That's tough... Carpenter's The Thing is definitely up there. Fulci's The Beyond is neck and neck with it for me. Both different but heavy with that Cosmic Dread of postponing the inevitable fate.
The Thing aside, I loved The Ritual on Netflix. Got some of that savage old god cosmic horror with an awesome creature design from one of my favorite artists, Keith Thompson.
The ritual is a fantastic horror film! It was originally gonna be in this video but I decided to make one for it at a later date. That's why Moder is actually in the thumbnail
My last job was outdoors and arboricultural, and involved a lot of stuff like weeding, spraying, mowing, pruning, etc. Often, when I was out in the fields doing stuff like that, I'd consider the perspective of the creatures and habitats I was incidentally destroying as part of my work. The concept of a being billions of times your size, unaware and uncaring about your very existence, utterly destroying your entire world with some unfathomable piece of machinery for an incomprehensible reason, used to give me the heebie-jeebies to no end. That's cosmic horror.
I think about this all the time. It makes me feel like I'm going crazy sometimes, because anytime I've mentioned it to anyone they don't seem to understand. Glad to know it's not just me
Lovecraftian inversion is also good since some of the stories from Cthulhu mythos dwell also into that... instead of things being terrible due to being cosmic they are amazing and extraodrinary making characters seek their own doom just to witness it trading their entire mundane lifespan for very short glimps of extraordinary. And it makes you think was that happy ending or not.
not just a lack of a happy ending but the fact some of lovecraftian horror's stories end in ways where you can't really tell if it is a happy ending for those involved or hell and those really give you the mind swing as you wrap your head around the different possibilities for that ending.
It should be said, that All Tommorows - while being extremely bleak at some places - definitely fulfiling the starndards of cosmic horror - is hopeful. Depsite all the unimaginable tradegies and degradations humanity has to go through, they always prevail and it the end, billions of years later, their legacy remains.
Hell yeah all thanks to the original space dwelling variants that seeded the galaxy. They remained hidden when the Qu attacked and came back to help after.
You nailed it right from the beginning. Cosmic horror is the stuff that stays in your head long after the story is done. It can have gore, jump scares, or all the usual tropes, but it has more. It's not paranormal activity, it's the Thing, the first Alien before Ridley screwed up it's origins, Annihilation, the Void, the Color Out of Space... That's the stuff I like. Freak me out, don't just startle me.
Anyone who hasn't delved in the lore of Warhammer40k might be happy to find that the it's mostly cosmic horror. The rest is a biblical level fantasy epic.
@@silvercloud-u5g it makes sense then where it all came from one of my happiest earlier memories is playing chainsaw warrior and space Hulk at the dinner table and being engrossed in the tension.
I see this opinion a lot but it's not really true. Chaos gods, C'tan and Tyranids are all pretty much defined beings that can be effectively fought against and who have clear established motivations. There isn't really anything lovecraftian about them. The only cosmic horror in 40k, as far as I know, would be Ghoul stars and possibly Halo devices, but these things are pretty much never important in the main story and are just a niche parts of the lore
The Empty Man is definitely up there with In The Mouth of Madness, The Thing & Annihilation as one of the best cosmic horror films ever made. People have dissed it for it’s length -namely its long prologue but I believe this is for its benefit as a slow-burning tale that unravels over time. It weeds out the impatient audience and leaves a lot to be chewed on and re-watched. There’s nothing fleeting about it. A direct antithesis to a lot of hollywood trash out nowadays. I wish there were more films like it.
I tried watching and enjoying the movie, but I simply couldn’t. I don’t know what I’m missing about it, but it felt like I’d seen the movie 10 times already (that is to say, I found it predictable)
@lordofducks3430 Do watch it again. Yes, it comes across as a standard 90s candyman clone... but past the hour mark it abandons the urban legend, and becomes an existential crisis far beyond any understanding. Bloody good movie
I thought it was super disappointing. An evil cult is the reason? There is no monster yet, the empty man has to become him and that apparently happens post credits? Meh. Seemed like they had a good idea but then got sucked into a few horror tropes like fanatic cultists and the whole murder compulsion thing. Just felt too disorganized as a story and then lazily ended
It's something of a paradox with The Empty Man. The same circumstances that made the film basically get "buried" (no proper marketing, release, etc.) also probably caused the movie to better than it otherwise would have been. The Empty Man was the last film produced by 20th Century Fox before it was bought out. The movie was in production when the buy out happened. So the studio executives made two decisions: 1. Don't bother trying to market and release it properly, because it's success/failure no longer mattered. 2. Since the success didn't matter, and they weren't committed to releasing the film, they let the director do whatever he wanted. With that freedom, he did things that under normal situations the studio would have almost certainly put a stop to. (If nothing else, that 20-30 minute prologue would have probably been reduced to 5-10 minutes, if not cut completely.) So. It's a double edged sword. Same thing that "doomed" the movie also made it worthy of being a cult hit.
I've said this before and I'll say it again, Annihilation was one of the Top 5 greatest sci-fi movies of the past decade. It belongs on the list for greatest of all time. To this day, I don't understand why it's not talked about as much and never gets the praise it deserves.
If you don't mind recommendations from a complete stranger, I'm a fellow cosmic horror enthusiast, and I reviewed movies for 13 years. You might want to give some of these a try: Absentia, Antarctic Journal, Await Further Instructions, Dead Birds, Gateway (2021), Horror Express (1972), The Last WInter, Long Weekend (1978), Messiah of Evil (1974), Resolution, The Spine of Night, The Tunnel (2011), Wendigo (2001), and a weird one that kind of fits: The White Reindeer (1952). Hopefully there's one in there you like.
Nice! Subconsciously this is why I clicked the video in the first place, hoping for some more cosmic horror recommendations in the comments :P I can only recommend back to you: Endless (2008) - basically sequel to Resolution, In the Tall Grass (2019), El Incidente (2014), The Borderlands (2013) - although starts like a typical religious found footage horror; Few questions: Absentia - 2011, right? Antarctic Journal - 2005, korean one, Namgeuk ilgi? Dead Birds - 2004 - seems like a generic haunted house movie, is it really goes into cosmic horror?
@@LeonserGT I've seen all of them but El Incidente, and it's a good list! The answer to your first two questions is yes. Dead Birds does start as a haunted house movie, but is something different by the end, though the director never really explains what's happening in the film. He talks about it in interviews and commentary tracks in his other films though.
@@thinman25 theospartan's got the rare delivery like the voice of the subconsious. Distant and oneric , yet articulate and suscuint. Focusing on the symbolic connections of the human inner and outer experience.
Cosmic horror is probably the only kind of horror I can enjoy. Most "horror" movies are just jump scares with a dark premise, they don't scare me just make me anxious and I hate that feeling. Cosmic Horror on the hand fill me with dread, anticipation, and a profound desire to understand this madness unfolding on screen. Those other horror movies make me want to turn off the movie while cosmic makes me feel like Im spellbound to its otherworldly mystery and I love it.
Empty Man is SO vastly underrated. I have a ton of horror fan friends and I don't think any of them have seen it, despite my urging. I went in thinking it was going to be a 'Slender Man' kind of thing, and it was Soooo not that.
Such an excellent movie!! I immediately went a bought the comic it was based on…absolutely horrible😂! I’m so glad the movie went the way it did! I would have loved the comics if they fleshed out the story line of the movie, but they were so different I couldn’t even pretend to enjoy the comic. The movie is one of my favorites of the last decade though! Can’t recommend it enough!
