Analog horror
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Analog horror (Or, in UK English, Analogue horror) is a niche subgenre of horror fiction and an offshoot of the "found footage" film technique.[1] Often cited as originating from early 2010s Internet videos,[2][3][4] analog horror is characterized by low-fidelity graphics, cryptic messages, and visual styles reminiscent of late 20th century television and analog recordings (often set between the 1960s and 1990s).[5][6] Notable analog horror works include Kraina Grzybow, Local 58, Gemini Home Entertainment, The Walten Files, The Mandela Catalogue, and The Monument Mythos.[4]
Characteristics
Analog horror is commonly characterized by low-fidelity graphics, cryptic messages, and visual styles reminiscent of late 20th-century television. This is done to match the setting, as analog horror works are typically set between the 1960s and 1990s.[5] It is named "analog horror" because of its aesthetic incorporation of elements related to analog electronics, such as analog television and VHS, the latter being an analog method of recording video.[5]
Some early examples of this style of film are Hideo Nakata's original version of The Ring, The Blair Witch Project, and especially David Lynch's Inland Empire. Inland Empire not only heavily influenced Petscop (a horror webseries adjacent to most analog horror), but its camera quality and generally disorienting style in which the film is shown has possible ties to analog horror series' often complicated methods of storytelling.
History
Analog horror could be regarded as a form or descendant of creepypasta legends.[7] The subgenre is typically cited as originating from late 2010s Internet (mostly YouTube) videos,[2] gaining substantial popularity with the release of Kris Straub's Local 58.[2] The series, which quickly became successful, would later inspire works such as The Mandela Catalogue and The Walten Files.[4]
In 2020, Netflix announced their own horror series, Archive 81 (based on a podcast of the same name), which shares very similar characteristics to analog horror.[6][8] The show was canceled after a single season.[9][10]
Examples
Local 58
Kris Straub's Local 58 is a series of YouTube videos presented as authentic videotaped footage of a television station created in the early 20th century that is continuously hijacked over the course of several of decades. While there is no main plot in this series, every episode seems to include hidden messages related to looking at the Moon or the night sky, as well as the in-universe Thought Research Initiative (TRI).
Local 58 is frequently credited with creating and/or popularizing analog horror. Additionally, the series is responsible for naming the genre through its slogan, "ANALOG HORROR AT 476 MHz".[11]
Mandela Catalogue
The Mandela Catalogue,[12] created by Alex Kister in 2021, is a series of faux instructional videos spreading awareness of a supernatural entity related to an attempt to replicate a human being. It is largely due to this series why analog horror has become such an intrinsic part of horror on the internet in recent years. In the Mandela Catalogue universe, the tapes were created by local authorities of Mandela County aid, saying that the clones (called "Alternates") fail to match complexes of facial and body features which results in long limbs and strange stares. As the series continues, it becomes apparent that there is both a paranormal and occult aspect to the Alternates, which have a history dating back to before the birth of Jesus.
Gemini Home Entertainment
Gemini Home Entertainment is a horror anthology series by Remy Abode. It centers around the eponymous Gemini Home Entertainment, a fictional distributor of VHS tapes that detail numerous anomalous incidents taking place around the world, including the appearances of various dangerous alien creatures in the United States and an ongoing assault on the Solar System by "The Iris", a sentient rogue planet which sent the entities to Earth as part of its efforts to subjugate the planet and humanity. The creature of the "woodcrawler" in the series is heavily inspired by the Native American mythologies of skinwalkers and the wendigo.[13]
The Monument Mythos
The Monument Mythos (stylized as THE MONUMENT MYTHOS) is an analog horror series created by Mister Manticore. Combining alternate history with hyperlink cinema and cosmic horror, the series takes the form of several mockumentary videos about an America where unexplainable events occur at national landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty or Mount Rushmore.
With The Monument Mythos, Mister Manticore popularized the use of voice acting in analog horror.
With episodes such as CanyonCrown and MaizeMovieMaker, Mister Manticore also introduced "digital horror" to the greater analog horror community. Some videos are entirely based around digital editing software such as Maize Movie Maker, the in-universe analogue of Windows Movie Maker.
The Walten Files
The Walten Files is an analog series that is partially based on Five Nights At Freddy's and was created by a person named Martin Walls. It is about a burger themed restaurant named Bon's Burgers. The restaurant also has robotic animatronics consisting of Bon, a blue rabbit, Sha, a sheep, Boozoo, a circus ringmaster, Banny, a purple rabbit, and Billy, a clown, who are all similar to the animatronics at Chuck E. Cheese. The restaurant was cofounded by friends Jack Walten and Felix Kranken, using their own company, Bunny Smiles Incorporated. Each episode is usually in the form of an employee training video. However they all take a dark turn in the end often resulting in jumpscares or disturbing imagery. Through the course of the videos a backstory is told and it reveals that Felix had started drinking around the time that he and Jack were founding their company and creating Bon's Burgers. Felix started drinking more often and it became a problem resulting in his wife leaving him. One night Jack asked Felix to take his kids, Edd and Molly to a school party. Felix agreed and started drinking some more at the adult bar. After the party Felix begins driving them home. However he begins to swerve due to him being drunk and it results in a car crash killing Edd and Molly. Devastated, Felix buried them causing their souls to share the body of the doll Rocket. Jack then goes missing on the same month that the restaurant opened. Many employees are stuffed into the suits by Bon with Susan Woodings the designer of the animatronics being stuffed into Banny, Rosemary, Jack's wife being stuffed into Sha, a man named Charles being stuffed into Boozoo and a woman named Ashley, being stuffed into Billy. The series currently has 3 episodes and 2 unlisted episodes with future episodes planned. A website titled findjackwalten.com was created by Walls in 2021.
References
- ^ "Analog horror: The bizarre and the unsettling". The Signal. 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ a b c "Local 58: The Analog Horror Series (An Introduction)". Robots.net. 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ "Analog Horror". TV Tropes. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ a b c "A look into analog horror". The Post. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ a b c Saucier, Emily (2022-04-25). "What Makes Things Creepy?". The Delta Statement. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ a b Evangelista, Chris (2022-01-11). "Archive 81 Review: Analog Horrors Haunt Netflix's Uneven New Supernatural Series - /Film". SlashFilm.com. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
- ^ Tee, Samiee (2022-05-28). "Public Memory: Crafting Analog Horror in Video Games". Uppercut. Retrieved 2022-06-07.
- ^ Kanter, Jake (October 26, 2020). "'Archive 81': Mamoudou Athie, Dina Shihabi To Star In Netflix Series Inspired By Horror Podcast; James Wan's Atomic Monster Producing". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ Romanchick, Shane (November 30, 2021). "'Archive 81' Images Reveal a Time-Bending Horror Show on Netflix". Collider. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 24, 2022). "Archive 81 Canceled By Netflix After One Season". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
- ^ "LOCAL58TV - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
- ^ "Alex Kister - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
- ^ Kok, Nestor (2022-02-15). "Ghosts in the Machine: Archiving the End of the World with "Gemini Home Entertainment"". F Newsmagazine. Retrieved 2022-05-11.