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Cosmic horror, and the fear of the unknown
- Thread starter More_Badass
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Are you saying that as in more recently, or in general?
If the former, than I agree.
If the latter, I ask why you feel there's no good cosmic horror films?
I'd argue because of how intimately tied to one mans personal issues the world of Silent Hill happens to be makes it not cosmic horror in a sense though other elements are there. Generally cosmic horror means the universe is far far far larger than the characters know it to be and it it is often totally unconcerned or even aware of humanity. We're less than amoeba's to them taking up a moment's time on a speck of dust in the void. It could go the other way though, depends on how you look on it and even Lovecraft had the alien and greater beings out there give a shit about humanity from time to time even if it was to set us up to be eaten.
Hmm, I guess that's true.
Androidsleeps
Member
Can someone give us a list of the best/must-watch cosmic horror movies?
I didnt enjoy Mouth of Madness nor the Re-Animator. The Void seems like a b movie.
I didnt enjoy Mouth of Madness nor the Re-Animator. The Void seems like a b movie.
fierrotlepou
Member
Cosmic horror is the best kind of horror. We definitely need more horror movies that deal with this. I can almost imagine what a movie like that would be like. Oh if only.
Megalosaro
Banned
In the mouth of madness is my favorite cosmic horror movie. So good.
Androidsleeps
Member
Here's hoping this year's Annihilation is good.
More_Badass
Member
I'd argue The Shining is one, due to the warped design of the hotel and the hotel itself seemingly being a kind of malicious entity
The new Blair Witch edges into that territory
Event Horizon
The Mist
Ex Machina director
I have high hopes
mcz117chief
Member
???
Uzumaki has a happy ending. A lot of his stories have a out-of-the-blue twists that turn the whole thing upside down and make something completely bleak have a happy ending. Uzumaki, Gyo and Hellstar Remina all have happy endings that come out of nowhere.
brandonh83
Banned
Bloodborne is a great game across the board, but its cosmic horror influence is what propelled it into my top ten games of all time. Shit is just so cool and hadn't really been done in a game like that, at least to that level.
Based on the book it will be a meandering mess with characters acting incomprehensible just because unless they change large parts of it.
More_Badass
Member
I wouldn't be surprised if they do.
TheRedSnifit
Member
I think Lovecraft's The Color Out of Space is the definitive cosmic horror story. Nothing else I've read, watched, or played has come close.
NeonZ
Member
How does Uzumaki have a happy ending?
Because only the city was destroyed by the ruins/curse in the end? Even the last story ends with the protagonists basically dying.
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
Cosmic Horror can even make a rabbit creepy as fuck as per Lovecrafts description of the bunny who was hopping just bit too unnaturally in distance in "The Color out of Space" 🐇 the subtleness of fixating on a small detail that points to the existence of a greater danger. That fear is kindled by the readers own imagination.
Event Horizon is quintessential cinema cosmic horror, as cheesy as it was. Our concept of what Hell is but instead of being down below, its somewhere out there in the universe when you account for dimensions.
Event Horizon is quintessential cinema cosmic horror, as cheesy as it was. Our concept of what Hell is but instead of being down below, its somewhere out there in the universe when you account for dimensions.
A huge caveat was that he refused to give it the happy ending they wanted.
Love Cosmic Horror, if the Lovecraft avatar didn't give it away. It's probably the horror that resounds with me the most. It can be very versatile in scope and direction which is very appealing. It's the kind of horror that can get under your skin because, to me at least, it reflects the current situation we are currently in. Life has no real meaning apart from what we assign to it and the planet is just a rock floating in the void. I'm suprised more people don't lose their shit thinking about it because it scares the hell out of me.
I love Ito's work. His style captures cosmic/body horror perfectly.
Funnily enough I've never read anything by Stephen King. Any recommend me his most Cosmic/Lovecraftian work?
mcz117chief
Member
Because the protagonists re-unite and turn into stone in loving embrace, Kirie even finds her parents also in a loving embrace. It isn't a classic happy ending, but they are all happy in the end.
Patrick S.
Banned
Two of my favourite horror movies are "Lifeforce" and "Retroactive". Please check them out 
Agreed. Besides seeming eerily prescient about the effects of
radiation and fallout
The thing that really attracts me about cosmic horror is the awe it conveys, more so than the horror, I guess they go hand in hand, my favorite​ Lovecraft story is without a doubt at the Mountains of Madness, but I wouldn't say is the most scary, that would be the Shadow over Innsmouth for me because cults are just disturbing.
It takes a lot to scare me now. I am far too curious too be afraid anymore.
