Cosmic Horror

ARTICLE

Summary:

• The article discusses the experience of cosmic horror
• It traces the evolution of astronomical thought from geocentrism to heliocentrism, highlighting figures like Kant and Giordano Bruno, who recognized the implications of an infinite universe.
• Early works of science fiction, such as Fontenelle's Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, illustrate how philosophical dialogues about the cosmos helped to confront cosmic horror, transforming dread into curiosity and wonder.
• The article emphasizes that both telescopes and microscopes inspired science fiction by revealing vast and tiny worlds, leading to reflections on humanity's position in nature.
• The genre is portrayed as a means to explore political and social possibilities, offering a way to envision different futures and cope with the anxieties of modern existence.

Blaise Pascal, Thoughts (Reference Pascal and Ariew1670)

"By the end of The Terror‘s first season, what proves to be the most brilliant aspect of this desperate and unforgiving tale is that it does not take you where you expect.

You will often be reminded of Lovecraft and whether or not you could call The Terror cosmic horror is up for debate, but in spite of the naked presence of the supernatural in this story—and in spite of the refrain that the Arctic is a place that is “trying to kill” the men—the greatest threat to these men has nothing to do with the supernatural or even the Arctic..."

"The teaser trailer alone shows the epic scale of this entry in the found footage series, with brief shots of what looks like someone filming from outer space. Extraterrestrials and UFOs have been tackled in the franchise before, yes, but this time we’ll be getting aliens and cosmic horror galore!..."

"Critical Role's new podcast, "Moonward," is a wild, four-episode dive into cosmic horrors...

CR rolled out "Moonward" in August, a spinoff of the company's 2023 acquisition of the "Midst" audio drama. In "Moonward," CR cofounders Liam O'Brien and Marisha Ray step into the space Western-style, cosmic horror narrative that Xen, the narrator of "Moonward," wove to explore the ruins of a fallen moon.

BI sat down with O'Brien and Xen to talk about the new podcast venture and what comes next..."

"Continuing Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla decent into "Lovecraftian maritime madness," White Boat #2 is available starting today from DSTLRY and we have an exclusive preview just for Daily Dead readers that you won't want to miss!

"[White Boat #1]... showcased a new mythological extreme of horror from the creative team of writer Scott Snyder & artist Francesco Francavilla (Batman). The Lovecraftian psychological mind-bender introduced a maritime journalist, Lee Derry, to a hulking ship and the bizarre secrets hidden deep in its hull—all leading to a bizarre island where a cult of the obscenely wealthy concoct crimes against science. White Boat's ticket is far from punched. The journey continues this July in White Boat #2, another 48-page white-knuckle descent into clandestine history of dread."

Series Synopsis: "White Boats are the mega-yachts that the super-rich use to traverse the globe-floating islands where your every desire can be fulfilled. And getting invited on board one should be a dream come true...that is until the crew traps and transports you to a remote island where secret cults have existed for millennia, working on something called "The Human Project." Does the White Boat ship you to paradise or sink you into hell on earth?..."

"Here’s a rundown on the game, plus a trailer:

Your bestie seems to be hiding something. There’s something about your world that seems odd as well, like it has…secrets. Dive into the Cthulhu Mythos universe of this horror game and witness a “friendship” that rewrites the world..."

"Perhaps its strongest selling point so far is that Directive 8020 has been described as "The Thing in Space," and based on this brief presentation, it seems to nail that vibe..."

"An upcoming Lovecraftian movie seems incredibly exciting, but I am disappointed that it is not a TV series instead. While every horror subgenre has its own distinctive strengths and weaknesses, I am particularly fascinated by cosmic horror because of how it attempts to capture intangible terrors and ideas through fictional storytelling. As HP Lovecraft's stories suggest, written storytelling is usually better at capturing the existential dread that comes with cosmic horror because it relies heavily on the power of suggestion and leaves a lot to a reader's imagination.

Movies, video games, and TV shows, in contrast, always have to stimulate the viewer's senses by directly presenting visual and auditory cues. This leaves little room for audiovisual storytelling to fully embrace the ineffable elements that come with Lovecraftian narratives. However, every once in a while, a movie, show, or video game comes along and manages to capture Lovecraftian horror despite the limitations of its medium. One of these brilliant Lovecraftian horror video games is now getting a movie adaptation, but it would have worked better as a TV show..."