It..... Kinda was a slender man thing tho? The only slight distinction was at the very end they kinda throw in there like "oh everyone is a cultist who wants to bring hell on earth". Seemed like a super weak ending for such a strong start.
@@zaalrottunda2804 Did we watch the same movie? It was not about the cult, it was all about the protagonist from start to end. The cult is a subplot that I would have loved to see separately though, especially connected to the events at the beginning.
@@alexvith doesn't the movie end with him in the hospital becoming the empty man and like the entire hospital dropping to their knees just like the cultists did? Maybe that was the issue, so many subplots it felt so disconnected. The only reason I thought it was cosmic horror was the discussion at the meeting where he learns about the noosphere. But other than that it's kinda just a cult slasher flick with a cosmic horror intro and ending. It felt rushed and undervalued imo
Is a fascinating movie, truly disturbing. I would guess people who saw it and said it was trash did not watch the movie entirely, or did not understand it.
Is it strange that I find your narration to this as uncanny as the images? All this horror and your voice is so smooth and undisturbed…it is as creepy and as it is great! Can’t wait to hear more from you!!
Nyarlatothep is a strange one overall in the lovecraftian pantheon. He's much more into purposely messing with humanity as a whole for the fun of it while other gods couldn't care less. It doesn't make sense for him to use an "empty man" and he has never really needed one as he's always managed to manifest on his own with perfect ease (Nikola Tesla being one of his forms is an example).
@@MawGinBoo They do! Right after their little... Dance around the bonfire they chant Nyarlathotep 3 times, but you have to crank up the volume to actually hear/understand it.
The Empty Man makes me want to pursue the Lovecraftian game I first thought of 2 years ago. Originally it was very similar to Eternal Darkness, but I eventually came to the idea of a 50-something-year-old grizled NYPD Homicide Detetctive who gets involved with forces beyond his comprehension after a guy was found dead in his apartment. (Turned into a web of stretched flesh with his face in the middle.). It'll take place over 4 Millenia (2164 BCE - 2010 CE).
That sounds like a major task especially with such a huge timeline. I wish you luck and the discipline to bring your story to fruition - your idea sounds fascinating!
5:45 this single drawing encaptulates what cosmic horror is for me and it's for that reason that Junji Ito is one of my favourite artists ever. Absolutely stunning
I loved annihilation and all tomorrows and I'm glad I can look forward to the empty man. I would say the thing that I love about cosmic horror is the mind bending aspects of it. Our minds can imagine lots of things but I think it takes a special kind of writer to come up with something the mind cant comprehend
Thinking about space being an endless expanse of dead planets because Bretheren Moons vacuumed up all life in the universe sometime in the deep past really upsets me on a gut level..
I've always been a cosmic horror fan and I love a lot of cosmic stuff, like Colour Out of Space, anything Lovecraft or inspired by him, Laird Barron, Tim Curran, etc. But Uzumaki completely changed the way I look at media and horror in general. It's a fantastic story with some of the most haunting art I've ever seen. It gave me nightmares. Unbelievably good.
Depends what direction your taking it in. I grew up reading and watching the adaptations of Lovecraft and Barker. Then others in thier respective cross-over and sub-genres. I take mine into the comedically absurd with regards to Humanity that to fight back against it is like an overly ambitious nutron trying to break free of the atomic loop. Thinking you could resist the pull and obtain true self-agency. A smart play usually is to have a spokesperson(s) or translator which it tries to articulate it's nature but comes across as just a gibbering and babbling stream of disjointed hicupping consiousness. Cultists is always the best way to go as it's also about the horror of the group think and insular community the lengths that they will go to preserve thier traditions and cement thier notion of reality. But they are nothing more than head-stratching chimps trying to attempt Cold Fusion using thier own feaces.
@Shugg-Goff-HHoffical that actually sounds pretty amazing 😂 I love stuff that's absurd for the sake of being absurd, I got a solid foundation down and taking a nihilistic approach to it. Current idea is more of a 'your race depends on us for existence, we can do whatever we want because without us you'll die' take
@freakkyser well if Nihilism and Existential Absurdisim belongs anywhere it's horror especially Cosmic/Philosophical kind. People find it pessimistic I get that Impulse but you've really got to get the reader where they live without gross-out and being personal bur universal. In my current short story which nods ar and everything from The Colour From Out of Space to Nylarhotep and Azazoth. Set three years before The Vietnam War in a no-mark Texas Roadside Diner and Gas. Still doing redrafts as we speak. Also it really highlights human frailty also which can be argued as humbling in it's own peculiar way. Always through in disturbing grisly pratt-falls. Horror should be written almost like a joke, with a point and layers and a punchline/payoff that isn't a non-sequiter.
I've been writing some short stories for a minute, but I am planning on eventually writing a novel(?). Do you have any tips for longer cosmic horror stories, I am struggling to find a consistently effective narrator or perspective.
it is one of the worst most uninteresting movies i've ever seen and the "twist" was eay to see and didn't have any shock value. The movie is far too long drags it's feet too much and does little to nothing with the admittedly interesting premise. There was one standout moment because i was crying laughing at a kid saying "what?' when a group of people hear a chain rattling in the dark on a "spooky" bridge.
@RunT0TheHillz to elaborate further without trying to spoilt it for others. Horror is an extremely formulaic trope-heavy medium after all. Yes there is some pacing issues maybe could easily shave off 30 mins at least. That scene on the bridge with the emo-kids and spooky chains did seemed to belong in another movie entirely. The reveal not unpredictable was still overall I feel a far better impactful revelation than The Sixth Sense's execution and far less heavy handed.
I started watching this video, put it on pause, and then watched The Empty Man as I had it saved on my list anyway. So glad I did watch it, so haunting and gripping. Now I'm back to finish this video!
I've always loved how in The Expanse, it is never explained whether the Goths were actual and conscious living beings doing the shit they've been doing (especially from books 7 to 9), or whether they were simply an unexplained phenomenon of the universe / multiverse, considering how the Romans managed to create the Ring Space. And what's great about it is that whether it's one or the other, they are de-facto indistinguishable.
Another media with great cosmic horror is Xenosaga. UD-O and the gnosis are terrifying concepts, the gnosis essentially living in another plane yet is still able to make contact with you and is visible. UD-O especially is something beyond comprehension, it doesn't even seem malicious but whenever someone comes in contact with it and is able to communicate they subtly begin to go mad. Awesome channel by the way love me some cosmic horror content.
Honestly the first Mass Effect game does it really well. There's some medium translation stuff there. Reading a plot synopsis you probably won't get much out of it, but playing the game for the first time not knowing where its going... oh boy. The cosmic horror elements of Remembrance of Earth's past are pretty underrates, too, I think. Its mostly the space politics of the Dark Forest, but when people gain insight into the real nature of the universe and are driven mad by the revelation, its well-established. The novel does a good job of really selling the idea it really would inflict psychological harm on anyone who knew.
I am so goddamn thankful that I went into this movie completely blind. I’m a big cosmic horror fan and I started watching it thinking that it would be some schlocky slasher. Imagine my pleasant surprise to find a properly scary and interesting story about Nyarlethotep.
