Scariest Analog Horror Series

Highlights

• Analog horror films and videos imitate the style of old VHS tapes, creating a creepy and nostalgic atmosphere.
• These films often incorporate cryptic messages, visual distortions, and bizarre imagery to unsettle viewers.
• Analog horror has gained popularity in the 2010s and continues to experiment with unique and intriguing ways to frighten audiences.

First off, what is analog horror? They’re horror films, shorts, or videos in general done in the style of old VHS, Beta, or other pre-digital formats. Sometimes they can look like an old camcorder view of some phenomena, like The Blair Witch Project. Most of the time, they look like old news broadcasts, informational videos, or local area warnings.

They became particularly popular in the 2010s, inspired by old horror specials like Ghostwatch or actual TV signal hijackings like the Max Headroom Incident. The combination of cryptic messages, visual distortions, and bizarre imagery can leave viewers’ skin crawling, particularly when they watch these famous examples of the genre.

Updated December 27, 2023 by David Heath: Christmas has come and gone for another year. No more mistletoe, Santa figurines, Elves on Shelves, or Mariah Carey until December 2024. The sugary sweetness of the holiday season can be too much for some, so why not ring in the new year with some more analog horror?

The original list featured some of the best analog series on the net. But now it’s been spruced up with some of the latest big hitters in the genre, some info tweaks, and some rearrangement for clarity. The elder examples of the genre have been pushed up to the top, while the newer and more underrated series complete its end.

23 No Through Road

Taking a Wrong Turn

• Created by Steven Chamberlain.
• Inspired by The Blair Witch Project, David Lynch movies, and the Doctor Who episode ‘Time’.

No Through Road was originally a one-off short produced in 2009, but it caught on well enough for creator Steven Chamberlain to produce three more episodes for YouTube across 2011-2012. They were supposed to be tapes of four 17-year-olds who were found dead in their car outside their hometown, which were then recovered by MI6 before getting uploaded onto the internet.

They showed the boys taking a shortcut down a “no through road” by an abandoned farm. When they take a rest stop, they find a perfectly preserved dead rabbit. It only gets stranger from there as they find events repeating themselves, and a hatted figure stalking them from the darkness. The series predates the term “analog horror,” but its VHS-style found footage and viral success really set the stage for the rise of creepypasta and the genre in general.

22 Ben Drowned

One of the First Gaming Analog Horror Series

• Created by Alex ‘Jadusable’ Hall.
• Inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Slender Man, and other creepypastas.

Horror stories about cursed objects have been around for many years. Some became pretty famous, too, like Koji Suzuki’s novel Ring and its subsequent film, comic, manga, video game, etc., adaptations. They went on to inspire a multitude of horror microfiction stories called creepypastas, which featured cursed Spongebob episodes (‘Squidward’s Suicide’), online memes (‘Smiledog’), and video games.

Ben Drowned combined a written creepypasta about a haunted copy of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask with video footage. The distorted music, glitchy movements, and the game’s already morose and creepy atmosphere made it stand out from its rivals in haunting terror. The story went on to be surprisingly influential, inspiring the GIFfany character in Gravity Falls, who was subsequently the inspiration for Monika in Doki Doki Literature Club.

21 Super Mario 64: CLASSIFIED

When Everything Said About SM64 is True

• Created by Greenio.
• Inspired by Ben Drowned and every rumor about Super Mario 64.

It’s not just The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask that can be creepy and dark. Nintendo 64 launch title Super Mario 64 has also inspired its odd urban legends, like how every cartridge is allegedly personalized for each owner. One person’s copy of the game will play better for them because it was designed for them specifically. It’s more of a joke, but the YouTube series Super Mario 64: CLASSIFIED wonders what it would be like if it were true.

They take the form of VHS recordings of a broken demo build of Super Mario 64. Through each video, it gradually becomes apparent that Nintendo was hiding a very dark secret about the game’s creation, one that may threaten the world as a whole. The series is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, though that doesn’t stop it from being an eerie, unnerving watch. It also completed its run in January 2023, so viewers can now get the full experience on YouTube.

20 Petscop

A Let’s Play as a Horror Story

• Created by Tony Domenico.
• Inspired by Marble Hornets, Ben Drowned, and Inland Empire.

Edited video game commentaries, or “Let’s Plays,” have died down in popularity since the 2010s as tastes have shifted to live streams and long-form videos rather than LP’s short gaming segments. But they managed to inspire this spooky tale about a man receiving an obscure PS1 game from the mysterious (and fictional) company Garalina.

Petscop sees Paul play through the titular game for his YouTube channel. At first, it seems like a simple enough game about the “Guardian” solving puzzles to reclaim pets. But then it gets stranger as its new levels, puzzles, and figures seem to refer to attachment therapy, abuse, disappearances, and more. There’s more to Petscop than an odd video game.

19 Local 58

How the Genre Got Its Name

• Created by Kris Straub.
• Inspired by Candle Cove, Lovecraftian horror.

Speaking of creepypasta, Kris Straub initially made his name online with the story Candle Cove, which was about forum users recollecting a weird children’s show from their youth. In 2015, Straub would create a spin-off from this story, but he wouldn’t use text to do it. Combining animation, video, and a little distortion here and there, Straub would make Local 58, a series of videos purported to be from a public access channel in West Virginia.

