Best Cosmic Horror Movies

Key Takeaways

• Cosmic horror extends beyond human comprehension, tapping into fear of the unknown.
• Lovecraft’s work influences cosmic horror heavily by delving into existential dread.
• Movies like The Mist and Annihilation exemplify true cosmic horror manifestations.

The horror genre has become a large entity over the years, telling stories through the mediums of novels, video games, and movies across a variety of subgenres that guarantee there is a subset of horror for everyone. The cosmic horror genre is something that was tapped into as far back as the 19th century, startling the readers with the fear of the unknown or unseen.

Cosmic horror involves horrors that extend beyond the scope of human comprehension and drive home the chilling fear of how microscopic humanity is on the grand tapestry of the universe. Even with the wonders of modern knowledge and technology, there is still so much unknown about space — and even the oceans of this planet. Who knows what might be out there right now, watching and waiting…

8 Uzumaki

A Surreal, Reality-Bending Experience

• Director: Higuchinsky
• Release Date: February 11th, 2000
• Runtime: 1hr 30m

Junji Ito’s work leans heavily into the strange and unusual — even his manga collection, which is a biographical look into his life living with his two cats, as he often draws their cute little faces with more mischievous or even evil expressions. His magnum opus is up for debate still, but Uzumaki remains as one of the strongest contenders.

The 2000 Japanese movie translated the work to the medium of film as a village comes under the reality-twisting effect of the spiral. The exact nature of the spiral is entirely up for debate. Is it a living entity of some sort, a disease, or a supernatural phenomenon? Its mystery drives home the cosmic fear of the unknown and shrouds the village in existential dread that is often the crux of this subgenre of horror.

7 In The Mouth Of Madness

Tests The Very Boundaries Of Reality

• Director: John Carpenter
• Release Date: February 3rd, 1995
• Runtime: 1hr 35m

Deriving its title from the Lovecraft story At the Mountains of Madness, In the Mouth of Madness is a strong tribute to all things Lovecraft and cosmic with loose ties to some of Carpenter’s other movies (The Thing and Prince of Darkness).

In this movie, John Trent finds himself looking into the works of an author by the name of Sutter Cane, whose work is said to have detrimental psychological effects on those with weaker minds. Ever the skeptic, Trent believes it is all a publicity stunt until he and Linda arrive in the fictional setting for the books, known as Hobb’s End. They are trapped in the confines of the town, along with all the townspeople that act as written in the books. The titular final manuscript is as cosmic as it gets, inflicting madness on those who witness its words, and in Cane’s belief, will allow the Old Gods to emerge on Earth and drive humanity to extinction. What is real or not is up to interpretation.

6 The Color Out Of Space

Based On The Popular Lovecraft Story

• Director: Richard Stanley
• Release Date: January 24th, 2020
• Runtime: 1hr 51m

Though Lovecraft was not the pioneer of the cosmic horror genre, he is the one that defined and indelibly influenced the genre with his works. He crafted short stories delving into Old Gods rising from their slumber, the palpable dread of the unknown, as well as creepy cults and secret societies. One such short story was The Colour Out of Space, which received a movie adaptation starring Nicolas Cage in 2019.

The Gardner’s lives change irrevocably when a bright purple meteor crashes into their front yard, changing the land around it and the family that dwell there. Reality and sanity both unravel as the color begins to take everything as it attempts to turn the surrounding land into where it originated from, another dimension inhabited by tentacled monsters. Time and space have no meaning when the color is around, playing into the transdimensional angle of cosmic horror.

5 The Mist

A Strange Phenomena Grips An Entire Town

• Director: Frank Darabont
• Release Date: November 21st, 2007
• Runtime: 2hr 6m

Waking up one day to find one’s hometown gripped by a mysterious mist and a cornucopia of horrifying beasts would be nothing less than a nightmare, and one anyone would desperately want to wake up from. Unfortunately, this is the very terrifying reality for a group of people who have barricaded themselves inside a supermarket.

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, The Mist is cosmic in nature. Human nature itself begins to unravel as the survivors spend longer together in the confines of the store, one woman seizing power and becoming the judge, jury, and executor of anyone who dares to question her reign. But, any fear she sows is completely eclipsed by the fear of the unknown — the monsters that not only prowl the mist outside, but are also finding their way inside.

4 Re-Animator

A Loose Adaptation Of A Classic Lovecraft Story

• Director: Stuart Gordon
• Release Date: October 18th, 1985
• Runtime: 1hr 26m

Things don’t get more cosmic than Lovecraft’s own work, which proved to be the most influential cosmic horror stories of all time, thus coining the term Lovecraftian to describe things beyond the scope of human imagination, themes of existential dread, influences of being from other dimensions, transformations, and fear of the unknown. One such work is Herbert West Re-Animator, which inspired the movie Re-Animator.

The main character, Herbert West, concocted a fluid that is capable of bringing the dead back to life, but with rather dire consequences. Those that are re-animated come back with violent and vicious tendencies, with one of the reanimated even being able to control others that have been brought back from the dead. While not a typical cosmic horror movie, Re-Animator is still an excellent example of a cosmic short story brought onto the screen.

3 Annihilation

An Experimental Lovecraft-Inspired Sci-Fi Movie

• Director: Alex Garland
• Release Date: February 23rd, 2018
• Runtime: 1hr 55m

Transmogrification of people and land, a meteorite that is the origin of the strange phenomena, and the dread of horrors that are beyond human — these are all key ingredients of true cosmic horror founded in work by authors such as Lovecraft and movies like Annihilation.

A location in Florida has become home to a zone known as the Shimmer, brought about by a crashed meteorite from outer space. An expedition of five women traverse into the Shimmer, encountering strange phenomena such as mutated plants and animals. The Shimmer has the power to change any material within its confines, including people. This is where the existential dread and paranoia of all things cosmic comes into play, as well as the otherworldly influence of the Shimmer. It also demonstrates exemplary horror, such as the scene of the mutated bear that is nothing short of nightmare inducing.

2 Jacob’s Ladder

Heavy Cosmic Overtones Of Otherworldly Beasts & Slipping Reality

• Director: Adrian Lyne
• Release Date: November 2nd, 1990
• Runtime: 1hr 53m

War has a way of changing everyone involved in it, and none suffer more than the brave soldiers on the front lines. Injuries, loss of limbs, death, PTSD…these are all very real risks that come with the job, and the latter could be an explanation for the strange sights and experiences Jacob Singer is exposed to when he tries to live a normal life in America. But is there more to these visions than trauma?

Stated to have been a source of inspiration for Silent Hill, Jacob’s Ladder contains some extremely disturbing visions that only become even more startling as the movie progresses. Creatures that defy human explanation and figures that seem slightly adjacent to ordinary humans — there is something undeniably cosmic about the horrors on display. Jacob’s sanity is thrown into question as he confronts these unknown terrors.

1 The Thing

• Director: John Carpenter
• Release Date: June 25th, 1982
• Runtime: 1hr 49m

The Thing is one of the most influential horror movies to have ever emerged from the genre, demonstrating excellent practical effects in regard to monster design. Smothered by the isolation of a research facility in Antartica, a science team rescues a stray sled dog found in the wilderness and take it to their station — an act of altruism that would not be repaid in kind.

Strange occurrences escalate and echo through the facility ever since the dog made its home there, starting with the dog itself transforming into a mutilated monster of tentacles and ooze, an infection that soon spreads to the scientists to terrifying effect. As it turns out, the thing infecting everyone is something otherworldly, assimilating any living organism around it like an eldritch abomination. Delving into body horror, isolation, and fear of the unknown, The Thing is an unconventional but incredible cosmic horror movie.