Since the days of H.P. Lovecraft, cosmic horror has been a source for some of the scariest stories to appear on film.
Cosmic horror has been established as one of the most chilling sub-genres in horror cinema. With a focus on the unknown, isolation, and the human mind, cosmic horror plays on the imaginations of audiences rather than going all out on gore and jump scares. Instead of ghosts, serial killers, or vampires, these stories focus on the endless possibilities of the universe's fictional horrors.
Early 20th-century author H.P. Lovecraft gave Cosmic horror prominence through stories like At the Mountain of Madness, The Hound, and The Call of Cthulhu. The genre can be challenging to pull off in cinema, but plenty of films have tried to capture the terror of the unknown and unimaginable. Everything from stories of paranoia to questions about reality itself has made up cosmic horror in cinema.
I'd add "Annihilation" to the mix. Its a newer movie inspired by "the color out of space", however the story goes a different way. Its a great atmospheric horror movie!
I read the Annihilation books first and so was almost disappointed by the movie, but they did it differently in such a good way that I still really loved it in the end. Excellent stuff all around.
If you haven't seen Spring, I'd say give that a shot. It's a genre-bender, so don't go in expecting straight up horror, but it has its moments. The directing duo specialize in cosmic horror, and you could do worse than watching all of their flicks. Resolution and The Endless are two other great ones from them.
Do not read this article if you don’t want spoilers for any of these movies. Most of the blurbs contain some pretty massive ones and a few of the images do too.