0:23 The Mist 1:44 The Blob (1988) 2:45 The Empty Man 3:45 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) 5:00 Hellbound: Hellraiser II 6:15 Color Out of Space 7:40 The Void 8:55 In the Mouth of Madness 10:20 The Thing (1982)
Agreed on that one, but I’m a huge Alex Garland fan. I don’t think he’s had a miss yet…oh wait, I forgot about Men. Well, he’s had one miss, but the rest have been fucking great.
I thought Annihilation was a better Color Out of Space adaptation than the actual Color Out of Space adaptation. Annihilation has its flaws but it captures that sort of Lovecraftian “cosmic indifference” idea perfectly.
@@bradmerilic6848 Eh. Devs was a hot mess wall to wall imho. Didn't like Civil War either, I disliked it almost more than Men. In hindsight, even his earlier works (The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Ex Machina, Annihilation) are actually not as great as I once thought. Never Let Me Go has Carey Mulligan in it, so I dislike that one on principle.
I’ve watched The Void like 10 times now. It’s easily the best lovecraft style movie. Beautiful in its simplicity. There’s a cult, there’s Eldritch monsters, there’s a mad scientist, and there’s a group of people trying to survive. That’s it.
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one so taken with the movie. Sheriff Carter was the absolute GOAT. “This isn’t the end.” “Yes…it is…” Oh man, so good. And it’s all the more impressive when you find out they did all that on a budget of less than $83,000. Less than a million bucks and all that practical effects work steals the show man.
Many are cult status like The Thing and especially The Blob. There are The Blob festivals in the hometown that was filmed in the original movie, so it's kinda big for fans. Entries 2,3,and 4 get a lot of love from HPL fans so you could say there's something a cult movie status there too.
It's one of my favourite cosmic horror movies. It has a low budget but it's very clever with it imo, and it's one of the best at capturing the meaning of "what you don't see is often scarier than what you do see". Definitely worth a watch, just don't expect tons of effects, but lots of creativity and character.
Came here to say the same thing. I've watched it twice now and likely to give it another run as there's a lot that happens through the course of this one.
Going in I thought it wouldn't have any cosmic horror elements whatsoever, and simply thought it was one of those dime-a-dozen urban legend movies. I've never been more pleasantly surprised by a horror film, especially when certain names were mentioned.
Yep. Especially for such a relatively low-budget film it really shows what people with good taste can do. I’d rather watch The Empty Man than probably 95%+ of the horror movies that have been released since. As a whole i’d say the urban legend aspect of the film can feel slightly at odds tonally with the cosmic horror aspect, but that’s a pretty minor quibble.
@@FadeToBlack-ee6su Its still one of the best genre lists i have ever seen. I never had it before that i totally agreed with every single pick on a list.
@@elektroskeptic481 it's been a while since I've seen the movie, but always assumed there was a serious element of cosmic horror to it. The fluid, the dreams, the portal to another dimension. At the very least it intersect the cosmic horror genre lane?
To me it's good but not great. Almost. Great sets and so on but it's a bit of a mess to me. The horror doesn't really work for me. Doesn't feel right. 🤷 But it has one of the best lines ever: "We're leaving." Love that! 😂
from me, a horror fan that saw it when it came out - most people hated it upon release bc it was marketed as sci-fi action not horror. it's a haunted house in space movie - but it wasn't marketed that way. I love the film.
It's a masterpiece. I would have loved to see the director's intended cut (much more gruesome, scary stuff that was cut out due to censors etc) but apparently the footage is lost
I would have loved to see that too. There was a big thing about it. He put a call out for the footage and nobody had it. Apparently he searched everywhere for it. It's completely gone. There's some REALLY bad footage of the hell scene on the special edition but that's it.
Fun fact: Event Horizon was heavily influenced by Warhammer 40000 lore, as one of the writers confirmed, after people having speculated about this for years.
Black Mountain Side (2014) is a brilliant cosmic horror movie, more so imo than alien invasion films, which are within the bounds of human comprehension if not control. It's kinda similar to The Thing, but only superficially.
I was just at a screening of Color Out of Space, with the director in attendance; he did a Q&A afterwards. Love that flick. Anyway, great video! My list would include Annihilation, From Beyond, and The Cabin in the Woods.
Yeah, there's a bit of controversy there... it didn't get brought up. Mr. Stanley's still planning on filming at least one more film in this "series"... he said he couldn't reveal the casting publicly, but that it would be a new adaptation of The Dunwich Horror.
LofreakingL if you think any director in PedoWood will ever get “cancelled” for beating up their spouse. There are still people who defend Roman Polanski….and Kevin Spacey……and Harvey Weinstein…..and Tom Hanks….
Annihilation presents the core of cosmic horror - i.e. existential terror and human nothingness - better than any film on this list. It might not be a better film per se, but it nails the genre better than any other.
I’ve heard 2005’s The Call Of Cthulhu movie isn’t that bad, given it’s basically a fan made film in the style of a 1920’s silent era film. Also one of the few actual Lovecraft story adaptations, as opposed to being “Lovecraftian”
That's made my the HPLHS (hp lovecraft historical society), their adaption of The Whisper in the Darkness is brilliant. Both are up on TUBI right now, free to watch.
Maybe, dude, though that one is harder to categorize. It could have been Dagon or something that caused the events of the film, or they might have just been fucking nuts after drinking bad hooch and starving. Usually when something is categorized as cosmic horror, it constitutes some outside, inhuman force acting as the main conflict (or cause of the conflict) in the story. It's possible for this movie, certainly, just hard to tell.
The Lighthouse is a little too enigmatic to fully fit cosmic horror, imo. The film spends most of its runtime warping reality and deceiving the characters and audiences about who the characters are, so any argument that it's cosmic horror can be countered with the "it's all a hallucination" bit. To me, it's all about the core themes, and "The Lighthouse" doesn't seem to care much for cosmic horror themes.
Glad to see love for The Void, I watched it at like 3am one night when I was bored and couldn’t sleep and it blew my mind how good it was for being so low budget, plus my man Larry Loomis/Windam Earle is in it
@@bradmerilic6848 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Endless_(film) You really should watch "The Endless" (2017) ...about two brothers who return to a cult commune, that they escaped from in their youth, to find that something is controlling things there and keeping different people in repetitive time loops.
