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[GhaleonEB]

I think the adaptation is better than the novella, mainly because of the ending. Probably one of the most affecting movie endings I've ever seen, also the reveal of that

Spoiler

giant monster

was astonishing.

I hated it because it robbed the story of its ambiguity. The novella leaves the following unaddressed:

Spoiler

What happened to the protag's wife (a down tree blocks them from getting to her); what happened to the woman who left the store early on, once the mist shows up (she's with the military at the end), and, worst of all, whether the mist took over the world, or will ever leave. In the book they never get out and don't know where the end is. In the film it's shown dissipating as the army rolls in. They also amplify the explanation of how the mist came to be, from rumors to a character spelling it out.

In robbing the film of of the open-ended nature of the story, they also robbed it of one of the main reasons I loved it. Not everything needs a bow put on it.

At any rate, I just watched The Void, which I wrote about in the thread. Clearly falls into the cosmic horror space, though the execution of the story is pretty poor. It did make me want to go back and re-watch From Beyond, though.

 

[Anung]

From Beyond is the best.

 

[More_Badass]

I hated it because it robbed the story of its ambiguity. The novella leaves the following unaddressed:

Spoiler

What happened to the protag's wife (a down tree blocks them from getting to her); what happened to the woman who left the store early on, once the mist shows up (she's with the military at the end), and, worst of all, whether the mist took over the world, or will ever leave. In the book they never get out and don't know where the end is. In the film it's shown dissipating as the army rolls in. They also amplify the explanation of how the mist came to be, from rumors to a character spelling it out.

In robbing the film of of the open-ended nature of the story, they also robbed it of one of the main reasons I loved it. Not everything needs a bow put on it.

Spoiler

The military literally burning the mist away did feel pretty anticlimatic IMO

 

[muntersaur]

The interesting thing is that one of reasons horror is popular is that a lot of people feel completely opposite to you. Horror is exagarated, and fear in it helps to deal with much more ordinary real-life fears like the one you describe, because the horror has shown you it could be a lot worse.

I am similar to creepy in the sense that horror fiction does nothing to allay my own personal more mundane fears. Seeing a normal fist-fight on the street scares me more than any fiction possibly could. In fact, horror fiction does not scare me precisely because I know it is not real; however, I am drawn to it because I am fascinated by exploration of the surreal, fantastic, grotesque, abject, taboo and so on in a completely fictional environment.

 

[Blue Ninja]

I'm not a big fan of regular horror, but dealing with a larger-than-life, incomprehensible eldritch abomination? Sign me the fuck up. Subbed.

I need to pick me up some of the book recommendations in this thread.

 

[God Enel]

Don't know if Tim Currans Dead Sea fits cosmic horror or not.

But for me it was a really nice book about a ship crew that somehow stranded in another dimension and has to deal with some tough shit. It reminded me of the mist by Stephen king. Are there any books out there that are kind of similar.

 

[MrMysterio]

Love the OP - and all the replies.

I found Don DeLillo's novel White Noise to deal with cosmic horror in a, uh, very domestic way.

No monsters in there, but an experimental drug that soothes the terror of death, a hospital run by German nuns, who do not believe in god, and an airborne toxic event.

 

[i-Lo]

Would the game franchise S.T.A.L.K.E.R. be considered to contain bits and pieces of cosmic horror?

 

[Dascu]

Cross-posting from the Horror Fiction OT:

After first hearing about it in another horror fiction thread, I picked up, read and thoroughly enjoyed John Langan's The Fisherman. It feels like a great combination between a Stephen King (contemporary setting, personal loss) while merging it with HP Lovecraft (the awe-inspiring eldritch gods that lurk beyond reality).

I also urgently want a TV adaptation with Mads Mikkelsen in the role of Rainer.

 

[Christine]

Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette have done several short stories that mix Lewis Carrol with Lovecraft into a disconcerting cosmic horror space opera setting. They are called "Boojum", "Mongoose" and "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward", and they're wonderfully creepy and bizarre, I highly recommend them.

 

[pitchfork]

Cross-posting from the Horror Fiction OT:

Read this last year and absolutely loved it!

In upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman’s Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true. When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other’s company and a shared passion for fishing, hear rumors of the Creek, and what might be found there, the remedy to both their losses, they dismiss it as just another fish story. Soon, though, the men find themselves drawn into a tale as deep and old as the Reservoir. It’s a tale of dark pacts, of long-buried secrets, and of a mysterious figure known as Der Fisher: the Fisherman. It will bring Abe and Dan face to face with all that they have lost, and with the price they must pay to regain it.

