betamax999
Member
I know. I really shouldn't be spending money on things like this, but they got my $129.
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Cosmic horror, and the fear of the unknown
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I know. I really shouldn't be spending money on things like this, but they got my $129.
Finished Uzumaki the other day. Liked it a lot and so did the wife.
Now to see the film next. Apparently it's not very good(?) but it seems to share some of the visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1_ZoQmqxM
Now to see the film next. Apparently it's not very good(?) but it seems to share some of the visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1_ZoQmqxM
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
i thought it would have worked better if
they didnt really show much.. just that first part of him screaming (before the head falls off and spins around like an 80s music video) and it just show him screaming in agony and terror going "It feels so good here. Come join us" instead of him screaming for help.
RoyaleDuke
Banned
House of Leaves is the worst novel I've ever read.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
As far as other manga that are Cosmic Horror or just Weird Fiction in general.
Hakaijuu starts out appearing as a normal sports manga, then an earthquake happens and monsters start appearing. Just look at the front cover on that link.
Kuro is a manga about a girl that meets a cat. Except the cat is an eldritch abomination and she doesn't realize it.
Fourteen is just fucking weird. It's set in the future where a chicken at a chicken manufacturing plant turns into a chicken-man mutant.
Higurashi is a VN/Anime/Manga. I don't know if I should even explain it since it gives away too much.
Hakaijuu starts out appearing as a normal sports manga, then an earthquake happens and monsters start appearing. Just look at the front cover on that link.
Kuro is a manga about a girl that meets a cat. Except the cat is an eldritch abomination and she doesn't realize it.
Fourteen is just fucking weird. It's set in the future where a chicken at a chicken manufacturing plant turns into a chicken-man mutant.
Higurashi is a VN/Anime/Manga. I don't know if I should even explain it since it gives away too much.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Finished The Deep this morning.
It was okay I guess, super easy read which was nice after House of Leaves.
What should I read next? I want something similar to that. Maybe I'll just peruse the thread again.
It was okay I guess, super easy read which was nice after House of Leaves.
What should I read next? I want something similar to that. Maybe I'll just peruse the thread again.
Lunarwhale
Member
The film's kind of miserable, but it's an enjoyable enough watch and has its own sense of charm. If nothing else, it hits a lot of "so bad it's good" notes here and there.
If you dig Ito's horror, check out some of his shorter manga stories sometime. Even the lesser ones tend to have something going for them, and there are some real gems. He can be a bit predictable at times, but I'm a sucker for his sense of pacing and dread.
Going to have to go through this thread. Need some weird fiction to read soon - especially novels/novellas.
Sheriff_Battlesnake
Banned
Also read:
Robert Chambers (King in Yellow)
Lord Dunsany (Gods of Pegans, Dreamers Tales)
Arthur Machen (The White People)
Robert E. Howard (Conan, in Cthulhu mythos)
Robert Chambers (King in Yellow)
Lord Dunsany (Gods of Pegans, Dreamers Tales)
Arthur Machen (The White People)
Robert E. Howard (Conan, in Cthulhu mythos)
I'm bummed this subset of horror is so restricted to book formatting it seems. There isn't enough film, TV, or game media that encompasses it.
I enjoy taking this kind of stuff in with my girlfriend and you can't really make book reading into a fun group activity, that and I'm not a big reader.
Anyone have any good visual medium suggestions?
Some of my favorites are Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth (the PC Game), BloodBorne, True Detective Season 1 (not a big element, but just enough to entice me and label it as such), Sunless Sea, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.
I see some people talking about The Mouth of Madness which I could check out but it seems a bit cheesy.
I watched The Void the other day which was good but was a bit too vague and had some slower boring moments in it.
I've also seen Event Horizon which was great, but got really cheesy with it's effects and ending.
I enjoy taking this kind of stuff in with my girlfriend and you can't really make book reading into a fun group activity, that and I'm not a big reader.
Anyone have any good visual medium suggestions?
Some of my favorites are Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth (the PC Game), BloodBorne, True Detective Season 1 (not a big element, but just enough to entice me and label it as such), Sunless Sea, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.
I see some people talking about The Mouth of Madness which I could check out but it seems a bit cheesy.
I watched The Void the other day which was good but was a bit too vague and had some slower boring moments in it.
I've also seen Event Horizon which was great, but got really cheesy with it's effects and ending.
Its quite possibly one of the best Lovecraftian movies ever made that wasn't directly based on his work. Its great.
