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Does Cosmic Horror still scare you?

Weiss

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
Just a stream of thought that came about as I try to get back into Darkest Dungeon. We all know the blueprint of Cosmic Horror: shambling grotesqueries from beyond the stars who are too massive and powerful to notice our meager existence, and whose presence induces madness and despair until our minds shatter like fragile glass.

And I guess I'm at the point where it's just totally played out.

Speaking as someone without a particularly high opinion of himself, it just feels like the root of the fears it's supposed to inflict on you is that you live in a big scary world that doesn't care about your life which... no shit? I know I don't matter to such a degree that the world will stop spinning without me. Why is that supposed to scare me? I am assuming, with or without cause, that this was a bigger deal to, say, English white dudes in the early 20th century as opposed to now, where the grind of fascism has made me abundantly clear that I am not the master of my own destiny.

It also seems to just infect every corner of sci-fi and fantasy these days, especially Urban Fantasy, where The Elder Gods of the Blackened Cosmos wait as some kind of final boss to significantly undermine all the conflict that lead up to it. They can't be beaten because That's The Point, only you can't end your hotshot paranormal detective's story by having his whole planet get smooshed by a passing Shoggoth, so they just end up being there as window dressing.
 
The Adder

The Adder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,107
No. Self quoting.
The Adder said:
When you think you and yours are the center of the universe and get shown just how insignificant you are, it's likely to drive you mad.

Some of us, however, aren't afforded the luxury of that delusion.
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The Adder said:
I mean, the entire point is that Lovecraft's stories, hell horror as a genre in America in general, were written from a position of extreme privilege, though.

Lovecraft feared the different and the unknown and it was from that place that he wrote his stories. It may have seemed like a joke, but seriously, realizing that on the cosmic scale you are nothing doesn't mean much to people who have had it drilled into them how little value others on their own planet place on their lives.

And with regards to horror on a broader scale, the need to understand arcane, often unspoken rules just in order to hope to survive is our everyday lived experience.
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PBalfredo

PBalfredo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,496
Unusually not, especially when in execution the cosmic horror is some played out tentacle monster. I think the last one that got to me was... Oxenfree?
 
TissueBox

TissueBox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,018
Urinated States of America
I find John Langan's The Fisherman to be a very effective modern utilization, despite some naysay. More rich as an overall package than straight up horrifying, though. But it pulls that element off quite well, too. When done properly, cosmic horror is a reminder that some things are incomprehensible and everly present and sometimes, constantly right on the horizon. If you can tap into that surreal existential stew, then you can reap.
 

Gpsych

Member
May 20, 2019
2,894
The monsters aren't scary - it's the existential crisis that considering cosmic horror causes. If I start thinking about how minute and unimportant I am (how unimportant we ALL are) it fills me with a sense of dread that everything it pointless.
 
BlueTsunami

BlueTsunami

Member
Oct 29, 2017
8,510
It often gets reduced to an entity but true cosmic horror is that of the unknown and unknowable. The complete indifference to your existence. I feel when the gap between that and reality is bridged correctly its extremely effective.
 

Deleted member 49611

Nov 14, 2018
5,052
I love cosmic horror. I wouldn't say it's scary but more disturbing and unsettling...if done right.
 
Dustlander

Dustlander

Member
Dec 25, 2017
422
Brazil
Gpsych said:
The monsters aren't scary - it's the existential crisis that considering cosmic horror causes. If I start thinking about how minute and unimportant I am (how unimportant we ALL are) it fills me with a sense of dread that everything it pointless.
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Yes, the monsters lost a lot of their novelty over time. Maybe big tentacled things were "madness inducing" and the scariest shit in the 1920s, but nowadays you see things way more gruesome and "incomprehensible" in the most random games or movies that aren't even based on cosmic horror. Like, I can't see how anyone could really feel antyhing about Cthulhu and his original "mystique" after how much he was absorbed by mass media/pop culture - all the plushies, memes, shirts etc. He became just another monster design.

The movie was some hot garbage, but Bird Box's take of not showing how they look like and letting your imagination run wild was at least a bit appreciated. Oh, and Color Out of Space's whole thing of

turning family members into horrible abominations

was incredibly effective as well. But outside of these specific examples, I don't see how most monsters they come up with could really give the feeling of madness and whatnot.
 