 

[Luminaire]

Would I lose anything by listening to the audiobook of House of Leaves?

Edit: Mistook it for House of Blue Leaves on audible. I'll grab the book.

 

[Horseticuffs]

Would I lose anything by listening to the audiobook of House of Leaves?

Edit: Mistook it for House of Blue Leaves on audible. I'll grab the book.

I don't think they've ever done an audiobook of House of leaves. Truthfully, I struggle to think how it might be done.

 

[Luminaire]

I don't think they've ever done an audiobook of House of leaves. Truthfully, I struggle to think how it might be done.

I heard there was some meta stuff with the book so I'll just go with that.

 

[Wollan]

Not that I would totally consider Alien "cosmic horror," that movie remains my favorite horror movie just due to the fact that space is so vast and confusing that you can never know what to find, and to see a horrific monster trapped on a spacecraft with you is quite frankly terrifying.

If we look at Alien in a vacuum (away from 'bug like' focus of sequels and Prometheus) then it for sure has a lot of those great qualities.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Would the game franchise S.T.A.L.K.E.R. be considered to contain bits and pieces of cosmic horror?

I'm not sure--it's been a while since I played those games and delved into the mythos.

The short story that inspired the movie and games, Roadside Picnic, definitely has elements of cosmic horror, though it's one of several themes and isn't what the book is "about" necessarily. But, check the inspiration for the title (excerpt from the book):

The name of the novel derives from an analogy proposed by the character Dr. Valentine Pilman who compares the extraterrestrial event to a picnic:

A picnic. Picture a forest, a country road, a meadow. Cars drive off the country road into the meadow, a group of young people get out carrying bottles, baskets of food, transistor radios, and cameras. They light fires, pitch tents, turn on the music. In the morning they leave. The animals, birds, and insects that watched in horror through the long night creep out from their hiding places. And what do they see? Old spark plugs and old filters strewn around... Rags, burnt-out bulbs, and a monkey wrench left behind... And of course, the usual mess—apple cores, candy wrappers, charred remains of the campfire, cans, bottles, somebody's handkerchief, somebody's penknife, torn newspapers, coins, faded flowers picked in another meadow.[2]

In this analogy, the nervous animals are the humans who venture forth after the Visitors left, discovering items and anomalies that are ordinary to those who discarded them, but incomprehensible or deadly to those who find them.

This is a scientist talking with a friend/government official about the Zones and the possibility of alien visitation. The friend believes that it *has* to mean something, they picked us for a reason, they gave us this wonderful technology, etc.

But--he denies that. Earth is just a rest stop in the universe, something so insignificant that alien trash is deemed to be valuable artifacts to us.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Is Uzumaki doing mainly cosmic horror? Heard first aböut him when I did some reaserch around Bloodborne, the Fishers Hemlet seems very influenced by him, next to the obivious influence from that little writer from new england.

 

[CHC]

I love audiobooks and think that in many cases they are as good as (or better than reading). But House of Leaves in entirely ABOUT the text in a meta sense. There's no way whatsoever it would work, the text is rife with footnotes and shifts in font, spacing and size that convey the narrative as much as the words themselves. Definitely just read it (even if an audiobook exists, which I'm not even sure about to begin with).

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

I'll throw my recommendation at House of Leaves, though it certainly didn't have the effect on me that it has had on others. Still, it's a wickedly strange book with an awesome premise, and it's well worth a read.

 

[EmSeta]

Is Uzumaki doing mainly cosmic horror? Heard first aböut him when I did some reaserch around Bloodborne, the Fishers Hemlet seems very influenced by him, next to the obivious influence from that little writer from new england.

Junji Ito is the artist, Uzimaki is his most famous story. He does all kinds of short horror stories, and most of them are fantastic.

Though I don't know if the Hamlet really reminded me of Ito. It seemed to me like a love letter to Lovecraft's Innsmouth..

 

[Gattsu25]

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.

Was going to recommend this.

AM1200 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ol-m58Dt4

 

[Anung]

I love audiobooks and think that in many cases they are as good as (or better than reading). But House of Leaves in entirely ABOUT the text in a meta sense. There's no way whatsoever it would work, the text is rife with footnotes and shifts in font, spacing and size that convey the narrative as much as the words themselves. Definitely just read it (even if an audiobook exists, which I'm not even sure about to begin with).

What's the best version of House of Leaves to get? I've heard of it but never actually read it.

 

[Ichabod]

Was going to recommend this.

