Alien is my favorite example. Before Ridley Scott found it necessary to explain everything in that universe, the story was perfect cosmic horror. A dead planet, with a dead spaceship, with a dead pilot, but a very much alive monster.
That seems a tad shallow. By that logic, every eerie mystery is cosmic horror. The rules established by cosmic horror are extremely intentional in their illogical nature and how the observer interprets them or rather fails to do so. There is no need to reach and be it through theme or reference to already established materials, you'll know them when you see them. I disagree completely.
I think I can answer the connections between lighthouses and cosmic horror. Historically, lighthouses have been linked with real world cases of madness, stretching back as far as lighthouses have been a thing. Think about it, in order to tend to one you have to live in a highly isolated area where you're tasked with a very important job of warning passing ships of land, these areas are often so isolated that the people that live there only come into contact with other humans once a year, and if that moment doesn't come because of a bad storm or a supply ship sinking, then they could die from starvation due to a lack of supplies, and if anything goes wrong, it's pretty much guaranteed that no help will come. It's a very stressful and isolating job that a lot of people simply can't handle. As such, you can see why there's countless cases from throughout history of lighthouse attendees going mad, disappearing without a trace, attacking and killing the people they live with, etc, etc, but there is one more contributing factor that I think is worth mentioning. For centuries, early lighthouses needed a way for the light to rotate freely without a way to externally power it, and the chosen method until around the industrial revolution was to have the light simply float on something, that way there's little friction and it can just be spun every once in a while. The only substance that such a large object could realistically float upon was actually mercury, which has such a high density that even steel can easily float on top of it. So for ages every lighthouse beacon was floating on top of a giant pool of mercury, which would over time fill the closed space with mercury vapors, which would contribute heavily to the mental decline of lighthouse attendees over long periods of time. I would assume that that's where the connection comes from, madness is a key component of cosmic horror, lighthouses are linked with madness, makes for a great cosmic horror setting as well as a visual metaphor for madness. It also fits well with the nautical themes of Lovecraftian horror, with them being an isolated location out in the ocean and all. tl;dr Lighthouse attendees were commonly afflicted with madness due to stress, physical isolation and mercury vapors, over the centuries people began to associate lighthouses with madness, cosmic horror authors began using that association to craft new forms of horror often using lighthouses as both a setting and an allegory for madness.
Maybe the thing about lighthouses is, that they divide the known from the unknown world (the incomprehensibly vast oceans) and therefore represent the human mind peering into the cosmic. But maybe not. Just a thought.
@@Nerval-kg9sm@MrMasterKaio @WierdTales Both good points. I've also been wondering about the prevalence of lighthouses in pieces of fantasy/horror fiction. One such example from my childhood is a PC game simply called "Lighthouse", a point and click in the vein of Myst edited by Sierra. While not a horror game, it could be described as a science-fiction themed puzzle game with some horror elements -- the bad ending is certainly very sinister. In case you don't know it I'll make a quick summary, I'm sure you'll pick up a number of interesting similes with some of the works cited in this video essay. In this game, the silent protagonist is an author struggling with writer's block. A distressed message on his answering machine prompts him to visit his strange neighbour in the dead of night, a scientist of sorts who dwells in a nearby repurposed lighthouse. A cutscene then shows the tip of the lighthouse being hit by lightning and producing a sort of luminous, electric energy, before shutting down. Investigating the lighthouse and the strange light it shone kickstarts an adventure to another realm. That mostly deserted realm (as was already the norm for most of these kinds of games back then) features itself many seaside locations I'd call lighthouse adjacent, or variants : a tower built by a luminary of his world, a visionary inventor; a temple of long forgotten knowledge with a single inhabitant, a volcano whose dark plumes can be seen from afar, the lair of a creature with evil intentions. Lighthouses used to be the ultimate symbol of hope to finding one's way home from a time where any long distance travel and exchange happened at sea. Lighthouses and their keeprs were almost sacralized by seafarers of all kinds, and their families. Being a lighthouse keeper must have felt very similar to monastic life, something both mysterious and not necessarily enviable, a life of sacrifice to the greater good of sailors and their captain, isolated from everyone and everything. Now that we take to trains or planes for travel, and with the advent of more advanced sea-faring technologies and automatic lighthouses, these ancient lamp lights appear more like a vestige of the past and the feeling of confort they evoked in anyone who saw them has faded away gradually. Considering the way the world goes, it feels sort of logical that such a symbol would be recycled and transformed into its opposite in our more modern and paranoid imaginations : where once a lighthouse could only mean you were getting home after a long and dangerous trip, now it could symbolize a lure, a trap, a source of false hope, shining on false truths, a light not enlightening, but highlighting only lies, darkness, or madness, or a combination of all three. Thanks for a great video
One of my personal favorites in cosmic horror is The Combine of Half Life, they are this interdimensional empire that we cannot even imagine how big they are, they invaded Earth in 7 hours and they left a "skeleton crew" to just harvest every resource on Earth and we can't even take them, we can't fight them, we don't know how they look like really and even If we win, they can retake Earth without any resistance and maybe even If we retake Earth, they won't even bother because how infathomably big The Combine Empire is, I love them as villains
In the mouth of madness is very underrated and a classic film. The Thing is another; although it has now grabbed fans even though the original box office release was not as popular.
