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How to Write Cosmic Horror (Writing Advice)

Writer Brandon McNulty
2024 ж. 17 Мам.
21 389 Рет қаралды
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Learn how to write Cosmic Horror (Lovecraftian Horror) with examples from The Thing, The Mist, Color Out of Space, and more!
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Пікірлер

  • So glad to find somebody else saying themes first, monsters second. People don't get it that all the fantasy elements in cosmic horror are merely the surface story. The horror itself is philosophical. If I may add a point to your great video essay, all immortal stories are like that. From Odyssey to Game of Thrones, themes first is the key to immortality.

    @AryaCyrus@AryaCyrus7 ай бұрын

    • And that applies to writing in general, not just horror. It’s just like what LocalScriptWriter always says when writing characters: “Purpose first, personality second.”

      @ihavespoken9871@ihavespoken98717 ай бұрын

    • 1. Rejection of anthropocentrism! 2. Unknown or unknowable information. 3. Human insanity or psychological frailty. 4. Powerful but indifferent/evil supernatural entities.

      @Mark-in8ju@Mark-in8ju5 ай бұрын

  • Minor correction because people get this wrong all the time. Seeing the monster in Bird Box doesn't automatically kill you. It makes you have this uncontrollable urge to kill yourself. In a few people that it doesn't give that urge to it makes them want to kill anyone who's still alive. That's much more terrifying.

    @madmartigan21@madmartigan217 ай бұрын

    • Good call. I oversimplified it in this video

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • I'm a sucker for cosmic horror. Some people say serial killers and stuff that could happen in real life is scarier, but I love the existential dread of a good Lovecraftian story.

    @LordBaktor@LordBaktor7 ай бұрын

    • Yep, the unpredictability of Cosmic Horror makes it special.

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • But if monsters existed, it would be much worse. Because we don't know what to expect from them.

      @christinacath4816@christinacath48164 ай бұрын

  • the Doctor Who episode Midnight is a great example of cosmic horror as it captures a great sense of claustrophobia onboard the shuttle and the fact that doctor does not know what the unseen threat is really amps up the fear factor

    @mathieuleader8601@mathieuleader86017 ай бұрын

  • The video game Bloodborne is an excellent example of the Forbidden Knowledge trope of cosmic horror. A church creates cures from the blood of cosmic entities that they have little knowledge of. Although the cures work, they slowly begin to mutate those who received them and the whole city begins to fall apart into madness as the townsfolk start attacking one another and become monsters themselves whether they realize or not.

    @stratoplayer1988@stratoplayer19886 ай бұрын

    • Another example is that when you start a New Game +, your Insight from the first playthrough carries over, meaning new enemies that weren’t there the first time are now present, and creatures you thought didn’t manifest until later in the game are revealed to have always been there, invisible to your blissfully ignorant mind.

      @anarky1765@anarky1765Ай бұрын

    • This is why Bloodborne is my favorite souls game

      @bj71000@bj71000Ай бұрын

  • Bloodborne's lore and world was truly inspirational for me to create a story.

    @HabkeineAngst@HabkeineAngst7 ай бұрын

  • I'd say that Stephen King's IT definitely counts as cosmic horror, considering what Pennywise really is (in the book at least, not the movies, neither of which quite nail it) and that's probably my favorite. I reread that book about once every 5-6 years and having first read it when I was 10 (the approximate age the characters are in the 1958 sequences) and again when I was 40 (around their age in 1985) definitely gave me new appreciation for a lot of the themes in the book. The Thing is one of my absolute favorite movies. It's a masterclass in atmosphere and mood, the story is tight, the acting sublime, and the effects nearly flawless. I watch it at least once every October, sometimes more. The Mist is another good novella by King, and the film proves what I've long maintained (that Frank Darabont should be the only person allowed to adapt King's work into film). The new ending the film has surpasses the original story in my opinion.

    @ShinGallon@ShinGallon7 ай бұрын

    • Yeah, it's been forever since I read IT, but I think it fits the bill, especially considering Pennywise's cosmic origin. I love both endings of The Mist. The movie version unquestionably has more impact, but there's something chilling about the "What do we possibly do now?" note that the novella ends on.

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • Wouldn't call It cosmic horror. The creature itself, yes, but the story is more a classic horrorstory. The feel, the theme, the plot. It answers way more questions than it leaves unanswered. You can easily escape by just leaving town, it has a very happy ending... And like often the true horror comes with the people, It doesn't really do much compared to what people do to eachother.