If the ever was a cosmic horror I'd be the guy who lives a double life as a perfectly normal human but then secretly controls the crazy cult.
c-fhtagn. c-lw'nafh.
Edit: There's a short story you might like called In The Winter Dark.
If the ever was a cosmic horror I'd be the guy who lives a double life as a perfectly normal human but then secretly controls the crazy cult.
c-fhtagn. c-lw'nafh.
Edit: There's a short story you might like called In The Winter Dark.
Vandermeer categorizes as weird, not as codmic horror. That said, annihalation plays with the same fears so I will give a nod to the recommendation.
For a different than normal Lovecraftian take try "Hinterlands" short story by William Gibson.
It expertly invokes fear of the unknown in a plausible fashion.
Also props to call out for 2001 earlier: in many sequences the combination of eerie music and visual scope perfectly evokes similar sensation. Best experienced in 70mm projection.
It expertly invokes fear of the unknown in a plausible fashion.
Also props to call out for 2001 earlier: in many sequences the combination of eerie music and visual scope perfectly evokes similar sensation. Best experienced in 70mm projection.
Bulletzen72
Gold Member
I'm quite partial to The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967) as an earlier films that delves into cosmic/body horror.
Kill List is, I think, a great film. Some bounce off it hard though. Whether it's in cosmic horror territory or just one inspired by Lovecraftian narratives is up to the viewer. Deals with themes related to very human machinations overall, yet ones which see a force pushing people into madness so as to harvest the results. Enough is left unsaid that I personally think it can be placed into a general cosmic wtf reading. In any case, it's absolutely a story which takes Lovecraft's wider intersocietal themes and confidently runs with them.
For a more general recommendation, do look out for AM1200, a short film that leans more strictly into cosmic horror. I'm not sure about the initial protagonist's set-up but then the meat of the film is great.
For a more general recommendation, do look out for AM1200, a short film that leans more strictly into cosmic horror. I'm not sure about the initial protagonist's set-up but then the meat of the film is great.
Probably, yeah. I figure she encounters alien life in an impossible geometry and freaks out trying to comprehend unknowable things, so it plays.
ME1's handling of cosmic horror was complete ass let alone compared to the Derelict Reaper with the video logs.
SuperStiltzkin
Member
Hellstar Remina
is not a happy ending. They are floating around in the void of space after a giant Lovecraft planet slurped up Earth. Finite supplies. Maybe more Remina will swallow them too. Maybe there's more Hellstars and Brethren Moons out there in the void. Uzumaki isn't a happy ending either. Little brother turned into a snail. Family dead. The couple gets to die together, but the curse lingers on and will repeat for eternity. Bittersweet? Maybe. Pyrrhic Victory? Absolutely. Happy? No.
More_Badass
Member
I think my favorite take are the spatial terrors. You know, where space and time and physics just don't work as intended. Places bigger within than without, closed loops that drive you insane from being forever lost, endless hallways, doors to nowhere, architecture shifting and changing when it shouldn't, maps and compasses not working, walking in a straight line and ending up where you started. Or maybe that place doesn't want to you to leave, that it might have malignant sentience
There's something about a thing as solid as a building or piece of land changing like that, that slow pit-in-your-stomach realization of being lost magnified exponentially
The French horror mini-series Beyond The Walls delves into that concept
There's something about a thing as solid as a building or piece of land changing like that, that slow pit-in-your-stomach realization of being lost magnified exponentially
The French horror mini-series Beyond The Walls delves into that concept
Nice, I finally got a brand of threads
Cosmic horror is probably my favorite type, even if I only have a few examples that I really love. I'm glad Uzumaki by Junji Ito is mentioned, specifically. It's such an extremely simple premise that is just perfect in every way.
ME1 ruined pretty much ruined it immediately when Sovereign was just a glorified talking head that gave you the Reaper's motivations at the first meeting.
ME1 ruined pretty much ruined it immediately when Sovereign was just a glorified talking head that gave you the Reaper's motivations at the first meeting.
Ichabod
Banned
How strange this topic pops up. I've recently started brainstorming/writing an anthology of short stories dabbling in cosmic horror with a twist of silent hill, David Lynch, and twilight zone for good measure. I've started making illustrations based off the story ideas I have too. CH is such a fascinating genre, I'll have to check out some of the examples listed and see if they stoke my creative fires.
I really don't like this idea of broadening the definition of cosmic horror to include all mysteries which can't be easily pigeonholed into established subgenres. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos stories are "cosmic" horror because they're UFO tales from before our culture defined the rules and clichés of science fiction. Those horrors came from a specific place (or at least direction).