Get real it's been a cult favourite for DECADES!!! Stop acting like it was hated but now for just the last few years young people discovered it good grief
Fun list. Big fan of all those. Though I’ve still yet to see a list like this include a mention of Possession (1981). One of the best cosmic horror films and one of my all-around favorite movies ever. Seems to be one that’s gradually gaining some notoriety among modern audiences but doesn’t nearly get the attention it deserves.
The antlers on those two deer things in annihilation are different; one has flowers, the other's are dead limbs :D Also, the book trilogy is really good. I honestly like both the movie (easily on my top 3 list, if not the first, cosmic horror films) as well as the book, each for their own reasons. Doesn't hurt I've had a crush on Natalie Portman since like childhood lol.
The Void, the beach house, there’s another one on Shudder I really liked about a guy trapped in a rest stop bathroom which was surprisingly good, just can’t remember the name of it.
Im loving this and your last video styles, as ive always enjoyed videos collaging film and other media based on cosmic, or horror themes in general into a video to explain/proceed on explaining why these are interesting media on the topic of the video.
This is the direction I was hoping the TV show FROM would end up taking, but I think they're actually going to explain some of the "unknown" elements, unfortunately. Maybe not fully explained, we'll see in the next 3-episodes of Season 3, but it seems like a good amount will be explained. Looks like they're going to leave the How/Why mostly ambiguous at least, though. Still a good show.
I've read some of Lovecraft's stories, like The Hound (the first story in which the Necronomicon is mentioned), The Shadow over Innsmouth and The Call of Cthulhu. Dagon (2001), directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond), is a loose adaptation of The Shadow over Innsmouth. It's probably my favorite Lovecraft adaptation. Gordon also adapted Dreams in the Witch-House for the Masters of Horror series. There's also a very faithul black-and-white silent adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu (2005) that's definitely worth a watch.
Cosmic Horror isn't just the fear of the unknown. It is the fear of the Unknowable. A lot of things fall under the blanket, catch-all purview of 'fear of the unknown' that have absolutely nothing to do with Cosmic Horror. Cosmic Horror deals more specifically with Eldritch Beings that have agendas and motivations and even a nature to them that is simply impossible for our minds to comprehend. H.P. Lovecraft often had characters that, even peripherally, encountered objects or scripture related to these creatures, driven insane because their minds just gave up the blue screen of death.
A few more cool examples: -Event Horizon (which I just saw for the first time a few days ago) -Mass Effect -Alan Moore's Lovecraft trilogy: The Courtyard, Neonomicon, Providence
I guess In the Mouth of Madness must have heavily inspired the Alan Wake games? Didn't realize that (I did know they were inspired by Twin Peaks, though.)
Lighthouses attempt to reach into the void, using an archaic and fruitless human-made light. And while some travelers might find refuge in its beacon, ultimately its existence is doused in the vast and unknowable.
Spoilers. So I seen the lighthouse, based on a edmond allan poe short story he didn't finish, with that said the old man is not a old man, but an old dog as he is in the short story, and his actions in the final scene reflect it. But that is just how I see it, maybe just another interesting perspective to analyze it from.
When i first saw this amazing film i became obsessed....i watched it every day for close to 2 weeks and every time id discover or catch something I'd missed , there are afew different ways you could take from it and i still dont have any idea wtf 😂
Good stuff! Lighthouses = illumination. Beacons which can (mis)lead us to 'The Sublime'. We assume that a lighthouse is there for our benefit... but what about what it leads to us? On that note: Remina - one of the biggest themes in Remina is fame, but moreso, the mere act of being noticed. The minute we (or the scientists, as it were) become aware of Remina, Remina becomes aware of us. Gaze into the abyss and all that. Both of these also make me think of the Voyager space probe and the what ifs around that. John Carpenter's 'Apocalypse' films = The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and of course In the Mouth of Madness do a wonderful job of triangulating these types of horrors, though I do think his other films like 'They Live' needs to be on this list (capitalist & totalitarian horror along with continuing the themes established in The Thing) and even Big Trouble in Little China. Ok, hear me out: BTiLC is all about this vast incomprehensible underworld that exists right under San Francisco! A combination of folk horror, folklore and yes, even a touch of cosmic horror. Anyway, I live and breathe this stuff, looking forward to your follow ups! Liked, subbed, etc!
