Just Read One

              In the previous blog, we have discussed the genre of analog horror. In this one, we will be exploring one of the most successful analog horror series in recent years titled Mandela Catalogue . It is an analog horror YouTube series that is created and uploaded to a channel named Alex Kister. The story is set in an alternate version of the United States where strange events occur across the town of Mandela County. We are soon introduced to creatures named “Alternates,” which are described as shapeshifting entities capable of mimicking human beings. They also possess the power to expose human beings to ‘undesirable’ information, which causes anyone who hears it to end their own lives. The story is delivered through a series of emergency broadcasts, found footage, CCTV footage, and audio recordings in a scattered manner, prompting the audience to piece together the narrative themselves.       Mandela Catalogue m...

Into the World of Analog Horror          If you're an internet user in the confusing year of 2022, you may be familiar with the image above. The view of a dimly lit set of rooms and corridors accompanied by yellow wallpaper and carpet always present no matter where you look. "The Backrooms" is what this picture is known as. Being an internet urban legend, the picture has been recreated numerous times by many different people. One recreation in particular, however, managed to raise the popularity of "The Backrooms" far beyond every other iteration of it. Kane Pixels, a VFX artist, brings the world to life as an analog horror series. This is a series in which the first episode alone has reached 61 million views at the time of writing. And the crazy thing is, it is just one of many in the wave of analog horror series that will captivate YouTube audiences. It is a horror genre that has started discussions, theories, and even other videos talking about it. But before...

     In the previous post we have briefly defined internet horror and the different formats they have. Another thing worth noting is that these formats are not mutually exclusive. A YouTube horror series can involve ARG (Alternate Reality Game) elements within it, and an ARG might come in a form of a series of YouTube videos. An example of a YouTube horror series that have ARG elements within it is "Mandela Catalogue", which for a period of time hosted a website with the domain "mandelapolice.com" for the audience to visit and finish puzzles on. Once the audience finished the puzzle, they are rewarded with several information regarding the police department and characters within the story. Said information are exclusive to the website, therefore viewers who only follow the "Mandela Catalogue" strictly through the YouTube videos might lack crucial information to make sense of the story. This proves that an internet horror series are able to incorporate diff...

     Horror as an entertainment genre has persisted throughout the years as something that is enjoyed by the masses, be it in movies, books, or even TV shows. Outside of those mainstream media, some of you may have heard of names such as "Jeff the Killer", "SCP Foundation", and recently "The Backrooms". Said titles and names can often found randomly through social media algorithm, or shared by the people around you. Unlike books, and and movies, Internet horror is a digital phenomenon that is often interractive, collaborative, and immersive. Blurring the line between real and imagined horror, it is able to immerse the audience in a unique way, sometimes even interacting with the audience themselves. Internet horror encompases many different formats such as Creepypastas, ARGs (Alternate Reality Games), creepy websites, Reddit's r/nosleep, horror YouTube series, and the recent trend of analog horror. Each of these forms offers the audience destinctive ex...