      @RainisaurusRox@RainisaurusRox7 ай бұрын

  • Thank you for choosing The Thing as an example for writing advice! As you may have suspected from my avatar, I'm quite the fan. It's my all-time favorite movie of any genre, period. I saw it in a drive-in, sitting on the roof of our station wagon along with my sister (ages 6 and 8, respectively), listening to our parents argue from down below (my dad told my mother it was a Disney movie like ET, just so he could see it in theaters, LOL).

    @snowdogthewolf@snowdogthewolf7 ай бұрын

    • Hahah what a great story--your dad was a hero that day

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • I love your dad. My dad would just sneak me into R rated movies without even telling my mom. And we both turned out fine, right? Right?...

      @j-rey-@j-rey-6 ай бұрын

  • I think Dead Space is the perfect example. It checks all boxes

    @stefmoneythebigfella7156@stefmoneythebigfella71565 ай бұрын

  • Not seen the mist yet (tried to avoid the spoilers) but Carpenter's version of the Thing was always amazing due to the creativeness of the creature and just how unique the atmosphere and setting was.

    @dreamermj@dreamermj7 ай бұрын

    • Top-notch movie monster, without question

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • not my favorite, but one that I highly recommend watching

      @feliperojas-doomride@feliperojas-doomride6 ай бұрын

  • Steven King once said (in reference to lovecraft) "Nothing you put outside the door is ever as scary as the scatching at the door"

    @robertpetrovich6776@robertpetrovich67766 ай бұрын

  • My favorite cosmic horror story is "In the mouth of maddness" (SPOILERS) one of my favorite stories to talk about because there is just so much to unpack. The very end John Trent goes into a theater and sits down to watch...the movie we just watched that shows everything that has happened to him throughout the movie. It is also spliced in a certen way where in the movie he is witching he screams "THIS IS NOT REALITY! NOT REALITY! this is reality." As the character who is a big skeptic has watched reality completely warp around him while watching a movie about his own disent into maddness.

    @t.j.aarons889@t.j.aarons8897 ай бұрын

    • I have to ask... Do you read Sutter Cane?

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • @@WriterBrandonMcNulty This brings me joy because this is the exact comment I expected.

      @t.j.aarons889@t.j.aarons8897 ай бұрын

    • My god, this movie is BANGER in the Lovecraftians movies

      @vodniczech@vodniczech5 ай бұрын

  • I think the key factor is DEFINITELY not to explain too much about the threat the protagonists encounter (the protagonists can even defeat them in the story in a way, but it must not be done in an easy way), or else it just loses the flavor completely and utterly to the point it doesn't "deserve" to be called cosmic horror anymore.

    @dyingember8661@dyingember86617 ай бұрын

    • Yep, the alien should remain alien. The mystery shouldn't end along with the story

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • It's just so sad that most people just want results and sometimes all they want is the results, so the narrative, the story, all the good stuff just have to make way of it, and even sad thing is that those people didn't really care about the results as well, they see it, they happy, and they just leave, left all those who cared about the things that can only hold up together by mystery in pain...@@WriterBrandonMcNulty

      @dyingember8661@dyingember86617 ай бұрын

  • “Event Horizon” goes well with this genre discussion

    @tylerjames7449@tylerjames74497 ай бұрын

    • Yeah, I wanted to include EH but I haven't watched it in ages. Definitely need to give it a rewatch one of these days

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • Alien! The Thing is a close second, and I still think about Annihilation years after watching it.

    @pearlsforswine4261@pearlsforswine42617 ай бұрын

    • Alien and The Thing are titans of the horror genre. Love them.

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • "The Empty Man" is fantastic is fantastic. I think it was mismarketed as the trailer makes the impression that this is a teen slasher but actually it is a cosmic horror gem.

    @pferdebert@pferdebert7 ай бұрын

    • Loved it. The movie feels like a blend of Shutter Island, Blade Runner, and the Silent Hill games. I was gripped all the way through

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • 1. Rejection of anthropocentrism! 2. Unknown or unknowable information. 3. Human insanity or psychological frailty. 4. Powerful but indifferent/evil supernatural entities.