For the most part I'm just not sure I fully "get" Cosmic Horror. Like, I understand what it's going for, but no concepts I've heard about have ever eeked me out. They only sound like they could be scary "in theory". ... except for Stephen King's "Revival". That's a big case of "Oof. That would SUCK". If you imagine being in that scenario, the sheer helplessness of it all can feel damning.
I don't know if someone already said this in the comments, but The Lighthouse was based on a real event, in wich a group of three lighthouse keepers on a small island in britain disappeared after a storm. There was no body or trace of the men. Note: I've heard this in a youtube video, I don't actually know if it was really based in this event, but it was described almost like the movie, so I think it was.
It also bookends itself naturally, so once you pick up on what’s going on, there can be no satisfactory resolution, good or bad. And so you always end up going ‘well shit’. That should only have been done once or twice.
I think one thing about lighthouses that might contribute to the recurring lighthouse motif in cosmic horror is that they're meant to warn people of danger. A lighthouse's purpose is to show sailors where not to steer their ships so they don't crash on the rocks and die. At the same time, lighthouses are beacons and they have an almost hypnotic quality to them. In cosmic horror, there's usually someone trying to get into the lighthouse, but the whole time they should be running away from the horror that lurks within. The lighthouse should be warning them away, but its light lures people in like moths to a flame.
Some horror films to watch: The Monster Squad, Terrifier 2, Terrifier 3, Mr. Frost, The Shed, Burnt Offerings, Wishmaster part 1, Nomads, The Deep House, Vamp, Ghost Town, Malum, Halloween 4, Warlock, Southbound, Troll part 1, Sinister, V/H/S/Beyond, The Sixth Sense, Ghost Story, Ghoulies 2, Beetlejuice, Lore (2023), Abigail, Fear Street: Part One - 1994 from Netflix, Fear Street: Part Two - 1978, Fear Street: Part Three - 1666 from Netflix, Ghost Stories on Shudder, Sleepy Hollow, Trick R' Treat, Casper, Hocus Pocus, Under Wraps, Ghostbusters, Monster House, Night of the Demons part 1, Night of the Demons part 2, The Midnight Hour, The Forgotten One, ParaNorman, Tales from the Hood, The Frighteners, Silent Hill, Goosebumps, Creepshow, The Mist, The Gate, Lady in White, Killer Party, Fright Night part 1, The Night Flier, The Lost Boys, Demons part 1, The Changeling, Poltergeist, The Mortuary Collection, Corpse Bride, Stake Land, Hellboy from Guillermo del Toro, Blade part 1, The Woman in Black, Crimson Peak, The Devil's Backbone, The Conjuring part 1, Evil Dead, Cabin in the Woods, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, House part 1, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Dog Soldiers, My Demon Lover and Pumpkinhead!!!
Well, having been a hardcore Lovecraft aficionado for most of my life, I like to think I understand Cosmic Horror pretty well. After all, Lovecraft is the undisputed master of this genre. While In the Mouth of Madness is absolutely a brilliant example, and Twin Peaks is equally disturbing in its own, legitimate, cosmic horror, The Lighthouse I personally feel is NOT true cosmic horror, and quite frankly is one of the worst movies ever made (in fact, the only thing I've seen that's worse is probably I Saw the TV Glow). Cosmic Horror isn't pretentious. It's grounded in a well defined, often nameless terror (like Annihilation, which was indeed quite good)...although sometimes it does have an actual name, like Cthulhu or Yog Sothoth or Dagon. Some other GENUINE cosmic horror films are Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell.....Space Amoeba (aka Yog, Monster From Space)....the most recent version of Color Out of Space....The Resurrected....The Mist....Glorious....and one of the best Cosmic Horror movies of all time, Prince of Darkness.
I personally do not believe that annihilation was intellegent enough to earn a very positive review... the science they do literally use in the film is inaccurate, ex the hawkes gene explanation, which makes everything feel like a lame interpretive dance... just like the ending.
