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Cosmic horror, and the fear of the unknown

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takriel

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


Nice, I finally got a brand of threads :p
Have you seen Dead End by chance?
 
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.
Wow, just looked a list of stories in that collections

The Mist, The Jaunt, Mrs Todd's Shortcut, The Raft, Beachworld, Survivor Type

That's a whole lot of quality
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Have you seen Dead End by chance?

Dead End is an odd movie for me, it does apply to what Badass is talking about but I'd say it's more done in a B-movie way than something deeper or even creepier.

But then despite that I actually liked Dead End, it could've been so much more, but Ray Wise's performance, a few scenes, the family on the road that both hates but loves each other and try to get along, and the mid-credits pull away from the lacklusterish ending, all made me kind of be fond of it. I basically would say it's a B-horror version of what Badass is talking about, but with a lack of scares but a lot of heart (as weird as that is to say about a horror movie).
 
Dead End is an odd movie for me, it does apply to what Badass is talking about but I'd say it's more done in a B-movie way than something deeper or even creepier.

But then despite that I actually liked Dead End, it could've been so much more, but Ray Wise's performance, a few scenes, the family on the road that both hates but loves each other and try to get along, and the mid-credits pull away from the lacklusterish ending, all made me kind of be fond of it. I basically would say it's a B-horror version of whay Badass is talking about, but with a lot of heart (as weird as that is to say about a horror movie).
Beyond The Walls is a creepy French miniseries that deals with that aspect, it's pretty good
 

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
Reading Langans "The Fisherman" as suggested. Dig it so far. Its really setting things up but there have been flashes of true blue good sense of creeping terror.
 
So I have the lovecraft complete Hardcover.

So far I've read:
The Colour out of Space
-probably my favorite so far
The Rats in the Walls
- as good as everyone says.
Ex Oblivione
-extremely effective 3 page story that stuck with me.
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
I've been going through all the Lovecraft stories and listening to Lovecraft literary podcast. The pod makes some of the crappier stories enjoyable. I had picked up the Necronomicon and Eldritch Tales books. Pretty comprehensive.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed 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)

NITW is a curious case. (SPOILERS)
It's kind of left ambiguous if there's really a monster, or if Mae's mental illness speaking, and was just exacerbated by a cult kidnapping people, or if there's really a end-of-the-world class monster under the town's closured mine.

Still, even if some people didn't like it, I kind of liked how mundane the game felt.
 

Switch Back 9

a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
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

I am also a huge fan of this. That TV show about the Amazon that came out shortly after Lost was pretty cool in this respect. It wasn't a great show, but the rivers changing paths and them basically being forever lost in this endless forest was pretty cool.
 

LaneDS

Member
About halfway through Uzumaki, and while I'm definitely enjoying it I am rarely scared by it. Unsettled, somewhat, but not scared. It also bothers me a bit how some absolutely crazy things are going on and some characters still question when something bizarre or spooky happens despite already having been through far worse. Minor gripe aside, it's been a fun read.
 
Watched Évolution (2015) last night http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4291590/

Very creepy and surreal Lovecraftian? art-house horror film.

Love this film. It's gorgeous, too.

CxfMWUdWIAQVeEP.jpg
 
I am also a huge fan of this. That TV show about the Amazon that came out shortly after Lost was pretty cool in this respect. It wasn't a great show, but the rivers changing paths and them basically being forever lost in this endless forest was pretty cool.
Check out the miniseries I mentioned earlier, it's currently only available on Shudder though. The main premise is basically exactly that, a non-euclidean structure that bends space and time, as the protagonists try to escape while avoiding those who have been lost so long they've become insane...things.
 

Luminaire

Member
About halfway through Uzumaki, and while I'm definitely enjoying it I am rarely scared by it. Unsettled, somewhat, but not scared. It also bothers me a bit how some absolutely crazy things are going on and some characters still question when something bizarre or spooky happens despite already having been through far worse. Minor gripe aside, it's been a fun read.
You'll know why they stick around soon enough.