    @Mark-in8ju@Mark-in8ju5 ай бұрын

  • My favourite cosmic horror is actually the console game Eternal Darkness (Sanity's Requiem). It's pretty old now but the way it introduces the cosmic horror slowly through Alex's experience in her uncle's old mansion, going through the generations of forbidden knowledge... the creepy visuals, the expanding concepts... ah man, it's amazing. Heavily Lovecraftian in a good way.

    @errantwinds-up8uu@errantwinds-up8uu7 ай бұрын

    • If anyone plays the GameCube game due to this recommendation, in the beginning of the game you have to make s choice. Choose green for the best experience.

      @nonsequiturm@nonsequiturm7 ай бұрын

    • Phenomenal game, although I never finished it because I got stuck around midway through (it might've been after one of the Spanish Inquisition sections). I really need to give EDSR another shot one of these days

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • My favorite cosmic horror movie is cabin in the woods. That was a very cleverly written movie. I loved it.

    @doormatt72@doormatt724 ай бұрын

  • your writing advice videos were really helpful for my writing! But one subject that I'm really interested in knowing more is ensemble casts, being casts with more than two protagonists.

    @SuceavaHoodInv@SuceavaHoodInv7 ай бұрын

    • Someone else requested a video on character chemistry, so I'll be covering this topic soon

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • My favorite cosmic horror stories are my own. I love my writing. I’m a huge fan of the novel 14 by Peter Clines. Its sequels are quite good, too. My go-to Lovecraft works include f "The Colour Out of Space", "Shadow over Innsmouth" and "At the Mountains of Madness" and the vignette "Dagon". Movies include the 1959s'original THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, THE MIST, EUROPA REPORT, the HPLHS version of "Call of Cthulhu". I also love IT by Stephen King and his short story "Crouch End", and the "John Dies at the End" series by Wong.

    @keith0363@keith03636 күн бұрын

  • Can we get a video on the ways to write and foreshadow twist villains?

    @GeneralPenguinIsCool@GeneralPenguinIsCool7 ай бұрын

    • I'll add it to my request list--thanks!

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • Wasn't expecting a video on such a niche subject, but I'm excited nonetheless!

    @Noodlekdoodle@Noodlekdoodle7 ай бұрын

    • Thanks! Hope you enjoyed it

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • _The Dunwich Horror_ is my favourite. It's the first Lovecraft story I read and was like "yeah, this really is kinda creepy" _At The Mountains of Madness_ is pretty cool too

    @miguelthedrawtist@miguelthedrawtist7 ай бұрын

  • I’ve been a longtime admirer of H.P. Lovecraft, and his work inspired me to write within the genre. I’m beginning to outline the plot of a book I’ve been putting off for years, done in epistolary form (which is similar to Lovecraft’s form) through the use of journal entries and letters.

    @sackettsnodgrass9260@sackettsnodgrass92603 ай бұрын

  • Uzumaki is probably the most effective cosmic horror story I've read, for the simple reason that, by the last few chapters, it really didn't matter what the protagonists did; they were screwed either way. You spiral down with them because you just want some semblance of an answern

    @bramderacourt9499@bramderacourt94993 ай бұрын

  • Alien is my favourite. Yes the monster is "defeated" in the end, but we are left knowing that a far greater monster is still out there.

    @briantrafford4871@briantrafford48717 ай бұрын

  • The Thing (or perhaps Alien) is my favorite cosmic horror story, because the best part about this movie is none of the characters, including the titular monster, are stupid. The Mist is an intense movie, not because of the monsters crawling around the titular mist as they actually behave like animals despite how they kill the humans, but it's because of the survivors turning against one another from religious extremism, establishing that humans are the real monsters. Color Out of Space is really scary. I haven't seen Bird Box, The Empty Man and Uzumaki.

    @prehistorichero2755@prehistorichero27556 ай бұрын

  • I loved the King in Yellow. It's a precursor to Lovecraft and contains more of the type of cosmic horror in the category of forbidden knowledge and cults. There a four short stories only connected by a strange play called the King in Yellow which seems to instill madness in whoever reads it.

    @dibdap2373@dibdap23734 ай бұрын

  • Annihilation is one of my more recent favorite movies that delves into the cosmic horror genre

    @MelchVagquest@MelchVagquest6 ай бұрын

  • My favorite Cosmic Horror story is Roadside Picnic. Its not so strictly horror, but I feel like it captures the feeling of human irrelevance better than anything else I've read.