In my opinion, the movie Annihilation is a travesty. It doesn’t do justice to the books in anyway. The cosmic horror depicted in the book isn’t even in the movie. The plot and some of the action is completely different. The movie doesn’t come anywhere near the same level as the book. I don’t know why they ruin books by turning them into movies. Write your own damn original screenplay and stop ruining novels.
It basically was an original screenplay. Like you said, it doesn’t follow the book, it’s something different. I think it’s wasted energy to agonize over the differences in a case like that. Look at some of Kubrick’s most highly praised films that strayed far from the source material and weren’t exactly loved by the authors. Either they hold up as products in their own medium with their own story, or they don’t. And just like Kubrick’s films, I’d argue Annihilation holds up. It also doesn’t ruin the book in any way whatsoever. The book still exists and stands on its own.
I really enjoyed that movie. I don’t really mind when movies do a different take on source material especially when the source material is a different medium. Then it becomes like an addition to the lore
I take the King in Yellow to just be an exploration of the Bible. That we just take a book and make society and humans focused around it, leading to an evil place.
While I agree that Annihilation is an excellent cosmic horror, it's also pretty inextricable from its subtext - that is to say, Annihilation is unavoidable as a not-subtle metaphor for trauma and the way people deal with it or don't. To that point, the fate of the biologist or botanist or whatever she was who BECOMES the flowers isn't bleak or unfortunate, it's actually one of the more positive endings that anyone in the film is allowed to have. She accepts who and what she is, what she was, and she accepts herself in the process, becoming something beautiful, free of pain, and in harmony with the world around her. This isn't just me being goofy btw, you can literally map each character onto a different type of trauma and consequence of trauma in a way that makes it really an unavoidable key to interpreting this film. The ending is a perfect example of this. Portman descends into the belly of the beast, is LITERALLY confronted with herself, and as long as she fights against this mirror, she gets nowhere. When she EMBRACES this aspect of herself (a seriously archetypal Jungian shadow) that is when she is able to make progress. At the very end of the film, the subtext becomes text - when her and Oscar Isaac are alone in the isolation room, and they ask each other if they're really who they were, and they embrace, this is literally the movie acknowledging these themes. The process of being traumatized and then dealing with that trauma changes them, irrevocably. They aren't the people they were, but now they can begin to work towards a life together again.
Alien is my favorite example. Before Ridley Scott found it necessary to explain everything in that universe, the story was perfect cosmic horror. A dead planet, with a dead spaceship, with a dead pilot, but a very much alive monster.
That seems a tad shallow. By that logic, every eerie mystery is cosmic horror. The rules established by cosmic horror are extremely intentional in their illogical nature and how the observer interprets them or rather fails to do so. There is no need to reach and be it through theme or reference to already established materials, you'll know them when you see them. I disagree completely.
I think I can answer the connections between lighthouses and cosmic horror. Historically, lighthouses have been linked with real world cases of madness, stretching back as far as lighthouses have been a thing. Think about it, in order to tend to one you have to live in a highly isolated area where you're tasked with a very important job of warning passing ships of land, these areas are often so isolated that the people that live there only come into contact with other humans once a year, and if that moment doesn't come because of a bad storm or a supply ship sinking, then they could die from starvation due to a lack of supplies, and if anything goes wrong, it's pretty much guaranteed that no help will come. It's a very stressful and isolating job that a lot of people simply can't handle.
As such, you can see why there's countless cases from throughout history of lighthouse attendees going mad, disappearing without a trace, attacking and killing the people they live with, etc, etc, but there is one more contributing factor that I think is worth mentioning. For centuries, early lighthouses needed a way for the light to rotate freely without a way to externally power it, and the chosen method until around the industrial revolution was to have the light simply float on something, that way there's little friction and it can just be spun every once in a while. The only substance that such a large object could realistically float upon was actually mercury, which has such a high density that even steel can easily float on top of it. So for ages every lighthouse beacon was floating on top of a giant pool of mercury, which would over time fill the closed space with mercury vapors, which would contribute heavily to the mental decline of lighthouse attendees over long periods of time.
I would assume that that's where the connection comes from, madness is a key component of cosmic horror, lighthouses are linked with madness, makes for a great cosmic horror setting as well as a visual metaphor for madness. It also fits well with the nautical themes of Lovecraftian horror, with them being an isolated location out in the ocean and all.
tl;dr Lighthouse attendees were commonly afflicted with madness due to stress, physical isolation and mercury vapors, over the centuries people began to associate lighthouses with madness, cosmic horror authors began using that association to craft new forms of horror often using lighthouses as both a setting and an allegory for madness.
