It would be helpful to mention whether or not these movies are streaming as The Endless is not on US Netflix for streaming
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Cosmic Horror in Film
- Thread starter UCBooties
- Start date
Damn, the sun is pretty creepy when you think about it.
It totally is!
The movie Sunshine made me legit fear the sun. As a concept of course, not fear as in "omg I don't want to go outside anymore".
Amazing movie.
No wonder it's the inspiration for various SCP:
http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2108
http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1682
http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-037
http://www.scp-wiki.net/shaggydredlocks-proposal
i'm wondering this too. it's not on netflix/amazon/google. looks like i need to wait for the blu ray to come out next month.
can't find the endless but i watched coherence on netflix. not sure if it's still there.
Just watched Coherence, and interestingly had the exact opposite reaction, hah.
I do agree with you though, in that when Hugh started reading from his "smart" "scientist" brother's notes describing Schrödinger's cat, my eyes immediately began rolling. However, I felt like they told me all I needed to know regarding the "dark space" that acted as a dimensional waypoint to where I could just extrapolate from there and enjoy the tension they were going to be building with its consequences. Plus it was fun trying to pick out inconsistencies and thinking about who was when where and who might be not who they say (or think) they are.
I felt like they did an excellent job of introducing new pieces of the puzzle throughout the film, but then the (very) ending came off as kinda goofy to me. Not the lead up with Emily realizing that - given the choice, however random - she wanted to find a reality that suited her, but her waking up with everything seeming fine until the other Emily called the guy's cellphone. Clearly the other one of her somehow eventually came to and got out, but the way it was presented just came off as flaccid while everything else I'd found to be wonderfully paced.
I felt like they did an excellent job of introducing new pieces of the puzzle throughout the film, but then the (very) ending came off as kinda goofy to me. Not the lead up with Emily realizing that - given the choice, however random - she wanted to find a reality that suited her, but her waking up with everything seeming fine until the other Emily called the guy's cellphone. Clearly the other one of her somehow eventually came to and got out, but the way it was presented just came off as flaccid while everything else I'd found to be wonderfully paced.
I liked it quite a bit, thanks for the recommend everyone who did so.
Also they talk about our models of physics breaking down in the pressures of the sun (and there's some evidence of this happening towards the end), which kind of mirrors Lovecraftian alien cities that use different models of geometry that don't make sense to human eyes.Yeah, I rewatched Sunshine last night and it hits so many right notes. Even a lot of the imagery seems more reminiscent of the kind of stuff you'd recall from Lovecraftian or horror fiction
Like these kinds of shots reminded me of The Void, especially once you consider the hypnotic almost religious pull the sun has Searle and the captain
A hostile uncaring environment, less like the exterior of a ship and more like the surface of some alien landscape, weird spacesuits that look more like oppressive diving suits to explore the abyss rather than the traditional outfits
The overwhelming howling force of the sun, with Searle madly yelling "what do you see" as if witnessing the unfiltered solar light as you're being consumed will reveal some unknown truths
Don't forget the sun invading their nightmares with shared dreams of falling toward its surface among at least two of the crew, or the movie diving head-long into "worshiping this cosmic entity changes you" territory by showing through Pinbacker what could have happened to Searle if he continued on his path of insane solar acolyte that has bathed in the sun's light
Yeah, I rewatched Sunshine last night and it hits so many right notes. Even a lot of the imagery seems more reminiscent of the kind of stuff you'd recall from Lovecraftian or horror fiction
Like these kinds of shots reminded me of The Void, especially once you consider the hypnotic almost religious pull the sun has Searle and the captain
A hostile uncaring environment, less like the exterior of a ship and more like the surface of some alien landscape, weird spacesuits that look more like oppressive diving suits to explore the abyss rather than the traditional outfits
The overwhelming howling force of the sun, with Searle madly yelling "what do you see" as if witnessing the unfiltered solar light as you're being consumed will reveal some unknown truths
Don't forget the sun invading their nightmares with shared dreams of falling toward its surface among at least two of the crew, or the movie diving head-long into "worshiping this cosmic entity changes you" territory by showing through Pinbacker what could have happened to Searle if he continued on his path of insane solar acolyte that has bathed in the sun's light
And then they destroy all of that atmosphere with a generic serial killer villain in the end.