    @CatAtomic99@CatAtomic997 ай бұрын

  • My favorite is Lovecraft's "The Festival". Quite short but really exemplifies his style.

    @thomassynths@thomassynths7 ай бұрын

  • Brandon, once again your insights are so on-point and concise it blows me away. Cosmic Horror is not even a sub-genre I like all that much, but now I understand and appreciate it a lot more thanks to your analysis and advice.

    @petehealy9819@petehealy98197 ай бұрын

    • Thanks for the kind words! Glad you found the video useful

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • I love cosmic horror (usually through writing, not so much in media since they usually don't do it so well.) But Carpenter's The Thing is awesome. After all that tension and suspicion, they leave you with the idea that... "Well... humanity just might be completely fucked. Sleep tight."

    @UncleFexxer@UncleFexxer6 ай бұрын

  • What's your favorite Cosmic Horror story? Let us know!

    @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • I have two: The Endless and Annihilation.

      @jacindaellison3363@jacindaellison33637 ай бұрын

    • Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I prefer the 1956 version but the ending is maybe too hopeful to qualify it as you have defined it.

      @brianedwards7142@brianedwards71427 ай бұрын

    • ​@@brianedwards7142that version and the first remake in the seventies are both great. The 70's version has that ending he's talking about.

      @madmartigan21@madmartigan217 ай бұрын

    • I just love The thing on the doorstep by Lovecraft. Would recommend to read a few of the other books first thou, knowing a little bit about the mythos, the different dimensions, times and stuff makes it even better. That stuff gets only hinted in this story. It focuses more on the characters and their situation. It just begins with the greatest hook I ever came across, in the very first paragraph. In my opinion, on of the best beginnings ever. " It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer."

      @RainisaurusRox@RainisaurusRox7 ай бұрын

    • I love both versions of Body Snatchers. The 50s version holds up remarkably well. I watched it for the first time in the 2010s and couldn't believe how gripping it was.

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • My favorite cosmic horror story is At The Mountains of Madness.

    @TheVeyZ@TheVeyZ5 күн бұрын

  • The Thing 1982 is my favorite by FAR ❤

    @Brdatsun@Brdatsun6 ай бұрын

  • Event Horizon is a great cosmic horror movie in my opinion.

    @romainpapelier9457@romainpapelier94577 ай бұрын

  • Honorable Mention: the movie "Event Horizon". Really ticks all the boxes. I would love to see some kind of director's cut made, but sadly, the material has been lost, so it won't happen. I feel the movie does a lot of things right and has great potential, but the released version lacks emotional punch somehow. Mabye it's the lack of a protagonist with motivations to relate to.

    @homoduplex@homoduplex7 ай бұрын

  • You should discuss everything the original Alien did right as a cosmic horror and then everything Alien Covenant did wrong to ruin the cosmic horror.

    @SuspendedLogic@SuspendedLogic7 ай бұрын

    • Covenant explained the origin of the Xenomorphs. There's no greater sin in cosmic horror.

      @LordBaktor@LordBaktor7 ай бұрын

    • Covenant was brutal to watch. It's The Last Jedi of the Alien franchise

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • What is alien covenant? 😅

      @RainisaurusRox@RainisaurusRox7 ай бұрын

    • @@RainisaurusRox Some fanfic written by a goat or something.

      @LordBaktor@LordBaktor7 ай бұрын

    • @@WriterBrandonMcNulty big time agree.

      @SuspendedLogic@SuspendedLogic7 ай бұрын

  • Great job. Thank you for unpacking the concept.

    @R.L.Sutton@R.L.Sutton7 ай бұрын

    • I love your initials! Especially for this Halloween themed episode

      @eliben4066@eliben40667 ай бұрын

    • Glad it helped! Thanks for watching

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • My favorite cosmic horror story comes from a man who was a known friend of H. P. Lovecraft, but wasn't typically a cosmic horror writer: The Tower of the Elephant, by Robert E. Howard. Yes, my favorite cosmic horror story is a Conan adventure, and I'm not going to say why because I don't want to spoil it.

    @TheManBehindtheScreen@TheManBehindtheScreen7 ай бұрын

  • Man I have been watching you quite some time you have helped me a lot .Thank you!