Maybe the thing about lighthouses is, that they divide the known from the unknown world (the incomprehensibly vast oceans) and therefore represent the human mind peering into the cosmic.
But maybe not. Just a thought.
An argument could be made that they are liminal spaces. They also tend to be isolated.
@@Nerval-kg9sm@MrMasterKaio @WierdTales Both good points. I've also been wondering about the prevalence of lighthouses in pieces of fantasy/horror fiction. One such example from my childhood is a PC game simply called "Lighthouse", a point and click in the vein of Myst edited by Sierra.
While not a horror game, it could be described as a science-fiction themed puzzle game with some horror elements -- the bad ending is certainly very sinister. In case you don't know it I'll make a quick summary, I'm sure you'll pick up a number of interesting similes with some of the works cited in this video essay.
In this game, the silent protagonist is an author struggling with writer's block. A distressed message on his answering machine prompts him to visit his strange neighbour in the dead of night, a scientist of sorts who dwells in a nearby repurposed lighthouse. A cutscene then shows the tip of the lighthouse being hit by lightning and producing a sort of luminous, electric energy, before shutting down. Investigating the lighthouse and the strange light it shone kickstarts an adventure to another realm.
That mostly deserted realm (as was already the norm for most of these kinds of games back then) features itself many seaside locations I'd call lighthouse adjacent, or variants : a tower built by a luminary of his world, a visionary inventor; a temple of long forgotten knowledge with a single inhabitant, a volcano whose dark plumes can be seen from afar, the lair of a creature with evil intentions.
Lighthouses used to be the ultimate symbol of hope to finding one's way home from a time where any long distance travel and exchange happened at sea. Lighthouses and their keeprs were almost sacralized by seafarers of all kinds, and their families. Being a lighthouse keeper must have felt very similar to monastic life, something both mysterious and not necessarily enviable, a life of sacrifice to the greater good of sailors and their captain, isolated from everyone and everything. Now that we take to trains or planes for travel, and with the advent of more advanced sea-faring technologies and automatic lighthouses, these ancient lamp lights appear more like a vestige of the past and the feeling of confort they evoked in anyone who saw them has faded away gradually.
Considering the way the world goes, it feels sort of logical that such a symbol would be recycled and transformed into its opposite in our more modern and paranoid imaginations : where once a lighthouse could only mean you were getting home after a long and dangerous trip, now it could symbolize a lure, a trap, a source of false hope, shining on false truths, a light not enlightening, but highlighting only lies, darkness, or madness, or a combination of all three.
Thanks for a great video
I definitely agree - they’re basically if a building were an eye incarnate.
One of my personal favorites in cosmic horror is The Combine of Half Life, they are this interdimensional empire that we cannot even imagine how big they are, they invaded Earth in 7 hours and they left a "skeleton crew" to just harvest every resource on Earth and we can't even take them, we can't fight them, we don't know how they look like really and even If we win, they can retake Earth without any resistance and maybe even If we retake Earth, they won't even bother because how infathomably big The Combine Empire is, I love them as villains
Interesting timing, I was just getting into cosmic horror for the first time
It's a sign from the cosmos. Don't ignore the synergy.
Read the short stories by Clark Ashton Smith (a friend of Lovecraft and a contributor to the C'thulhu Mythos). You may thank me later.
Yesterday I thought on writting something for a short film about cosmic horror, and he literally posted this.
Listen to the audiobook of The Dunwich Horror its amazing
Also the Color out of Space is really good too
If there’s one thing Lynch can do it’s make you feel danger in the unknown on the turn of a dime. Loved seeing Twin Peaks mentioned.
In the mouth of madness is very underrated and a classic film. The Thing is another; although it has now grabbed fans even though the original box office release was not as popular.
Get real it's been a cult favourite for DECADES!!! Stop acting like it was hated but now for just the last few years young people discovered it good grief
The Thing has been a cult classic for +20 years
I think he was just saying that at the time of it’s release it was unpopular.
@@baabyfox had to look that up, but it was actually critically received pretty badly, so that's what he might be refering to.
'Annihilation' seems to be heavily influenced by Lovecraft's 'The Colour out of Space'.
Have you seen the color purple?
@CynicalRaptor No, but Whoopie Goldbergs current haircut can definitely be called 'eldritch'.
This showed up in my recommendations. I was surprised only 2,000 subscriptions.. I enjoy your suggestions and cadence in your voice. 💜
Fun list. Big fan of all those. Though I’ve still yet to see a list like this include a mention of Possession (1981). One of the best cosmic horror films and one of my all-around favorite movies ever. Seems to be one that’s gradually gaining some notoriety among modern audiences but doesn’t nearly get the attention it deserves.
