• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Cosmic Horror in Film

TheVoidDragon

TheVoidDragon

Member
Jan 16, 2018
475
Would the movie Sunshine to some extent count as cosmic horror? While it might not be horror in the usual sense because it's not meant to be directly scary, the plot focuses on the overall insignificance of humanity compared to the dying sun and a final desperate attempt to do something so that they survive just a bit longer, with several characters in the movie and especially the latter half of it involving obsession, near-worship and insanity because of the power of sun, even resulting in some inexplainable and somewhat supernatural events occurring in relation to it.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,623
TheVoidDragon said:
Would the movie Sunshine to some extent count as cosmic horror? While it might not be horror in the usual sense because it's not meant to be directly scary, the plot focuses on the overall insignificance of humanity compared to the dying sun and a final desperate attempt to do something so that they survive just a bit longer, with several characters in the movie and especially the latter half of it involving obsession, near-worship and insanity because of the power of sun, even resulting in some inexplainable and somewhat supernatural events occurring in relation to it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'd argue it does, at least in how it portrays the sun as this entity that drives its observers mad, inspires religious worship through merely watching its light, infects their nightmares, and even has that classic cosmic horror aspect of only being able to perceive part of its "true form" at the risk of madness and death
 

Deleted member 27246

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 30, 2017
3,066
John Rabbit said:
Y'all should watch Coherence:
coherence-2013-movie-poster.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Thanks for the recommendation. Watched it yesterday and I loved it.
 

Melubas

Member
Jan 4, 2018
203
I remember watching a movie adaptation of Lovecraft called "Dagon" when I was a kid. I think it kind of sucked though? Maybe I'm wrong.
 

Deleted member 1726

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,661
Awesome thread! Watched the trailer for Coherence and I will definitely be checking this out!

I also have to say how much I love Event Horizon, that film really freaked me out when I first watched it at home with my mum, I was too scared to go out the living room. Lol. There's something about the setting that just resonates with me, I think it's why I am so scared to play Dead Space.

I need to watch it again.
 
Lynchian Anomaly

Lynchian Anomaly

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,306
More_Badass said:
I'd argue it does, at least in how it portrays the sun as this entity that drives its observers mad, inspires religious worship through merely watching its light, infects their nightmares, and even has that classic cosmic horror aspect of only being able to perceive part of its "true form" at the risk of madness and death
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

7acyu7gec1n01.jpg


It totally is!
 
GorgeousPrettyBeauty

GorgeousPrettyBeauty

Member
May 5, 2018
238
I think Alien can squeeze by if you ignore the franchise information as a whole. Forget Aliens. Forget the queen. Forget calling them xenomorohs. Good god forget Covenant. Just view the first film as a separate standalone piece. A singular unknown being attacking a group of people in space.

I saw some people remark that the crew knew what the creature was but that couldn't be farther from the truth. The whole terror is that they don't know what it is, they don't know where it originated, and they don't understand it. The creature changes shape rapidly. So rapidly that it's actually appalling to the crew. They were not expecting something the size of a rat would be a 7 feet tall killing machine in only a couple hours. And no, that does not follow physics as we comprehend it in the natural world. Creatures that metamorphosize do not quadruple in size and don't do it that quickly. The alien is literally supposed to defy everything natural.

As for no one going insane, just look at Lambert. Her mind is broken by the end. She might not be going whacko cartoon crazy, but there's no way she would be able to go back to go back to a healthy, sound mind had her fate allowed that. She is frozen in fear staring at the face of something she does not comprehend.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,623
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
usnDS8U.jpg


the-void-movie-review-last.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

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

80R4waWl.jpg


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

gLCH2Vkl.jpg


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
 
Indy in the Fridge

Indy in the Fridge

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
15,278
Hampig said:
Why is this your response? There are a small number of movies in this category, shouldn't we be excited that a new competent film came out?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think the poster meant more in terms of each movie entailing a journey to something considered alien but powerful. Annihilation involves the journey to the center of the shimmer. STALKER is a esoteric journey to the center of mankind's wanton desires. I'm rambling, but I think the suggestion is is that STALKER does the "mysterious alien power" better than Annihilation. Personally, I wouldn't go as far as to make that suggestion. Both are unique in how they tell a similar story.
 