EDIT: I have no idea why I misread this. I thought you were wondering why they don't leave the town. English is hard, or perhaps the spiral has me.

I think they just find it difficult to understand what is going on in the midst of it all.
 

Switch Back 9

a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Check out the miniseries I mentioned earlier, it's currently only available on Shudder though. The main premise is basically exactly that, a non-euclidean structure that bends space and time, as the protagonists try to escape while avoiding those who have been lost so long they've become insane...things.

Sounds a awesome
 
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.

C-t71fEWAAAmHPZ.jpg

C-t72mAXkAA6tYH.jpg

I literally bought all four of these yesterday. I have read Gyo, Uzumaki and Tomie already but those hardcover collections were too slick to pass by.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
What, you didn't realize that the creepy-ass fossilized organism merged with the...pilot seat? of that alien ship was just big pale humanoid in a suit?

Hahaha, it flew way past my head, unfortunately.
 

Myriadis

Member
House of Leaves is one of the books that I want to read again and again because it's so surreal and so well done.

Will get into Junji Ito. I think I read some short story from him where people-shaped holes appear on a rockface. As soon as people who would fit inside see it they have the urge to go inside, where they move into it until they get completely stuck. That one was nice, and given that I am a bit claustrophobic it was a bit on the uneasy side.
 
House of Leaves is one of the books that I want to read again and again because it's so surreal and so well done.

Will get into Junji Ito. I think I read some short story from him where people-shaped holes appear on a rockface. As soon as people who would fit inside see it they have the urge to go inside, where they move into it until they get completely stuck. That one was nice, and given that I am a bit claustrophobic it was a bit on the uneasy side.

This is my hole! It was made for me! The Enigma of Amigara Fault. It's the story which put Junji Ito on my radar.
 

LaneDS

Member
You'll know why they stick around soon enough.

EDIT: I have no idea why I misread this. I thought you were wondering why they don't leave the town. English is hard, or perhaps the spiral has me.

I think they just find it difficult to understand what is going on in the midst of it all.

It's more like, the main female character has remarked in disbelief to her boyfriend a few times when he's like "hey it's probably the spiral!" and she's like "no way!" despite some really obviously unnatural things happening to her now multiple times. Kind of silly, but whatever, the imagery is fantastic and I like how each chapter is its own short story. Some are legitimately unsettling and some are so out there that they're silly, but I've enjoyed all of it so far despite the gripe.

Is there a print version of The Enigma of Amigara Fault? The Uzumaki hard cover is pretty nice, and I might check out some of Ito's other stuff after finishing this.
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
It's more like, the main female character has remarked in disbelief to her boyfriend a few times when he's like "hey it's probably the spiral!" and she's like "no way!" despite some really obviously unnatural things happening to her now multiple times. Kind of silly, but whatever, the imagery is fantastic and I like how each chapter is its own short story. Some are legitimately unsettling and some are so out there that they're silly, but I've enjoyed all of it so far despite the gripe.

Is there a print version of The Enigma of Amigara Fault? The Uzumaki hard cover is pretty nice, and I might check out some of Ito's other stuff after finishing this.

I think the Fault story was printed in one of the Gyo books I have.
 

kai3345

Banned
Started Annihilation last night thanks to some recommendations from this thread. Finished the first of five chapters and I'm hooked. Hoping to try and just blow through the rest of the book this week.
 

LaneDS

Member
I think the Fault story was printed in one of the Gyo books I have.

Ah cool, thanks. I searched for it with "Amazon" attached and it brought me to a deluxe Gyo listing, but didn't specifically make mention of that. I'll probably pick it up because why not?
 
Have to mention that you are the first person I came across who has read hous of leaves.

