The horror genre allows filmmakers a very special opportunity to touch their audiences. A good horror film always intends to churn out the most powerful response from its viewers. Quite understandably, filmmakers have continuouslysought to reinvent horror cinema, with numerous sub-genres all intent upon reaching out to the heart of the genre.
None of these sub-genres do the work quite as well as cosmic horror. Alsocalled Lovecraftian horror, this genre finds its origins in the works of mastermind horror writer, H.P Lovecraft. In stark contrast to the universal jump-scares seen in mainstream horror flicks, he posed a subject that would elicit a primal, existential response. In the writings of Lovecraft, humans are hopelessly inconsequential, living pointless lives in a universe occupied by secret, ancient beings whose nature and designs are too grand to fathom. In fact, even an accidental awareness of the existence of these Old Ones are enough to tip you over into insanity.
More and more, filmmakers are seeking to borrow from his ideas to craft movies that convey a sense of cold dread — the maddening feeling of looking into the formless abyss. Cosmic horror inspires a singular response, and can easily take you in for an awe-filled ride. Here are 8 of the best cosmic horror films that will keep you awake at night, struggling against a nameless dread.
8Sacrifice
The 2020 filmSacrificecan be a treat to any Lovecraft fan because of how overtly it approaches the Lovecraftian lore. The film takes place in a remote Norwegian town, where a couple lands to claim an unexpected inheritance. However, the two soon learn that the sleepy town they have landed in is home base for a deranged cult who worship a sinister water god with a presence that is all too tangible. The remote location and the cult theme work together for a successful run of the folk horror model. The movie is further bolstered by the presence ofhorror icon Barbara Cramptonas one of the cult members.
7The Empty Man
The Empty Manwas a surprise to audiences when it released in 2020. The trailer for the movie teased a standard boogeyman-type supernatural creature being chased by an investigator. However, the movie surprised its viewers with the depth of its plot. Critics pointed out the flawed pacing that seemed to drag on at times, but many reviews complimented filmmaker David Prior for making a bold attempt to cut across many horror sub-genres and craft a deeper element of fear. The movie comes with a fair bit of exposition and some dense plot underpinnings, but it all works together take you on a wildly different ride than you would first expect.
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6The Color Out of Space
The Color Out of Spacebrought Nicolas Cagetogether with the team behind his 2018 filmMandyfor a modern-day adaptation of the classic Lovecraft tale. Cage takes on the role of Nathan Gardner, who lives a quiet and peaceful life with his family when a strange meteorite falls in their yard. The extraterrestrial object gradually becomes the stuff of their nightmares as it begins to affect their minds and bodies. Directed by cult horror icon Richard Stanley,The Color Out of Spacedoes away with traditional jump-scares. Instead, it gradually infects your mind with a sense of disorienting unease, delivering that feeling to you in visuals brimming with the most bizarre Technicolor effects.
5The Ritual
The Ritualis a 2017 horror film that combines elements of creature and folk horror for an effective mixture. Four British men set off on a hiking trip in the hills of northern Sweden in memory of a friend who recently passed away. On the way back, they discover that their path has been intercepted by something not quite human. While the film treads on a mostly conventional path, it does manage to achieve something more along the way. The idea of a primitive creature living in remote woods, worshiped by a band of immortal followers — it tickles the imagination in a way that an urban supernatural mystery simply cannot.The Ritualsucceeds in inspiring a sense of trespassing upon the haunts of a malevolent creature that has its own intents and sentience, but one whose awareness is far beyond the petty concerns of a human.
At its best, cosmic horror seeks to open your eyes to a seeming breakdown in meaning and values, lurking just around the corner.The Mistis perhaps one of the most frightening attempts at pointing out this seeming nihilism in horror cinema. The 2007 movie is an adaptation of a Stephen King novella of the same name. It follows the events in a small town that is suddenly overtaken by a thick mist, with unimaginable horrors approaching from beyond it. A few citizens who survive the invisible dangers lurking in the mist retreat to a local supermarket. Over the course of a few days, all semblance of humanity and conscience disappears among the individuals as they struggle to cope with the reality of certain death beyond the boundaries of the supermarket.
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3Event Horizon
Fans of the genre considerEvent Horizonone of the more memorable cosmic horror films. The movie, a sci-fi horror, is set in deep space aboard a starship known as Event Horizon. After a sudden disappearance during its maiden voyage, the ship turns up seven years later. A small crew led by Laurence Fishburne’s Captain Miller is sent off to investigate the ship. They quickly discover that during its disappearance, the ship has become possessed by nothing less than evil itself. The movie is also remembered for theperformance of Sam Neil, who appears as the ship’s designer William Weir. He gave one of his most terrifying performances ever in this movie — one that is still talked about by fans to this day.
2In the Mouth of Madness
In the Mouth of Madnessis considered a horror classic, one of threemovies by director John Carpenterdubbed the Apocalypse Trilogy. All three films in the trilogy portray a world without hope, where the characters come face to face with something beyond their understanding. However,In the Mouth of Madnessis set apart from its siblings purely on the basis of its utter weirdness. Rather than create horror through an entity, no matter how abstract, the movie thrusts Sam Neill’s character into the delirious manifestation of a horror writer’s creations. The sequences that follow are some of the most spine-chilling as Neill’s character is forced to question his own existence as an entity separate from the writer’s books.
1Annihilation
Annihilationis easily one of the most successful recent entries in the cosmic horror genre. This movie will leave you a stranger in your own head, eager to reestablish the certainties of your own consciousness and identity. Similar to Lovecraft’s taleThe Color Out of Space, the events in the film are set in motion with the arrival of a colorful alien artifact. Lena, a biology professor played by Natalie Portman, accompanies a group of soldiers to investigate this object’s zone of influence, known as The Shimmer. Once inside this zone, she begins to discover the most bizarre anomalies of nature.Annihilationleaves you in a state of discomfiture; even at the very end, it never seeks to answer your questions for you, but poses a series of puzzles for you to figure out.