Volimar

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,463
When done well, yeah. The whole thing of how meaningless human existence really is and how easily it can be snuffed out from these powerful ancient beings.
 
Noodle

Noodle

Banned
Aug 22, 2018
3,427
The issue is it's the go-to style for lots of indie games and films and they're just terrible at pulling it off. They act like it has so much gravitas but the results are not impressive.
 
Volimar

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,463
I wish there were a really good Call of Cthulhu film. The story is too short to lend itself to a major motion picture I think.
 
Ogodei

Ogodei

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,256
Coruscant
The Adder said:
No. Self quoting.
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Beyond the element of privilege there's also the religious element. The Christian worldview has the horror of Hell but also leaves you clear instructions on how to avoid it, and reassures you that you are loved by the highest power and all you need to do is love him in return.

Cosmic Horror transgresses on that, but goes even beyond the "asshole gods" of European paganism, to characters as powerful and incomprehensible as the Christian God but either uncaring or actively malevolent.

As an atheist the idea of cosmic horror doesn't faze me, at least any more than the idea that there could be some sort of stellar EMP that wipes out our civilization one day, or a giant meteor, etc. Things you can't control are fundamentally not worth worrying about.

Despite my atheism "satanic" horror is often what gets me the most, stories like The Conjuring, the VVitch, Blair Witch Project. It's kind of a lower level of cosmic horror, a malevolent creature that will consume human lives but that exists and operates on a pettier scale, one that speaks more directly to the human experience.
 
Mona

Mona

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
26,151
if done right in fiction it can be effective

the idea itself though in general is less effective since we live that everyday in actual reality
 

Deleted member 29280

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
1,844
Played out? I'd say this is the most timeless sort of horror because it appeals to the human part of us that wonders at the mystery of the divine and supernatural, the otherworldly things that could be beyond our comprehension. The stuff that myth and religions were created from.

That said, it doesn't scare me but that isn't necessary for me to be interested in horror fiction. Most horror doesnt. It's the mystery and suspense, how it appeals to your imagination. So even if it doesn't scare you, it's still very fascinating to a lot of people, which is why it has only grown in popularity over the hundred plus years.
 
samoscratch

samoscratch

Member
Nov 25, 2017
2,840
Cosmic horror was never really scary to me it's more of a weird psychological journey, implications can be terrifying but overall it's more thrilling and mysterious.
 
zeuanimals

zeuanimals

Member
Nov 23, 2017
1,454
Gpsych said:
The monsters aren't scary - it's the existential crisis that considering cosmic horror causes. If I start thinking about how minute and unimportant I am (how unimportant we ALL are) it fills me with a sense of dread that everything it pointless.
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The sense of dread that everything is pointless is literally my life, so cosmic horror does nothing for me. Cool tentacle monsters though.
 
Gaia Lanzer

Gaia Lanzer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,670
Mr. Snuffleupagus said:
Would you classify Alien, The Thing, The Blob, Life as Cosmic Horror? If so, then yes.
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I'm always caught up on the meaning of "Cosmic Horror" because I've known many people (people in the horror community) that DO consider all that "Cosmic Horror" as well and tend to consider the stuff inspired by Lovecraft it's own thing (Lovecraftian Horror). Though, I've also heard people liken the alien from The Thing as some kinda Shoggoth-like thing and a mass of flesh, eyes and mouths are very "Lovecraftian" looking, but you also get a lot of those visuals in Body Horror and that doesn't have to be Lovecraft-esque either.

Me personally, as far as my own opinion is concerned, Cosmic Horror IS Lovecraftian horror, and Alien, The Thing, The Blob, Life, and others like that are "Sci-Fi Horror" (or "Horror Science Fiction").
 

Deleted member 56803

Banned
May 17, 2019
2,649
Plenty

  • Providence- Alan Moore
  • The Wailing
  • Pathologic 2
  • The Void (IPL)
  • House of Leaves
  • The Willows
  • Blindsight
  • Thomas Ligotti
  • Emil Cioran
  • Philip Mainlander
  • certain religious concepts
  • Sunless Sea
  • A House of Many Doors
  • Saya No Uta
  • Bokurano
  • El Eternauta
  • Tynion's Apocalypse comics
  • I Am In Eskew
 
Mockerre

Mockerre

Story Director
Verified
Oct 30, 2017
630
Watch the first episode of Chernobyl. Tentacle monsters are not cosmic horror.
 