AM1200 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ol-m58Dt4

This looks fascinating. Is there any place online to watch it in HD?

 

[-Mikey-]

AM1200 is around 40-50 minutes if I remember correctly. It hits the mark with what it's going for and doesn't feel like it overstays its welcome. Guess I'm trying to say that I recommend it!

 

[Handsomejan]

This looks fascinating. Is there any place online to watch it in HD?

Hey mate, just stumbled upon this shortfilm through this thread and it is awesome!
You can watch it in HD on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/102372269

 

[Berto]

I highly recommend Zulawski's Possession for a really bizarre Lovecraft tinged movie. Sam Neill loves his Lovecraftian roles it seems. It's bloody brilliant although really hard to categorise.

Saw it for the first time a few years ago and hated it, however it got stuck in my head for the following weeks, almost obsessivly. I just couldnt stop thinking about it. Its now one of my favourite horror movies.

 

[Hilbert]

You guys should read The Rim of Morning

http://a.co/14ORDOM

 

[Ichabod]

Hey mate, just stumbled upon this shortfilm through this thread and it is awesome!
You can watch it in HD on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/102372269

Thanks, amigo! Cheers!

 

[Gattsu25]

This looks fascinating. Is there any place online to watch it in HD?

As far as I know the only way to watch this is by ordering the DVD from their website: http://www.am1200.com/


It's a short, yet fun, watch.

 

[Hilbert]

I highly highly recommend The Void, by Talley: http://a.co/ev7acOz

It does an incredible job of setting up space as being ancient and alien, while dabbling in things that lie beyond our space.

Read it, love it.

 

[BobJustBob]

The Laundry Files series by Charles Stross is all about cosmic horror, in a universe where sufficiently advanced mathematics can destroy reality. I've only read the first book, The Atrocity Archives, which has some wild tonal swings but also some genuinely disturbing imagery at times.

 

[Hilbert]

Kealan Patrick Burke's short novella, Sour Candy is an unnerving story about someone that comes into contact with something big and strange and I really recommend it.

http://a.co/1hz2AhI

 

[Hilbert]

After literally thousands of horror novels, it takes a lot for a book to get under my skin, but this book, Jesus Christ.

It is a deeply personal story that slowly builds into something cosmic and horrible, all while being one of the most frightening and unsettling stories I have ever read.

I am talking about Fragile Dreams, by Philip Fracassi
http://a.co/1fsVE62

Also recommend Mother, by the same author.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

I wrote a thing about an elder being college archeology professor extrapolating the horrors of the human race based on writings found on the remnants of a bathroom stall found in the ruins of a 21st century rest stop.

It's one of the only things I've ever written that I liked.

 

[JasonUresti]

I'm really enjoying this the only bad thing is waiting for the hardcovers to actually come out over here.

His original Lovecraftian comic Neonomicon is really good. It brings a lot of the sexually repressed side of Lovecrafts work to the forefront...with disturbing results.

You and Moore have done a terrible misreading if you think Lovecraft's work is sexually repressed.

 

[More_Badass]

I highly highly recommend The Void, by Talley: http://a.co/ev7acOz

It does an incredible job of setting up space as being ancient and alien, while dabbling in things that lie beyond our space.

Read it, love it.

After literally thousands of horror novels, it takes a lot for a book to get under my skin, but this book, Jesus Christ.

It is a deeply personal story that slowly builds into something cosmic and horrible, all while being one of the most frightening and unsettling stories I have ever read.

I am talking about Fragile Dreams, by Philip Fracassi
http://a.co/1fsVE62

Also recommend Mother, by the same author.

I like your tastes

 

[kingofrod]

After literally thousands of horror novels, it takes a lot for a book to get under my skin, but this book, Jesus Christ.

It is a deeply personal story that slowly builds into something cosmic and horrible, all while being one of the most frightening and unsettling stories I have ever read.

I am talking about Fragile Dreams, by Philip Fracassi
http://a.co/1fsVE62

Also recommend Mother, by the same author.

Never heard of this fellow, but I'm in!

 

[Tremis]

Not sure if this counts as cosmic horror but I just recently read Stephen King's short story The Jaunt. It definitely has a Twilight Zone-ish feel to it.

It has just been fucking with me since I read it. It really tapped into my fear as a father that one of my kids could do something stupid because they were curious and didn't understand the consequences.

That story also fucked with me.

 

[Hilbert]

I like your tastes

I don't know much, but I know my written horror fiction!

