Cosmic Horror
Not things from Earth. Not things from other planets. Not things that humans have names for in our folklore, religious texts, or science books.
Unfathomable other places, things that come from before time and beyond space, things all around you that you cannot see. Concepts that show how limited humanity is in its understanding of reality and how fragile that reality is. Concepts that would drive a human insane if they started to comprehend them.
'Cosmic Horror' is sometimes used to mean 'Written or inspired by H.P. Lovecraft'. While he was the best known visionary of the genre, it certainly didn't begin and it doesn't end with him.
Cosmic Sci-fi goes here.
Unfathomable other places, things that come from before time and beyond space, things all around you that you cannot see. Concepts that show how limited humanity is in its understanding of reality and how fragile that reality is. Concepts that would drive a human insane if they started to comprehend them.
'Cosmic Horror' is sometimes used to mean 'Written or inspired by H.P. Lovecraft'. While he was the best known visionary of the genre, it certainly didn't begin and it doesn't end with him.
Cosmic Sci-fi goes here.
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- DirectorsJeremy GillespieSteven KostanskiStarsAaron PooleKenneth WelshEllen WongShortly after delivering a patient to an understaffed hospital, a police officer experiences strange and violent occurrences seemingly linked to a group of mysterious hooded figures.%73 on Rotten Tomatoes
It's not the best movie on here, but I wanted it to be at the top because I wanted that perfect movie poster representing this list. - DirectorPanos CosmatosStarsEva BourneMichael J RogersScott HylandsDespite being under heavy sedation, a young woman tries to make her way out of the Arboria Institute, a secluded, quasifuturistic commune.Only 61% on Rotten Tomatoes
- DirectorMike FlanaganStarsKatie ParkerCourtney BellDave LevineA woman and her sister begin to link a mysterious tunnel to a series of disappearances, including that of her own husband.%75 on Rotten Tomatoes
- DirectorsJustin BensonAaron MoorheadStarsPeter CilellaVinny CurranEmily MontagueA man imprisons his estranged junkie friend in an isolated cabin in the boonies of San Diego to force him through a week of sobriety, but the events of that week are being mysteriously manipulated.A perfect %100 on Rotten Tomatoes!
- DirectorsJustin BensonAaron MoorheadStarsAaron MoorheadJustin BensonCallie HernandezAs kids, they escaped a UFO death cult. Now, two adult brothers seek answers after an old videotape surfaces and brings them back to where they began.I didn't realize until I was 2/3 in that this is a sequel/tie-in to Resolution. You can still enjoy it if you haven't seen Resolution, you just might not appreciate everything.
%97 on Rotten Tomatoes - DirectorTed GeogheganStarsAndrew SensenigBarbara CramptonLarry FessendenIn the cold, wintery fields of New England, a lonely old house wakes up every thirty years - and demands a sacrifice.What seems at first like a traditional ghost story turns out to be something else.
%95 on Rotten Tomatoes - DirectorPeter SasdyStarsMichael BryantJane AsherIain CuthbertsonA research team from an electronics company moves into an old Victorian house to start work on finding a new recording medium. When team member Jill Greeley witnesses a ghost, team director Peter Brock decides not only to analyse the apparition, which he believes is a psychic impression trapped in a stone wall (dubbed a "stone tape"), but also to exorcise it--with terrifying results.Ditto
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsThomas JaneMarcia Gay HardenLaurie HoldenAfter a massive thunderstorm, an eerie, unwavering fog descends upon a Maine community. Locals seek refuge in a grocery store from the monstrous creatures now roaming the countryside killing everyone they encounter.Also %72 on Rotten Tomatoes. The Critics and the Masses agree on something.
- DirectorChad Crawford KinkleStarsSean BridgersLauren Ashley CarterKaitlin CullumWhen she learns the supernatural pit worshipped by her remote community in the woods has demanded her as a blood sacrifice, Ada struggles to find a way to survive, while the pit lashes out in anger.%75 on Rotten Tomatoes
- DirectorLarry FessendenStarsRon PerlmanJames Le GrosConnie BrittonSent to evaluate the environmental impact of oil drilling in the Arctic, James Hoffman clashes with the drilling crew's chief, who wants to get the job done.%76 on Rotten Tomatoes
- StarsRichard ThomasTim ReidAnnette O'TooleIn 1960, seven pre-teen outcasts fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. Thirty years later, they reunite to stop the demon once and for all when it returns to their hometown.Whoever wrote the above plot synopsis and used the word 'Demon' does not understand Cosmic Horror. And they obviously didn't read the novel.
This miniseries downplays the trippy, cosmic nature of IT. IT is a being from beyond our universe that psychically feeds on the fear and pain and human children.
At one point one of the protagonists astral-projects himself onto ITs plane of existence and receives advice from The Turtle, one of the twelve guardians of creation and IT's opposite.