It's well documented at this point how the publisher completely decimated that movie in marketing, somewhat intentionally. Good thing the director has had other opportunities to shine (watch "The Autopsy" episode of Guillermo del Toro's Netflix anthology)
@@greg3087 Because if you're familiar with applications (chatGPT or other) that can generate or replace voices, you'll end up knowing them. For the moment, there is a limited number of voices (free) which makes recognition easy. And yes, this is an 'artificial' voice.
@@bradmerilic6848 i think the poster is pointing out the horrendous way the way was pronounced multiple times in the vid. ps. That's not how you say 'Lauded' either.
@@bradmerilic6848 I suppose it kind of depends on the nature of what's going on. It is never specified which dimension the Event Horizon traveled through, much less definitively categorized what was wrong with the ship. It's clear that yes, there was a malevolent presence, and yes, it had abilities most would describe as supernatural. It did NOT specify that it was either a demon from Hell (which would yes, be more fantasy horror or supernatural horror), or a more abstract entity that they otherwise couldn't perceive. What was explored is that there are other dimensions than the physical world, that the Event Horizon had traveled through one, and brought back something extremely hostile to human life, that may have had devastating consequences if it were allowed to reach Earth. Also, that it drove the crew completely insane to even be exposed to this dimension. So this focus on "Where the hell has this been" and "Holy shit what did the crew experience out there" pushes EH into more cosmic horror territory. It's a thin distinction, but it is a distinction. Apologies for rambling, I'm aware my articulation is a bit clunky here.
@@Sam_Graves I don’t think I said they went to hell did I? Because you’re absolutely right. Nothing was ever specified. I think that was simply the wording they used because they really had nothing else to compare it to. Except the Dr. does at one point say they entered a dimension of pure evil, but that was the extent of it. I was always a big fan of that film when I was younger. I’m glad to see it’s gained a bit of a cult following now, but Paul W. S. Anderson is STILL one of the shittiest directors still getting work. 😂
I couldn't find anything in my collection to add to your list, except for one short film called AM1200 (2009). It's 40 minutes long and the plot revolves around a man fleeing the law who finds himself in a remote, deserted AM radio station where things are very much not right. It's some very tight story telling, a mini-movie rather than a short film.
Sorry to be that guy, but it's "malevolent" : MA-LEV-O-LENT. Is this script written by AI? Every movie is the same: "The movie met with [mixed/glowing] reviews. Critics praised its practical effects, brooding atmosphere and a strong performance by . It has since gained a cult following."
At some point recognising AI voices and script becomes quite easy. The script lacks personality and is repetitive. This particular voice does little in terms of intonation and sounds monotonous and stacato, but I'm sure more variation could be programmed in. There's plenty of good film critic channels out there, but plenty of people too who take the easy road. Why take the effort if you can pump out videos by the dozen using AI? Why is it so implausible that with the advent of this new, freely accessible and easy to use technology is used widely on TH-cam?
The Empty man in the best cosmic horror movie I think I’ve ever seen. I’m so glad I bought the dvd when it was on Redbox, considering it never got a physical release.
The phrase "Mixed reviews...but has since gained a cult following" repeated several times, and miss pronunciation of common words means it's written by AI, and the speaker did read the script prior to recording, so may as well been spoken by an AI voice.
Absolutely correct! Lovecraft's overarching / underlying premise was that "the universe is *actually* controlled by vast, inhuman cosmic entities for whom human beings - if they are noticed at all - are viewed at best as pesky nuisances." SOME of Lovecraft's stories - based on that overall premise - were nonetheless so specific in time and localized in place - dealing, e.g., with the inbred descendants of a particular family, or the unholy practices of an individual "wizard" - that the cosmic dimension was not explicitly evident, and could only be at best inferred.
The trailer for the Empty Man doesn't do the film any justice at all. So generic when the film is anything but all around, from the long foreboding opening to the well written and played detective all the way to the punch of the end.
I am extremely critical of movie countdowns. I can honestly say that this is the first time ever, that I agree 100% with a movie countdown. I own every single one of these movies and you were spot on. Excellent job, sir. Excellent job.👏👏👏
Well done!!! I appreciate your effort here.I’ve seen most of these and loved them. (Hellbound is probably my favorite of the bunch) Check out THE BORROWER (1991)with Antonio Fargas and WITHOUT WARNING (1980)featuring Jack Palance and Martin Landau who both won Oscars (City Slickers 1991 and Ed Wood 1994 respectively ) over a decade later. Both are ridiculously fun and creepy.
So, we don't have Black Mountain Side, Glorious, The Sacrifice, Underwater, The Ritual, The Endless, or Annihilation, but some how we have a frickin Hellraiser movie on there?
@@ApolloSuns Same, Hellraiser 2 has always been a favorite of mine since it first came out, but I also wouldn't rank it very high as a cosmic horror/Lovecraftian movie. Annihilation was definitely a good one though, I will have to check out the others you mentioned there
@@whlewis9164 Yes. The xenomorphs are definable, understandable, mortal, and not inherently superior to humanity; though this last quality is not necessary to constitute cosmic horror (at least one quality is, though). They're hostile to humans because they require humans (or some other living host) to breed, as well as for food. Generally xenomorphs are a problem encountered much smaller in scale, as well, which doesn't help their case. Usually cosmic horror entails a distinctly inhuman outside force acting on the story to cause the main conflict, or is the main conflict. This outside force, entity, event, etc usually has negative effects on the characters (if not being outright hostile to humans) and is usually characterized by being beyond the realm of human science, having inscrutable goals, being immortal, alien, or abstract in some way. In the majority of cases there is also absolutely nothing the characters can do to defeat said outside force. Case in point: Colour out of Space. The Colour is most often speculated to be an alien, but it is completely unknown as to what it wants, can't be killed or destroyed in any quantifiable way, can't even be wholly perceived, and its mere presence makes its surroundings mostly inhospitable for human life. It showed up, fucked shit up, and left the characters no more informed, though a lot more frightened and a lot more dead for the experience. Cosmic horror doesn't even have to be space-related at all, as is the case with Dagon. As I understand it, Dagon is a "home-grown" entity, and entirely terrestrial, though I may be incorrect, please let me know if I'm wrong.