HStallion

HStallion

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
62,262
Indy in the Fridge said:
I think the poster meant more in terms of each movie entailing a journey to something considered alien but powerful. Annihilation involves the journey to the center of the shimmer. STALKER is a esoteric journey to the center of mankind's wanton desires. I'm rambling, but I think the suggestion is is that STALKER does the "mysterious alien power" better than Annihilation. Personally, I wouldn't go as far as to make that suggestion. Both are unique in how they tell a similar story.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

They were referring to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the game, not the movie
 

Deleted member 13798

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,374
Shy said:
It is. And S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does it better.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The movie? Eh.... I enjoy it for striking imagery, but it's not an easy thing to watch which is why its hard to recommend, nor is it very much like Roadside Picnic that it's based on (imo). Annihilation could've benefited from better atmospheric cinematography and a different lead though. Also while I enjoyed Annihilation, the book is also much ebtter at conveying some things (though not as good in other aspects).

I do lile both films very much though.
 
Suicide King

Suicide King

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,018
Stalker was a very good film in terms of everything, but I wouldn't call it cosmic horror. It never felt like the Zone was a cosmic threat to mankind. It felt more like nature responding to men.

But Annihilation felt like cosmic horror, to me. The alien as an unexplained concept that isn't understood by humans just chilling in a new planet. It wasn't attacking. It wasn't invading. No one knew what was its true nature. And I was scared by how an unknown creature like that could just not be easily killed or understood by humans.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,623
Suicide King said:
Stalker was a very good film in terms of everything, but I wouldn't call it cosmic horror. It never felt like the Zone was a cosmic threat to mankind. It felt more like nature responding to men.

But Annihilation felt like cosmic horror, to me. The alien as an unexplained concept that isn't understood by humans just chilling in a new planet. It wasn't attacking. It wasn't invading. No one knew what was its true nature. And I was scared by how an unknown creature like that could just not be easily killed or understood by humans.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Annihilation was practically an adaptation of A Color Out Of Space.
 
Conkersbadfurday

Conkersbadfurday

Member
Oct 29, 2017
5,306
Minnesota
I didn't know Annihilation was "A Color out of Space" but now I need to see it.

Ended up watching Coherence based on the recs in this thread and really liked it. So thanks for that!
 
Ramala

Ramala

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,052
Santa Monica, LA
GAMEPROFF said:
People call it good but I think it has more to do with the lack of good Lovecraft adaptions. I think its somewhere between ok and bad.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It had some fantastic imagery, some horrific scenes (the skinned alive scene still sticks with me), a hot naked girl getting eaten by an Eldritch terror and the most authentic Lovecraftian ending I can think of. It may have suffered from budget constraints but bad it was not.
 
RoyaleDuke

RoyaleDuke

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,397
Nowhere
The color out of space was a about a strange color inhabiting a meteor breaking free and poisoning the land, eventually making people, animals, everything dead twisted things that eventually just wither and die or melt.

What happens eventually is that all the "color" collects in the well as the narrator and some farmers are hiding in the house, it leaves but it rips apart the land as if it has mass, collecting into a maddening kaleidoscopic, chromatic, gooey entity of cosmic horror.

It kills everyone but the narrator who flees, but eventually goes mad, realizing not all the "color" was gone and the people that were closest to the valley in the short story were probably going to die.

Die Fahbre(fahber? Farbe? I forget) is a German adaptation that's quite good if low budget.

Whisperer in darkness is incredible.
 
RE lover

RE lover

Member
Nov 5, 2017
95
I watched The Endless yesterday and it definitely qualifies as cosmic horror IMHO

Now I need to watch Resolution, which shares the same universe
 
Rufio

Rufio

Member
Oct 27, 2017
395
where are you guys watching these movies "the endless" and "coherence".

anywhere to stream them?
 