Up to today I still can't figure out why they decided to go that route, such a baffling decision that lack common sense whatsoever.
I mean the it may be not a cosmic horror movie (not entirely sure about that though, considering there seem to be so many plenty otherworldly power in MiB that can eradicate all life on earth should they wish to), but the series does imo have elements of cosmic horror in it, especially considering in the movies our universe is such a very tiny insignificant speck it fits into a locker of a much larger universe. Scary stuff.
Nah man, as scary as Aliens is, they are still creatures that can be killed with gunfire and such, right? When I hear the term 'cosmic horror', it more relates to something that is utterly incomprehensible with an existence so far beyond humanity that we feel helpless and powerless against them, subject to their whims. Aliens are not like that, imo.
Watch Men in Black, then compare that to an actual cosmic horror media like Nameless or The Color Out of Space or Through the Mouth of Madness. Conceptually, they have the same general premise, but the execution is wildly different, and it's like that intentionally.
The aliens in MiB, despite being so much bigger (more "cartoonishly big" than "incomprehensibly huge," really) and more powerful and more ancient than us, but they act exactly like humans (even the giant alien in the end plays marbles and shit) and have power structures that resemble human governments so explicitly that we can assume the comparison is thoroughly deliberate. At its core the movie is very down to earth and the aliens are just Humans But Bigger.
It's the same reason people don't consider stuff like Marvel comics or Rick and Morty to be cosmic horror, even though they also tend to feature lots of scary inscrutable cosmic things.
I don't get how you would say the aliens in MiB is not 'incomprehensively huge' when we get to see ourselves our entire universe fits into a small locker in their world :O
I don't quite see how it's totally out of place when you consider what the movie mentioned in quite a few places. It wasn't just a typical sci-fi "things go bad in a realistic way" sort of movie from the start, there were implications that something else was going on to an extent. When you take into account Searle and his obsession with the suns light, desperately asking "What do you see?" at the Captains death, the Sun haunting their dreams etc it isn't quite so suddenly just "Here's a horror movie villain for no reason!", there were themes of worship of the sun or it having a negative affect on the crew at several points of the movie. They were subtle, but they were still there.
Gotta have something around that can worship you and sacrifice others of its kind to you.
I used to feel that third act was a big out-of-nowhere tonal whiplash but recent rewatches made me realize that those clues and hints where there from scene one. Like the first scene is Searle enrapt by the sun, and the next scene is him talking about how it's almost feels religious to let the light absorb you. Throughout the movie, the sun is presented as the overwhelming entity that invaded their dreams and drives those that gaze into its light to worship it almost religiously. Like you said, Searle is yelling into his mic at the burning-to-a-crisp Captain "what do you see" as if the sun is some cosmic horror entity and the captain is finally witnessing its truth
That the sun drove the other captain to religiously worship insanity that wants to make sure humans don't interfere with the sun is the logical conclusion to what we see happen to other crew members throughout the film. In line with the cosmic horror influences, much like a coverted cultist in Lovecraftian fiction, Pinbacker has become marked and changed by his interactions with his flaming god.
I'm re-watching the movie as i write this so i can keep track of what goes on, but yeah, there are quite a lot of themes that allude to Pinbacker, the movie having cosmic horror elements and a whole theme revolving this all being part of the unknown throughout the movie:
- The very first scene on the ship is Searle sitting in the observation room at quite intense light and being captivated by it, only to seem somewhat pleased when the computer says it's only 2% full sunlight and asks for 4%. He then gets a smile on his face when he's told he can survive 3.1% instead, immediately decides to set it for that and can be seen even more awestruck and engrossed in it even as he tries to physically shield/defend himself from the brightness and intensity of it. Also included is ominous music in that scene.
- The next scene is then him trying to describe the overwhelming feeling of bathing in sunlight in that way to the rest of the crew and how, in comparison to total darkness where you and the darkness are seperate entities (because Darkness is the absence of something, you aren't), the sunlight in the opposite way completes you and "becomes you".
- A scene shortly after involves Kaneda subjecting himself to intense sunlight as well, eagerly staring towards the sun and being somewhat dazed by it - he either ignores or doesn't notice the Botanist woman talking to him for quite a few seconds.