Im glad you included The Empty Man...I absolutely love that movie!! I would also place Underwater as a type of Cosmic horror (it has Cthulu in it!) Im wondering also if people consider Mandy to be a type of cosmic horror? What do you all think?
I've always been confused when people bring up Mandy as cosmic horror. Sure the visuals get a little wild especially towards the end, but that's more a symptom of Red's spiraling mental state than it is actual cosmic horror. Part of the point of the cult was that the leader was just a terrible person who used his influence to manipulate others while remaining insatiable and entitled. The weird biker gang gives "demon" more than "entity from the beyond" imo
Man, I love every movie on this list. I’ve seen them all in the theater (except invasion of the body snatchers) and own most on Blu-ray. Kudos, great list.
It's amazing that the opening 3 minutes of Empty Man make it look like absolute garbage, but 15 minutes in and looks amazing. Thanks for the recommendation. Nice to see some Beksiński inspired art and I hope the rest of the film lives up to the 5-20 minutes in.
@@VeritabIlIti Thank you. In all honesty, I thought it was a bad film that looks like it reshot an opening with a bizarre hook to keep people watching through a film that wasn't really working. Sorry, I didn't like it and thought it was slow and didn't provoke new thought.
Baskin is a low budget foreign horror that would be a fantastic addition to this list. It is absolutely sadistic, with a final twist that is heart breaking
Great list here. This genre seems to have experienced a revival in recent years, which I feel was at least partially driven by the popularity of Netflix's "Stranger Things." My nomination for Honorable Mention goes to The Cabin in the Woods (2011) I'm a new viewer btw - liked & subscribed. 👍
First recommendation in the first 30 sec. Tease the top one being a grand slam…then you make the first one a movie everyone is a lock to have seen and know as a vicious great flick. Brilliant video structure. (Not your typical comment…but this is what you get from a professional video creator)
@@FadeToBlack-ee6su finding a way to hook them early while maximizing watch time is the entire game. This was really excellent if you did it intentionally
I did, and I really appreciate the positive feedback. It's really helpful. I've just subscribed to your channel which is excellent by the way!! Really encouraging to have an seasoned TH-cam pro give positive feedback. Thank you!
imo, Annihilation is the best cosmic horror film to date. It just perfectly encapsulates the fear of encountering something that is beyond our understanding
I saw a preview for In the Mouth Of Madness probably when I was like 10, I thought the tentacles reaching out under the door was one the creepiest things I had ever seen, and I wanted to see it so bad but I was not allowed to watch R rated movies. Periodically throughout my life that image would pop into my head and I'd try to figure out what it was, now over 30 years later I finally know what movie it is!!!! Thank you!!!
The two obvious ones missing are Annihilation and Event Horizon. Thing I notice that a lot of movies in this genre have in common is they seem to be about isolating people in a place where help from the outside either will not or else will be a long time coming and then having the cosmic horror descend on them. Examples are The Mist, Annihilation, Event Horizon, Color out of Space, the Void, Black Mountain Side, The Thing, and 30 Days of Night.
Horror, until recently, has been derided by critics for seeming "lower art," hence the movement of "enlightened horror" that many audiences are now sick of. There are a few critically loved cosmic horror flicks, but it's certainly not the majority
The Prince of darkness Event horizon From beyond Dead Mary (very underrated) Videodrome Annihilation (book is much better) The signal The thing Black mountain side Solaris Splinter Lord of illusion
For me, event horizon will always be a unsanctioned unofficial warhammer 40k prequel, set in the infancy of the dark age of technology. And no one can convince me otherwise.
That was not how you pronounce malevolent, AI. It's devastating just how many people nowadays upload content to YT entirely written, narrated and mixed (the video) by an AI, without as much as a single mention of that. It's pathetic, quite frankly. For a video like this you just need a list of movies and instructions like: in a few minutes, explain each of the listed movies accolades. In the background video use mixed and cut video material from the trailer for the movies. Also we never got to see "The Daddy" on the list 😏
Excellent list. The Void is truly brilliant. Never much liked The Thing but know I'm in the minority on that one. That Invasion of the Body Snatchers gave me nightmares when it was on TV in the late 70s, not seen it since. Think I'm due a rewatch. 👍👍
The Mist and The Void,Event Horizon best horrors from the list and in The Mist,for sure best movie ending of all,all,all time!!The Thing cult classic with no doubt!
While I agree to - varying degrees - with most of your choices of movies that belong under the category of "cosmic horror" I strongly disagree that the 1988 remake of The Blob belongs in this list. The remake is nothing more than "an experiment gone horribly wrong" trope - a sort of man's hubris comes back to bite him in the ass (or in this case, dissolves his ass altogether) cautionary tale. On the other hand, the original blob movie could be classified as cosmic horror since the titular creature was a mysterious potential threat to all mankind that fell from the vast unknown darkness of outer space. The unknown is a huge element of the cosmic horror genre. And I agree with others that Annihilation most definitely should have been included in this list.
What are you talking about? The remake blob was from space as well. It came out of a meteor that fell to Earth. The first victim was that hobo with the dog that poked it with a stick.
@@bradmerilic6848 It must be quite some time since you saw the remake. It wasn't a meteor that crashed to earth, but rather, a space probe or satellite that the US had sent up to study the effects of cosmic radiation on microbial life forms, specifically bacteria. The bacteria mutated and became an all consuming monster that could grow without limit. There's a scene where the guy in the HazMat suit explains this, as well as another scene showing the HazMat guys lifting the satellite/probe out of the ground. That is what I'm talking about. 😶
man, at least 3 titles in the list are the wrong genre, so why not? Actually, Your suggestion is quite clever and fits the premises of cosmic horror way better than "The Blob".
I absolutely loved Annihilation. Haven’t watched the movie Color Out of Space but Annihilation is very reminiscent of Lovecraft’s original short story in some of its themes.
Never seen the empty man, that's changing tonight. This is my favorite genre. Technically Event Horizon could be considered Cosmic horror, but I get it, it's more sci-fi horror. My honorable mention would be the lighthouse. Might be Willem dafoe's magnum opus as an actor
Interesting list. Though I think Fulci's The Beyond capture that mood better than about 50% the list (and is probably the main influence on Hellbound: Hellraiser 2). Possession (1981) would definitely be on mine. Is it wrong I might put both Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness on the same list?
