Human beings have been coming up with stories to scare each other for longer than any written history could ever chronicle, and a lot of unique styles have developed in that time. Sometimes, through a unique series of circumstances, one very specific type of story finds itself tied inextricably to one name, even as it grows far beyond its original bounds.

H. P. Lovecraft penned 65 works of fiction, with an additional 34 written in collaboration or as a ghost behind another author's name. Though his brief 46-year lifespan saw no significant return in fame or fortune for his work, scholars working in the 1970s and beyond have placed him amongst the most important names in American literature.

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Everyone knows Lovecraft's name today, most people probably either knew or were someone who was almost problematically obsessed with him in high school. The author has an almost ethereal mythos that surrounds him as the father of both a groundbreaking style of literature and an attendant philosophical movement. As with most achievements credited to a single man, however, the unique style of Lovecraft was influenced by a few key earlier writers.

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Algernon Blackwood was referenced by name by the author, and his 1907 novella The Willows has many of the hallmarks of Lovecraft's developments. Though more terrestrially focused, the works of Edgar Allan Poe have a substantial impact on Lovecraft's philosophy. Like most movements in literature, cosmic horror and cosmicism were the collaborative work of many great creators, which were perfected only by the one who brought everything together.

Cosmic horror eschews the traditional threat of death that underpins most horror. No serial murderers, no ravenous beasts, no vengeful specters. The central thesis statement of cosmic horror is that mankind is small to the point of insignificance. There is a vast and incomprehensible universe out there that does not know we exist and would not care if we ceased doing so. Beyond the tiny understanding of our reality that we have spent generations cultivating lies endless horrors that would unravel our tiny minds to perceive. Lovecraft developed a family of impossible beings that dwells amongst the furthest stars and beneath the deepest seas. Most know and recognize his most popular creation, the eponymous horror of his most popular story The Call of Cthulhu.

The point of cosmic horror is to reach a logical endpoint of the fear of the unknown. It posits that beyond all the typical questions that science has no answer to lie questions mankind hasn't even thought to ask yet. Cosmic horror stories can be difficult to tell because they require a great deal of imagination. Simply describing a monster from space or the sea doesn't generally cut it. Predator, for example, is about an alien who defies human explanation and poses a substantial threat to mankind, but the Yautja don't belong alongside Cthulhu and company. Godzilla is a giant monster who emerges from the sea, but everyone knows how the King of Monsters was created, and he doesn't challenge mankind's understanding of the universe. The primary difference between cosmic horror isn't in the monsters, it's in the way people react to them.

Madness is a central theme in much of Lovecraft's cosmic horror. Frequently, the central humans of the story find themselves driven to catastrophic mental breakdown, if not suicide, by the visage of whichever Great Old One they catch a glimpse of. Some modern incarnations have misattributed this to some sort of mystical enchantment, suggesting that Cthulhu has the supernatural psychic capability to drive men mad. However, in the original narratives, people simply go mad the first time their minds attempt to take in a creature like Cthulhu.

The scariest thing about the Great Old Ones and related beings is that they don't often do anything to their supposed victims. The mere existence of these things that are so far beyond mankind's understanding is the threat they pose. Good cosmic horror makes the human reading it consider their place in the universe and grapple with the existentially unpleasant reality that they are not significant.

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It's been 85 years since H. P. Lovecraft's death, and the medium has made tremendous leaps and bounds since the passing of its creator. Modern creators have reinvented cosmic horror in a thousand new directions. What was once the logical endpoint of Lovecraft's self-destructive fear and hatred of everything different is now a voice for anyone who has ever felt othered. The occasional direct or loose adaptation of Lovecraft's work still comes out, but the real new voices in cosmic horror find a new angle on the nightmares beyond our comprehension.

Cosmic horror has become extremely popular across film, TV, video games, comics, and beyond. New stories in this venerable genre have become more common than ever, thanks to the identifiable themes set forth by Lovecraft and his inspirations. There must just be something particularly relatable about feeling small.

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