Great video my friend. I am a new subscriber and I’m looking forward to what else you have in store.
Lighthouse. The very name already makes me feel a sense of mystery. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Another great video. W
The antlers on those two deer things in annihilation are different; one has flowers, the other's are dead limbs :D
Also, the book trilogy is really good. I honestly like both the movie (easily on my top 3 list, if not the first, cosmic horror films) as well as the book, each for their own reasons.
Doesn't hurt I've had a crush on Natalie Portman since like childhood lol.
You should read the book annihilation. Vastly different, and I loved both. Also check out the empty man.
The Void, the beach house, there’s another one on Shudder I really liked about a guy trapped in a rest stop bathroom which was surprisingly good, just can’t remember the name of it.
The bathroom stall one is Glory. It was an interesting watch.
"Glorious"
@andrewsangma3155 Lmao yes, Glorious. Glory is very much not about a gloryhole in a rest stop bathroom.
This channel got recommended to me just in time for halloween. Great videos!
I’d definitely love a part 2 to the Hell video
Im loving this and your last video styles, as ive always enjoyed videos collaging film and other media based on cosmic, or horror themes in general into a video to explain/proceed on explaining why these are interesting media on the topic of the video.
Event horizon is another one of my personal favorites. Sci fi and lovecraft go together amazingly well.
I love this type of content!
been waiting for another video W upload please keep it up bro 🙏
Wow this was really great I'm so glad it turned up in my recommendations. I just subbed & look forward to watching more! Great job! 🙂
This is the direction I was hoping the TV show FROM would end up taking, but I think they're actually going to explain some of the "unknown" elements, unfortunately. Maybe not fully explained, we'll see in the next 3-episodes of Season 3, but it seems like a good amount will be explained. Looks like they're going to leave the How/Why mostly ambiguous at least, though. Still a good show.
Excellent video!
Great vid. Would love if u went more in depth of your thoughts on at the mountains of madness. I love that story
You should check out Coherence its one of my favorite cosmic horrors although not too much horror its still a very good watch for the cosmic side
I've read some of Lovecraft's stories, like The Hound (the first story in which the Necronomicon is mentioned), The Shadow over Innsmouth and The Call of Cthulhu. Dagon (2001), directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond), is a loose adaptation of The Shadow over Innsmouth. It's probably my favorite Lovecraft adaptation. Gordon also adapted Dreams in the Witch-House for the Masters of Horror series. There's also a very faithul black-and-white silent adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu (2005) that's definitely worth a watch.
Cosmic Horror isn't just the fear of the unknown. It is the fear of the Unknowable. A lot of things fall under the blanket, catch-all purview of 'fear of the unknown' that have absolutely nothing to do with Cosmic Horror. Cosmic Horror deals more specifically with Eldritch Beings that have agendas and motivations and even a nature to them that is simply impossible for our minds to comprehend. H.P. Lovecraft often had characters that, even peripherally, encountered objects or scripture related to these creatures, driven insane because their minds just gave up the blue screen of death.
A few more cool examples:
-Event Horizon (which I just saw for the first time a few days ago)
-Mass Effect
-Alan Moore's Lovecraft trilogy: The Courtyard, Neonomicon, Providence
I guess In the Mouth of Madness must have heavily inspired the Alan Wake games? Didn't realize that (I did know they were inspired by Twin Peaks, though.)
How about Bloodborne?
Bloodborne and mass effect are the best lovecraftian media ever made
probably the best lovecraftian game ever
Lighthouses attempt to reach into the void, using an archaic and fruitless human-made light. And while some travelers might find refuge in its beacon, ultimately its existence is doused in the vast and unknowable.
Great job! Subbed
13:35 there is actually a episode of mystery incorporated thathas a focus on a dream world similar to the lodge
You should see the 1981 movie Possession with Sam Neil.
try kisaragi station, an urban legend with peak cosmic horror
I love beyond a black rainbow 🌈 a great one
The void is excellent!
In The Mouth of Madness mentioned!! 🗣 🗣 🗣🎉 🎉
I love how Bloodborne does cosmic horror.
I was fascinated by the elder things when I read ATMM
I wonder if the lighthouse thing has to do with the twisting of something meant to provide guidance and comfort into something else more sinister
Please please please check out The Labyrinth by Simon Stalenhag. Absolutely horrifying.
At the mountains of madness really REALLY need a scientific overhaul‼️
You should read a story by Mark Twain called “ The Mysterious Stranger”.