Visanideth

Visanideth

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
4,771
Mama Robotnik said:
Could Hellboy count, with its frozen tentacled space gods reaching towards life?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


Hellboy has lovecraftian elements but I wouldn't say it's cosmic horror. The "problem" is that A) the heroes have way too much agency, it's not really horror if you can shoot it back to deep space with big enough bullets and B) it's kind of a kitchen-sink setting. Hellboy is a bit like D&D - there's the cosmic horror, lovecraftian entities from outer space but there's also heaven and hell and God and the Devil and undeads and vampires and aliens and demons and basically anything you can think of.
 
ray_caster

ray_caster

Member
Nov 7, 2017
664
RoyaleDuke said:
The color out of space was a about a strange color inhabiting a meteor breaking free and poisoning the land, eventually making people, animals, everything dead twisted things that eventually just wither and die or melt.

What happens eventually is that all the "color" collects in the well as the narrator and some farmers are hiding in the house, it leaves but it rips apart the land as if it has mass, collecting into a maddening kaleidoscopic, chromatic, gooey entity of cosmic horror.

It kills everyone but the narrator who flees, but eventually goes mad, realizing not all the "color" was gone and the people that were closest to the valley in the short story were probably going to die.

Die Fahbre(fahber? Farbe? I forget) is a German adaptation that's quite good if low budget.

Whisperer in darkness is incredible.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The Color Out of Space was also adapted into a movie called The Curse from 1987 starring a young Wil Wheaton.
 
Dreenk

Dreenk

Member
Oct 27, 2017
492
Thanks to all the recommendations in this thread over the months. My watchlist is filled with all sorts of weird/great looking shit now!

Also yes absolutely go watch Annihilation.

Azzanadra said:
Look, I love TD S1 as you can tell by my avatar, but like it only has cosmic horror themes on the most superficial of levels. Literally just some imagery, and even in the ending is antithetical to the cynicism and pessimism hat cosmic horror tends to embody.

The problem I have noticed is that most TV shows and movies have a lot of trouble doing cosmic horror, they often like Lovecraft's imagery but fail to deal or grapple with the themes in any meaningful way. The problem is that Lovecraft talks about the ineffable, the unspeakable and the unimaginable. While its not so hard to nail the "uncaring" universe theme, the incomprehensible often is harder to portray. Don't know if this was intention but in True Detective, the idea that Rust comes to peace with his impotence in ever blowing the whole conspiracy wide open is actually the most Lovecraftian of ideas present in the show, but as mentioned before its still very surface-level. One movie that I haven't seen mentioned that is actually quite congruent with Lovecraftian themes is 2001: A Space Odyssey. I actually don't even like that movie, but its true.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Old post I know, but I finally recently watched True Detective S1 and this is how I came away from it. After seeing so many people reference cosmic horror and The Mythos and so on in regards to it, I was really disappointed that it didn't manifest more (at all?) in the show itself.

It felt more to me like the writers or director wanted to reference certain elements (King in Yellow), but only as the vaguest of allusions, or even "this would be fun to reference, but not for the reason people might think, even though they'll still recognize it" and if you knew then you knew, but to no end. I still really loved the show - especially Harrelson and McConaughey - but was led to believe it was one thing, and didn't get it.
 
ClamBuster

ClamBuster

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,102
Ipswich, England
i also saw The Endless recently, and it's absolutely 100% cosmic(ish) horror... although it's not a horror flick

excellent film all round with plenty of mystery

apparently it ties into the filmmakers previous film Resolution, which i haven't seen but will be watching very soon

(they also did Spring, which is brilliant, and belongs in this thread)
 
Aphotic

Aphotic

Member
Oct 25, 2017
426
Rufio said:
where are you guys watching these movies "the endless" and "coherence".

anywhere to stream them?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I don't know about The Endless, but Coherence is on Amazon Prime Video & Hulu.
The website JustWatch is helpful for looking up where to stream stuff.
A few that I know of that have come up in this thread (there may be more, these are just the ones I know)
Coherence (Amazon Prime & Hulu)
The Untamed (HBOGO)
Event Horizon (Amazon Prime)
The Void (Netflix)
Sunshine (MAXGO)
 
Last edited:
ebs

ebs

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
443
I watched Coherence, neat ending but overall not a fan. They really shouldn't have tried to pseudo-scientifically explain what was happening.

The Endless was great, some incredibly memorable scenes which to me exemplify how cosmic horror should be portrayed on screen. Spring is next on my list, I hope Netflix picks these guys up and gives em a bit of a budget.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.