O filme é realmente muito inspirado por obras de Lovecraft (como é, aparentemente, James Wan em geral).

O mais "óbvio" é talvez as criaturas da Trincheira (muito mais do que o monstro que protege o tridente de Atlan, IMHO).

Um artigo Slate de dezembro de 2018 destaca as influências de Lovecraft no filme:

Despite the chaos, director James Wan lets the camera hold a moment on a coffee table whose contents include a paperback collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories named after one of his most famous tales, “The Dunwich Horror.” This isn’t a tossed-off detail. It’s a nod to how much the film owes to Lovecraft, who set his stories in a world filled with lost civilizations, colossal beings of unknowable age and unspeakable powers, and the couplings and resulting offspring of humans and beings from other worlds, all of which find their way into the film. Lovecraft’s influence is all over Aquaman.

_{"Aquaman Owes a Lot to H.P. Lovecraft. It’s Also His Worst Nightmare.", Keith Phipps for Slate, December 18, 2018}

O artigo continua explicando como um racista como Lovecraft teria odiado a glorificação do filme da "raça mista" de Arthur, à qual James Wan respondeu em um tweet :

I wrestled with this. How much was I willing to lean into this talented xenophobe. I realized I couldn’t make an AQM movie without acknowledging his influences on me. So I decided, “f*ck it, I’m gonna own it.” Have one of my characters quote his work. Which one? .....Black Manta

For all the reasons you pointed out in your article, AQUAMAN would’ve been the ultimate horror movie/story for Lovecraft. And I’m OK with that.

A citação em questão é dita por Black Manta antes de sua cena de "grande luta" na Sicília. O crédito vai para dudeseid no Reddit :

Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men.

Assim, no geral, parece que o livro Dunwich Horror não pretende apontar como criaturas Dunwich em si, mas sim um ovo de Páscoa de Lovecraft em geral / homenagem.

"Mas não. Aquaman era visualmente muito bonito e um bom filme, mas não havia horror Lovecraftiano que eu pudesse discernir."

Bem, todo mundo tem sua opinião, mas CBR , discorda strongmente de você.

Early in the film, during the prologue showing the relationship between Arthur Curry's parents (Thomas and the Atlantean queen Atlanna), a copy of the book The Dunwich Horror and Others can be seen in the Curry home, as the couple fall in love while Atlanna recovers from an injury endured during her escape from Atlantis.

The classic short story collection by Lovecraft contains the 1931 novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth, which is perhaps the most direct inspiration to the Aquaman mythos itself. The story largely takes place in a remote coastal town in New England where the locals interbreed with a race of aquatic beings known as The Deep Ones. The narrator discovers he is a product of the hybridized breeding, and accepts his fate and heritage underneath the seas.

Arthur Curry, the eponymous DC superhero, himself is the product of a similar cross-species relationship between humans and Atlanteans making him one of the most prominent biracial heroes in the DC Universe. But whereas Lovecraft's tale was a cautionary tale against interracial relationships reflecting the author's own bigoted, xenophobic views, Aquaman fortunately presents biracialism as a definite strength; while its hero does not fit in entirely with either culture initially, his mixed heritage makes him the true, logical choice to take the throne of Atlantis.

E tirado de uma interpretação de um usuário Reddit discutindo a influência de Lovecraft e o artigo do Slate (porque eu acho que está bem colocado),

The second - and more important, I believe - is that both are also stories about “half-breed” born to serve as a bridge between two worlds. In “The Dunwich Horror” this theme is done for horror; with “Aquaman,” this theme takes on a heroic twist.