlled necromancy.”
Color Out of Space (2019) revisited – re-emergence of cosmic radiation from the same root evil.
Themes:
Shared mythmaking across horror media
Necromancy as a metaphor for storytelling
Canon tiers and fan metatexts
The horror genre as modern folklore
Hosted By:
Cornelius “Cor” Edward Snider (@CoryTheCurator) — writer, curator, and mythographer of the macabre.
#TheCurio #HorrorLore #EvilDead #Necronomicon #HPLovecraft #SlasherVerse #SnideStudios #podcast
My associate, AC has done a dive on the Evil Dead franchise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6pNr-49-gk