This is the first time I've come across your channel and I was really impressed by this video. Well presented from writing, editing and narration. Even though your pacing is slow, your ideas come across succinctly and it feels like a much longer video. None of that is any form of criticism, the pacing is very enjoyable to listen to allowing us to absorb things. Great storytelling.
Love your videos mate. Love your voice and narration as well. I could listen to you for hours and still keep interest. I will check this My wallet man and the book as well. Keep up the good work!
Best way to describe Empty Man. Standard 90s horror. Teenagers encounter urban legend (very candyman) and after getting totally wigged out...vanish one by one. BUT... You know in these movies theres the random cop who can't solve it? Who turns up an hour in? Its pretty much candyman from the POV of that random cop. The families, etc. And when the teens have had their little story... the real story starts. And all related to this lovecraftian cult... and an impossible skeleton found in a cave in Tibet.
my bf and i quite literally just watched the empty man not too long ago and while watching i was thoroughly confused by the movie. i think i honestly got too excited about tulpas being in it to pay much attention but your analysis and explanation really helped me understand what i missed. i dont consume a lot of cosmic horror, which is probably why i didn't understand, but now i think i just might have too
The empty man was so good!! Thanks for the video and great analysis. I’ve been meaning to watch something explaining some of this movie bc it can be dense for me at parts. Thanks again, have a good one 👍
I had to trawl a lot of cosmic horror recommendations before coming across the empty man! Great to see a mention and loved this video. Hope you do more cosmic horror videos
I liked the Empty man very much. My favorite moment is how the ritual turns into an urban legend or a horror story for children. Communication with an ancient entity, including a special musical instrument, turned into a challenge with an empty bottle. It's especially cool to think about this because children most often come to these thoughts about calling Bloody Mary, all kinds of gnomes, etc. It's interesting what entities can be imagined behind the same call to Bloody Mary
The more I listen about Horror tropes, the more I realize how the game Changed really is a cosmic horror game. The main antagonist is a species (most likely not originating from earth) that is able to transform your body and assimilate you into something else. You either die, or become something other than human.
For me, nothing captures cosmic horror better than Annihilation... Other movies I've seen that attempted it always follow a rule.. putting a comprehensive rule puts it below our understanding which lessen the effect.. ex. In Bird Box rules are just. 1. Strong wind is a sign its coming. 2. If birds or other animals gets agitated its near. 3. Never look at it. 4. Everyone who sees it becomes insane and commit suicide. 5. if you are already insane you became possessed or something... those rules are comprehensible... we understand how to avoid, we know what to look for, we know what it does.. we just dont know what it is and why it follows the rule. But in Annihilation.. the only rule we can understand is: 1. Beyond "the shimmer", things go crazy... and thats it, we dont know if its happening, what to look for, what to avoid, what it will do to you.. people can become plant, go crazy, having body double, have their intestine move like a snake, explode in a burst of light, etc... and we dont know how or when it happens, you dont know if you got it, is it in the air? is it physical contact? nobody knows.... that for me is the cosmic horror done right.. we dont know the rules, its not comprehensive or logical.. its beyond our understanding...
This video needs a part 2, big time. There’s tons of video games that you didn’t even get to touch!! The reapers from mass effect is a HUGE one! Bloodborne is the most obvious. In my opinion, it’s the best depiction of cosmic horror, specifically Lovecraft’s variety.
The Empty Man is originally based on a graphic novel written by Cullen Bunn, although the movie shares very little in common with the original source material.
@shannonpotratz489 I know, I read and enjoyed it years ago. It has a completely different tone and approach. Very cinematic. I like both in medias thier own ways though ideally would've liked a more faithful adaptation. Maybe there was some legal and creative issues wrangling involved I do not know.
I work with Cullen Bunn on occasion, and he was discouraged to be anywhere near the set while filming. He didn't have a particularly good experience working with the filmmakers, unfortunately. Too bad too, because I like the film for what it is, if you separate it from the comic...
My favorite recent cosmic horror is Resolution and its sequel The Endless, by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead. Their other films are connected to the same world (mostly through the red flowers), but those two films mostly focus on an unseen ancient entity that's simply bored. It toys with humans to entertain itself, trapping them in time loops that it can observe forever. It sends you a piece of media to kick off a plot, and if you take the bait, you're stuck in its movie. If you don't take the bait, it gets more insistent until you do.
as soon as you showed scenes from annihilation i knew i was in for a good video. absolutely love that movie. the ending is divisive and not as masterful as the rest of the film but its such a great example of cosmic horror. it's not about jump scares and i wish more horror movies did this.
The Empty Man is the Donnie Darko of the last decade. Intriguing and fascinating like no other movie at that time. I started reading everything about Tulpas after the film.
To me, cosmic horror is more than just the dread. The thing behind the horror needs to be scary, yes, but for me it also needs to instill wonder and fascination. The entity/event needs to be as captivating and beautiful as it is terrifying. Like a tornado. Something that despite how horrific it is still compels some people to chase after it. This is why I loved Annihilation. The movie was beautiful! Vibrant! The effects of it were absolutely horrible and unsettling, yet morbidly fascinating and beautiful, especially for the scientific minds of those experiencing it.
Hey i loved your exploration of cosmic horror, and appreciate your inclusion of some pictures of Hellstar Remina since i think remina is the best piece of cosmic horror, since its story focuses on the reaction of the people and not the cosmic Horror itself, so theres a more grounded feel to everything dying. Especially in the end when you realise the thing probably ate countless other civilizations to get to this point and now you wonder about its history and how it came to be. Ito never answers this and doesnt focus on this and this is what makes it terrifying. Same with "the secrets of amigara vault" where the real horror is the people reacting and the scenarios in your head. That stuff hauntsvyou really well. The only cosmic horror game that conveys that feeling is "Voices of the void." Anyway id love to see you talk about any of those on detail. Have a great Day!!
Uzumaki and Hellstar Remina really are lovecraftian cosmic horror done right. There's something intrinsically eerie in the way these stories slowly but impendently uncover the ocean of insanity under the thin layer of saneness and reason in people, showing that all it takes to break this layer like a layer of thin black ice on a pond in autumn night is just a faint touch of indescribable cosmic power.
@@emilybarclay8831 I have it too, though I would've preferred if it was printed in A4 format. The print quality and paper is top, but it feels relatively small, especially compared to reading it on a 85 inch TV, lol.
@ my version is pretty large, it’s definitely larger than a normal sized book, but I initially watched it on a RUclips video on my phone so it’s always an improvement
If you enjoyed "Empty Man" you should check out this game "Who's Lila?" it explores the same concepts and themes, but IMO in a much more interesting and horrifying manner.
The empty man is deeply unsettling and unique. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking it looked like some trashy new variant of 80s-90s horrors like the Candy Man, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it so much deeper and rooted in cosmic horror.
The "Causal Force" aspect of cosmic horror is definitely something that is under utilized. Within the mainstream of cinema for the whole genre, I don't think anyone has come close to capturing this feel in quite a while. Not even the Legendary Godzilla movies even came close, for me. The last movie I thought actually gave that sense of danger and level of destruction was Clover from the (only) Cloverfield movie. Almost everyone focuses on the found footage and ARG aspects of the movie, but I see nearly no one talking about the cosmic horror of it. A 300 ft baby sea monster wakes up, has a tantrum in New York, then takes some spicy rocks to the face like Caillou is trying to start a fight with Butterbean. There's only one escalation point after that and by then you're doubting if even Oppenheimer can throw hands with it. You've got no defense. You've got no offense. And even after that thing dies (if it even can), there's still going to be whole changes to the food chain after we become smears of red and brown on the ground. You're going to wish Cthulhu wakes up, snaps your mind and then sucks it out of your skull like it's a microwaved marshmallow peep.
