cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16332964

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.

They are:

  1. The Thing
  2. In the Mouth of Madness
  3. Event Horizon
  4. The Lighthouse
  5. Phantoms
  6. The Void
  7. The Mist
  8. Bird Box
  9. Color Out of Space
    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      Love that movie! But there’s nothing otherworldly, nothing supernatural going on. The captain of the Icarus I is plain nuts, not like he’s possessed or the like.

      • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        3 months ago

        There’s a theme in the movie that some of the crew become obsessed with the sun, without any rational reason being given.

        “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 … these stories focus on the endless possibilities of the universe’s fictional horrors.”

        Seems to fit.

      • Krauerking@lemy.lolEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        I don’t know the shots constantly try to remind you if that largest and most destructively uncaring monster of them all “The Sun”

        I think it absolutely is cosmic horror. Humans up against something so much more than them it’s hard to not curl up into a ball at the concept of comprehending what’s going on, so they’ve have to continue.

        Plus the ending.