- Kaneda watches one of the messages from Pinbacker onboard Icarus 1 before it went wrong, and both the scene and Kaneda himself picks up on the part about Pinbacker thinking that an asteroid strike damaging the Icarus 1 was "beatiful", with a somewhat insane look in his eye (the movie zooms in to focus on them).
- The movie itself contains a theme of expendable humans being sent into the literal unknown, to fulfill a mission that their entire species depends on, to re-awaken a star based on science no human can verify (the simulation of the delivery becomes uncertain and pretty much guesswork after a certain paint). Kappa says "Space and time will become smeared together, everything will distort, everything will be unquantifiable" - it's a point where science/physics, gravity and time themselves no longer have any relevance or meaning. It's a point no human has ever reached, or likely will ever reach again.
- The payload itself required them to mine all of the planet's fissile materials. It's their literal last hope and chance with no going back. Humanity mined the planet dry of that material just to get a chance of doing something to a dying entity that they are incomprehensibly insignificant to.
- Scene with Searle once again eagerly starting into the sun, this time with thicker shielded goggles rather than just sunglasses, is intermixed with Kappa's dream/nightmare of the sun
- Cappa dreams of falling into the sun. Another character immediately guesses he's dreaming of "the surface of the sun" and that it's "only dream i ever have. Every time i shut my eyes it's always the same".
- Pinbacker has very fanatical worshipper/cultist like lines. "Are you an Angel? Has the time come?", "Who am i? At the end of time, a moment will come when just one man remains. Then the moment will pass", "The last man, alone with God. Am i that man?", "Not your God. Mine."
I do wonder if the whole blurry, unfocused, Supernatural-like Pinbacker view is actually supposed to be happening in-universe as well, or if it's just something like that meant for us as the viewer only. Is he actually supernatural, or is that just for the sake of movie editing and he's really just an insane burnt guy? With him surviving unfiltered full sunlight i'd assume the former but i'm not sure.
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I noticed this as well. Pinbacker is presented in very inhuman ways that make it seem as if his reverence of the sun has distorted him. Our first glimpse is the jagged glitched video log. Then later in the viewing room, he's this gnarled desiccated silhouette that looks like a Slenderman-esque entity or an alien being, like something born from the light. His POV, and anytime we ever see him from other character's perspective, is through this wavering filter of eyes burned out by sunlight, as if his very presence is distorting reality
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Thinking about it, it could be intended as a sort of callback to the 2nd scene with Searle; how he describes Sunlight in a way where exposing yourself to it results in a situation where it "becomes you". When Pinbacker is in the sun-room, what little we can see of him is fairly 'clear' other than the brightness obscuring him. It's only when outside the light he maintains a blurred, difficult to see, otherwordly appereance.
Having watched the movie again now though, the movie really is astonishing with it's cinematography, the music, the dialogue, the characters...all of it is so well done.
Sunshine was incredible, I didn't appreciate the happy ending twist, but it's still lovecraftian.
I just finished the read of Blindsight yesterday and... Oh man, what a tour the force! Didn't scared me (never did, any book) but man, the dread, the grimdark atmosphere and the utterly weirdness of what they find is for sure the most disturbing and psychologically charged sci-fi book made in this century (very much as Annihilation, but longer, stranger, better explained). I would love to see a cinematic adaptation.
Now buying Echopraxia.
Now buying Echopraxia.
Not quite sure this is going to be Cosmic Horror but I do get some vibes of such from this upcoming film by the director of Beyond the Black Rainbow. It stars Nic Cage doing his absolute best Cage while wielding a giant crazy looking axe, fighting people with chainsaws and apparently dealing with cults and 4 wheeler riding cenobites.
Serious question, but does IT count as cosmic horror?
IT is a eternal entity that originated in a void containing and surrounding the Universe, so it's not from this world. Cosmic horror right?
IT is a eternal entity that originated in a void containing and surrounding the Universe, so it's not from this world. Cosmic horror right?
The book certainly does, both adaptations leave all the cosmic-y stuff out unfortunately.
Yeah the book is cosmic horror, but wasn't sure if the 2017 version counted. We do get a short look at the deadlights, but unless you've read the book you're not going to have a clue what that is. I haven't seen the 1990 version for about 20 years, so will have to take your word for it.
Hopefully they go forward with the cosmic elements in part 2. I want to see a full Turtle reference.
Absolutely.
Beyond the Black Rainbow has tonnes of Cosmic Horror vibes, but it's a bad film.