It's funny cause I don't really like horror - I don't really like feeling scared and hate jumpscares, and gore is just meh - but cosmic horror is incredibly intriguing to me. Maybe it's my tendency towards fantastical and scifi, but it just has something deeper that's very enticing to me, so much so that at times, I overcome the dislike I have for the fear and engage with the medium. Good stuff.
I love cosmic horror movies and games. I also love horror sci-fi, too. One of my favorite retro game i played in the past was THE DIG. Very good, mystery sci-fi adventure game. You can definitely try it if you like these types of games.
The Magnus Archives is the most in depth exploration of horror I've ever listened to, I highly recommend that if you enjoy mystery and staring at a wall thinking about stuff after your media, you give it a try
The Empty Man movie was excellent, but I would advise anyone that enjoyed it to check out the comic it was based on of the same name, by Cullen Bunn. The art style adds so much to it, but Bunn's genius is the real star. I especially love how he describes coming up with the idea. " 'The Empty Man' was born years ago, while driving down a lonely stretch of highway. . . That drive was long, and I made it on very little sleep. Driving along, my mind playing tricks on me, seeing these strangely tattered plastic sheets on barbed wire fences, a creepy phrase popped into my head. 'The Empty Man made me do it.' "
Ive always thought that cosmic horror was the combination of encountering something that is so far removed from nature that it has no foothold in myth, paired with something that is no less horrifying, despite having zero malice
The Empty Man was great. Massively underrated. I remember reading the reviews and people, for some reason, thinking it was your run of the mill spooky monster hunts main character. I think the trailers didn't do it any justice.
Phoenix point is a video game that created the best cosmic horror I have ever played. The terror from the deep game from 90's is also a good cosmic horror experience
The most intense cosmic horror is that of a simple dog being neglected and put down for an arbitrary stupid reason by its owner. An all mighty being exerting kafkaesque power over something incapable of understanding the mechanism or reason for its treatment
Thoughtful videos like this are always such a treat. I'm a huge cosmic horror fan. I was tracking The Color Out of Space (2019) for the prior couple of years, ever since word first got out. Went across my county to go see it at an art house movie theater. Was not disappointed. Good movies are so far and few between in the cosmic horror genre, but every now and then a gem comes out. Thanks for making this vid, I greatly enjoyed it.
Exellent video man, can't believe your channel is so small given the quality. Having only read Uzumaki I cant wait to check out the other 2. Keep up the great work!
Interdimensional beings, or "hidden biosphere" entities native to the planet but still completely foreign to us, could also fit into that second category.
Hands down a winner ! It channels all it influences well. Wears it on it's sleeve. Carpenter, Barker, Argento and Fulci. All with a heavy dose of Crawling Chaos.
The Empty Man as a whole is just an alright movie but sections, like the first was it 20 or 30 minutes and the campfire part, are top tier Lovecraftian greatness
All of my worst nightmares are cosmic horror in nature ….it might just be the feeling of the inseparability of some external(yet ever present) eternal unknowable evil ……like “you may not even be known to it” “and that would be best” …..but knowing of ITS existence cannot be escaped…and to me …that is cosmic horror
Let me know your favorite piece of horror media!
Definitely The Thing. The original tho
For sure a classic
That's tough... Carpenter's The Thing is definitely up there. Fulci's The Beyond is neck and neck with it for me. Both different but heavy with that Cosmic Dread of postponing the inevitable fate.
The Thing aside, I loved The Ritual on Netflix. Got some of that savage old god cosmic horror with an awesome creature design from one of my favorite artists, Keith Thompson.
The ritual is a fantastic horror film! It was originally gonna be in this video but I decided to make one for it at a later date. That's why Moder is actually in the thumbnail
My last job was outdoors and arboricultural, and involved a lot of stuff like weeding, spraying, mowing, pruning, etc. Often, when I was out in the fields doing stuff like that, I'd consider the perspective of the creatures and habitats I was incidentally destroying as part of my work. The concept of a being billions of times your size, unaware and uncaring about your very existence, utterly destroying your entire world with some unfathomable piece of machinery for an incomprehensible reason, used to give me the heebie-jeebies to no end. That's cosmic horror.
I think about this all the time. It makes me feel like I'm going crazy sometimes, because anytime I've mentioned it to anyone they don't seem to understand. Glad to know it's not just me
That's called a God Complex. Close, but not the same.
@@joshmciver4847 not sure that means what you think it does.
@@joshmciver4847 You keep using that word... I do not think it means what you think it means
And to those entities, they are just mowing the lawn.
I think the often “lack of a happy ending” and sense of sheer hopelessness is what makes cosmic horror so terrifying.
A few of lovecrafts stories don't really "end", the narration just stops..
Lovecraftian inversion is also good since some of the stories from Cthulhu mythos dwell also into that... instead of things being terrible due to being cosmic they are amazing and extraodrinary making characters seek their own doom just to witness it trading their entire mundane lifespan for very short glimps of extraordinary. And it makes you think was that happy ending or not.
I always take those endings as "My life could be so much worse."
A scary reminder, that humans are not in control when these things are set into motion
not just a lack of a happy ending but the fact some of lovecraftian horror's stories end in ways where you can't really tell if it is a happy ending for those involved or hell and those really give you the mind swing as you wrap your head around the different possibilities for that ending.
It should be said, that All Tommorows - while being extremely bleak at some places - definitely fulfiling the starndards of cosmic horror - is hopeful. Depsite all the unimaginable tradegies and degradations humanity has to go through, they always prevail and it the end, billions of years later, their legacy remains.
They got the ultimate get back in the end 😎
Hell yeah all thanks to the original space dwelling variants that seeded the galaxy. They remained hidden when the Qu attacked and came back to help after.
Modular People ftw
@@theosparticthey even were able to defeat The Qu
@@Peepaw_Afton_Artand made them taste their own medicine.
You nailed it right from the beginning. Cosmic horror is the stuff that stays in your head long after the story is done. It can have gore, jump scares, or all the usual tropes, but it has more. It's not paranormal activity, it's the Thing, the first Alien before Ridley screwed up it's origins, Annihilation, the Void, the Color Out of Space... That's the stuff I like. Freak me out, don't just startle me.
Excellent way to put it 👍
The Thing was a good one.
In the mouth of madness and dagon are good movies too
I don't think ridley ruined the origins as it is yet to be confirmed.
Annihilation was terrible imo.
@@eamondrug cool.
Anyone who hasn't delved in the lore of Warhammer40k might be happy to find that the it's mostly cosmic horror. The rest is a biblical level fantasy epic.
Love 40k! I'll probably end up making a video on it 👍
☝️You can tell from his username this guy knows what’s up.
@@silvercloud-u5g it makes sense then where it all came from one of my happiest earlier memories is playing chainsaw warrior and space Hulk at the dinner table and being engrossed in the tension.
I see this opinion a lot but it's not really true. Chaos gods, C'tan and Tyranids are all pretty much defined beings that can be effectively fought against and who have clear established motivations. There isn't really anything lovecraftian about them.