FiveSix4Three
Member
Check out AM1200. Its a short film (~45 mins) but well done, imo.
Won some independent awards if I'm not mistaken.
nailbombxx
Member
Anyone who is a fan of Lovecraft needs to read Richard Gavin.
Richard Gavin - At Fear's Altar
Weird horror fiction often in the vein of Lovecraft but Gavin is unique in his stories usually are much more drawn to the occult, and for the most part detached from tired Lovecraftian tropes (except for the couple of tales that are directly related to Lovecraft's work!). Read this collection for "The Eldritch Faith", a ghost story that slowly descends into the weird and metaphysical.
Richard Gavin - At Fear's Altar
Weird horror fiction often in the vein of Lovecraft but Gavin is unique in his stories usually are much more drawn to the occult, and for the most part detached from tired Lovecraftian tropes (except for the couple of tales that are directly related to Lovecraft's work!). Read this collection for "The Eldritch Faith", a ghost story that slowly descends into the weird and metaphysical.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
Saya no Uta
bengraven
Member
Amneziak mentioned The Jaunt.
Back in the day King short stories haunted me so bad after I read them. I spent a lot of nights staring at the ceiling wondering if these horrors could exist.
The poor creature at the end of the Jaunt. The father at the end of the Boogeyman. The man left to die on the planet of living sand. The people after The Mist.
I miss that feeling. Now I just get that feeling of helplessness and mistrust from politics.
Back in the day King short stories haunted me so bad after I read them. I spent a lot of nights staring at the ceiling wondering if these horrors could exist.
The poor creature at the end of the Jaunt. The father at the end of the Boogeyman. The man left to die on the planet of living sand. The people after The Mist.
I miss that feeling. Now I just get that feeling of helplessness and mistrust from politics.
The Forbidden Files (les Documents Interdits) is pretty interesting. I wanted to include this in my first post of the thread but couldn't remember the name. I know I found out about it form a thread here, but the youtube playlist and corresponding videos seem to have disappeared. For those who don't know what it is, it's a set of found footage films that were made from 1986-1989. A few of the films fit the thread's theme very well.
Here's a few pages about it that were translated from French:
Wikipedia Article
Encyclopédie du Paranormal (page with descriptions of each film)
Also a random page with some descriptions and partial transcripts
I found a video uploaded of the entire thing. I'm not sure of the legality of it but can't seem to find anywhere to watch or buy the thing. I'll put a few timestamps for those who don't want to watch the whole video (it's around 1.5 hours). Anyway, here's a link to the entire thing.
Here's a few examples:
The Shipwreck
The Ghosts
The Ferguson Case
Here's a few pages about it that were translated from French:
Wikipedia Article
Encyclopédie du Paranormal (page with descriptions of each film)
Also a random page with some descriptions and partial transcripts
I found a video uploaded of the entire thing. I'm not sure of the legality of it but can't seem to find anywhere to watch or buy the thing. I'll put a few timestamps for those who don't want to watch the whole video (it's around 1.5 hours). Anyway, here's a link to the entire thing.
Here's a few examples:
The Shipwreck
The Ghosts
The Ferguson Case
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
In The Mouth of Madness is the gold standard modern cosmic horror movie imo. Theres some cheese but its a great horror movie. Move it to the head of your queue.
edit:
How could anyone watch this trailer and not just drop everything and watch the movie? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PFcOeM_Usk
"I Am the Doorway" is another pretty good one. I think it definitely qualifies as cosmic horror while also evoking the style of Ray Bradbury.
Secret Fawful
Member
Yes, especially since it originally was going to
have earth destroyed by higher beings.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
Was in cosmic horror mood after watching The Void. Stumbled upon this short on YouTube named Thresher: https://youtu.be/SqNdbHHWtBc
EdibleKnife
Member
Ooh I really liked that
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
Thats pretty good.
FaustsBoon
Member
Yikes... I almost always want to recommend the same, as i'm a fan of it as a piece of cosmic horror, BUT BUT BUT, I feel its always the recommender's responsibility to point out that this will get you on a government "watch list" in some countries.
Its narratively incredible, but its also porn/hentai at the very least, and some borderline pedo stuff at worst.
Worst, as in bad or scary?
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
im kind of surprised that there werent any fan created Sutter Cane novels. i love the covers for those books.
EdibleKnife
Member
im kind of surprised that there werent any fan created Sutter Cane novels. i love the covers for those books.
