Link - Cosmic horror has been established as one of the most chilling sub-genres in horror cinema. With a focus on the unknown, isolation, and the human mind, cosmic horror plays on the imaginations of audiences rather than going all out on gore and jump scares. Instead of ghosts, serial killers, or vampires, these stories focus on the endless possibilities of the universe’s fictional horrors.
Early 20th-century author H.P. Lovecraft gave Cosmic horror prominence through stories like At the Mountain of Madness, The Hound, and The Call of Cthulhu. The genre can be challenging to pull off in cinema, but plenty of films have tried to capture the terror of the unknown and unimaginable. Everything from stories of paranoia to questions about reality itself has made up cosmic horror in cinema.
I like the list but Annihilation definitely should have been on here over The Lighthouse. Maybe I didn’t get the gist of that movie but it seemed more about loneliness and mental breakdown.
Wow, I read that as comedy horror and I was about to come in here hot about Event Horizon based on the thumbnail.
I guess you could make a weird argument for the other two.
I do love me some cosmic horror.
Not sure if this counts but it’s what popped into my head. I remember being crazy spooked by it as a kid but can’t recall much. They eat the past and some people are frozen in time or something?
Either way SKs works are almost all incorporate cosmic horror of some kind.
The Langoliers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Langoliers_(miniseries)
Nice one.
Many of these arent really comic horror tho.
Comic horror usually is about some unexplainable thing from space or Being in space and weird unexplainable things happening. Etc.
Its not just unexplainable events happening.
Bird box is a maybe at best.
in the mouth of madness is definitely not comic horror.
The ligh house I havent seen but I dont think its about space.
Why didnt they put Annilation on this list?
Color out of space is comic horror and it slaps.
The void is also very good.
The mist is dope.
Despite the name, Cosmic Horror doesn’t specifically refer to space. It’s more a reference to scale - horror so massive it makes mankind look insignificant. Cosmic Horror is also called “Lovecraftian Horror”, although that now tends to be used more specifically for stuff involving Tue Cthulhu mythos or the actual works of Lovecraft - like The Color out of Space, which is based on his story of the same name.
Anyway, the point is that Cosmic Horror is about unknowable, existential threats to humanity, not necessarily stuff from the stars.
In the Mouth of Madness qualifies. Annihilation as well.
That bear scene in Annihilation. Fuck, man.
Love me some cosmic horror. Some good recs here, and some stuff I haven’t seen (phantoms?)
Shout out to Glorious starring JK Simmons
Never for a second thought " The Lighthouse" is cosmic horror. I need more convincing…