This looks like all the visual greatness BtBR had, the same cosmic horror feel, PLUS a fun movie to go with it.
so i watched both Coherence and The Endless
EDIT: so i just watched the trailer for Resolution, yo wtf, i had no idea
i probably should have watched this before The Endless lmao
I enjoyed Coherence alot and was engrossed by the twists and turns, i watched it a second time and there are hidden things that you notice on 2nd viewing, but i found it much less engrossing that time
as for The Endless, the first 1/2 was interesting, but the 2nd half with those other guys in the other time loops felt almost like a different movie, that i enjoyed less, and the creature at the end was beyond incompetent for a being completely revered throughout the film, so overall decent lovecraftian atmosphere but meh for me
as for The Endless, the first 1/2 was interesting, but the 2nd half with those other guys in the other time loops felt almost like a different movie, that i enjoyed less, and the creature at the end was beyond incompetent for a being completely revered throughout the film, so overall decent lovecraftian atmosphere but meh for me
EDIT: so i just watched the trailer for Resolution, yo wtf, i had no idea
i probably should have watched this before The Endless lmao
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Glad you said something. Netflix is sending the Endless to me and I see Resolution on Shudder so that should be a good bit of afternoon fun once the Endless disc arrives.
I hear this so often, but I just don't see it. I understand Paul W.S. Anderson wanted there to be some homages, but you actually see the inside of the puzzle box in the Hellraiser series at some point. The chaos dimension in EH is only described, which, combined with everything else that goes on on the ship, makes the sense of dread about it that much stronger. I don't really believe final form Weir to be much of a Pinhead clone/knockoff either.
I guess people don't want to give anything away but even the wiki and imdb doesn't say Resolution needs to be watched first, just that they might be tied together. It really should be watched in order. I think you'll still enjoy Resolution even if you watched The Endless first. Someone in the Horror community thread told me to watch it in order so I did, but it was cooler realizing that stuff was connected without knowing that it would happen.
I read an interview and sounds like the next movie will explain what really happens.
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It has no doubt been mentioned, but leaving Annhilation out of the OP, which is thematically one of the truest forms of Cosmic Horror is cinema, while including surface-level trash like The Void is fucking shameful.
Edit: Oops i didnt realize how old this thread was
But while we're on the schlock train we should absolutely be talking about the hilarious and wonderful Stewart Gordon films Re-Animator and From Beyond.
Also, there are elements of cosmic horror in Stalker.
The cosmic horror of Alien comes from the Unknowable.
It's the same with The Thing.
Edit: Oops i didnt realize how old this thread was
But while we're on the schlock train we should absolutely be talking about the hilarious and wonderful Stewart Gordon films Re-Animator and From Beyond.
Also, there are elements of cosmic horror in Stalker.
I disagree.
The cosmic horror of Alien comes from the Unknowable.
It's the same with The Thing.
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At the time the OP was posted it was several months before Annihilation was released...
The book Annhilation is even more purely cosmic horror than the film, but the movie is the better work of media.
There are things in the books that fill the reader with such an existential dread, but those things wouldn't have worked on film at all.
I really liked Stalker but when I read Roadside Picnic after I was really surprised how different it was. It's the inverse treatment of the Annhilation book and film, which is why Stalker is probably such a hard watch for a lot of people.
Well, you should first remember that the original cut of this film – the one that sent the suits at Paramount scrambling for a recut – showed a much more protracted sequence of hell and its machinations.
Event Horizon most assuredly cribs from several films but the Hellraiser influence is most readily apparent given the central conceit of hell as a dimensional location that can be accessed without dying, where chaos and agony are considered the norm and its acolytes embrace this suffering, and the notion that such a place can be reached and claim victims regardless of their moral proclivities.
And while Weir is not the exact equivalent of Pinhead or a Cenobite, he certainly becomes an ambassador for this hellish dimension and his aesthetic appearance seems to be heavily influenced by the Hellraiser flicks.
Event Horizon even paraphrases one of the original Hellraisers most famous and quotable lines "We have such sights to show you." when Weir's wife says "We have such wonderful things to show you."
That said, the fact that it borrows from Hellraiser doesn't make it any less an effective horror film and given how many people have told me over the years that this film scared the shit out of them, I'd say it's a worthy entry regardless of borrowing from Barker.