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 85 | คู่เอก "ยอดเหล็กเพชร vs ผึ้งหลวง"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qq_19bnnxEo/mqdefault.jpg)
0:23 The Mist
1:44 The Blob (1988)
2:45 The Empty Man
3:45 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
5:00 Hellbound: Hellraiser II
6:15 Color Out of Space
7:40 The Void
8:55 In the Mouth of Madness
10:20 The Thing (1982)
thx
You ever think about trying to make a good list for once? The Void sucks just like your google search skills
Event horizon
That moment when you realize you've watched pretty much every cosmic horror movie ever made
Omg, thank you👏👍🤙
Annihilation should have been a worthy mention if not included in the list.
Agreed on that one, but I’m a huge Alex Garland fan. I don’t think he’s had a miss yet…oh wait, I forgot about Men. Well, he’s had one miss, but the rest have been fucking great.
I thought Annihilation was a better Color Out of Space adaptation than the actual Color Out of Space adaptation. Annihilation has its flaws but it captures that sort of Lovecraftian “cosmic indifference” idea perfectly.
@@bradmerilic6848 Eh. Devs was a hot mess wall to wall imho. Didn't like Civil War either, I disliked it almost more than Men. In hindsight, even his earlier works (The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Ex Machina, Annihilation) are actually not as great as I once thought. Never Let Me Go has Carey Mulligan in it, so I dislike that one on principle.
The Endless was better. IMHO.
Annihilation is garbage.
I’ve watched The Void like 10 times now. It’s easily the best lovecraft style movie. Beautiful in its simplicity. There’s a cult, there’s Eldritch monsters, there’s a mad scientist, and there’s a group of people trying to survive. That’s it.
Agreed. A very anxiety-inducing film.
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one so taken with the movie. Sheriff Carter was the absolute GOAT. “This isn’t the end.” “Yes…it is…” Oh man, so good. And it’s all the more impressive when you find out they did all that on a budget of less than $83,000. Less than a million bucks and all that practical effects work steals the show man.
I like the movie a lot. Well paced, characters act reasonably given what is going on. Good pacing.decent ending. I’ve watched it several times now.
Preach it brother!
It's so good. And fun too
Did any of them develop a cult following by any chance? 🐝
Ten hours of editing can make you go nuts!! 🤣
You did not pay attention, did you?
He didnt say so, i think. Especially not about films that initially got mixed reviews, where you would most expect said followers
@@Awsetare you slow
Many are cult status like The Thing and especially The Blob. There are The Blob festivals in the hometown that was filmed in the original movie, so it's kinda big for fans. Entries 2,3,and 4 get a lot of love from HPL fans so you could say there's something a cult movie status there too.
The Endless is a great cosmic horror. It’s not as outright scary as these movies, but has the slow burning dread that makes cosmic horror so great.
@@wulfgold I'll have to check that out.
The Void, The Empty Man, The Endless. That is my cosmic horror trilogy right there.
@@wulfgoldI LOVE that movie
The Endless is creepy as hell.
It's one of my favourite cosmic horror movies. It has a low budget but it's very clever with it imo, and it's one of the best at capturing the meaning of "what you don't see is often scarier than what you do see". Definitely worth a watch, just don't expect tons of effects, but lots of creativity and character.
The Empty Man is seriously underrated and one of my favorites, thank you for highlighting it here.
I agree I thought it was so eerieee
Came here to say the same thing.
I've watched it twice now and likely to give it another run as there's a lot that happens through the course of this one.
Going in I thought it wouldn't have any cosmic horror elements whatsoever, and simply thought it was one of those dime-a-dozen urban legend movies. I've never been more pleasantly surprised by a horror film, especially when certain names were mentioned.
Yep. Especially for such a relatively low-budget film it really shows what people with good taste can do. I’d rather watch The Empty Man than probably 95%+ of the horror movies that have been released since. As a whole i’d say the urban legend aspect of the film can feel slightly at odds tonally with the cosmic horror aspect, but that’s a pretty minor quibble.
The Empty Man has one of the worst trailers I've ever seen. Did a huge disservice to a movie that's actually pretty incredible.
I'd toss in _Prince of Darkness_ in there for the full Carpenter Apocalypse Trilogy.
I don’t know how I missed it!
@@FadeToBlack-ee6su Understandable! Just ten picks, something will be cut or missed or something.
@@FadeToBlack-ee6su Its still one of the best genre lists i have ever seen. I never had it before that i totally agreed with every single pick on a list.
It's not cosmic horror, just like movies and visual games aren't.
True cosmic horror can only be experienced in it's true form: reading.
@@elektroskeptic481 it's been a while since I've seen the movie, but always assumed there was a serious element of cosmic horror to it. The fluid, the dreams, the portal to another dimension. At the very least it intersect the cosmic horror genre lane?
I have no clue why Event Horizon gets so little love. Feel free to fill me in cause I really like that movie.
To me it's good but not great. Almost. Great sets and so on but it's a bit of a mess to me.
The horror doesn't really work for me. Doesn't feel right. 🤷
But it has one of the best lines ever:
"We're leaving."
Love that! 😂
from me, a horror fan that saw it when it came out - most people hated it upon release bc it was marketed as sci-fi action not horror. it's a haunted house in space movie - but it wasn't marketed that way. I love the film.
That's one of my fav movies of all time. Even though it was in space that movie gave me nightmares.
It's a masterpiece. I would have loved to see the director's intended cut (much more gruesome, scary stuff that was cut out due to censors etc) but apparently the footage is lost
I would have loved to see that too. There was a big thing about it. He put a call out for the footage and nobody had it. Apparently he searched everywhere for it. It's completely gone. There's some REALLY bad footage of the hell scene on the special edition but that's it.
Fun fact: Event Horizon was heavily influenced by Warhammer 40000 lore, as one of the writers confirmed, after people having speculated about this for years.
I can see that, especially with the ships/architecture
First Warp Jump in the History xD
And that's kinda the Warframe game lore, warp jump went south and created us, the players.
@@Felupi yes
And it in turn inspired Dead Space!
Underwater definitely deserved a place in your top 5 🖤
@@Bobsk3 it's in the Part 2 video!
The Mist is how you go from Sci-fi to apocalypse to creature feature to existential Hell.