Another good book is "House on the Borderland" by William Hope Hodgson


edit I am sure the movie "The Void" has been mentioned by now

Hodgson's "In the night land" can be worth a read depending on your patience. It's a kind of fusion of cosmic horror with early SF/fantasy stuff, and similar to the dream-sequence in house on the borderland it's set on a future earth where the sun has "gone out" (haha). Marvelously creepy and weird but also let down, at least in the unabridged version, by sometimes awkward prose (Hodgson attempted to write the whole novel in a faux early-modern English style), interminable repetition, and some really questionable attitudes towards women.

Putting all that aside for one moment however, the Weird Fiction/Cosmic Horror elements are truly weird and horrific, and given the time it was written, highly original.

"The Boats of the Glenn Carrig" is also a good read and in some ways better than either Night Land or The House. It's relatively short, reasonably focussed and has some pretty good creepy horror stuff though ultimately it's not Cosmic Horror.. Just creepy awful slimy horror.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Tomie isn't very Lovecraftian but its one of the more disturbing things I've ever read. Its such a fucked premise taken to such extreme ends that it makes you feel dirty afterwards. Its also supremely sad in a way on top of the fucked up body horror and other insanity. It also seems like it could possibly be a weird commentary on men and women and attraction.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I literally bought all four of these yesterday. I have read Gyo, Uzumaki and Tomie already but those hardcover collections were too slick to pass by.

There's a new book from Junji Ito coming out in December entitled "Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories". Which will include the short story, "The Hanging Balloon". One of my favorites. Also don't forget about his "Fragments of Horror" book. He has a lot of good work that hasn't been published. His volume entitled "The Face Burglar" has the hanging balloon in it, but also has some very good short stories as well.

2001 Nights by Yukinobu Hoshino is a good space science fiction manga, but it isn't exactly scary as in horror. There's a lot of unforeseen interpretation to everything that is going on.
 

Luminaire

Member
It's more like, the main female character has remarked in disbelief to her boyfriend a few times when he's like "hey it's probably the spiral!" and she's like "no way!" despite some really obviously unnatural things happening to her now multiple times. Kind of silly, but whatever, the imagery is fantastic and I like how each chapter is its own short story. Some are legitimately unsettling and some are so out there that they're silly, but I've enjoyed all of it so far despite the gripe.

Is there a print version of The Enigma of Amigara Fault? The Uzumaki hard cover is pretty nice, and I might check out some of Ito's other stuff after finishing this.

I understand the gripe. My own gripe is how sometimes they avoid something because something else got in the way or someone else tried to help. Regardless it was great. I really want a print of the inside cover, it's so pretty.

I'll be buying Gyo and Tomie next week. I wonder if there is a collection of Itos work. I distinctly remember one with hanging balloons, and if you went outside you were hung. Bodies would float over to the main chars house and it was creep as all hell. Hopefully I'm not misremembering...
 
So theoretically, could anyone write the sutter cane novels into existence?

I'd love to do that after I finish my main projects for the next couple years but who knows I could knock out a draft or two.

I've looked into the rights and it seems...shaky at best. :(

Oh well, I guess it stays in the realm of the movie. :(
 

DKF590

Member
Picked up House of Leaves, Uzumaki and Tomie thanks to this thread. Don't think I've ever read a single page of manga in my life but I love the genre and am always curious to try new things. Huge fan of horror in general so I'm excited to jump in and see what I think
 
So theoretically, could anyone write the sutter cane novels into existence?

I'd love to do that after I finish my main projects for the next couple years but who knows I could knock out a draft or two.

I've looked into the rights and it seems...shaky at best. :(

Oh well, I guess it stays in the realm of the movie. :(

Nothing stopping you to be inspired by them though ;)
 
Picked up House of Leaves, Uzumaki and Tomie thanks to this thread. Don't think I've ever read a single page of manga in my life but I love the genre and am always curious to try new things. Huge fan of horror in general so I'm excited to jump in and see what I think
Junji Ito was my first introduction to manga as well. Once you get into it, there's so much good stuff
 
There's a new book from Junji Ito coming out in December entitled "Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories". Which will include the short story, "The Hanging Balloon". One of my favorites. Also don't forget about his "Fragments of Horror" book. He has a lot of good work that hasn't been published. His volume entitled "The Face Burglar" has the hanging balloon in it, but also has some very good short stories as well.