Another aspect that gets cut; IT is pregnant. IT is about to release thousands of eggs that will waft through the dimensions like dandelion seeds and give rise to new abominations.
P.S. I was not crazy about the new movie; it was all CGI and jump-scares. - DirectorAndrew LemanStarsMatt FoyerJohn BolenRalph LucasWhile sorting the affairs of his late Uncle, a man accidentally stumbles across a series of dark secrets connected to an ancient horror waiting to be freed.100% on Rotten Tomatoes!
Lovecraft - DirectorStuart GordonStarsJeffrey CombsBarbara CramptonTed SorelA group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.80% on Rotten Tomatoes
Lovecraft - DirectorRichard StanleyStarsNicolas CageJoely RichardsonMadeleine ArthurA secluded farm is struck by a strange meteorite which has apocalyptic consequences for the family living there and possibly the world.86% on Rotten Tomatoes
Lovecraft
It's a good movie, but I feel like they strayed too far away from the original story's Cosmic Horror toward Alien Life Infection body horror. - DirectorRoger CormanStarsVincent PriceDebra PagetLon Chaney Jr.Charles Dexter Ward arrives at a small village to visit the house he inherited from his ancestor who died there 100 years ago.71% on Rotten Tomatoes
Lovecraft (despite the advertising saying Poe to tie in to the other Corman/Price films of the 1960s)
(the palace is not haunted by ghosts) - DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsSam NeillJürgen ProchnowJulie CarmenAn insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.While I've seen it suggested out there on the internet, I wouldn't consider Carpenter's 'The Thing' cosmic horror. The Thing comes from another planet in a space ship and the scientists in the movie understand the basic laws by which The Thing operates. And slimy tentacles do no automatically equal cosmic horror.
...I would, of course, consider 'The Thing' one of the five best horror movies ever made. - DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsDonald PleasenceLisa BlountJameson ParkerA group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open the container, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all humanity.
- DirectorRebekah McKendryStarsRyan KwantenJ.K. SimmonsSylvia Grace CrimAfter a breakup, Wes ends up at a remote rest stop. He finds himself locked inside the bathroom with a mysterious figure speaking from an adjacent stall. Soon Wes realizes he is involved in a situation more terrible than he could imagine.86% on Rotten Tomatoes
- DirectorDavid PriorStarsJames Badge DaleMarin IrelandSasha FrolovaOn the trail of a missing girl, an ex-cop comes across a secretive group attempting to summon a terrifying supernatural entity.%76 on Rotten Tomatoes
Reading that awful title, a very basic plot summary, or seeing the movie poster might lead you to believe this is yet another terrible CGI demon-ghost movie made for fifteen year olds (The Slender Man, the Bye-Bye Man). While the movie does contain some of these elements (perhaps tacked on by sleazy producers?), that's not really what the movie is about. - DirectorHiguchinskyStarsEriko HatsuneFhi FanHinako SaekiThe inhabitants of a small Japanese town become increasingly obsessed with and tormented by spirals.
- DirectorBlair EricksonStarsKatia WinterTed LevineMichael McMillianJournalist Anne Roland explores the disturbing links behind her friend's sudden disappearance, an ominous government research chemical, and a disturbing radio broadcast of unknown origin.74 on Rotten Tomatoes
- DirectorLeigh JaniakStarsRose LeslieHarry TreadawayBen HuberA newlywed couple finds their lake-country honeymoon descend into chaos after Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of the night.This one may be a bit of a stretch. I know that one could watch this movie and see it as being about X-filesey Grey Aliens from another planet. I didn't see it that way. Maybe that's just me and my tastes.
%70 on Rotten Tomatoes - DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsIsabelle AdjaniSam NeillMargit CarstensenA woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.Don't let the title throw you, this is not an Exorcist rip-off about demonic possession. It is something far more weird and wonderful.
- DirectorMariano BainoStarsLouise SalterVenera SimmonsMariya KapnistA girl travels to an island, after the death of her father, to find out why the father funded a monestary on the island.80% on Rotten Tomatoes
- DirectorÁlex de la IglesiaStarsJavier GutiérrezLeonor WatlingSancho GraciaIn Spain, the sports journalist Juan has a perfect life with his wife Sonia: they have just had a baby and moved to an old house that needs to be repaired in a fancy neighborhood. When Juan's sister and her husband visit the couple, they give them an electronic nanny to monitor the baby's room. During the night, Juan and Sonia hear voices in the room but they do not find anybody. On the next day, Juan hires an alarm system for the house and a monitor to observe the baby's room. When Juan sees a man in the room, he gets a knife to protect his son. However, Sonia believes her husband is insane and moves to her mother's house. Juan investigates the happening with the former journalist Domingo, who explains him the paradoxical experiment Schrodinger's Cat and the existence of parallel worlds. Further, he advises the obsessed Juan to leave the house otherwise could be trapped in another world.