The only cosmic horror in 40k, as far as I know, would be Ghoul stars and possibly Halo devices, but these things are pretty much never important in the main story and are just a niche parts of the lore
@@malfuy9558 Strongly disagree. Clearly we have very different definitions of cosmic horror.
The Empty Man is definitely up there with In The Mouth of Madness, The Thing & Annihilation as one of the best cosmic horror films ever made. People have dissed it for it’s length -namely its long prologue but I believe this is for its benefit as a slow-burning tale that unravels over time. It weeds out the impatient audience and leaves a lot to be chewed on and re-watched. There’s nothing fleeting about it. A direct antithesis to a lot of hollywood trash out nowadays. I wish there were more films like it.
The Empty Man is true horror cinema. Some so called "experts" will deem it as "pretentious" and "not knowing what it wants to be"
I tried watching and enjoying the movie, but I simply couldn’t. I don’t know what I’m missing about it, but it felt like I’d seen the movie 10 times already (that is to say, I found it predictable)
@lordofducks3430 Do watch it again.
Yes, it comes across as a standard 90s candyman clone... but past the hour mark it abandons the urban legend, and becomes an existential crisis far beyond any understanding.
Bloody good movie
Man glad someone is talking about The Empty Man. It's a great movie but never had a chance. Hope it becomes a cult classic one day.
For sure! I know it's not for everyone, but I loved it.
It already is. I started a cult around it.
@@sean7221 ayoooo
I thought it was super disappointing. An evil cult is the reason? There is no monster yet, the empty man has to become him and that apparently happens post credits? Meh. Seemed like they had a good idea but then got sucked into a few horror tropes like fanatic cultists and the whole murder compulsion thing. Just felt too disorganized as a story and then lazily ended
It's something of a paradox with The Empty Man. The same circumstances that made the film basically get "buried" (no proper marketing, release, etc.) also probably caused the movie to better than it otherwise would have been.
The Empty Man was the last film produced by 20th Century Fox before it was bought out. The movie was in production when the buy out happened. So the studio executives made two decisions:
1. Don't bother trying to market and release it properly, because it's success/failure no longer mattered.
2. Since the success didn't matter, and they weren't committed to releasing the film, they let the director do whatever he wanted. With that freedom, he did things that under normal situations the studio would have almost certainly put a stop to. (If nothing else, that 20-30 minute prologue would have probably been reduced to 5-10 minutes, if not cut completely.)
So. It's a double edged sword. Same thing that "doomed" the movie also made it worthy of being a cult hit.
I've said this before and I'll say it again, Annihilation was one of the Top 5 greatest sci-fi movies of the past decade. It belongs on the list for greatest of all time. To this day, I don't understand why it's not talked about as much and never gets the praise it deserves.
I really enjoyed the books.
Is it me or is annihilation loosely based on the colour out of space
@@theangrydweller1002 also the film (and some from the games) - Stalker
Because it's fucking boring!
Excellent movie, despite its flaws
If you don't mind recommendations from a complete stranger, I'm a fellow cosmic horror enthusiast, and I reviewed movies for 13 years. You might want to give some of these a try:
Absentia, Antarctic Journal, Await Further Instructions, Dead Birds, Gateway (2021), Horror Express (1972), The Last WInter, Long Weekend (1978), Messiah of Evil (1974), Resolution, The Spine of Night, The Tunnel (2011), Wendigo (2001), and a weird one that kind of fits: The White Reindeer (1952). Hopefully there's one in there you like.
Nice! Subconsciously this is why I clicked the video in the first place, hoping for some more cosmic horror recommendations in the comments :P
I can only recommend back to you: Endless (2008) - basically sequel to Resolution, In the Tall Grass (2019), El Incidente (2014), The Borderlands (2013) - although starts like a typical religious found footage horror;
Few questions:
Absentia - 2011, right? Antarctic Journal - 2005, korean one, Namgeuk ilgi? Dead Birds - 2004 - seems like a generic haunted house movie, is it really goes into cosmic horror?
@@LeonserGT I've seen all of them but El Incidente, and it's a good list! The answer to your first two questions is yes. Dead Birds does start as a haunted house movie, but is something different by the end, though the director never really explains what's happening in the film. He talks about it in interviews and commentary tracks in his other films though.
@@LeonserGT This conversation is now a text file, so I can go through both your lists :)
Love the list, as a fellow cosmic horror enthusiast I'd like to add 1.) Black Mountainside 2.) In The Mouth Of Madness 3.) Outwaters 4.) The Void
Tx for the list
I'm just happy to have found a channel like this that doesn't use ai voice over.
@@thinman25 theospartan's got the rare delivery like the voice of the subconsious. Distant and oneric , yet articulate and suscuint. Focusing on the symbolic connections of the human inner and outer experience.
@@Shugg-Goff-HHofficalthis is so verbose i think i found consummation
I’m hoping YT gets a filter for it.
Cosmic horror is probably the only kind of horror I can enjoy. Most "horror" movies are just jump scares with a dark premise, they don't scare me just make me anxious and I hate that feeling. Cosmic Horror on the hand fill me with dread, anticipation, and a profound desire to understand this madness unfolding on screen. Those other horror movies make me want to turn off the movie while cosmic makes me feel like Im spellbound to its otherworldly mystery and I love it.
Empty Man is SO vastly underrated. I have a ton of horror fan friends and I don't think any of them have seen it, despite my urging. I went in thinking it was going to be a 'Slender Man' kind of thing, and it was Soooo not that.
Such an excellent movie!! I immediately went a bought the comic it was based on…absolutely horrible😂! I’m so glad the movie went the way it did! I would have loved the comics if they fleshed out the story line of the movie, but they were so different I couldn’t even pretend to enjoy the comic. The movie is one of my favorites of the last decade though! Can’t recommend it enough!
Definitely suffered from a poor marketing campaign and title.
It..... Kinda was a slender man thing tho? The only slight distinction was at the very end they kinda throw in there like "oh everyone is a cultist who wants to bring hell on earth".
Seemed like a super weak ending for such a strong start.
@@zaalrottunda2804 Did we watch the same movie? It was not about the cult, it was all about the protagonist from start to end. The cult is a subplot that I would have loved to see separately though, especially connected to the events at the beginning.
@@alexvith doesn't the movie end with him in the hospital becoming the empty man and like the entire hospital dropping to their knees just like the cultists did? Maybe that was the issue, so many subplots it felt so disconnected. The only reason I thought it was cosmic horror was the discussion at the meeting where he learns about the noosphere. But other than that it's kinda just a cult slasher flick with a cosmic horror intro and ending. It felt rushed and undervalued imo
The Color Out of Space with Nick Cage was a pretty good cosmic horror too, idc what anyone says
It was a good adaptation.
Is a fascinating movie, truly disturbing. I would guess people who saw it and said it was trash did not watch the movie entirely, or did not understand it.
Loved it
So under the radar i loved it too.
It's only Cage's reputation that influences people's opinions. It's about as good a movie adaptation of Lovecraft as you could get.
I love cosmic horror because I find it more terrifying when you don't have all the answers, and not all loose ends are tied up by the end.
I'm so glad Empty Man is getting more recognition. One of the best movies I've ever watched
Any other good horror recommendations?
The empty man was great, that scene when they all stop turn to him and then start to move towards him is absolutely terrifying and amazingly filmed.