That KindleWorlds fanfiction initiiative would be fertile ground to create Sutter Cane stories
I'd guess he means bad. The book is aggressively polarising. The avant-garde narrative style and stories within stories create a very fractured experience for the reader. I think every fan of cosmic horror needs to read it, but while I personally found it fascinating, I couldn't honestly say it was enjoyable. For some people, that's going to translate to "bad book".
It's good. It's low budget and corny at times,but that helps with the atmosphere imo. I actually got into Junji Ito because of seeing the film randomly.
It's the definition of love it or hate it. It's not particularly fun or easy to read at times.
You know, it is kind of strange. I help run a horror group on facebook, and it is full of people whose literary opinions I respect, and they never mention House of Leaves, where it is mentioned here all the time.
I finally asked if anyone read it and it turns out nearly no one has. It's just strikes me as strange, these are people that live and breathe horror.
I need to get a copy and read it and break this trend.
I finally asked if anyone read it and it turns out nearly no one has. It's just strikes me as strange, these are people that live and breathe horror.
I need to get a copy and read it and break this trend.
Amibguous Cad
Member
I'm not a huge fan of the genre. It has a ... let's say problematic relationship to mental illness, for a start.
But I guess my real objection is that it feels like it gives a comfortingly inhuman gloss to the themes of cosmic insignificance. Stuff that's exciting when we're talking about squids from the deep, and just depressing when placed in a more mundane context. If you want an extended meditation on how little our value system means to the universe, Lovecraft's a cop-out. You should play That Dragon, Cancer instead.
But, eh, whatever makes you happy I suppose. Plus it kind of sort of gave us Perdido Street Station, so I can't be all mad at it.
But I guess my real objection is that it feels like it gives a comfortingly inhuman gloss to the themes of cosmic insignificance. Stuff that's exciting when we're talking about squids from the deep, and just depressing when placed in a more mundane context. If you want an extended meditation on how little our value system means to the universe, Lovecraft's a cop-out. You should play That Dragon, Cancer instead.
But, eh, whatever makes you happy I suppose. Plus it kind of sort of gave us Perdido Street Station, so I can't be all mad at it.
But why bother? Most Sutter Cane book titles reference specific Lovecraft stories.
The Whisperer in Darkness
The Haunter of the Dark/The Shadow out of Time
There Thing on the Doorstep
The Dunwich Horror
At the Mountains of Madness
I'm guessing the blurbs on the back and the other two book titles call Stephen King's work to mind, since Cane was essentially supposed to be inspired by King and Lovecraft. I'm not a fan of King's work, so I have no idea. But it's hard to create a new mythology and flesh out a world that only exists to reference other work.
That's not a criticism of the movie, by the way. Love In The Mouth of Madness.
Aske described it as "avant garde" a couple of posts up, and that's really the most fitting descriptor.
I never heard it talked about until someone offhandedly mentioned it once, and I picked it up on a whim because of their description. I too am surprised to see it talked about so often here because I feel like it's one of those books that nobody really knows about until they know about it- which doesn't make sense, but what I mean is that it has a reputation that you don't realize until it's on your radar.
Also, while it most practically fits into the horror category, i don't know if I would say that it strictly is representative of it. It's kind of like performance art in book form
I feel like that criticism can be leveled at any fiction involving magical realism.
I'm not sure what you mean by a "comforting, inhuman gloss", or why you consider Lovecraft a cop-out. The idea that humanity is insignificant on a cosmic level isn't especially new or controversial, and all Lovecraft does is create interesting yardsticks against which we can measure our species' impact on the universe to highlight how irrelevant we are in a slightly different way.
How About No
Member
Code:
[IMG]http://www11.onrpg.com/wp-content/gallery/Night-in-the-Woods/Night-in-the-Woods-Dusk.jpg[/IMG]Mae:
Know any ghost stories?
Bea:
Not off the top of my head
Mae:
Ok, what's scary?
Bea:
Uh
Things are like monumentally screwed right now
And no one in power gives a shit
Or they're actively making it worse
Out of spite or profit.
Mae:
Whoa geez!
I meant like a skeleton or something
---
Mae:
All the things you're afraid of are boring.
Bea:
The scariest stuff is like really really boring
Mae:
Oh my god Beatrice
(From Night in the Woods)
The layout of the pages in House of Leaves were very effective in giving extra depth to what the characters are experiencing. I get it isn't for everyone though. For Mark Z Danielewski's novels you have to be willing to work harder.
His new series is insanely ambitious. It is called The Familiar, with a planned 27 volumes (4 of which are out). It plays with the page and narrative even more so than HoL, but is very rewarding imo.