Black Mountain Side (2014) is a brilliant cosmic horror movie, more so imo than alien invasion films, which are within the bounds of human comprehension if not control. It's kinda similar to The Thing, but only superficially.
I forgot about that one. It was really good.
I'll check that out.
it came out in 2016 and was made by a guy in my film school class in our backyard
@graymalkin4871, Cheers for the recommendation. I'll give it a go.
@kahwigulum was he a Led Zeppelin fan?
Color From Outer Space and Annihilation are two cosmic horror gems from recent years.
adore colour from out of space
Annihilation was just poor in comparison to the book trilogy, but the storyline is so dense.
Annihilation was garbage if you read the books. The only people who liked it never read the books.
@@Facetiously.Esoteric What if I read the book and actually enjoyed the movie, knowing it does not faithfully recreate the events in the book?
@@hdufort Then you ended any credibility you had.
Malevant isn't a word.. Malevolent is though..
It sent up a red flag to me. It sounds like a lot of the script is not his.
Ya almost made me stop the video right there. It's not hard to pronounce either
Yup made me question my own intelligence
Thank you for your belovant correction.
Made me feel ill
I was just at a screening of Color Out of Space, with the director in attendance; he did a Q&A afterwards. Love that flick. Anyway, great video! My list would include Annihilation, From Beyond, and The Cabin in the Woods.
great choices!
Yeah, there's a bit of controversy there... it didn't get brought up.
Mr. Stanley's still planning on filming at least one more film in this "series"... he said he couldn't reveal the casting publicly, but that it would be a new adaptation of The Dunwich Horror.
LofreakingL if you think any director in PedoWood will ever get “cancelled” for beating up their spouse. There are still people who defend Roman Polanski….and Kevin Spacey……and Harvey Weinstein…..and Tom Hanks….
From Beyond is an underrated Lovecraft adaptation, plus it has Ken Foree from Dawn of the Dead (1978) :)
I love that film! Amazing special FX. In some ways, I like it even more than Re-Animator. A Stuart Gordon classic!
Annihilation presents the core of cosmic horror - i.e. existential terror and human nothingness - better than any film on this list. It might not be a better film per se, but it nails the genre better than any other.
lmao it doesn't have a plot
@@user-tl8dq4cu8c are you high? That movie has a very clear plot
The Banshee Chapter is definitely worth a watch for fans of Lovecraft and cosmic horror.
Good list, two Don Coscarelli films get my nod, Phantasm and John Dies At The End.
I actually really enjoyed The Empty Man, creepy as hell, but The Thing is and always will be the best.
Agreed and to be honest a much better movie than Event Horizon.
I’ve heard 2005’s The Call Of Cthulhu movie isn’t that bad, given it’s basically a fan made film in the style of a 1920’s silent era film. Also one of the few actual Lovecraft story adaptations, as opposed to being “Lovecraftian”
That's made my the HPLHS (hp lovecraft historical society), their adaption of The Whisper in the Darkness is brilliant. Both are up on TUBI right now, free to watch.
I think The Lighthouse should have a mention in this list. It’s an unbelievable film that build dread and eerieness in such a great way
Maybe, dude, though that one is harder to categorize. It could have been Dagon or something that caused the events of the film, or they might have just been fucking nuts after drinking bad hooch and starving. Usually when something is categorized as cosmic horror, it constitutes some outside, inhuman force acting as the main conflict (or cause of the conflict) in the story. It's possible for this movie, certainly, just hard to tell.
The Lighthouse is a little too enigmatic to fully fit cosmic horror, imo. The film spends most of its runtime warping reality and deceiving the characters and audiences about who the characters are, so any argument that it's cosmic horror can be countered with the "it's all a hallucination" bit. To me, it's all about the core themes, and "The Lighthouse" doesn't seem to care much for cosmic horror themes.
Everyone always misses the obvious Best In Class: Alien. By far the best cosmic horror film of all time.
It's in Part 2!
Glad to see love for The Void, I watched it at like 3am one night when I was bored and couldn’t sleep and it blew my mind how good it was for being so low budget, plus my man Larry Loomis/Windam Earle is in it
Good list, but The Endless would have been a worthy addition, maybe leave out Hellraiser 2.
I agree that "The Endless" should replace "Hellraiser 2".
Not familiar with this one. Is it more current or more of a cult classic situation?
@@bradmerilic6848 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Endless_(film)
You really should watch "The Endless" (2017) ...about two brothers who return to a cult commune, that they escaped from in their youth, to find that something is controlling things there and keeping different people in repetitive time loops.
IMHO The Endless is certainly cosmic in its perspective, but rather light on the horror.
The Endless is absolutely one of the best cosmic horror films. An under rated gem.
The Empty Man is probably the greatest modern example of "The Trailer Is Absolutely Nothings Like The Film".
Agreed 💯
That's another movie I wish I could watch for the first time.
strangely their whole marketing campaign kind of sucked for such a wicked movie! foolishly deterred me from watching for too long. It's so good!
It's well documented at this point how the publisher completely decimated that movie in marketing, somewhat intentionally. Good thing the director has had other opportunities to shine (watch "The Autopsy" episode of Guillermo del Toro's Netflix anthology)
You're using chatgpt for your dialogue. It's weird and your delivery makes me feel is this actually your opinion on the top 10 or a computer?
How’d you know it’s ChatGPT?
@@greg3087 Because if you're familiar with applications (chatGPT or other) that can generate or replace voices, you'll end up knowing them. For the moment, there is a limited number of voices (free) which makes recognition easy. And yes, this is an 'artificial' voice.
Ma-LEV-o-lent.
I love me some Florence Pugh, but Malevolent isn’t exactly cosmic horror. It’s just paranormal horror isn’t it? Hauntings?
@@bradmerilic6848 i think the poster is pointing out the horrendous way the way was pronounced multiple times in the vid. ps. That's not how you say 'Lauded' either.
@@bradmerilic6848 I suppose it kind of depends on the nature of what's going on. It is never specified which dimension the Event Horizon traveled through, much less definitively categorized what was wrong with the ship. It's clear that yes, there was a malevolent presence, and yes, it had abilities most would describe as supernatural. It did NOT specify that it was either a demon from Hell (which would yes, be more fantasy horror or supernatural horror), or a more abstract entity that they otherwise couldn't perceive.