Spoilers. So I seen the lighthouse, based on a edmond allan poe short story he didn't finish, with that said the old man is not a old man, but an old dog as he is in the short story, and his actions in the final scene reflect it. But that is just how I see it, maybe just another interesting perspective to analyze it from.
When i first saw this amazing film i became obsessed....i watched it every day for close to 2 weeks and every time id discover or catch something I'd missed , there are afew different ways you could take from it and i still dont have any idea wtf 😂
Good stuff!
Lighthouses = illumination. Beacons which can (mis)lead us to 'The Sublime'. We assume that a lighthouse is there for our benefit... but what about what it leads to us?
On that note: Remina - one of the biggest themes in Remina is fame, but moreso, the mere act of being noticed. The minute we (or the scientists, as it were) become aware of Remina, Remina becomes aware of us. Gaze into the abyss and all that.
Both of these also make me think of the Voyager space probe and the what ifs around that.
John Carpenter's 'Apocalypse' films = The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and of course In the Mouth of Madness do a wonderful job of triangulating these types of horrors, though I do think his other films like 'They Live' needs to be on this list (capitalist & totalitarian horror along with continuing the themes established in The Thing) and even Big Trouble in Little China.
Ok, hear me out: BTiLC is all about this vast incomprehensible underworld that exists right under San Francisco! A combination of folk horror, folklore and yes, even a touch of cosmic horror.
Anyway, I live and breathe this stuff, looking forward to your follow ups! Liked, subbed, etc!
Your BTiLC outlook is some good sht
@@Beeyo176 heeeey thanks!
For the most part I'm just not sure I fully "get" Cosmic Horror. Like, I understand what it's going for, but no concepts I've heard about have ever eeked me out. They only sound like they could be scary "in theory".
... except for Stephen King's "Revival".
That's a big case of "Oof. That would SUCK". If you imagine being in that scenario, the sheer helplessness of it all can feel damning.
I don't know if someone already said this in the comments, but The Lighthouse was based on a real event, in wich a group of three lighthouse keepers on a small island in britain disappeared after a storm. There was no body or trace of the men.
Note: I've heard this in a youtube video, I don't actually know if it was really based in this event, but it was described almost like the movie, so I think it was.
What is the best depiction of evil in literature and media?
You should make a video on The Hatman lol
The Black Lodge was it seems fully utilized in Soul Eater. That's interesting. Even the meaning and imagery seems the same.
The ring had a lighthouse and madness stuff
Hi amazing video man 😍😍
Somebody know where i colud see Twin Peaks? I don't fine it enywhere
Thanks! I watched it on Paramount Plus, they have a free trial
Interesting
"X: The Man with the X-RAY Eyes" (1963). Unintentional cosmic horror.
I never want to see the “writers whose works come to life” trope in fiction ever again
It’s definitely overdone. If someone does they better make it unique.
It also bookends itself naturally, so once you pick up on what’s going on, there can be no satisfactory resolution, good or bad. And so you always end up going ‘well shit’. That should only have been done once or twice.
I think one thing about lighthouses that might contribute to the recurring lighthouse motif in cosmic horror is that they're meant to warn people of danger. A lighthouse's purpose is to show sailors where not to steer their ships so they don't crash on the rocks and die. At the same time, lighthouses are beacons and they have an almost hypnotic quality to them. In cosmic horror, there's usually someone trying to get into the lighthouse, but the whole time they should be running away from the horror that lurks within. The lighthouse should be warning them away, but its light lures people in like moths to a flame.
Is that name a play on Gilligan, as in Gilligan's Island?
Light House is basically a movie that try not to be cosmic horror end up being one of the best cosmic horror.
I would add the video game bloodborne
Some horror films to watch: The Monster Squad, Terrifier 2, Terrifier 3, Mr. Frost, The Shed, Burnt Offerings, Wishmaster part 1, Nomads, The Deep House, Vamp, Ghost Town, Malum, Halloween 4, Warlock, Southbound, Troll part 1, Sinister, V/H/S/Beyond, The Sixth Sense, Ghost Story, Ghoulies 2, Beetlejuice, Lore (2023), Abigail, Fear Street: Part One - 1994 from Netflix, Fear Street: Part Two - 1978, Fear Street: Part Three - 1666 from Netflix, Ghost Stories on Shudder, Sleepy Hollow, Trick R' Treat, Casper, Hocus Pocus, Under Wraps, Ghostbusters, Monster House, Night of the Demons part 1, Night of the Demons part 2, The Midnight Hour, The Forgotten One, ParaNorman, Tales from the Hood, The Frighteners, Silent Hill, Goosebumps, Creepshow, The Mist, The Gate, Lady in White, Killer Party, Fright Night part 1, The Night Flier, The Lost Boys, Demons part 1, The Changeling, Poltergeist, The Mortuary Collection, Corpse Bride, Stake Land, Hellboy from Guillermo del Toro, Blade part 1, The Woman in Black, Crimson Peak, The Devil's Backbone, The Conjuring part 1, Evil Dead, Cabin in the Woods, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, House part 1, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Dog Soldiers, My Demon Lover and Pumpkinhead!!!