"Weird fiction" is a better term for what you're talking about. It's a broad enough term to include cosmic horror and all the inexplicable supernatural stories which don't have anything to do with the cosmos.
"Weird fiction" is a better term for what you're talking about. It's a broad enough term to include cosmic horror and all the inexplicable supernatural stories which don't have anything to do with the cosmos.
Sadly the idea of an unknowable intelligence following unknowable rules wouldn't work in games as rules have to be encoded there and people could ultimately figure those out...
and lengthy stories/series tend to turn their force-of-nature antagonists into humanlike ones at some point. Every devouring swarm gets a human(like) face at some point to be relatable, can't have something be just a decentralized mass that strikes everywhere with no reasoning we know of. Even the Necrons got a society and hierarchy nowadays.
and lengthy stories/series tend to turn their force-of-nature antagonists into humanlike ones at some point. Every devouring swarm gets a human(like) face at some point to be relatable, can't have something be just a decentralized mass that strikes everywhere with no reasoning we know of. Even the Necrons got a society and hierarchy nowadays.
I think my favorite take are the spatial terrors. You know, where space and time and physics just don't work as intended. Places bigger within than without, closed loops that drive you insane from being forever lost, endless hallways, doors to nowhere, architecture shifting and changing when it shouldn't, maps and compasses not working, walking in a straight line and ending up where you started. Or maybe that place doesn't want to you to leave, that it might have malignant sentience
There's something about a thing as solid as a building or piece of land changing like that, that slow pit-in-your-stomach realization of being lost magnified exponentially
The French horror mini-series Beyond The Walls delves into that concept
Nice, I finally got a brand of threads
No, you have two. Every time there is a new indie game thread 9 out of 10 times its you :3
Not gonna say you're wrong, but we have a different definition of a happy ending.
Gonna agree on the loving embrace part, though.
cosmic horror is the realization of our immensely small understanding of the rules of space and time around us. it is an extremely difficult thought to convey in a movie. but however in Pandorum:
it is the best realization of the concept in a movie ever, IMO.
when they open the windows and they see no stars and the date keeps clicking up, and you wonder just how LONG and how far they must have drifted
More_Badass
Member
It's been like that a while though. Weird fiction is usually reserved for stuff like China Mieville's works
Pretty much anything that explores unknown/unexplainable horrors, usually related to eldritch beings or realities, is usually described as "cosmic horror", since it's an extension of that unknowable quality that formed the basis of Lovecraft's stories
I thought that movie was pretty crappy to be honest.
Some interesting creature effects work couldn't save it from the awful acting.
Rygar 8 Bit
Jaguar 64-bit
I think my favorite take are the spatial terrors. You know, where space and time and physics just don't work as intended. Places bigger within than without, closed loops that drive you insane from being forever lost, endless hallways, doors to nowhere, architecture shifting and changing when it shouldn't, maps and compasses not working, walking in a straight line and ending up where you started. Or maybe that place doesn't want to you to leave, that it might have malignant sentience
There's something about a thing as solid as a building or piece of land changing like that, that slow pit-in-your-stomach realization of being lost magnified exponentially
The French horror mini-series Beyond The Walls delves into that concept
Nice, I finally got a brand of threads
spatial anomalies are great always love when my rollercoaster slips in and out of our reality http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-112
and i really really like the tower from the new series http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3333
mcz117chief
Member
The fact itself that they miraculously survive is crazy enough, then they say they have enough supplies for a year so plenty of time for another miracle, they then laugh it out and just end it there. It isn't a classic american happy ending, but the protagonists survive and are somewhat satisfied with the results. Considering all the possible endings the story could have had, this is definitely among the happier ones. It literally could have ended with everyone dying but Ito instead decide to make this amazingly hilarious deus ex machina.
The characters are happy at the end, I don't know what a happy ending is besides people being content with the way their adventure ended. Of course they didn't get magically rescued to become millionaires living in the Bahamas but they did die happy.
Hanging Balloons is a story that doesn't have a happy ending, for example, but it is still a hilarious story.To me most of Ito's work is more comedy than horror, I definitely laugh more than I am afraid, but there is some pretty disturbing imagery from time to time.
More_Badass
Member
Oh, and yeah, SCP is amazing. Easily one of my favorite sci-fi/horror anythings in recent years.
If you like the concept, check out The Breach trilogy by Patrick Lee. They're action thrillers, focused around a similar organization that collects and studies artifacts that come from...somewhere, each one imbued with otherworldly properties.