What was explored is that there are other dimensions than the physical world, that the Event Horizon had traveled through one, and brought back something extremely hostile to human life, that may have had devastating consequences if it were allowed to reach Earth. Also, that it drove the crew completely insane to even be exposed to this dimension. So this focus on "Where the hell has this been" and "Holy shit what did the crew experience out there" pushes EH into more cosmic horror territory. It's a thin distinction, but it is a distinction.
Apologies for rambling, I'm aware my articulation is a bit clunky here.
@@Sam_Graves I don’t think I said they went to hell did I? Because you’re absolutely right. Nothing was ever specified. I think that was simply the wording they used because they really had nothing else to compare it to. Except the Dr. does at one point say they entered a dimension of pure evil, but that was the extent of it. I was always a big fan of that film when I was younger. I’m glad to see it’s gained a bit of a cult following now, but Paul W. S. Anderson is STILL one of the shittiest directors still getting work. 😂
I couldn't find anything in my collection to add to your list, except for one short film called AM1200 (2009). It's 40 minutes long and the plot revolves around a man fleeing the law who finds himself in a remote, deserted AM radio station where things are very much not right. It's some very tight story telling, a mini-movie rather than a short film.
Annihilation is deserving of this list. But I doubt the creator(s) have neglected it. Probably saving it for another list.
It's in the Part 2 video!
ANNIHILATION WAS THE BOMB!!!!
Shit bomb
"Quatermas and the Pit" is worth a mention.
If you haven't seen "The Endless", I highly recommend. The last ten minutes of "Melancholia" is pretty entertaining too.
The Thing still feels brand new to me now. Excellent.
The Void was incredibly disturbing.
How is Annhilation not on this list? Insane omission.
Because this chanel is bull!
Clicked just to make sure In the Mouth of Madness is on this list. Not disappointed.
I told them not to film me.
Sorry to be that guy, but it's "malevolent" : MA-LEV-O-LENT.
Is this script written by AI? Every movie is the same: "The movie met with [mixed/glowing] reviews. Critics praised its practical effects, brooding atmosphere and a strong performance by . It has since gained a cult following."
Well it sounds a bit silly, but it seems to be a pattern here.
You’re on to something there
All these "eVeRyTHinG iS Ai" comments are complete Brainrot.
At some point recognising AI voices and script becomes quite easy. The script lacks personality and is repetitive. This particular voice does little in terms of intonation and sounds monotonous and stacato, but I'm sure more variation could be programmed in.
There's plenty of good film critic channels out there, but plenty of people too who take the easy road. Why take the effort if you can pump out videos by the dozen using AI? Why is it so implausible that with the advent of this new, freely accessible and easy to use technology is used widely on TH-cam?
My favourite cosmic horror film bar none is Phase IV.
Very interesting selection
That's a classic that I don't see talked about. Especially is you find the removed ending on TH-cam.
I remember watching that on TV when it first came out as a kid.
Yes! Criminally overlooked classic right there.
Should have mentioned Prince of Darkness, the last and most underrated of Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy.
Was trying to remember the title, you're a legend ;)
I should definitely do an honorable mention section as this was on the original list, great movie!
The last of the apocalypse trilogy was "In the mouth of madness".
The Empty man in the best cosmic horror movie I think I’ve ever seen. I’m so glad I bought the dvd when it was on Redbox, considering it never got a physical release.
The phrase "Mixed reviews...but has since gained a cult following" repeated several times, and miss pronunciation of common words means it's written by AI, and the speaker did read the script prior to recording, so may as well been spoken by an AI voice.
Who is this miss pronunciation, if I may ask?
What's this ai you speak of? Alien infestation?
Brainrot comment of the day
I would argue "Endless" should get a brief "not made it to the list" mention.
Same with "Annihilation"
The Endless was unforgettable
The book Annihilation is even more like cosmic horror. I liked the movie, but if you liked the movie read the book. It’s 100x better.
Though, ironically, I forgot writing that comment.
I saw the thumbnail of The Void. You could also include Sunshine.
I loved Sunshine. I need to check out the void
@benmcreynolds8581 It's sad that more people don't know about Sunshine
@@Mass-produced incredible movie, first one that made me appreciate Cillian Murphy's acting
Lovecraftian does not necessarily mean Cosmic Horror. In my view only around half the movies listed, if not fewer, are true Cosmic Horror.
Absolutely correct! Lovecraft's overarching / underlying premise was that "the universe is *actually* controlled by vast, inhuman cosmic entities for whom human beings - if they are noticed at all - are viewed at best as pesky nuisances." SOME of Lovecraft's stories - based on that overall premise - were nonetheless so specific in time and localized in place - dealing, e.g., with the inbred descendants of a particular family, or the unholy practices of an individual "wizard" - that the cosmic dimension was not explicitly evident, and could only be at best inferred.
Right. Take Dagon and you have no cosmic at all.
The trailer for the Empty Man doesn't do the film any justice at all. So generic when the film is anything but all around, from the long foreboding opening to the well written and played detective all the way to the punch of the end.
I am extremely critical of movie countdowns. I can honestly say that this is the first time ever, that I agree 100% with a movie countdown. I own every single one of these movies and you were spot on. Excellent job, sir. Excellent job.👏👏👏
Well done!!!
I appreciate your effort here.I’ve seen most of these and loved them. (Hellbound is probably my favorite of the bunch)
Check out THE BORROWER (1991)with Antonio Fargas and WITHOUT WARNING (1980)featuring Jack Palance and Martin Landau who both won Oscars (City Slickers 1991 and Ed Wood 1994 respectively ) over a decade later.
Both are ridiculously fun and creepy.
So, we don't have Black Mountain Side, Glorious, The Sacrifice, Underwater, The Ritual, The Endless, or Annihilation, but some how we have a frickin Hellraiser movie on there?
Love me some Hellraiser but the ones you listed are sooooo much better
@@ApolloSuns Same, Hellraiser 2 has always been a favorite of mine since it first came out, but I also wouldn't rank it very high as a cosmic horror/Lovecraftian movie. Annihilation was definitely a good one though, I will have to check out the others you mentioned there
Happy to see Hellbound get a little lovecraftian love. Easily my favorite Hellraiser in the series
Wait a moment - how did Alien and From Beyond get left out of this list!?
Because Alien is just sci fi.