Is it strange that I find your narration to this as uncanny as the images? All this horror and your voice is so smooth and undisturbed…it is as creepy and as it is great! Can’t wait to hear more from you!!
You should make this a series because I was genuinely curious which is something I’m usually not considering what yt is now
Agreed.
Im almost certian the empty man is nyralhathotep, his form looks like a common image of him after all.
Nice attention to detail 👌 I didn't think about that before
I think the cultists actually chant his name specifically
Nyarlatothep is a strange one overall in the lovecraftian pantheon. He's much more into purposely messing with humanity as a whole for the fun of it while other gods couldn't care less. It doesn't make sense for him to use an "empty man" and he has never really needed one as he's always managed to manifest on his own with perfect ease (Nikola Tesla being one of his forms is an example).
@@artoriapendragon3234how is Tesla a form of his?
@@MawGinBoo They do! Right after their little... Dance around the bonfire they chant Nyarlathotep 3 times, but you have to crank up the volume to actually hear/understand it.
The Empty Man makes me want to pursue the Lovecraftian game I first thought of 2 years ago. Originally it was very similar to Eternal Darkness, but I eventually came to the idea of a 50-something-year-old grizled NYPD Homicide Detetctive who gets involved with forces beyond his comprehension after a guy was found dead in his apartment. (Turned into a web of stretched flesh with his face in the middle.). It'll take place over 4 Millenia (2164 BCE - 2010 CE).
That sounds like a major task especially with such a huge timeline. I wish you luck and the discipline to bring your story to fruition - your idea sounds fascinating!
Horror at Red Hook was an attempt of noir by lovecraft, have a look.
Sounds interesting, I'd love to play it.
Brother just say BC, AD
5:45 this single drawing encaptulates what cosmic horror is for me and it's for that reason that Junji Ito is one of my favourite artists ever. Absolutely stunning
I hope more people give The Empty Man a try. Hugely underrated film!! Takes multiple watches to the it all in.
I loved annihilation and all tomorrows and I'm glad I can look forward to the empty man. I would say the thing that I love about cosmic horror is the mind bending aspects of it. Our minds can imagine lots of things but I think it takes a special kind of writer to come up with something the mind cant comprehend
Thinking about space being an endless expanse of dead planets because Bretheren Moons vacuumed up all life in the universe sometime in the deep past really upsets me on a gut level..
Dead Space is peak cosmic horror
I've always been a cosmic horror fan and I love a lot of cosmic stuff, like Colour Out of Space, anything Lovecraft or inspired by him, Laird Barron, Tim Curran, etc.
But Uzumaki completely changed the way I look at media and horror in general. It's a fantastic story with some of the most haunting art I've ever seen. It gave me nightmares. Unbelievably good.
World's shortest horror story:
"The last man on Earth at home, alone. There's a knock at the door."
Great vid! Im a junkie for cosmic horror, currently attempting to write a story and writing cosmic horror is like a trying to hike a mountain.
Glad to hear 🙏 it's definitely hard to get across, but when done correctly it's fantastic
Depends what direction your taking it in. I grew up reading and watching the adaptations of Lovecraft and Barker. Then others in thier respective cross-over and sub-genres. I take mine into the comedically absurd with regards to Humanity that to fight back against it is like an overly ambitious nutron trying to break free of the atomic loop. Thinking you could resist the pull and obtain true self-agency. A smart play usually is to have a spokesperson(s) or translator which it tries to articulate it's nature but comes across as just a gibbering and babbling stream of disjointed hicupping consiousness. Cultists is always the best way to go as it's also about the horror of the group think and insular community the lengths that they will go to preserve thier traditions and cement thier notion of reality. But they are nothing more than head-stratching chimps trying to attempt Cold Fusion using thier own feaces.
@Shugg-Goff-HHoffical that actually sounds pretty amazing 😂 I love stuff that's absurd for the sake of being absurd, I got a solid foundation down and taking a nihilistic approach to it. Current idea is more of a 'your race depends on us for existence, we can do whatever we want because without us you'll die' take
@freakkyser well if Nihilism and Existential Absurdisim belongs anywhere it's horror especially Cosmic/Philosophical kind. People find it pessimistic I get that Impulse but you've really got to get the reader where they live without gross-out and being personal bur universal.
In my current short story which nods ar and everything from The Colour From Out of Space to Nylarhotep and Azazoth. Set three years before The Vietnam War in a no-mark Texas Roadside Diner and Gas. Still doing redrafts as we speak. Also it really highlights human frailty also which can be argued as humbling in it's own peculiar way. Always through in disturbing grisly pratt-falls. Horror should be written almost like a joke, with a point and layers and a punchline/payoff that isn't a non-sequiter.
I've been writing some short stories for a minute, but I am planning on eventually writing a novel(?). Do you have any tips for longer cosmic horror stories, I am struggling to find a consistently effective narrator or perspective.
FromSoftwares Elden SoulsBorne games are chocked full of cosmic horror, one of the main reasons I love them so much
mostly bloodborne. It is the best visual depiction of it in all of media in my opinion.
Steven Root as a cult leader is a scary thought.
After seeing him manipulating in Barry, I'm sure he can play a fantastic cult leader.
I'm gonna have to give the empty man a watch
It's well worth it, especially for the end reveal.
it is one of the worst most uninteresting movies i've ever seen and the "twist" was eay to see and didn't have any shock value. The movie is far too long drags it's feet too much and does little to nothing with the admittedly interesting premise. There was one standout moment because i was crying laughing at a kid saying "what?' when a group of people hear a chain rattling in the dark on a "spooky" bridge.
@RunT0TheHillz to elaborate further without trying to spoilt it for others. Horror is an extremely formulaic trope-heavy medium after all. Yes there is some pacing issues maybe could easily shave off 30 mins at least. That scene on the bridge with the emo-kids and spooky chains did seemed to belong in another movie entirely. The reveal not unpredictable was still overall I feel a far better impactful revelation than The Sixth Sense's execution and far less heavy handed.
It's a sleeper hit. I never heard of it. Then one day I saw it on HBO and was like "this is super different". Dig it
It's pretty boring be warned
I started watching this video, put it on pause, and then watched The Empty Man as I had it saved on my list anyway. So glad I did watch it, so haunting and gripping. Now I'm back to finish this video!
The Reapers from Mass Effect are a great example of cosmic horror. They fall into all the three types you listed.
Only the first game, sadly. Subsequent games ruined that angle to them.
I've always loved how in The Expanse, it is never explained whether the Goths were actual and conscious living beings doing the shit they've been doing (especially from books 7 to 9), or whether they were simply an unexplained phenomenon of the universe / multiverse, considering how the Romans managed to create the Ring Space. And what's great about it is that whether it's one or the other, they are de-facto indistinguishable.
Its criminal that they cancelled the Expanse.
Another media with great cosmic horror is Xenosaga. UD-O and the gnosis are terrifying concepts, the gnosis essentially living in another plane yet is still able to make contact with you and is visible. UD-O especially is something beyond comprehension, it doesn't even seem malicious but whenever someone comes in contact with it and is able to communicate they subtly begin to go mad. Awesome channel by the way love me some cosmic horror content.
Always love to see Xenosaga brought up. Shame it’s never gotten a proper rerelease
And if you try to touch a Gnosis, you turn to salt
Honestly the first Mass Effect game does it really well.
