The Necronomicon in Popular Culture

References to the Necronomicon

Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, from the Evil Dead trilogy of films

Many fantasy and horror writers have mentioned the Necronomicon in their own stories. The Necronomicon has also become part of popular culture, influencing bands, filmmakers, television writers, and video game developers.

• Various writers in the school of the Cthulhu mythos have "quoted" from the Necronomicon, among them Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth.

• The movie Necronomicon is based on Lovecraft's stories.

• The Stephen King book The Eyes of the Dragon includes a reference to a book "bound in human flesh" that the magician Flagg cannot read for too long for fear of losing his sanity. It is also referenced as a very long book.

• In a passage in Gene Wolfe's novel Peace, a book of necromancy being forged by a character is not named but its form suggests the popular image of the Necronomicon.

• Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett created a parody of the Necronomicon called the Necrotelecomnicon—the book of phone numbers of the dead.

• Andrzej Sapkowski mentions a Polish translation of the book titled Źwierzcyadło Maggi Czarney Bissurmańskiey in his short story "Tandaradei!". It is also mentioned under its original title in his novel Boży bojownicy (God's Warriors).

• Sergey Lukyanenko employes the Necronomicon in Night Watch.

• The Necronomicon appears in The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea.

• Necronomicon was the title of a book of paintings by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger (published in 1978). It was appropriately titled considering his particularly sinister style of blended machinery and flesh.

• In Sam Raimi's popular movie trilogy, Evil Dead (1981 film), Evil Dead II (1987 film), and Army of Darkness(1992 film), the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis appears as an evil book of magic. In the first film of the trilogy, Ash Williams hears a recording of an academic reading from the book which eventually leads to his later trouble.

• Science fiction author Neal Stephenson derived the title of his book Cryptonomicon from the Necronomicon featured in the Evil Dead movies, not knowing that the name had originated from Lovecraft.

• Metallica's song "The Thing that Should not Be" contains lines derived from a quotation from the Necronomicon: "That is not dead which can eternal lie/ And with strange eons even death may die" (shortened to "Not dead which eternal lie / stranger eons death may die"). Beatallica's "The Thing that Should not Let it Be" is thus also derived from the Necronomicon, albeit second hand.

• In The Simpsons, Bob Dole reads from the Necronomicon at the Republican Party's headquarters.

• In The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Billy steals Grim's copy of "The Bad Book" to raise Yog Soloth.

• In an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Frylock almost gives Meatwad the Necronomicon instead of the Bible.

• In an episode of Justice League Unlimited, Shayera and Wonder Woman come across the Necronomicon shortly after entering Hades' library. Minutes later, Felix Faust casually mentions the book by name.

• In an episode of The Venture Bros., Dr. Orpheus refuses to swear on a Bible before taking the witness stand in court, instead preferring to take the oath on the Necronomicon.

• In a level of the video game Max Payne, Max encounters the Necronomicon and Paradise Lost among people who believe in the somewhat unrelated Norse mythology.

• In Castlevania 64 for Nintendo 64, the option menu is a book entitled Necronomicon. The book also appears in the video games Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia.

• Digital Pinball: Necronomicon is a Japanese video pinball game for the Sega Saturn console.

• In Megatokyo, a webcomic, one of the characters finds a book called Necrowombicon, said to be used to make Daikatana. The Necrowombicon has its origins in the webcomic Penny Arcade.

• In the humorous film noir movie Cast a Deadly Spell, Fred Ward plays the private detective H. Phillip Lovecraft, who is hired by a questionable character to retrieve a book called The Necronomicon. The book has been stolen from the latter's personal library.

• In Defense of the Ancients, the Necronomicon is an item that increases the Intelligence statistic and allows the player to summon two soldiers with necromatic powers. It is mainly useful to mages.

• In 1971, science fiction author Larry Niven published a humorous short story called "The Last Necronomicon".

• In the comic Van Von Hunter, there is a book called Notdanecronomicon which when touched without first saying "all clear" summons an undead army.

• In the webcomic Sam and Fuzzy, there is a book called "the necro-deatho-bookikon" referred to as mainstream satanistic garbage.

• In the webcomic Movie Punks, there is a book called the Punkronomicon, which is used for picking up goth chicks in clubs and bars.

• In the 2nd edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay core book, there is a very thinly-veiled reference on page 219 to the Necronomicon: "Another such volume is the Book of the Dead, written by the mad Arabyan prince Abdul ben Raschid ... Only the most strong-willed can read these books and retain any sense of sanity. These forbidden tomes tell of the horrible secrets of the beyond, of the dark insane dreams that the dead dream in their eternal rest."

• In the song "Twisted", rapper Tech N9ne threatens to make a Christian read their kids the Necronomicon on Christmas.

• In the Wild Arms video game series, the Necronomicon is a piece of equipment that can greatly increase the user's magic statistics.

• In the fourth of Sierra's Quest for Glory series, Shadows of Darkness, the Necronomicon is set upon an altar, bound in human skin, and written in blood. A derivation from tales of the Necronomicon relate to concentration camps.

• The Nintendo GameCube game Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is heavily inspired by Lovecraft's works. It features a major item called the Tome of Eternal Darkness, an evil book made of flesh and bone and "bound together with the oddest magickal incantation."

• In the 13-episode horror anthology series Masters of Horror, the Necronomicon is featured in the second episode, an adaptation of Lovecraft's "The Dreams in the Witch House".

• The tombstone on the front cover of Iron Maiden's seminal Live album "Live After Death" contains the quote "That is not dead / Which can eternal lie / Yet with strange aeons / Even death may die"

• Necronomicon - Geträumte Sünden (1967) is the title of a feature film directed by Jess Franco

• In Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn, the Necronomicon (called the Necroteuch) is one of the worst books of Chaos in existence. If someone picks it up, the person holding it will be mesmerized by it and will be unable to do anything but stare at the book. It corrupted and caused the death of the entire Saruthi race. It also distorted the way physical dimensions acted near it.

• Porndeath/Grind band Lividity from USA, have also referred to the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, as an intro to one of their songs from their Age of Clitorial Decay release. The intro talks about how the book was inked with blood, the same blood that used to flow in all the rivers at that time, and how it got lost.

• The US musical group Nox Arcana released an album in 2004 entitled Necronomicon. The predominantly instrumental music ranges from ominous orchestrations with a Middle Eastern influence, evoking mystical reference to the Mad Arab Alhazred. Vocals consist of various "otherworldly" chants, including ritual phrases from the Necronomicon according to Lovecraft. The Necronomicon cd booklet also contains fantasy artist Joseph Vargo's rendition of Cthulhu and several pages from the Necronomicon book as well as other illustrations of The Great Old Ones.