Alien is technically horror sci-fi but I absolutely adore it.
From Beyond was on my original list but it had to be ten!
@@whlewis9164 Yes. The xenomorphs are definable, understandable, mortal, and not inherently superior to humanity; though this last quality is not necessary to constitute cosmic horror (at least one quality is, though). They're hostile to humans because they require humans (or some other living host) to breed, as well as for food. Generally xenomorphs are a problem encountered much smaller in scale, as well, which doesn't help their case.
Usually cosmic horror entails a distinctly inhuman outside force acting on the story to cause the main conflict, or is the main conflict. This outside force, entity, event, etc usually has negative effects on the characters (if not being outright hostile to humans) and is usually characterized by being beyond the realm of human science, having inscrutable goals, being immortal, alien, or abstract in some way. In the majority of cases there is also absolutely nothing the characters can do to defeat said outside force.
Case in point: Colour out of Space. The Colour is most often speculated to be an alien, but it is completely unknown as to what it wants, can't be killed or destroyed in any quantifiable way, can't even be wholly perceived, and its mere presence makes its surroundings mostly inhospitable for human life. It showed up, fucked shit up, and left the characters no more informed, though a lot more frightened and a lot more dead for the experience. Cosmic horror doesn't even have to be space-related at all, as is the case with Dagon. As I understand it, Dagon is a "home-grown" entity, and entirely terrestrial, though I may be incorrect, please let me know if I'm wrong.
Because you do not understand cosmic horror! Neither does this channel.
Absolutely love the list! But could not stop getting taken aback by how you pronounce 'malevolent'.
...I was having a moment..I know it's mal ev o lent!!!! 🤣🤣
@@FadeToBlack-ee6su You mispronounced it TWICE! You also mispronounced "lauded" - it's not pronounced "lowded," but rather "law'ded."
Im glad you included The Empty Man...I absolutely love that movie!! I would also place Underwater as a type of Cosmic horror (it has Cthulu in it!) Im wondering also if people consider Mandy to be a type of cosmic horror? What do you all think?
I've always been confused when people bring up Mandy as cosmic horror. Sure the visuals get a little wild especially towards the end, but that's more a symptom of Red's spiraling mental state than it is actual cosmic horror. Part of the point of the cult was that the leader was just a terrible person who used his influence to manipulate others while remaining insatiable and entitled. The weird biker gang gives "demon" more than "entity from the beyond" imo
Man, I love every movie on this list. I’ve seen them all in the theater (except invasion of the body snatchers) and own most on Blu-ray. Kudos, great list.
It's amazing that the opening 3 minutes of Empty Man make it look like absolute garbage, but 15 minutes in and looks amazing. Thanks for the recommendation. Nice to see some Beksiński inspired art and I hope the rest of the film lives up to the 5-20 minutes in.
Hope you watched and enjoyed, that film is absolutely bonkers in the best ways.
@@VeritabIlIti Thank you. In all honesty, I thought it was a bad film that looks like it reshot an opening with a bizarre hook to keep people watching through a film that wasn't really working. Sorry, I didn't like it and thought it was slow and didn't provoke new thought.
@@brandosbucket hey, no shame there. I just hope you don't feel like your time was wasted :)
Hey, bro. Thanks for the vid. Enjoyed it. BUT, you've got some reverb in your mic that's torture on headphones. Just an FYI.
Appreciate the feedback, no pun intended!
Baskin is a low budget foreign horror that would be a fantastic addition to this list. It is absolutely sadistic, with a final twist that is heart breaking
The Empty Man is one of the best I've seen. I could watch again.
MALovent? wtf
i heard "existentral" too
learn to speak, freak
Plane'arium
Came for this
"Malevolent" Mal-ev-olent... The e isn't silent.... I just can't go on. Knowing this word could be butchered so malvolently..
Retarded ai vid
Great list here. This genre seems to have experienced a revival in recent years, which I feel was at least partially driven by the popularity of Netflix's "Stranger Things." My nomination for Honorable Mention goes to The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
I'm a new viewer btw - liked & subscribed. 👍
First recommendation in the first 30 sec. Tease the top one being a grand slam…then you make the first one a movie everyone is a lock to have seen and know as a vicious great flick. Brilliant video structure. (Not your typical comment…but this is what you get from a professional video creator)
I really appreciate the feedback. I'm still learning!!
@@FadeToBlack-ee6su finding a way to hook them early while maximizing watch time is the entire game. This was really excellent if you did it intentionally
I did, and I really appreciate the positive feedback. It's really helpful. I've just subscribed to your channel which is excellent by the way!! Really encouraging to have an seasoned TH-cam pro give positive feedback. Thank you!
imo, Annihilation is the best cosmic horror film to date. It just perfectly encapsulates the fear of encountering something that is beyond our understanding
I saw a preview for In the Mouth Of Madness probably when I was like 10, I thought the tentacles reaching out under the door was one the creepiest things I had ever seen, and I wanted to see it so bad but I was not allowed to watch R rated movies. Periodically throughout my life that image would pop into my head and I'd try to figure out what it was, now over 30 years later I finally know what movie it is!!!! Thank you!!!
The two obvious ones missing are Annihilation and Event Horizon. Thing I notice that a lot of movies in this genre have in common is they seem to be about isolating people in a place where help from the outside either will not or else will be a long time coming and then having the cosmic horror descend on them. Examples are The Mist, Annihilation, Event Horizon, Color out of Space, the Void, Black Mountain Side, The Thing, and 30 Days of Night.
I think that’s an appropriate comment about annihilation. It is a cosmic horror movie.
Worth noting The Void was crowd funded and did so well with the budget it had. Black Mountainside is another really good Indy cosmic horror.
X: The Man with the X-RAY Eyes (1963). Ends with a glimpse (by the protagonist) of cosmic horror.
I love how each basically had critics go, "it's too confusing." Maybe the critics just don't get cosmic horror?
I don't think many critics get much of anything these days. Unless it's a play about musical cats...
Horror, until recently, has been derided by critics for seeming "lower art," hence the movement of "enlightened horror" that many audiences are now sick of. There are a few critically loved cosmic horror flicks, but it's certainly not the majority
The Prince of darkness
Event horizon
From beyond
Dead Mary (very underrated)
Videodrome
Annihilation (book is much better)
The signal
The thing
Black mountain side
Solaris
Splinter
Lord of illusion
Lord of Illusions is such a good movie. Maybe I'll pop that in tonight.