Suffer not the alien to live brothers!
Well, having been a hardcore Lovecraft aficionado for most of my life, I like to think I understand Cosmic Horror pretty well. After all, Lovecraft is the undisputed master of this genre. While In the Mouth of Madness is absolutely a brilliant example, and Twin Peaks is equally disturbing in its own, legitimate, cosmic horror, The Lighthouse I personally feel is NOT true cosmic horror, and quite frankly is one of the worst movies ever made (in fact, the only thing I've seen that's worse is probably I Saw the TV Glow). Cosmic Horror isn't pretentious. It's grounded in a well defined, often nameless terror (like Annihilation, which was indeed quite good)...although sometimes it does have an actual name, like Cthulhu or Yog Sothoth or Dagon. Some other GENUINE cosmic horror films are Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell.....Space Amoeba (aka Yog, Monster From Space)....the most recent version of Color Out of Space....The Resurrected....The Mist....Glorious....and one of the best Cosmic Horror movies of all time, Prince of Darkness.
Well what about your favorite depictions of heaven.
Where's Bloodborne???
I personally do not believe that annihilation was intellegent enough to earn a very positive review... the science they do literally use in the film is inaccurate, ex the hawkes gene explanation, which makes everything feel like a lame interpretive dance... just like the ending.
Lovecraft had great concepts and themes, but his writing kinda sucks.
Dude what is with the lgorithm. People been getting like 2 huge vids but all others are less than 10,000. Tf?!
I didn't realize annellation was a feminist movie.
One
In my opinion, the movie Annihilation is a travesty. It doesn’t do justice to the books in anyway. The cosmic horror depicted in the book isn’t even in the movie. The plot and some of the action is completely different. The movie doesn’t come anywhere near the same level as the book. I don’t know why they ruin books by turning them into movies. Write your own damn original screenplay and stop ruining novels.
It basically was an original screenplay. Like you said, it doesn’t follow the book, it’s something different. I think it’s wasted energy to agonize over the differences in a case like that. Look at some of Kubrick’s most highly praised films that strayed far from the source material and weren’t exactly loved by the authors. Either they hold up as products in their own medium with their own story, or they don’t. And just like Kubrick’s films, I’d argue Annihilation holds up. It also doesn’t ruin the book in any way whatsoever. The book still exists and stands on its own.
The book isn’t ruined, it’s still there on your bookshelf. You can read it whenever you want.
I didnt like how it depicted female scientists in that one.
I really enjoyed that movie. I don’t really mind when movies do a different take on source material especially when the source material is a different medium. Then it becomes like an addition to the lore
Annihilation is pure garbage.
I take the King in Yellow to just be an exploration of the Bible. That we just take a book and make society and humans focused around it, leading to an evil place.
Tips fedora
While I agree that Annihilation is an excellent cosmic horror, it's also pretty inextricable from its subtext - that is to say, Annihilation is unavoidable as a not-subtle metaphor for trauma and the way people deal with it or don't.
To that point, the fate of the biologist or botanist or whatever she was who BECOMES the flowers isn't bleak or unfortunate, it's actually one of the more positive endings that anyone in the film is allowed to have. She accepts who and what she is, what she was, and she accepts herself in the process, becoming something beautiful, free of pain, and in harmony with the world around her.
This isn't just me being goofy btw, you can literally map each character onto a different type of trauma and consequence of trauma in a way that makes it really an unavoidable key to interpreting this film.
The ending is a perfect example of this. Portman descends into the belly of the beast, is LITERALLY confronted with herself, and as long as she fights against this mirror, she gets nowhere. When she EMBRACES this aspect of herself (a seriously archetypal Jungian shadow) that is when she is able to make progress.
At the very end of the film, the subtext becomes text - when her and Oscar Isaac are alone in the isolation room, and they ask each other if they're really who they were, and they embrace, this is literally the movie acknowledging these themes. The process of being traumatized and then dealing with that trauma changes them, irrevocably. They aren't the people they were, but now they can begin to work towards a life together again.