Rygar 8 Bit
Jaguar 64-bit
never heard of that will have to check it out
I've loved this genre for ages. Lovecraft made me appreciate the English language in ways school never did. That said, I really came here to post this:
https://youtu.be/axMbZ7eGHoA
One of the best shorts about cosmic horror I've ever seen.
https://youtu.be/axMbZ7eGHoA
One of the best shorts about cosmic horror I've ever seen.
I wish more movies and TV shows embraced cosmic horror. It's such a deep, untapped genre (subgenre) that Lovecraft really took to another level (was it a thing before H.P.L?). I wonder if it's just because the complexity of a lot of Cosmic Horror stories are just that -- too complex for casual audiences? I feel like the Dead Space series of games touched on Cosmic horror at times but it never really embraced it, Bloodborne was the first game that really did that imo; which I adore.
I still get upset thinking about that the At The Mountains Of Madness movie that was going to be made, Del Toro could have nailed it.
I still get upset thinking about that the At The Mountains Of Madness movie that was going to be made, Del Toro could have nailed it.
mcz117chief
Member
If you guys like cosmic horror then watch this
Laokoon (1970)
A short, CZECH, animated movie in the traditional czech style. Made by Václav Mergl, who is one of the greatest animators ever (also watch his "crabs" movie), a story very reminiscent of The Thing.
Someone in the comments provided the translation:
1:17 - In the universe there is a plenty of planets, plenty of forms, plenty of living entities, plenty of touching, hissing, flickering, stirring, blinking, bleating, lashing, waiting, watching and lurking, digesting, penetrating, clutching, restraining, plenty, plenty, plenty of living entities. Many are stronger, bigger, much more fierce than me, and yet I, me and my kind, rule all the creatures I've encountered upon millions of worlds. We have been here longer than most of this star cluster, and we will be here until we seize all the worlds, until we control every tremble and shiver of life. For we, astral amoebae of the scarlet planet in the Zr constellation, control all the hidden desires of all creatures, and we forge our goals in bright fire of their minds.
2:47 - Open all pores - long-range survey - engage receptors - amplify hearing. Unknown sound, unknown sound, unknown sound, unknown sound. Stench of metal. Round object, unknown object, flying object, metal object. Unknown entities, sentient beings, weak and upright, temporary, mortal.
4:13 - They are small, they are fragile, they are alive, they are soft, they are weak, they are cruel, they are great, they are hollow. They love stones shiny stones glittery stones dead and gleaming. They are greedy greedy greedy. Ready weapons - prepare seeding - camouflage - infiltrate - analyse the machinery - control their thoughts - deceive - infest - obfuscate - subjugate.
8:56 - Sprouts and kinks, hooks and claws, suction cups, tendrils, spikes and stems, feelers, mandibles, palpi, tentacles - grasp and squish, ensnare, pull down, kill. Taste of fists, taste of eye sockets, taste of bones, taste of food, taste of food, taste of food...
Laokoon (1970)
A short, CZECH, animated movie in the traditional czech style. Made by Václav Mergl, who is one of the greatest animators ever (also watch his "crabs" movie), a story very reminiscent of The Thing.
Someone in the comments provided the translation:
1:17 - In the universe there is a plenty of planets, plenty of forms, plenty of living entities, plenty of touching, hissing, flickering, stirring, blinking, bleating, lashing, waiting, watching and lurking, digesting, penetrating, clutching, restraining, plenty, plenty, plenty of living entities. Many are stronger, bigger, much more fierce than me, and yet I, me and my kind, rule all the creatures I've encountered upon millions of worlds. We have been here longer than most of this star cluster, and we will be here until we seize all the worlds, until we control every tremble and shiver of life. For we, astral amoebae of the scarlet planet in the Zr constellation, control all the hidden desires of all creatures, and we forge our goals in bright fire of their minds.
2:47 - Open all pores - long-range survey - engage receptors - amplify hearing. Unknown sound, unknown sound, unknown sound, unknown sound. Stench of metal. Round object, unknown object, flying object, metal object. Unknown entities, sentient beings, weak and upright, temporary, mortal.
4:13 - They are small, they are fragile, they are alive, they are soft, they are weak, they are cruel, they are great, they are hollow. They love stones shiny stones glittery stones dead and gleaming. They are greedy greedy greedy. Ready weapons - prepare seeding - camouflage - infiltrate - analyse the machinery - control their thoughts - deceive - infest - obfuscate - subjugate.
8:56 - Sprouts and kinks, hooks and claws, suction cups, tendrils, spikes and stems, feelers, mandibles, palpi, tentacles - grasp and squish, ensnare, pull down, kill. Taste of fists, taste of eye sockets, taste of bones, taste of food, taste of food, taste of food...
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