The Horror of The Crawler | Annihilation

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer is one of my favorite sci-fi books ever! It's basically a modern Lovecraft story. The book details the account of "the biologist" who is a member of a group on an expedition into the mysterious "Area X" a realm governed by something incomprehensible.

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Annihilation Explained!

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[R.DeMora]

Please never change your intro theme, it makes me feel like you're about to take me on an amazing journey, and you always do. Thank you for what you do.

[NicholasKratzer]

Annihilation is my favorite cosmic horror story, all because of the crawler. When the biologist draws the attention of the crawler, her human mind literally cannot comprehend it. The writing evokes overlapping and contradictory sensations from the crawler. I've read several cosmic horror stories over the years, and nothing has come closer to describing the undescribable than that scene. The crawler is truly something outside our human capacity to understand.

[Griffolion]

"It's not like us... it's unlike us. I don't know what it wants, or if it wants, but it'll grow until it encompasses everything." - The most chilling line from the movie.

[austynodwyer]

In the movie, the music and art direction in the last 10 minutes transcends understanding. It is really a masterclass in cosmic horror.

[EdMcStinko]

Sci fi horror is such a great genre. I figure it must take a talented writer to create a terrifyingly convincing interaction with something that ought to be impossible to imagine

[hucklebuck]

The entire Southern Reach trilogy is excellent in its creepiness. One thing that added even more to the horror was the fact that wherever one of the returned expedition members had appeared outside of Area X, like a disease, a new patch of Area X began to grow.

[ritac]

This book changed my life. After reading it I had the revelation that I wanted to become a biologist and returned to school. Eight years later I'm still a biochemist. The most interesting thing for me was that people I knew who read it considered it horror or "terrifying", however I never once thought of it that way. I was so completely engrossed in the idea of transformation and becoming absorbed by the natural world that it never once struck me as scary. I just felt a sense of awe and wonder that never let me go, and followed me through my years of study of biology. The world of cellular and subcellular biology can be just as alien and mysterious and it was Annihilation that left me constantly chasing this feeling.

[robotaholic]

The screaming bear was one of the most terrifying parts of a movie I've ever seen. I've watched it 10x at least (that part) - I loved the movie the 1st time, then I saw essays about it and I'm too dumb to notice so many things but I REALLY enjoyed it the 2nd time!

[FearlessSon]

Something I don't think you mentioned is that those words of the Crawler, they aren't just the Crawler trying to communicate (if that is indeed what it is doing) but they are also (according to some Southern Reach analysts) remixes of the words of the Lighthouse Keeper. The Lighthouse Keeper was, before becoming a lighthouse keeper, a preacher, following in tradition of his own father, and the pattern and cadence of the words on the wall were a good match with records of the sermons the Lighthouse Keeper used to give.

The Crawler isn't simply keeping the Lighthouse Keeper with it arbitrarily, it's using what is left of the Lighthouse Keeper as a kind of translation device, drawing on his own experiences to form its records in a local method of communication. If those words are indeed its attempt to communicate and not just random scribbles plucked from the mind of the Lighthouse Keeper, then they're an example of its incomprehensible intellect filtered through a human language that struggles to adequately get across its alien concepts.

[forthehistorybooks]

So glad to see a annihilation video! I feel like the crawler used the lighthouse keeper as a lense to recreate the world around it. In the later book we see a flashback of the lighthouse keeper going into a very similar speech as the writing on the wall in the tower. We also learn the lighthouse keeper was a preacher before coming to the lighthouse, and the writing in the tower is sort is a sermon.

[AmeliaEarhartsReveng]

I'm not much of a reader. When I picked up this book I didn't put it down until I was done. I pulled an all-nighter because I couldn't stop. Such an incredible piece of work.

[jamestully]

As I approached the end of this book years ago I found myself in an almost fever state. Something about the writing and the strangeness of what was going on had a physiological effect on my body. As though I had consumed hallucinogens or something. It was a unique reading experience that I doubt could be replicated.

[caret_shell]

These books are worthwhile. The author really found a way to describe the otherworldly in a new way. I enjoyed "Hummingbird Salamander" by the same author as well. Weird stuff.

[shives]

Yo I literally have 20 pages left in this book. I love the way the biologist is written.

[donaldashworth]

The second and third books, Authority and Acceptance are wonderful. They will answer some of the questions you have and provide more questions. I don’t want to spoil them for you. They are necessary for the complete arc of area x. Also, the second book, Authority dives deep into the Southern Reach, where the third book, acceptance gives you the back story of the light house keeper. I strongly strongly recommend them. Jeff Vandemeer has said that he wants to write a fourth book too. I also recommend his crazy crazy wonderful novel, Borne.

[alphachicken]

This book has by far the best "title drop" moment Ive seen in a book. My jaw was on the floor the whole scene.

[justaregularhumanbeing]

Aaah, nothing like some good old lovecraftian horror in the morning.

[ThePixelkd]

Please do cover the whole series. I found it fascinating and strange.
I read the book after seeing the movie and was delighted at the differences. I wonder if I would have been less pleased going from book to movie...

[jordanm]

YES! So glad you're covering Annihilation. When I finished the trilogy, I was bummed out for a solid week because I didn't want to leave the world it built. It's such a rich and alluring book. It's like a bad psychedelic trip that's all real. Boundary dissolution writ large. Boundaries between beings, the environment, things, and even concepts, all merging and dissolving together.

[CheriZen]

I read these books. I imagine the creeper as a benevolent form of "The Thing" species, whereas the Thing is like a criminal from their world.