How is "Videodrome" cosmic horror? It's completely man-made...
For me, event horizon will always be a unsanctioned unofficial warhammer 40k prequel, set in the infancy of the dark age of technology.
And no one can convince me otherwise.
the empy man is my number one here.. mindblowing movie...
some great films I had forgotten about. Time to revisit some of these for sure. Great narrating and selection for review
@@colinevans653 many thanks!!! 🙏🏽
That was not how you pronounce malevolent, AI. It's devastating just how many people nowadays upload content to YT entirely written, narrated and mixed (the video) by an AI, without as much as a single mention of that. It's pathetic, quite frankly. For a video like this you just need a list of movies and instructions like: in a few minutes, explain each of the listed movies accolades. In the background video use mixed and cut video material from the trailer for the movies.
Also we never got to see "The Daddy" on the list
😏
>>Also we never got to see "The Daddy" on the list
Excellent list. The Void is truly brilliant. Never much liked The Thing but know I'm in the minority on that one.
That Invasion of the Body Snatchers gave me nightmares when it was on TV in the late 70s, not seen it since. Think I'm due a rewatch. 👍👍
The Mist and The Void,Event Horizon best horrors from the list and in The Mist,for sure best movie ending of all,all,all time!!The Thing cult classic with no doubt!
As someone who recognizes her from Nip/Tuck, I would never imagine Joely Richardson being in the two best of anything.
When it first came out, i was at a small theatre by myself matinee, i was blown away on the edge of my seat. Event horizon was Awsome!
"Malevent". Ouch. My ears hurt. Don't use words you don't know.
A great list, but I would have included Carpenters "Prince of Darkness.
should have been in there for sure
The Thing is one of the best horror movies ever.
I can’t believe Event Horizon isn’t anywhere on this list.
@@diggit79 it was the first video on the list but Universal blocked it!
Prince of darkness deserves a spot on the follow up.
@@t8ne it's coming in tonights video.. spoiler alert
While I agree to - varying degrees - with most of your choices of movies that belong under the category of "cosmic horror" I strongly disagree that the 1988 remake of The Blob belongs in this list. The remake is nothing more than "an experiment gone horribly wrong" trope - a sort of man's hubris comes back to bite him in the ass (or in this case, dissolves his ass altogether) cautionary tale. On the other hand, the original blob movie could be classified as cosmic horror since the titular creature was a mysterious potential threat to all mankind that fell from the vast unknown darkness of outer space. The unknown is a huge element of the cosmic horror genre. And I agree with others that Annihilation most definitely should have been included in this list.
What are you talking about? The remake blob was from space as well. It came out of a meteor that fell to Earth. The first victim was that hobo with the dog that poked it with a stick.
@@bradmerilic6848 It must be quite some time since you saw the remake. It wasn't a meteor that crashed to earth, but rather, a space probe or satellite that the US had sent up to study the effects of cosmic radiation on microbial life forms, specifically bacteria. The bacteria mutated and became an all consuming monster that could grow without limit. There's a scene where the guy in the HazMat suit explains this, as well as another scene showing the HazMat guys lifting the satellite/probe out of the ground. That is what I'm talking about. 😶
My recommendation for this list (aside from it being narrated by an actual person) would be to replace The Blob with Prince of Darkness.
@@mikejay8234 Yeah, it’s been a VERY long time, but I swear I thought it was just a meteor, but clearly I’m wrong. Sorry about that.
Not sure if it's the right genre - would Vivarium fit here? That film has stuck with me for years...
man, at least 3 titles in the list are the wrong genre, so why not? Actually, Your suggestion is quite clever and fits the premises of cosmic horror way better than "The Blob".
I absolutely loved Annihilation. Haven’t watched the movie Color Out of Space but Annihilation is very reminiscent of Lovecraft’s original short story in some of its themes.
Pretty close to a perfect list, though I can't imagine not including Event Horizon.
It was the first film in the original version of this video. Universal Studios blocked it! 😭
@@FadeToBlack-ee6su Ahhh, gotcha. Lame. Sweet list regardless! Thanks!
I want to congratulate you on your website. You did a good job of picking the movies.
you’re too kind
"The Void" was extremly good, hope to see more like that, good cosmic horror can be done with reasonable budgets ansnghe less CGI the better
Never seen the empty man, that's changing tonight. This is my favorite genre. Technically Event Horizon could be considered Cosmic horror, but I get it, it's more sci-fi horror.
My honorable mention would be the lighthouse. Might be Willem dafoe's magnum opus as an actor
@@IIISWILIII You'll love The Empty Man. Event Horizon was the first movie on this list but was blocked by Universal studios!
@@FadeToBlack-ee6su aholes!! 😆
Great vid! Sphere was pretty good too!
Interesting list. Though I think Fulci's The Beyond capture that mood better than about 50% the list (and is probably the main influence on Hellbound: Hellraiser 2). Possession (1981) would definitely be on mine.
Is it wrong I might put both Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness on the same list?
Invasion of the Body Snatchers scared the crap out of me.
Alien not being on the list is blasphemy, that movie practically started the whole aesthetic of cosmic horror.
Alien isn’t cosmic horror.
I think people are confusing “cosmic horror” to mean space horror. That is not what it is.
@@DoctorSess I know the difference but I still consider Alien as a cosmic horror film, particularly the first film.
@@yokgor4675 well you are wrong.
@@yokgor4675 either way it certainly didn’t “start the whole aesthetic of cosmic horror”.
"Due to copyright issues number ten has had to be trimmed out. This film was The Mist" - but #9 is The Mist. Which movie was cropped out?
You must have mist it
An underrated movie of the genre is Underwater
@@DanilegoPlaysagreed..it's in the part 2 video!
The color out of space is a masterpiece storie, and its adaptation to the movies is really good as well, one of my favorites.
The Void is an amazing movie! It easily became one of my favorites.
I'd say The Endless, The Void and The Color Out Of Space are the best more recent cosmic horror movies.
Agreed, The Endless is necessary on a top 10.
The color out of space is some of the craziest sh@t I’ve ever seen! I loved it!
Please add The Endless to this. It includes very strong references to Yog Sothoth.