His new series is insanely ambitious. It is called The Familiar, with a planned 27 volumes (4 of which are out). It plays with the page and narrative even more so than HoL, but is very rewarding imo.
EdibleKnife
Member
Haven't read HoL yet, but might just pick up the first volume of The Familiar to see if I'm into it. Something in those 800 pages better justify 26 more books
He has likened it to the structure of a TV series. The book design to is really beautiful with quality binding, full colour, etc.. there is some really interesting concepts in The Familiar with some subtle ties to House of Leaves.
This link is for a short story of his which is tied to The Familiar as well.
http://tomabba.com/test/Clip4.pdf
Edit: also, due to the structure the 800 pages is more like 300.
betamax999
Member
I wish I had found it sooner so I could've gotten in on an early-bird special. I can't complain though, since it's still a really good price for what I get.
Yeah I got the $129 tier but I kind of wanted the next one up but it was already sold out. Oh well, the hardcover set and case look awesome. Maybe I can actually find Alan Moore to sign it one of these days. Or he spits in my face while going on a rant depending on his mood.
RoyaleDuke
Banned
As in it is a colossal piece of shit.
Spladam
Member
That movie freaked me out, it stayed with my head for a couple of weeks after watching it, really did a number on me.
That scene where they were explaining space sickness and the event where that captain ejected all the hibernating passengers into space to drift until death.... that got me.
Just finishing up Zero Dawn and it has some elements of Cosmic Horror to it.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
Agreed
.
Excellently said.
Bought House of Leaves because of this thread. About to dig in. Skimming through has me very excited. The formatting is really something.
I just started it myself after finishing Uzumaki (which was great.) I think it helps to know it's a bit odd in a narrative sense. Not far enough in to pass any judgement yet.
Baraka in the White House
2-Terms of Kombat
Started reading Dead Sea due to this thread. The writing is kind of eh but the concept is totally cosmic horror.
Rice-Eater
Member
I feel like the 90's Outer Limits TV show used this theme every other episode. I might be incorrect in my interpretation of cosmic horror so correct me if I'm wrong about that. But some episodes that stuck out to me was the one where this dude is a lone survivor after some kind of apocalyptic event and uses holograms of his family and beautiful women to keep him sane. Another was when aliens were attacking Earth and these 6 or 7 people were deep underground, all with the ability to press a button that would set off some mega bomb that would destroy Earth should humans lose to the alien threat.
But about the stories in this thread. One that really stuck out to me was "The Jaunt" by Stephen King. I never read it, I just heard about it on GAF one day and then read the summary on wikipedia. That summary alone sent chills through my spine and made me feel dread the thought of possibly going in through one of these portals awake and having nothing but my thoughts and imagination to keep me company for thousands if not maybe even billions of years.
I know their have been talks of making it into a movie a few years ago. I haven't seen any news about the adaption since but I hope it happens. I have no idea what kind of plot they could make out of it but I'm just so fascinated by the idea that I'm willing to watch. I'm sure it'll be some kind of rescue mission to save a loved one before he or she goes completely insane. Even if that's the case, I'm down.
But about the stories in this thread. One that really stuck out to me was "The Jaunt" by Stephen King. I never read it, I just heard about it on GAF one day and then read the summary on wikipedia. That summary alone sent chills through my spine and made me feel dread the thought of possibly going in through one of these portals awake and having nothing but my thoughts and imagination to keep me company for thousands if not maybe even billions of years.
I know their have been talks of making it into a movie a few years ago. I haven't seen any news about the adaption since but I hope it happens. I have no idea what kind of plot they could make out of it but I'm just so fascinated by the idea that I'm willing to watch. I'm sure it'll be some kind of rescue mission to save a loved one before he or she goes completely insane. Even if that's the case, I'm down.
Tim Curran is probably my favorite horror author right now.
Check out Biohazard.
Messofanego
Banned
My contribution to this thread is I bought a bunch of Junjo Ito books including the new 2017 book Dissolving Classroom, so I'm ready to get shook.
Well, Uzumaki should be arriving at my house sometime today. There's so many other book recommendations too, but I already have a decently sized kindle backlog. Also, I kept seeing The Jaunt listed here and decided to look into it. It's in Skeleton Crew, which I've already read. I don't remember the story at all, but I guess I'll have to re-read it. Actually, I don't remember much from the collection. Considering it also contains The Mist, it's probably worth a purchase for anyone who's interested.
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