 

[More_Badass]

Not sure if this counts as cosmic horror but I just recently read Stephen King's short story The Jaunt. It definitely has a Twilight Zone-ish feel to it.

It has just been fucking with me since I read it. It really tapped into my fear as a father that one of my kids could do something stupid because they were curious and didn't understand the consequences.

Oh man, I forgot about that one. That was disturbing. The awesome sci-fi podcast Sayer has an episode that explores a similar concept from a different perspective

 

[Secret Fawful]

Not sure if this counts as cosmic horror but I just recently read Stephen King's short story The Jaunt.

Stupid kids not putting on their seatbelts.

I recently got House of Leaves for my birthday, and I'm about thirty pages into it. I'm extremely excited. I've heard about it since I was a young teen, and wanted to read it for years.

It hasn't really scared me so far or unsettled me much, but it is a lot of fun.

One part unintentionally had the opposite intended effect on me, where I was supposed to retrace every element of the anxiety and fear a character felt down to controlling my eye movement and breathing, and I followed it every step of the way, keeping the context in my mind, but instead of raising my tension it calmed me down. I found that kind of interesting.

 

[Luminaire]

Hey mate, just stumbled upon this shortfilm through this thread and it is awesome!
You can watch it in HD on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/102372269

Just got done watching this. Pretty good.

My only complaint:
Spoiler for the end -

Spoiler

the human-ness of the creature in the well. I wanted something more...incomprehensible.

 

[Aske]

You and Moore have done a terrible misreading if you think Lovecraft's work is sexually repressed.

Many people feel that Lovecraft's work is steeped in sexual repression, but it all involves a lot of Freudian psychoanalysis that's entirely speculative. I'm convinced he was simply asexual, and only concerned with sex in its role as an intrinsic biological facet of procreation.

He wasn't interested in sex as a tool for social bonding, because despite having plenty of friends, he didn't find human relationships especially interesting as a topic; and he considered literary expressions of eroticism to be almost gauche. He was all about Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard's work, and certainly didn't shy away from material with erotic content. He just comes off in his letters as having as much interest in eroticism as others might have in reading fiction that discussed bowel movements. He didn't find it obscene, just irrelevant and needlessly explicit.

One can certainly read some puritanical anti-sex sentiments into stories like The Dunwich Horror, but from what I've read by and about Lovecraft, I interpret this as the distaste of an asexual man for an act with no appeal, rather than imagery representative of an unhealthily repressed libido.

 

[More_Badass]

Started listening to the HP Lovecraft Podcast, and it's really good. Not only do they have key sections of each story discussed read by good voice actors, they explore the historical and biographical context behind each story. After going through all of Lovecraft's stuff, they expand into fiction inspired by his works and works that inspired him.

 

[Luminaire]

Started listening to the HP Lovecraft Podcast, and it's really good. Not only do they have key sections of each story discussed read by good voice actors, they explore the historical and biographical context behind each story. After going through all of Lovecraft's stuff, they expand into fiction inspired by his works and works that inspired him.

Oh my, you're in for a damn treat. They have some great guests too. Andrew (Liemon?) is a wonderful reader. What's great is that you're playing catch-up, so there's no real wait for the full reading ransoms they ran (their words.) My only complaint about the podcast is that it went paid/sub after they were done with Lovecrafts stuff. It's not the money, it's that it was every 3rd or 4th episode was free, so it felt really disconnected and disjointed. Maybe I'll get around to tossing them some money for the other stuff, as I'd like to expand my horizons.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Should I listen to that podcast on order or does it not matter? Not sure if they build from previous episodes or not.

 

[Luminaire]

Should I listen to that podcast on order or does it not matter? Not sure if they build from previous episodes or not.

I'd recommend starting from the beginning and going in order so you can see how the show evolves and how Lovecrafts writing evolves. Some stories exist in the same universe or contain events of other stories.

 

[piratepwnsninja]

This thread has really made me want to resurrect an indie game project I was working on at one point. Gah.

 

[Valkerionseven]

I really like the ideas of cosmic horror without ever really delving into it really. I just love games and stories whose universes "just are." this way no outside interference or logical explanation to be found.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Junji Ito is the artist, Uzimaki is his most famous story. He does all kinds of short horror stories, and most of them are fantastic.

Though I don't know if the Hamlet really reminded me of Ito. It seemed to me like a love letter to Lovecraft's Innsmouth..

I had the same feeling but there were a couple of lore explanations that pointed The Thing that lay ashore or whats the name of that story is out. No idea who correct this is.