Lovecraft Country's creature-filled full trailer offers premiere date, 'an invitation to unmitigated power'

Each new trailer for HBO's upcoming Matt Ruff adaptation Lovecraft Country makes the allegory-angled fantastical monsters and all-too-real racism look all the more necessary for genre fans. Showrunner Misha Green looks to take horror lovers and those wooed to genre stories by such recent commentary-filled content as Watchmen or the films of Jordan Peele (whose Monkey Paw co-produces the series) on a wild ride through evil creatures both human and inhuman.

Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) are on a quest to find Atticus' missing father (Michael K. Williams) and a secretive and spooky "birthright," accompanied by Letitia (Jurnee Smollet-Bell). Of course, what they find is a world of Jim Crow bigotry and beasts straight out of Cthulhu lore. This latest trailer — which accompanies the show's release date announcement — shows more of both.

Take a look:

OK, what was that Stranger Things-looking tentacle monster? And what's the deal with all those scary white folks? It would be awful to survive an Old One only to get Get Out-ed by a family of rich racists. One of these mysterious strangers offers "an invitation to unmitigated power" while the screen shows a golden, spinning device — there's a lot going on in this part of the country and very little of it looks good.

Burning crosses, ancient battles, and hooded magical figures threaten the family, which is what the show is all about. "This legacy belongs to our family," Atticus says. And if they can survive the monsters, they can keep telling their "family story."

Lovecraft Country hits HBO on Aug. 16.