    @doom_punpun@doom_punpun7 ай бұрын

    • Glad to hear it! Thanks for the kind words

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • Your channel really touches on things no other channel will. Love it. I’d love to know how to write vampire fiction next

    @LordPhantom777@LordPhantom7776 ай бұрын

  • A perfect topic for a story I'm currently writing. Really appreciate this breakdown, Brandon. Thanks! 🙌🙌

    @Jedi3039@Jedi30397 ай бұрын

    • Glad it was helpful!

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • My favourite cosmic horror story is the original Dunwich Horror by Lovecraft. An oldie, but it's a classic...

    @user-ff4se5vf2n@user-ff4se5vf2n7 ай бұрын

    • ALL of Lovecraft's stories are oldies, if not all of them are classics. The Dream quest of Unknown Kadath is certainly an oldie and it should be a classic but it's still too obscure.

      @dionmcgee5610@dionmcgee56106 ай бұрын

  • You should probably do one on the difference between science fiction , science fantasy and fantasy

    @kasieream1248@kasieream12486 ай бұрын

  • Awzum. I'm writing a story along the lines of cosmic horror too. Thanks this helps a lot 😎👍

    @TheBluenyt09@TheBluenyt095 ай бұрын

  • Thank you for the video, i very much appreciate the tips, im attempting to write a story about the moon and twisting, leaving this idea that it has a strangle hold on hummanity because we need it to survive My biggest hurdle is connecting character to story, and the isolation bit will help with it

    @freakkyser@freakkyser4 ай бұрын

  • I loved the cosmic horror shorts in the last season of Love, Death & Robots - Bad Travelling, Swarm and In Vaulted Halls Entombed. Now the writers have to think of something wild that doesn't involve an overpowering being which treats humans like ventriloquist dummies. Might the theme be about a dread of overwhelming societal and/or AI control?

    @AlmostEthical@AlmostEthical4 ай бұрын

  • Fav CH story for me would be the classic Night at the bare mountain by Lovecraft.

    @brozy5720@brozy57207 ай бұрын

  • I Brandon. One suggestion: writing stories with a lot of timelines. What to do and what not to do.

    @Xobik1@Xobik16 ай бұрын

  • My favorite has to be the Mist (the movie), mostly because of the ending.

    @greg_nk@greg_nk6 ай бұрын

  • This video was really helpful for me as I'm trying to make cosmic horror stories myself

    @dreademperor2094@dreademperor20946 ай бұрын

  • Thanks for the tips, I really would love to write some short stories and experiment a bit :P I love the Hanging Balloons story from Junji Ito. Also, saw a Dr Who comment, so may as well mention Weeping Angels, love the idea behind them ^^ Edit: As for unexplained and creepy set up, Army of One, also from Ito, is a masterpiece in my opinion.

    @amaggixz@amaggixz6 ай бұрын

  • Thank you for the advice bro.

    @ayyubi1235@ayyubi12357 ай бұрын

    • Any time!

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • Lucky me, like i just asked for it xd (literally i was thinking about something like that)

    @roguetheoutlander8800@roguetheoutlander88007 ай бұрын

    • Glad my timing was on point!

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • David Graham's Down to a Sunless Sea (1979) The monster is nuclear war's aftermath; it is the descent into violence and madness that is the theme.

    @LarryThePhotoGuy@LarryThePhotoGuy7 ай бұрын

  • My favorite is At The Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft

    @heruka369@heruka3693 ай бұрын

  • True Detective season 1 us 7:16 s probably the best recent cosmic horror story to the point that there is ambiguity in its genre itself

    @kanadpathak8426@kanadpathak84263 ай бұрын

  • oh wow this was really helpful...thank you.. fav cosmic horror story is black mass.

    @dai19721@dai197217 ай бұрын

    • Thanks for watching!

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • A lot of interest in this since "No One Can Save You" just came out, which I quite enjoyed.

    @R.senals_Arsenal@R.senals_Arsenal7 ай бұрын

  • I saw when this was posted but had to wait to watch this because I was watching Kurt on TV. It was Bone Tomahawk so I broke my own "don't watch on TV what you have on DVD" rule but it beats repeats of Would I Lie To You from 6 years ago.

