Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror",[2] is a

subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the
unknowable and incomprehensible[3] more than gore or other elements of shock.[4] It
is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). His work emphasizes
themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human
influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the
risks associated with scientific discoveries,[5] which are now associated with
Lovecraftian horror as a subgenre.[6] The cosmic themes of Lovecraftian horror can
also be found in other media, notably horror films, horror games and comics.
American author H. P. Lovecraft refined this style of storytelling into his own
mythos that involved a set of supernatural, pre-human, and extraterrestrial
elements.[7] His work was influenced by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe,[8]
Algernon Blackwood,[9] Ambrose Bierce,[10] Arthur Machen,[9] Robert W. Chambers[9]
and Lord Dunsany.[9][11] However, Lovecraft was keen to distinguish his work from
existing gothic and supernatural fiction, elevating the horror, in his own words,
to a "cosmic" level.[12] Stephen King has said the best of Lovecraft's works are
"uniquely terrible in all of American literature, and survive with all their power
intact."[13]

The hallmark of Lovecraft's work is cosmicism, the sense that ordinary life is a
thin shell over a reality that is so alien and abstract in comparison that merely
contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person,[12] insignificance
and powerlessness at the cosmic scale,[14] and uncompromising negativity.[15]
Author China Miéville notes that "Lovecraft's horror is not one of intrusion but of
realization. The world has always been implacably bleak; the horror lies in our
acknowledging that fact."[16] Lovecraft's work is also steeped in the insular feel
of rural New England,[17][18] and much of the genre continues to maintain this
sense that "that which man was not meant to know" might be closer to the surface of
ordinary life outside of the crowded cities of modern civilization.[citation
needed]