There's some medium translation stuff there. Reading a plot synopsis you probably won't get much out of it, but playing the game for the first time not knowing where its going... oh boy.
The cosmic horror elements of Remembrance of Earth's past are pretty underrates, too, I think.
Its mostly the space politics of the Dark Forest, but when people gain insight into the real nature of the universe and are driven mad by the revelation, its well-established. The novel does a good job of really selling the idea it really would inflict psychological harm on anyone who knew.
I am so goddamn thankful that I went into this movie completely blind. I’m a big cosmic horror fan and I started watching it thinking that it would be some schlocky slasher. Imagine my pleasant surprise to find a properly scary and interesting story about Nyarlethotep.
This is the first time I've come across your channel and I was really impressed by this video. Well presented from writing, editing and narration. Even though your pacing is slow, your ideas come across succinctly and it feels like a much longer video. None of that is any form of criticism, the pacing is very enjoyable to listen to allowing us to absorb things. Great storytelling.
Pretty late, but i really like the fears to fathom ironbark background
Love your videos mate. Love your voice and narration as well. I could listen to you for hours and still keep interest. I will check this My wallet man and the book as well. Keep up the good work!
Appreciate the kind words 🙏
thoroughly unrelated to the subject, but i absolutely love that your avatar is a dog in a tracksuit. the sheer absurdity of it is delightful to me.
Best way to describe Empty Man.
Standard 90s horror. Teenagers encounter urban legend (very candyman) and after getting totally wigged out...vanish one by one.
BUT...
You know in these movies theres the random cop who can't solve it? Who turns up an hour in?
Its pretty much candyman from the POV of that random cop.
The families, etc.
And when the teens have had their little story... the real story starts.
And all related to this lovecraftian cult... and an impossible skeleton found in a cave in Tibet.
my bf and i quite literally just watched the empty man not too long ago and while watching i was thoroughly confused by the movie. i think i honestly got too excited about tulpas being in it to pay much attention but your analysis and explanation really helped me understand what i missed. i dont consume a lot of cosmic horror, which is probably why i didn't understand, but now i think i just might have too
The empty man was so good!! Thanks for the video and great analysis. I’ve been meaning to watch something explaining some of this movie bc it can be dense for me at parts. Thanks again, have a good one 👍
I had to trawl a lot of cosmic horror recommendations before coming across the empty man! Great to see a mention and loved this video. Hope you do more cosmic horror videos
Empty Man is a masterpiece. I absolutely adore this movie.
I liked the Empty man very much.
My favorite moment is how the ritual turns into an urban legend or a horror story for children. Communication with an ancient entity, including a special musical instrument, turned into a challenge with an empty bottle. It's especially cool to think about this because children most often come to these thoughts about calling Bloody Mary, all kinds of gnomes, etc.
It's interesting what entities can be imagined behind the same call to Bloody Mary
I’m a huge fan of the genre and of these works, and really appreciated your commentary.
The more I listen about Horror tropes, the more I realize how the game Changed really is a cosmic horror game. The main antagonist is a species (most likely not originating from earth) that is able to transform your body and assimilate you into something else. You either die, or become something other than human.
For me, nothing captures cosmic horror better than Annihilation...
Other movies I've seen that attempted it always follow a rule.. putting a comprehensive rule puts it below our understanding which lessen the effect..
ex. In Bird Box rules are just.
1. Strong wind is a sign its coming.
2. If birds or other animals gets agitated its near.
3. Never look at it.
4. Everyone who sees it becomes insane and commit suicide.
5. if you are already insane you became possessed or something...
those rules are comprehensible... we understand how to avoid, we know what to look for, we know what it does.. we just dont know what it is and why it follows the rule.
But in Annihilation.. the only rule we can understand is:
1. Beyond "the shimmer", things go crazy...
and thats it, we dont know if its happening, what to look for, what to avoid, what it will do to you.. people can become plant, go crazy, having body double, have their intestine move like a snake, explode in a burst of light, etc... and we dont know how or when it happens, you dont know if you got it, is it in the air? is it physical contact? nobody knows....
that for me is the cosmic horror done right.. we dont know the rules, its not comprehensive or logical.. its beyond our understanding...
I'm glad you used Empty Man for the cult section, I've seen channels using The Void or Endless to death.
This video needs a part 2, big time. There’s tons of video games that you didn’t even get to touch!! The reapers from mass effect is a HUGE one! Bloodborne is the most obvious. In my opinion, it’s the best depiction of cosmic horror, specifically Lovecraft’s variety.
The Empty Man is originally based on a graphic novel written by Cullen Bunn, although the movie shares very little in common with the original source material.
@shannonpotratz489 I know, I read and enjoyed it years ago. It has a completely different tone and approach. Very cinematic. I like both in medias thier own ways though ideally would've liked a more faithful adaptation. Maybe there was some legal and creative issues wrangling involved I do not know.
I work with Cullen Bunn on occasion, and he was discouraged to be anywhere near the set while filming. He didn't have a particularly good experience working with the filmmakers, unfortunately. Too bad too, because I like the film for what it is, if you separate it from the comic...
My favorite recent cosmic horror is Resolution and its sequel The Endless, by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead. Their other films are connected to the same world (mostly through the red flowers), but those two films mostly focus on an unseen ancient entity that's simply bored. It toys with humans to entertain itself, trapping them in time loops that it can observe forever. It sends you a piece of media to kick off a plot, and if you take the bait, you're stuck in its movie. If you don't take the bait, it gets more insistent until you do.
Can’t believe you only have 1.4k subs incredibly well made
Appreciate the kind words 🙏
as soon as you showed scenes from annihilation i knew i was in for a good video. absolutely love that movie. the ending is divisive and not as masterful as the rest of the film but its such a great example of cosmic horror. it's not about jump scares and i wish more horror movies did this.
The Empty Man is the Donnie Darko of the last decade. Intriguing and fascinating like no other movie at that time. I started reading everything about Tulpas after the film.
The empty man is the definition of a underrated movie.
To me, cosmic horror is more than just the dread. The thing behind the horror needs to be scary, yes, but for me it also needs to instill wonder and fascination. The entity/event needs to be as captivating and beautiful as it is terrifying. Like a tornado. Something that despite how horrific it is still compels some people to chase after it.
This is why I loved Annihilation. The movie was beautiful! Vibrant! The effects of it were absolutely horrible and unsettling, yet morbidly fascinating and beautiful, especially for the scientific minds of those experiencing it.
I love the vibe, not trying too hard to be scary or make their voice drone like throat humming. Chill and cool
Hey i loved your exploration of cosmic horror, and appreciate your inclusion of some pictures of Hellstar Remina since i think remina is the best piece of cosmic horror, since its story focuses on the reaction of the people and not the cosmic Horror itself, so theres a more grounded feel to everything dying. Especially in the end when you realise the thing probably ate countless other civilizations to get to this point and now you wonder about its history and how it came to be. Ito never answers this and doesnt focus on this and this is what makes it terrifying.
Same with "the secrets of amigara vault" where the real horror is the people reacting and the scenarios in your head. That stuff hauntsvyou really well.
The only cosmic horror game that conveys that feeling is "Voices of the void."
Anyway id love to see you talk about any of those on detail.
Have a great Day!!
This was a great presentation and take. Creating those correlations and echoes that reverberate through time, space and the beyond.
Glad you enjoyed ❤️
@@theospartic you have a new subber. ✊️
Appreciate the support 🙏
Casual Force is something that is not touched upon really that much.
