>you know it's scary because I keep saying how scary

>>19533313
Those books were meant to portray symbolisms in the form of fun stories to read rather than some scary horror. Cthulu being so gigantic, living in the far depths of the seas, and many other lovecraftian writtings revolve around the fear and comfort of either the unknown or discovery. Sometimes the depths of the unknown are scary, sometimes they are comfortable and both can be said about the discovery of the unknown.

>>19533460
So is he just miss categorized as a horror writer? He's more sci-fi imo

>>19533478
It's cosmic horror.

>>19533478
Not exactly, people used to run out of the movie theaters crying after having seen ALIENS and in the 1920s Dracula had a similar effect but today we look at it and see a pale ass bread dude with girly nails. Horror changes over time and some of his stories really scared me but not the Cthulu ones. very (VERY) fun to read, it's a great suspense with really aesthetic parts, small twists and parts that make you go "oooOOOooohhh" as if you just heard some juicy drama. But it's possible that back in the day people would be scared of flipping the pages should they accidentally read (discover) something.

>>19533313

You're right. Cthulhu isn't scary by itself. What the mythos is designed to do is to take you down the rabbit hole and to activate your almonds. It wants you to suspend your disbelief for a moment and start wondering about your reality.

>what if humanity is so unimportant that we'd only be used for food if we were even noticed at all
>something that can wake up and wreck the earth is only a tiny part of ancient beings so powerful and not understandable that it would break your mind before you could comprehend them
>you aren't the only intelligent beings to have lived on the earth and all of your history, cultures, and religions are petty self-important fantasies

So for a person that lacks imagination cthulhu always falls flat. But for a creative person it causes them to look into the cosmic void and imagine what horrible and massive things lurk there.

>>19533518
>some of his stories really scared me but not the Cthulu ones
Rats in the walls was pretty terrifying

>>19533313

You're desensitized and overly analytical. The point is suspension of disbelief and letting the story take you where it's going without interjecting your own shit to feel smug. Take it for what it is, yo.

>>19533522
>So for a person that lacks imagination cthulhu always falls flat. But for a creative person it causes them to look into the cosmic void and imagine what horrible and massive things lurk there.

I would argue that it takes a pretty unimaginative person to think that humans are the top of the food chain considering things like tornadoes are commonplace

>>19533569

Yes. So take that feeling of insignificance in the cosmos and crank it up to 11. That's the point of chulhu.

Imagine our solar system passing a blackhole and the earth getting pulled out of orbit. Imagine races of aliens that can pass between realities and fly between vast distances in the universe. Imagine subterranean cults trying to bring monstrous gods into our dimension to end the world.

Cthulhu is a participation sport. And it's no fun if you don't participate.

>>19533632
That's what makes it less scary IMO, if you can't ever hope to prepare against a threat then what's the point in being afraid of it? It's like being afraid of having an aneurysm.

>>19533569
Is hurricane season vs human superiority. Please these people have other states to move to. How much imagination do you need to figure that out. Remember when Florida got hit back to back with hurricane well Florida is still here. Remember when California had supreme wild fires well California seems to still be their. They will be ok because our supreme humanity will allow it.

>>19533686

>haha if I can't stop this crocodile from eating me why should I be afraid it's not like I can do anything about it haha

>>19533686
Well some people are terrified of having aneurysms. Some types of horror have different impacts on different types of people. Personally, though I'm a fan of his work, I've never really been scared by any of Lovecraft's stories.

>>19533313
you wouldn't necessarily die if the old ones walked the earth. you may go insane, or become physically corrupted in some unknown way, or be set upon by incomprehensible beasts that would rather maim or slowly consume you than outright kill you.

but as others are saying, for me the main pull of lovecraft is the idea that our world is not even close to being the focus of the universe. that just beyond our understanding, or our euclidean physical laws, exists something else entirely. depending on the story it can be discovered in the ruins of history, or in a new mathematical theory that bends reality, or in the depths of the ocean, or even underground in a seemingly deserted stretch of wilderness.

its not always that what he's actually describing is scary, its about you falling in to this idea that mind-bending horrors can and do exist on the very edges of our everyday lives.