    @brianedwards7142@brianedwards71427 ай бұрын

    • Bone Tomahawk was great. Wouldn't mind seeing more horror western

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • The Birds strikes me as cosmic horror, the only thing is that birds are eminently describable. But there’s the powerlessness, the uncertain ending, the inexplicability of the events, the isolation of bodega bay, and the dread of knowing humanity’s precarious relationship with nature can be tipped without warning

    @PortugueseKeto@PortugueseKeto6 ай бұрын

  • One of the most masterful examples in this genre that hits all the points perfectly is the original Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”. It has it all perfectly couched in a 25 minute TV episode.

    @Androctonus84@Androctonus846 ай бұрын

  • Shadow Overland Innsmouth and True Detective are truly great. Someone has got to mention the roleplaying games Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green. The Call of Cthulhu RPG by Sandy Peterson has played a role in keeping Lovecraft and cosmic horror alive in American culture.

    @anaximander66@anaximander667 ай бұрын

  • That tone of existential dread, insignificance, and ambiguity is absolutely essential to cosmic horror. You can have a powerful alien monster, heroes way out of their depth, an isolated setting, and a downer ending, but without that tone, you don't have cosmic horror. Imagine a story with those elements, but the monster's motives are well-explained, the heroes are able to challenge the threat, and the ending is hopeful.

    @TheZetaKai@TheZetaKai7 ай бұрын

  • Thank you

    @erinaltstadt4234@erinaltstadt42345 ай бұрын

  • DISCLAIMER - UNSPONSORED 0:25 - 1. Spoilers 0:32 - 2. What is Cosmic Horror? 1:26 - 3.a. Key Elements of Cosmic Horror - Themes of Existential Dread and Human Insignificance 2:12 - 3.b. Key Elements of Cosmic Horror - Cosmic Horror Creatures/Entities 3:10 - 3.c.Key Elements of Cosmic Horror - Forbidden Knowledge and Cults 3:38 - 3.d.Key Elements of Cosmic Horror - Isolated Settings 4:02 - 3.e.Key Elements of Cosmic Horror - Psychological Breakdowns 4:46 - 4.a. Tips for Writing Cosmic Horror - Focus on Theme first and Monster Second 5:27 - 4.b. Tips for Writing Cosmic Horror - Avoid Happy/Positive Endings 5:46 - 4.c. Tips for Writing Cosmic Horror - Leave Unanswered Questions 6:01 - 4.d. Tips for Writing Cosmic Horror - Find Creative Ways to Describe the Indescribable 6:42 - 5. What's your Favorite Cosmic Story 6:48 - Support Mr. Brandon McNulty

    @horrortopia@horrortopia7 ай бұрын

    • Appreciate this--thanks!

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

    • no worries. I saw you didn't put any markers in this video.@@WriterBrandonMcNulty

      @horrortopia@horrortopia7 ай бұрын

  • I love the original Hellboy movie. At the end when Ilsa does her, "...a paradise for you, and her..." speech was amazing. The tonal quality of the words weren't a plea or a negotiation.And if you look back to the beginning of the movie you'll realize something pretty different from other movies. The villains didn't lie. Everything they said was matter of fact. There wasn't any grandiose yelling. This made the movie much more enjoyable in my opinion.

    @magusxxx@magusxxx7 ай бұрын

    • Guillermo Del Torro!!!!! 😢genius

      @emmanuelsekyere8792@emmanuelsekyere87926 ай бұрын

  • it's an interesting genre type! can you do a video about self aware horror?

    @anthonyquinn1808@anthonyquinn18087 ай бұрын

  • Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer is my favorite by far. (I love the Southern Reach Trilogy, but even on its own, Annihilation is excellent. The movie is okay, too. It's good, it's just... weird to see a movie that includes zero of the best parts of the novel it claims to adapt.)

    @ValeVin@ValeVin6 ай бұрын

  • Very good I enjoy watching your videos

    @jjbjjb273@jjbjjb2737 ай бұрын

    • Thank you!

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • The movie, End Of Evangelion is a really good example of cosmic horror. It focuses on themes of free will and the slow decay of our desire to no longer exist. It sucks because you have to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion first, but trust me dude, it’s worth it.

    @premium_chicken_nuggy@premium_chicken_nuggy7 ай бұрын

    • Hey, Neon Genesis Evangelion isn't that bad

      @NicknameDS@NicknameDS5 ай бұрын

  • You should make a video of how to write body horror

    @Barbaric_The_Bizzare@Barbaric_The_Bizzare7 ай бұрын

    • Great idea! Adding it to my list

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • Have any advice on changing POVs between the protagonist and antagonist, like in No Country for Old Men.