Uzumaki and Hellstar Remina really are lovecraftian cosmic horror done right. There's something intrinsically eerie in the way these stories slowly but impendently uncover the ocean of insanity under the thin layer of saneness and reason in people, showing that all it takes to break this layer like a layer of thin black ice on a pond in autumn night is just a faint touch of indescribable cosmic power.
I own the big omnibus book of Uzumaki and honeslty it’s one of my favourite purchases. Reading it all in one is amazing
@@emilybarclay8831 I have it too, though I would've preferred if it was printed in A4 format. The print quality and paper is top, but it feels relatively small, especially compared to reading it on a 85 inch TV, lol.
@ my version is pretty large, it’s definitely larger than a normal sized book, but I initially watched it on a RUclips video on my phone so it’s always an improvement
If you enjoyed "Empty Man" you should check out this game "Who's Lila?" it explores the same concepts and themes, but IMO in a much more interesting and horrifying manner.
Who’s Lila
@@supersamhain666 yeah that's right.
9:38 Hey, that's Stephen Root!
The Empty Man is one of my favorite cosmic horror movies. Hardly anyone seems to know about it and It absolutely *nails* it.
The empty man is deeply unsettling and unique. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking it looked like some trashy new variant of 80s-90s horrors like the Candy Man, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it so much deeper and rooted in cosmic horror.
There will never ever be a movie like The Empty Man, just unique all around.
The "Causal Force" aspect of cosmic horror is definitely something that is under utilized. Within the mainstream of cinema for the whole genre, I don't think anyone has come close to capturing this feel in quite a while. Not even the Legendary Godzilla movies even came close, for me.
The last movie I thought actually gave that sense of danger and level of destruction was Clover from the (only) Cloverfield movie. Almost everyone focuses on the found footage and ARG aspects of the movie, but I see nearly no one talking about the cosmic horror of it.
A 300 ft baby sea monster wakes up, has a tantrum in New York, then takes some spicy rocks to the face like Caillou is trying to start a fight with Butterbean. There's only one escalation point after that and by then you're doubting if even Oppenheimer can throw hands with it. You've got no defense. You've got no offense. And even after that thing dies (if it even can), there's still going to be whole changes to the food chain after we become smears of red and brown on the ground. You're going to wish Cthulhu wakes up, snaps your mind and then sucks it out of your skull like it's a microwaved marshmallow peep.
Stephen Root. I just can't watch him without thinking " They took my stapler"
It's funny cause I don't really like horror - I don't really like feeling scared and hate jumpscares, and gore is just meh - but cosmic horror is incredibly intriguing to me. Maybe it's my tendency towards fantastical and scifi, but it just has something deeper that's very enticing to me, so much so that at times, I overcome the dislike I have for the fear and engage with the medium. Good stuff.
Same here
When they showed the being in The Empty Man, I was so excited because it was 100% Nyarlathotep.
I love cosmic horror movies and games. I also love horror sci-fi, too. One of my favorite retro game i played in the past was THE DIG. Very good, mystery sci-fi adventure game. You can definitely try it if you like these types of games.
"Oh, cool video title! Lets see what it is about."
*20 minutes of plot summaries*
The Magnus Archives is the most in depth exploration of horror I've ever listened to, I highly recommend that if you enjoy mystery and staring at a wall thinking about stuff after your media, you give it a try
Love that podcast
@@freddiemossberg7204 Same! have you checked the Magnus Protocol? it's looking real good so far too
The Empty Man movie was excellent, but I would advise anyone that enjoyed it to check out the comic it was based on of the same name, by Cullen Bunn. The art style adds so much to it, but Bunn's genius is the real star. I especially love how he describes coming up with the idea.
" 'The Empty Man' was born years ago, while driving down a lonely stretch of highway. . . That drive was long, and I made it on very little sleep. Driving along, my mind playing tricks on me, seeing these strangely tattered plastic sheets on barbed wire fences, a creepy phrase popped into my head.
'The Empty Man made me do it.' "
Ive always thought that cosmic horror was the combination of encountering something that is so far removed from nature that it has no foothold in myth, paired with something that is no less horrifying, despite having zero malice
Annihilation really made me uncomfortable lol.
The Endless is an excellent Cosmic horror. I highly recommend it
Don't forget Resolution! Either order, really, though chronologically Resolution is first.
I'm not really a horror guy, but once read the book 'Solaris' and it always stuck with me.
I love listening to videos like this when I'm doing chores around the home or playing games.
The Empty Man was great. Massively underrated. I remember reading the reviews and people, for some reason, thinking it was your run of the mill spooky monster hunts main character. I think the trailers didn't do it any justice.
Annihilation was pretty great. That bear scene got me good.
Phoenix point is a video game that created the best cosmic horror I have ever played. The terror from the deep game from 90's is also a good cosmic horror experience
For any one that reads all tomorrows and likes it, Kosemen has finally managed to get it made into a physical book up for preorder on unbound.
The most intense cosmic horror is that of a simple dog being neglected and put down for an arbitrary stupid reason by its owner.
An all mighty being exerting kafkaesque power over something incapable of understanding the mechanism or reason for its treatment
Humans are the true cosmic horror
Excellent video I kept watching from start to finish
very interesting topic
Keep it up
Appreciate the support 🙏
😎
Strange to just stumble upon a channel with such potential right as it begins. Looking forward to future uploads
Thoughtful videos like this are always such a treat. I'm a huge cosmic horror fan. I was tracking The Color Out of Space (2019) for the prior couple of years, ever since word first got out. Went across my county to go see it at an art house movie theater. Was not disappointed. Good movies are so far and few between in the cosmic horror genre, but every now and then a gem comes out. Thanks for making this vid, I greatly enjoyed it.
Instantly subbed, was startled you were under 1000. Can't wait to see it peak over 100,000
Exellent video man, can't believe your channel is so small given the quality. Having only read Uzumaki I cant wait to check out the other 2. Keep up the great work!
Interdimensional beings, or "hidden biosphere" entities native to the planet but still completely foreign to us, could also fit into that second category.
The empty man introduced me to the concept of tulpa. I hope with the success of Greylock, the Empty Man will see some love as well
Check out 'The Void' from 2017... Best horror I've seen in...probably this century tbh
Hands down a winner ! It channels all it influences well. Wears it on it's sleeve. Carpenter, Barker, Argento and Fulci. All with a heavy dose of Crawling Chaos.
I'll definitely be checking that out
@@theospartic is on Prime at the mo
Good body horror, but it was mid
The Empty Man as a whole is just an alright movie but sections, like the first was it 20 or 30 minutes and the campfire part, are top tier Lovecraftian greatness
All of my worst nightmares are cosmic horror in nature ….it might just be the feeling of the inseparability of some external(yet ever present) eternal unknowable evil ……like “you may not even be known to it” “and that would be best” …..but knowing of ITS existence cannot be escaped…and to me …that is cosmic horror
The only good thing about The Empty Man is the opening sequence. The rest of the movie devolves into utter nonsense with no end in sight.
No examination of cosmic horror is complete without mentioning the Hypyrion novel series written by Dan Simmons. One of the best ever written.
David Prior (the director of The Empty Man) also did a great short film called AM2100
This was one of the best horror movies i ever saw. Masterful blend of different tropes and moods. This is what i want to see from horror genre.