The horror genre has been around for a long time, and as technology and media evolve, it only becomes more innovative. Over the years, new platforms and mediums have allowed creators to bring their visions to life in increasingly unique ways. No longer is horror limited to movies and TV, as many of the scariest and most fascinating stories have come out of online spaces like YouTube.
Although the found footage film technique existed long before YouTube, a relatively morerecent subgenre called ‘analog horror’ has risenout of it. YouTube’s analog horror offerings usually take on a more vintage aesthetic, with clips made to look like they’re from the 90s and earlier, and content ranging from home videos to declassified government footage. YouTube horror series continue to be a popular form of entertainment among viewers, with analog horror being a niche interest with dedicated fanbases across different platforms.The best ones have become classics in their own right, delivering realistic and spine-chilling stories that haunt fans forever.
25’CH/SS' (2016)
Turkey Lenin III
Coupled with the increasingly uncomfortable videos,there was also an in-character Twitter account that viewers could go to that would deepen the lore of the story, and give audiences a more interactive feeling.CH/SSfeeds its information out slowly but once all is revealed it’s something you’ll never forget.
Steven Chamberlain
No Through Roadis considered one of the earliest examples of analog horror, having begun as a one-off short in 2009. It wasn’t until 2011 that three more parts were added as popularity rose. The short follows a group of four teenage boys who take a shortcut down a “no through road” and find themselves stuck inside a time loop.As they struggle to find their way out, they are hunted by a hat-wearing, masked figure, and encounter many eerieand unexplainable things.
No Through Roadtakes on a VHS style, which sets the stage for the rise in popularity of the found footage genre and creepypasta. Chamberlain has also said that he took inspiration fromThe Blair Witch Project, andInland Empire, so you know things are bound to get twisted.
No Through Road
23’Marble Hornets' (2009)
Troy Wagner and Joseph DeLage
Marble Hornetsis an important part of analog horror due to its use of The Slender Man. Nowadays, the character isn’t so popular or scary, but in 2009, Slender Man was everywhere, and it was all anyone could talk about online.Marble Hornetstook the Slender Man mythos and turned it into the lurking star of the series.
The series follows a man named Jay (played by co–creatorTroy Wagner) as he investigates what happened to his friend Alex (played by co-creatorJoseph DeLage) during the making of his student film. While he’s watching the tapes he discovers that Alex was being stalked by a figure, and becomes obsessed with catching it.
22’This House Has People In It' (2016)
Adult Swim
This House Has People In Itwasreleased in 2016 by Adult Swimand follows a seemingly normal birthday party in your everyday suburban household. But through grainy camera security footage, we notice that there’s some weird stuff going on in this house. Namely, their daughter is inexplicably sinking through the floor of their house, and they have no idea why or how to save her.
After the video ends, it urges you to visit the AB Surveillance Solutions website (the surveillance company used in the short) where viewers can dive deeper into the creepy ongoings using keywords found throughout the video.It’s a lot of “blink and you’ll miss it” horror aspects, but it’s nonetheless unsettling when you catch the creepy moments.
This House Has People In It
21’The Walten Files' (2020)
Martin Walls
Viewers familiar with theFive Nights at Freddy’s franchise may find this series similar to the video games.The Walten Files, created by YouTuberMartin Walls, is centered around Bon’s Burgers. Akin to Chuck E Cheese, this children’s restaurant features a roster of performing animatronics, at least until it closes down after an unknown incident.
The number of mysteries only grows, with one of the restaurant’s founders missing, along with his wife and children, and the other founder seemingly conspiring against him. Of course,the actual horror aspect comes from the team of murderous, seemingly possessed animatronics.
The Walten Files
20’Angel Hare' (2022)
The East Patch
Angel Haregets deep into the psyche by going back to childhood memories, specifically those ofthe creepy television shows we grew up on. Specifically,Angel Haredigs into the theory that some shows have missing episodes, and it’s just as creepy as it sounds.
Angel Harefollows Jonah, who comes across a VHS tape ofAngel Hare, a Christian cartoon he used to watch as a child. He buys it, despite having a tape already at home, only when he watches it, he’s disturbed to realize that it isn’t at all how he remembers it. He decides to play his newly bought tape alongside his home-recorded one, and discovers that in his home-recorded tape,the main character directly addressed him by name and gave him oddly specific advice when he was a child.
Angel Hare
19’The Trinity Desk Project' (2022)
MISTER MANTICORE
The Trinity Desk Project, also created by Manticore, takes a similar approach asThe Monument Mythosby combining analog horror with alternate history.The Trinity Desk Projecttakes the form of found footage videos and flips history so that the Manhattan Project became the Trinity Desk Project. In this alternate universe, it’s said that alongside researching the construction of the atomic bomb,they also researched invisibility, leading to the newfound ability for people and objects to become invisible.
The ability for people and objects to become invisible causes unforeseen complications, such as spikes in crime. Interestingly, it also featuresOppenheimer, and some sort of gadget which may just have to do with other dimensions. It’s a surrealist mindbend of a series and one that’s well worth a watch for those who like a little dystopian twist on their history.
18’The Smile Tapes' (2021)
Created byPatorikku,The Smile Tapeswas released in 2021. The series begins with a PSA about a new medicine that may cause people to behave violently. Thus, the tapes follow cases of people who have tried the medicine. Some of the effects include mania, uncontrollable laughter, facial deterioration, unstoppable violence, insanity, and smiling.
It also states that three weeks after the death of the host, after which time the person will have deteriorated beyond any recognition from the medication and the fungus, the corpse will then expel spores into the air that will spread the disease.It’s grotesque, gory, and downright nasty, but even as their bodies literally deteriorate they cannot help but smile, leaving the viewer with an eerie feeling that will be hard to shake.
The SMILE Tapes
17’Eventide Media Center' (2020)
Eventide Media Center
Some of the scariest movies involve alien invasions, and likewise, many analog horror stories are centered around the idea of some sort of incursion or other appearance of horrifying monsters in a specific area. One of the most mysterious ones isEventide Media Center, which is possibly due to its relative novelty, as the first video came out in 2020.
Compared to similar series that consist of various clips that slowly begin to connect together,Eventide Media Center’s videos almost seem unrelated to each other, likeany other classic horror anthology. Of course, there are still puzzle pieces, along with strange scenes involving things like creatures rising out of the ground and ocean, a seemingly unholy town excavation project, and super entities that possess televisions.
16’Blue_Channel' (2018)
Blue_Channelis created byGooseworx, and is a strange collection of videos. At least, at first. The first installment is seemingly a television broadcast, but all the viewer can see is a bright blue screen with static. This was followed up a few years later byBlue_Channel_Thalasin,which actually gives us more to indulge in than just the blue screen.
It’s stylized as a sort of late-night commercial programming about a drug called Thalasin, which is a series of pills, each one able to induce a different emotion upon taking it. This is illustrated through drawings of said emotions. But then things take a turn for the scarier when the host mentions the drug Thalasin+, which can induce emotions beyond their natural capabilities. These are also represented, onlythey lean more towards the body horror side of drawings, with expressions deemed names such as “dorcelessness” and “andric.”