    @heavymetalsalsa9003@heavymetalsalsa90037 ай бұрын

  • I definitely think that the guys over at Just Roll With It did an incredible job creating an audio-only cosmic horror with their patreon exclusive miniseries Blood In The Bayou. The story being showed woth the use of Call Of Cthulu (a TTRPG system made for cosmic horror) definitely makes the powerlessness easy to write, since you don't have to actually write much (in the system the player characters are weak and defenseless by design), but Charlie Slimecicle is still extremely good at creating a haunting image of the monsters with deceptively simple words. (Everyone who enjoys a good cosmic horror story set in an 80's small town should go and pledge 5 dollars to JRWI and have a listen to Blood In The Bayou, it's roughly 10 hours long in total but definitely worth tge money as an experience)

    @Ayrond@Ayrond6 ай бұрын

  • I just realized my story may be cosmically horrible.

    @fragwagon@fragwagon7 ай бұрын

    • Haha I think we've all written a few of those

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • One thing cosmic horror seems to have in common with traditional horror is the dwindling number of survivors/death and a sweet and innocent character that makes it close to or near the end. The monster possession seems to have a similar feel to zombie. I would almost count Hell Raiser, A Quiet Place and Candy Man as a close but different genre to Cosmic Horror. My question here is, what do these fall under/do they have names? Are there good anime examples out there since I think it's possible with a lot of them and they too also seem to fit a genre. I also tend to think of some other close seconds like the Blob or mindvat experiment type ideas played with in some Trek/Twilight Zone episodes. All these lean on the mindscrew shock or dream nightmare element outside of gore horror.

    @johngagon@johngagon6 ай бұрын

  • I have a request not related to this video. My friend and I were talking about writing in third person and the character having a first person thought. Do you italize the thought? And why you would or wouldn't. Thank you!

    @LaurieLeighArt@LaurieLeighArt6 ай бұрын

  • Finally, the mist is mentioned The book that introduced me to Stephen king

    @Thechaoseditz2.0@Thechaoseditz2.03 ай бұрын

  • I think "Forbidden Planet" has aspects of cosmic horror, especially before we discover who the monster(s) is(are)... maybe even after.

    @KutWrite@KutWrite7 ай бұрын

  • I thought The Ballad of Black Tom was a great cosmic horror. It stands out because it's set in 1920's Harlem, but it really leans into the "cosmic."

    @apeculiarproject3501@apeculiarproject35016 ай бұрын

  • Somehow I can't add the video's to my playlists anymore. Which is a pity, being a cosmic horror writer/dungeon master this is a classic for the playlist.

    @DMKarinZeeland@DMKarinZeeland6 ай бұрын

  • Call of Cthullu and The Other Gods by H.P Lovecraft

    @justagoodmetalhead2861@justagoodmetalhead28617 ай бұрын

  • (undergoing keyboard maintenance... I almost typed up a reply on the WRONG keyboard!) I'm not sure if it counts, but it's got a lot of "weird, nigh cosmic" references that are horrifying for some of the characters... Erfworld. The MC counts as a kind of cosmic horror for the rest of the cast.

    @Arcticgreen@Arcticgreen7 ай бұрын

  • I wonder if The Eternal Cylinder (video game) counts as cosmic horror. (Spoiler for the game below) It's hard to describe the game in detail due to it's dreamyness, but I'll try. I definietly recommend playing the game. Sorry for my bad English in advance. It deals with a cosmic entity, The Eternal Cylinder. A sentient mobile megastructure of unknown origin, which seeks destruction to end all difference within the universe, which in it's mind would end all suffering aswell. It rolls across inhabited planets and flattens them out like a steamroller, destroying all life in the process. Even though the game does make the player peek inside the Cylinder's mind a couple of times, there's still a lot of mistery surrounding it. The main characters are not human. They are sentient creatures called "Trebhum" (in both plural and singular). They are native to the planet the game takes place on. They look like earless bipedal elepjant spheres, but the game does point out that they are similar to humans in some ways. Specifically by not being the strongest, nor the fastest, nor having sharp teeth, but by being clever, resourceful, and very, very, stubborn. The Cylinder also has these so called "Servants", which are minions fabricated from remnants of things it absorbed on a previous world, which during the time the game takes place, was Earth. This results in the servants being horribly twisted steampunk-cyborg somethings. The chief servant, the Mathematician has an especially threathening presence As for the ending, it is happy, but it's also open-ended. It ends with the remnants of Human souls taking control of the Mathematician, re-absorbing it into the Cylinder, which creates an explosion which disables the Cylinder... For now. As it is implied that the Cylinder is unstoppable, and that it will one day re-awaken, and continue its destruction. The Trebhum might have won a battle, but they did not win the war. The main theme of the story is not really insignificance however. It's clear that it's more about the power of the diverse many over the encompassing one.

