“V/H/S/94” is finally out and streaming on Shudder, and it’s a fantastic reboot. It comes at a great time where Analog and found footage horror has garnered a small resurgence that promises to grow once everyone’s seen the found footage reboot. Analog Horror is trending on Youtube these days with visual artists and animators of all kinds delivering scary, weird, or bizarre videos that unfold for us a spooky alternate universe horror story.
With so many out there, these are my five favorite.
Erwin Saunders
You have to hand it to Erwin Saunders. His videos come off so patient, brilliantly measured, and genuine that there are seriously articles wondering if what we’re seeing is real. Erwin Saunders is a man who explores the deeper elements of nature that we don’t see. You see, Saunders seeks Pixies and Fairies in the wild, and if we wait long enough we eventually see them, too. It hasn’t been confirmed if it’s excellent CGI or puppetry, but Erwin Saunders’ videos are absolutely awe inspiring, even though it watches like a paranormal nature program.
Eventide Media Center
Though a bit disjointed at first, “Eventide” is a gradually creepy piece of Analog horror that feels like a throwback to Stephen King. Focusing on a pair of scientists that have made the impossible possible, they accidentally let in a horrendous monster that begins to wreak havoc on civilization. With some well filmed segments and bits and pieces of implied chaos, “Eventide” is rich with lore and mystery. I hope creator Aidan Chick can continue with the spooky story.
Walker Creek Broadcast Station
Walker Creek starts its narrative off right away, propping the premise up without a lot of fuss toward attempting to convince us what we’re seeing is reality. It’s an ARG but a haunting and creepy one focusing on a young man named Dan. After being sent a box of VHS tapes from his dad who lived at Walker Creek, Dan begins converting the tapes to discover something that’s hidden and festering in his old town. We follow along the way learning about Walker Creek, and realizing that the sleepy town is actually a hell scape in disguise.
Gemini Home Entertainment
The series begins like various advertisements and random nature documentaries for a local wilderness hike, but soon it begins to devolve in to looks in to horrendous animals, weird life forms, and an inevitable realization. Just by the quality of the segments alone paired with the sudden revelation of weird life forms (as well as a creepy bit of video game footage), “Gemini” is genuinely unsettling, delivering some well filmed moments of terror, and an engaging narrative.
Local 58TV
It’s really tough to think of an ARG (aside from Cloverfield, of course) that’s captivated me as much as “Local 58TV.” Filled with a slew of brilliant, but truly scary short segments, “Local 58TV” is a mystery that the viewer has to piece together. What we eventually find is a horrifying, often bleak assembly of events that transpire in to human sacrifice, mind control, and an Eldritch horror that I’m glad is just great fiction from the creative mind of Kris Straub. I hope we can get a new chapter someday, but it’s at least kicked off the Analog Horror trend on Youtube.