Forsaken82

Forsaken82

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,926
Mr. Snuffleupagus said:
Would you classify Alien, The Thing, The Blob, Life as Cosmic Horror? If so, then yes.
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The Thing could easily classify since the central theme of it is paranoia and madness and fear of the unknown, but the other 3 IMO are just classic monster movies centered around a cosmic entity. Unless you amplify the concept of "What the hell is this thing" in regards to the entities in Aliens, Life and The Blob, they are otherwise just classic monsters.
 
Motorcycle Dork

Motorcycle Dork

Member
Jun 24, 2019
6,373
It's a matter of execution. Cosmic and existential horror do often overlap and are synonymous, but they do have their differences. How I see it, CH is where entities/events that exist beyond our comprehension, making us fear the unknown. EH is when one questions their very existence or purpose. I find EH more scary, as outer-worldy entities are unlikely.
 
Retromess

Retromess

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Nov 9, 2017
2,039
Honestly, if anything, the idea of Cosmic Horror (humanity being utterly insignificant in the totality of the universe) is comforting.

I know so many horrible monsters in the real world will never truly face justice for their actions, barring an insane world-wide revolution.

So the idea of a gigantic monster or force or whatever that sees Jeff Bezos on the same level as a street urchin makes me smile. It helps reinforce the idea that on that level, even the worst of the worst in humankind is completely insignificant. A horrible capitalist villain could have the entire world in his hand and be worth 800 quadtrillion billion dollars, but that doesn't mean jack crap when C'Thulu shows up.
 
Burly

Burly

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,076
When it's actual horror, sure. A nihilist waxing philosophical and calling it cosmic horror is boring.
 
Keldroc

Keldroc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,986
Gaia Lanzer said:
I'm always caught up on the meaning of "Cosmic Horror" because I've known many people (people in the horror community) that DO consider all that "Cosmic Horror" as well and tend to consider the stuff inspired by Lovecraft it's own thing (Lovecraftian Horror). Though, I've also heard people liken the alien from The Thing as some kinda Shoggoth-like thing and a mass of flesh, eyes and mouths are very "Lovecraftian" looking, but you also get a lot of those visuals in Body Horror and that doesn't have to be Lovecraft-esque either.

Me personally, as far as my own opinion is concerned, Cosmic Horror IS Lovecraftian horror, and Alien, The Thing, The Blob, Life, and others like that are "Sci-Fi Horror" (or "Horror Science Fiction").
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Yeah I would not classify any of those movies as Cosmic/Lovecraftian. The Thing is pretty similar to a Lovecraft creature but there's no cosmic forces or apathetic god-being behind it, plus they just kill people (and then mimic them in the case of the Thing), rather than irrevocably change them or take them over. Just because it's in or from space doesn't make it Cosmic Horror. Those movies are "oh wow, that is a very dangerous space tiger," which can be a very effective premise, but Cosmic Horror is a different thing.
 
Orb

Orb

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
9,465
USA
Not in terms of the "giant horrifying tentacle beings" way. But what's more scary to me than just about anything is the sheer vastness of the universe in both time and space and how tiny and insignificant I am in all of it.
 
Necromanti

Necromanti

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,550
The only horror I've actually found scary has tended to be rooted in reality. Actual space itself is more terrifying.
 

Mib

Member
Nov 16, 2017
654
Comsic horror can be scarry in it's own way, but now it's too married to Lovecraftian horror (which is kinda outdated and overplayed) to really be scarry. Cosmic horror hits better when it's recognizable imo. Drop the old gods and visual grotesque, put in real fears and human anxieties. Even Lovecraft didn't rely so hard on alien gods (Rats in the Walls, The Music of Erich Zhang).
Mr. Snuffleupagus said:
Would you classify Alien, The Thing, The Blob, Life as Cosmic Horror? If so, then yes.
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The Thing and The Blob are lean into cosmic horror, but none of them are lovecraftian horror (what the OP describes).
 
devenger

devenger

The Fallen
Oct 29, 2017
2,734
Yes, and its not like I thought I was important to the universe. The scary part of insignificant is having giant horrors intersecting with your reality and their sheer presence is enough to fry your brain.
 
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