these cogs in the wheel that sort of keep us where we are … It is the silencing. It’s the taking away of our expression, of our art. It’s the very fact that this movie has never been made before.67 Now that Get Out has opened the floodgates, the film has given license for horror to delve into serious sociopolitical themes. Like the Creature of Frankenstein, the nameless Monster of 2020 will not only be a reflection of our primal fears, but a manifestation of complex, modern issues.
Then they lifted up Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld Each other’s aspects—saw, and shriek’d, and died— Even of their mutual hideousness they died, Unknowing who he was upon whose brow Famine had written Fiend In the last few years, a surge of psychological, cosmic horror films have gained in popularity:68 In Annihilation (2018), the military employs a band of scientist-explorers to venture into an expanding zone of otherworldly muta-
tions triggered by an abnormal meteor strike.69 In The Lighthouse (2019), a pair of stranded lighthouse keepers slowly siphon away their sanity as the world begins to unravel around them.70 In Underwater (2020), a group of drillers at the bottom of the ocean awaken a horrifying creature from a bygone era.71 The major name behind this resurgence is controversial but undeniably influential 1930s horror writer H.P. Lovecraft.72 What makes the Lovecraftian brand of terror so unique is the fact that his monsters personify existential dread. The cosmic horrors that populate his stories are physical reminders of the infinitesimal minuteness and relative insignificance of mankind.73 In reference to the aforementioned film Annihilation, film critic Kyle Anderson writes that “[i]t’s the kind of terror that can’t be quantified by monsters or jump scares, but by the breakdown of humanity through a revelation from outside our perception.”74 Despite Lovecraft’s prolific bibliography, Hollywood historically has not been very keen to adapt his works, some going as far as to brand his writing “unfilmable.” After all, “most of the horror of his stories come from what is not seen.”75 An indie Nicholas Cage flick,
67. Tananarive Due. “Jordan Peele discusses.” 68. Navarro, “Elder Gods Are Coming.” 69. Garland, Annihilation. 70. Eggers, The Lighthouse. 71. Eubank, Underwater. 72. Housman, “Color Out Of Space.” 73. Ralickas, “’Cosmic Horror.’” 74. Anderson, “Annihilation is a Scary.” 75. Reimann, “Hollywood Has a Lovecraft,” emphasis added.
102