    @haumea2097@haumea20977 ай бұрын

    • Haven't heard of this game till now. I'll have to keep it on my radar. Usually the first cosmic horror game people mention is Dead Space, which is another good one

      @WriterBrandonMcNulty@WriterBrandonMcNulty7 ай бұрын

  • This just made me realize that the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion is technically cosmic horror.. I appreciate all of your videos 🙏

    @diegobermudez8102@diegobermudez81027 ай бұрын

  • this maybe a really odd book take but I consider the Ghost of Christmas Past from a Christmas Carol to be an example of cosmic horror with its unusual appearance.

    @mathieuleader8601@mathieuleader86017 ай бұрын

  • It is higher order of abstraction in the mind that begins with a sense of existential insignificance. It is born not from the knowledge there is an unknown, or unknown to be pointed at. Nor is it anxiety with respect to the uncertainty thereof. It is meta-awareness of the chasm between that which is possible to be known and that which we are aware may be beyond comprehension. It is a deeply cognitive response to this gulf, presenting as an uncontrolled descent towards oblivion of coherent self, with increasing awareness that within cannot possibly be reconciled with the scale of without. We are blown apart through meta-consciousness and assign prospective malevolence to the this boundless measurement, coupled with awe of the inexplicably sublime, because we can register no greater threat to our selfhood. That, is existential dread/horror. It is not the monster itself nor the unknown it signifies. In literature, the encounter with the monster or vista is merely the artifice by which our comprehension recognizes it’s own limitation, and the harm that may come from beyond way of abject indifference. The monster is beyond malice and our search for self-serving, coherent identity-preserving, rhetorical meaning… beyond ethos, logos, pathos… we are the deer staring at the light of realization that the monster signifies futility, and we are inexorably guided to join oblivion in nihilism.

    @mark__glass@mark__glass6 ай бұрын

  • I was involved in a mutual relationship, and remained good friends with the guy. We are still good friends. We still hang out, I am also friends with his girlfriend, its all good. We did make the right decision. However.... I won't say it didn't hurt, because it always does. We had to face that whatever we imagined our story's ending would be would be different. And we needed time apart in order for our roles to be reshaped. The friendship we have now was worth the pain, but in no way was it easy.

    @jtoland2333@jtoland23333 ай бұрын

    • Okay?

      @NartSadiku-ws4ow@NartSadiku-ws4owАй бұрын

  • Would the movie The Gate 1987 be considered Cosmic horror or perhaps Cosmic horror adjacent?

    @madmartigan21@madmartigan216 ай бұрын

  • Hey Brandon when writing a story that takes place on a fictional planet, how early should I let readers know the name of the planet, country and city the story takes place in?

    @N.definite@N.definite6 ай бұрын

  • Hmmm, does Cube count as Cosmic Horror?

    @WeirdVideoGames@WeirdVideoGames6 ай бұрын

  • I wish there was a horror space opera.

    @tomhools1605@tomhools16057 ай бұрын

    • Must be interesting.

      @HabkeineAngst@HabkeineAngst7 ай бұрын

  • How would you call an horror that is terrifying but can be explained,banished or beaten?and what themes would that evoke?

    @Elia-fn8jv@Elia-fn8jv4 ай бұрын

  • Does 10 Cloverfield Lane count?

    @JohnnyWordSmith@JohnnyWordSmith7 ай бұрын

  • The Thing

    @torealexandersen2179@torealexandersen21797 ай бұрын

  • Just remember, you can't surpass Lovecraft when to cosmic horror, you can't even equal him, Stephen King couldn't though he tried admirably in The Mist and From a Buick 8.

    @FCSchaefer@FCSchaefer6 ай бұрын

  • Garfield is my favorite cosmic horror story.

    @vonnegutfrey8714@vonnegutfrey87146 ай бұрын
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