2001 Nights by Yukinobu Hoshino is a good space science fiction manga, but it isn't exactly scary as in horror. There's a lot of unforeseen interpretation to everything that is going on.
Fragments of Horror is so good. Completely forgot about that one. I should pick it up later. Bought 150 buckaroos worth of novels and manga so I should be good for a while. If my memory serves me right I still need to read Hellstar Remina, Cat Diary and probably a few more shorts. Don't recall seeing The Face Burglar before and I'll keep an eye on his new book thanks.
 

Broseybrose

Member
Awesome thread! Subbed.

I just read House of Leaves for the first time this past Winter. I tried reading it once about a decade ago and couldnt get into it, but a friend recently lent me her copy and I was excited to give it another go. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.

I need to rewatch In the Mouth of Madness. Ive never read any Lovecraft before, and I always though Sutter Cane was just a fictional Stephen King. This thread is opening up all kinds of possibilities so a rewatch is definitely in order. I wonder if I should try reading some Lovecraft...

Keep those recommendations coming!

I never played Bloodborne because I had a once in a lifetime gaming experience with Demon's Souls back in 2008... but now Im thinking about picking that up.

Also DeLillo's White Noise is one of my favorite books and STALKER was one of the best games Ive ever played.

So this genre (which I was previously unaware was even a genre) is really up my alley!
 

Lach

Member
Started with House of Leaves and was at first really put off by the whole "fake" documentary commentary. I was expecting a more traditional storytelling.

It has now started to become more of a straight forward story (description of the Navidson Record) with interruptions by the two commentators. Will it stay this way?
 

Broseybrose

Member
Started with House of Leaves and was at first really put off by the whole "fake" documentary commentary. I was expecting a more traditional storytelling.

It has now started to become more of a straight forward story (description of the Navidson Record) with interruptions by the two commentators. Will it stay this way?

No. It is anything but a straight forward story. That must be embraced in order to enjoy it.

The original Navidson Record written by Zampano, the discovery of the record and additions to it by JT, and the editor's notes makes for multiple layers of story in one.
 

KHlover

Banned
I've recently read through what I think is most of Ito's work and have to say I enjoyed his short stories a lot more than his longer ones. His long stories tend to start being more absurd than scary around the halfway point (Uzumaki and Hellstar Remina at least, been a while since I read Gyo), the short stories are more likely to be completely scary OR absurd, they don't have that jarring tone shift.

Of all his stories I find "Long Dream" to be the most unsettling. It's not particularly scary nor does it feature a lot of the body horror he's so good at, but it doesn't need those at all. Taking a minute to think about the implications of what you just read makes you want to stop sleeping for a while.

To add to the discussion above this post of Uzumaki specifically, as I already said earlier in my post I'm pretty torn on the second half, but the first half was great and the hospital chapters were a masterpiece. Truly disturbing.
 
(Re: Sunshine) Are there more details on this? Actually watching it right now.

Hey, I wanted to elaborate on this and apologize. I read about this from a GAF poster, and the other day I told a friend about it, and we both looked it up, and found that the only place where this factoid existed is back here on GAF.

So in effect, either that GAFer pulled it out of their ass, or I'm just shit at finding this.

So I apologize as it turns out this may not be true, and all I can do is link back to the original post where I read it in the first place.
 

Cptkrush

Member
Finished 14 last night. The first book I've read to completion in a few years. I loved it, and I love how it goes from 0 to 100 at exactly 50% into the book. I honestly thought I had been misled to believe it was going to be horror-esque, but man was I wrong. Really fun read too, the levity kept it from being completely bleak and dreadful, so I guess it's more sci fi than horror, but I definitely got spooked a few times.

Definitely check it out if you haven't!
 
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