Junji Ito is one of the best contemporary manga horror artist around. "Hellstar Remina" is a horror manga series serialized from September 2004 to July 2005. The story revolves around a rogue planet named Remina, which is discovered by a scientist and subsequently named after his daughter, Remina Oguro. Initially celebrated, Remina quickly becomes a harbinger of doom as it heads towards Earth, revealing itself to be a sentient, planet-sized organism that consumes other planets.

Video Analysis by Tale Foundry Channel

"It’s the kind of Lovecraftian mindf*ck I can’t get enough of, and it bounces from subgenre to subgenre in a way that feels totally natural. It’s almost like writer/director Matt Warren took Benson and Moorhead’s Resolution and The Endless and transposed them into a more classically horrific key, so if you’re a fan of that filmmaking duo’s trademark Lovecraftian style, I think you’re really going to like Delicate Arch..."

"Your pineal gland will burst through your forehead and dance the cha-cha when it vibrates to the unhinged Lovecraft adaptation Unspeakable: Beyond The Wall Of Sleep from the especially odd auteur Chad Ferrin...

... Unspeakable: Beyond The Wall Of Sleep has the rewired retro thrills to pay the bills. It will reveal to you that beyond the vast gulf beyond comprehension there lies fresh frontiers of sexy surreal madness waiting for hungry members to chew on. Check this s**t out."

"Now this may sound like an overreaction, but believe me when I say that it’s outright CRIMINAL I hadn’t heard anything about this movie anywhere else other than from the creators. Is there a reason for that? Did I wrong you in some way? Were y’all purposely keeping this from me for some reason beyond my comprehension? Or was keeping me in the dark part of some sick pleasure you’ve been enjoying at my expense? Let’s break some basics before we get back on track—Shadow People..."

"Cosmic horror can be minds and dimensions beyond human ken - Cthulhu's incomprehensible moral guidance or whole ecologies swirling around us unseen. Or Azathoth, “mindless” because what it has instead is so vast and all-encompassing as to make mind-ness irrelevant. But cosmic horror can also be implacably simple - hunger, say, combined with being further up the food chain than we apex omnivores would like to believe possible. Maybe much further..."

From the team behind the animated Castlevania series (including the writer Warren Ellis, which may put some off):

Ep. 101: The Cold Spot

Starring James Callis and Alicia Witt

Dr. John Carnack is an investigator for the Department Of Experimental Oversight. Responding to a whistleblower call, he arrives at a lab to discover Dr. Sylvie Bestler’s personal experiment: to see what’s on the other side of the universe.

Official website

"Beach vacations sound like nothing but fun in the sun unless one has seen Jeffery A. Brown’s directorial debut, The Beach House. What starts as an uncomfortable, accidental couple’s weekend in a nearly abandoned seaside town ends in a cosmic horror nightmare that would impress H.P. Lovecraft himself. Liana Liberato stars as Emily, a college senior giving her relationship with Randall (Noah Le Gros) one last chance. Their romantic getaway crashes the older couple, Mitch (Jake Weber) and Jane’s (Maryann Nagel), own stay at the same house. As the couples shakily occupy the space, an oceanic microorganism rapidly works through every living organism it comes in contact with..."

"Signal Dark" by Alex Murray & Max Murray - Imdb

Short film on Youtube | Link Invidious

A network analyst discovers an alien signal which will drive him to the edge of sanity, questioning everything he thought he knew about reality.

• Written - Alex Murray

Production

• Directed - Alex Murray & Max Murray
• Script Supervisor - Sophie Habib-Deloncle
• Line Producer - Nicola Mandy
• Producer - James Carter Johnson
• Director of Photogrpahy - Robert Langley
• Editing - Alex Murray & Max Murray
• VFX - Alex Murray & Max Murray
• Colouirst - Jon Olav Stokke
• Sound Design - Peter Baumann
• Music – Robert Murray

On The Cover - Bob Eggleton

"Ridley Scott’s Alien redefined the sci-fi genre in many ways, through its exploration of cosmic horror, existentialism, ethical dilemmas surrounding AI, and more. Romulus is an echo of all these tried and tested thematic discussions. However, the film does it diligently and with an earnest respect for the genre that you almost forgive its shortcomings..."

"The literature of author H. P. Lovecraft has inspired wave after wave of horror directors. From all out body horror such as Joe Lynch’s Suitable Flesh, to more subtle affairs like the works of Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, the Cthulhu loving writer’s work has been adapted, interpreted, and used as a sounding board for years. Lovecraft’s popularity shows no signs of waning, with Matt Devino and David Michael Yohe’s The Dæmon the latest film to utilise the late author’s work as a starting point..."