They’d feature weird cryptic messages, like warning viewers against looking at the moon, showing dashcam footage of a car being chased by some creature, or an emergency broadcast telling citizens the US has been invaded, and they should commit suicide to preserve the USA’s honor. It was weird, disturbing, and effective. Its fifth episode, ‘Station ID,’ would also give the genre its name, as it would state ‘ANALOG HORROR at 476MHZ.’

18 CH/SS

Supernatural Espionage

• Created by Turkey Lenin III.
• Inspired by the SCP Foundation, MK-Ultra, Cold War-era secret projects.

CH/SS isn’t as well documented as some other entries on this list. It popped up shortly after the debut of Local 58, and its creator is known only by the alias of ‘Turkey Lenin III’. Yet it’s also one of the more influential entries. Alex Kister cited it as an inspiration for The Mandela Catalogue, and some call it the first analog horror. They take the form of a series of instructional videos and adverts for a government-sponsored mental health organization during the 1980s or so.

Then they only get more bizarre as they hint at espionage, deception, and supernatural forces, with obscure Russian dialogue and strange beasts. There were also ARG elements like download links and in-character Twitter accounts to pull fans into the void. Even without them, the videos are a creepy experience.

17 The Mandela Catalogue

Alternate Reality

• Created by Alex Kister.
• Inspired by The Mandela Effect urban legend, CH/SS.

Debuting in 2021, The Mandela Catalogue is a series of 6 videos spread across a series of VHS tapes. Some of them play out like instructional videos, others like surveillance footage. But they all feature people in Mandela County, Wisconsin, succumbing to mysterious figures called ‘Alternates.’ They’re shape-shifting creatures that take the form of other living things, then stalk their targets before eliminating them and taking their place.

They can be indistinguishable from a person’s loved ones, human, animal, or otherwise until they attack. The Alternates can also affect TV and radio broadcasts, warping the videos and changing their messages. Their uncanny looks, using real police photofits, caught on quickly, freaking viewers out across the web.

16 The Smile Tapes

Give the Audience a Grin

• Created by Patorikku.
• Inspired by The Last of Us, zombie/biological horror.

Who’d have thought ophiocordyceps unilateralis would become so significant in the media? The creepy fungus that turns ants into zombies inspired the mutants in The Last of Us series, as well as The Smile Tapes, an analog horror series that came out in 2021. Set in the 1990s, the tapes chronicle a new drug called SMILE made with a similar but unidentified fungus.

It runs through the black market, where its users become increasingly prone to manic episodes, violence, uncontrollable laughter, and increasingly broad smiles. The series is split into volumes, covering the drug’s origins, its victims, and the lethal incidents caused by its users. Especially once the more potent ‘Variant C’ begins to spread and produce stronger, more dangerous ‘Smilers.’

15 Marble Hornets

Slender Man’s Peak

• Created by Troy Wagner and Joseph DeLage, based on Eric Knudsen’s original forum post.
• Inspired by Slender Man post on the SomethingAwful Forums.

The Slender Man feels fairly played out nowadays, joining Jeff the Killer and Laughing Jack in the history books. But back in its prime, it was everywhere, with one of its best portrayals appearing in Marble Hornets. Playing across three seasons of 133 episodes, it followed Jay Merrick (co-creator Troy Wagner) as he tried to find out what happened to his friend Alex (other co-creator Joseph DeLage) during the filming of his student film “Marble Hornets.”

He looks through the leftover tapes and discovers Alex was being stalked by a figure he called “The Operator.” He becomes more obsessed with catching it in action until the figure makes itself known. Then it starts going after Jay too. It was intended more as an ARG (augmented reality game) with how it used YouTube in its plot as well as its uploads. But there’s no denying its influence on subsequent analog horror series, especially in Wagner’s other works.

14 ECKVA

Marble Hornets’ Spiritual Successor

• Created by Troy Wagner.
• Inspired by Marble Hornets, Clear Lakes 44.

Marble Hornets became one of the best adaptations of the Slender Man character. But once it ran its course in 2014, and its follow-up ARG Clear Lakes 44 stalled, creator Troy Wagner had to come up with a new project. In September 2016, that new project debuted as ECKVA. It’s about an online investigator called S. Hawkins as he receives bizarre broadcasts from the titular defunct channel.

They display strange visuals, distorted cartoons like ‘Alis Pastry,’ and messages seemingly aimed specifically at Hawkins himself, as well as references to a drug called Preaxin that Hawkins used to take. While the videos can be seen online, it also has a tie-in website and e-books for fans to check out.

13 Hi I’m Mary Mary

Trapped at Home

• Created by K.
• Inspired by Marble Hornets, EverymanHYBRID, and other YouTube horror shorts.

Hi I’m Mary Mary is perhaps the most similar analog horror to the cult horror flick Skinamarink. The series follows a woman called Mary who’s trapped in her parents’ home all alone. She can’t escape or call for help as she can’t see anyone outside. All she has is a camera, a mysteriously replenishing stock of food, and online access where she can tweet and upload videos but can’t see replies or get contact from the outside world.

She records videos of her experiences in the hopes someone can see them and send help, as she’s only alone during the day. By night, she’s stalked by shadowy figures, a bizarre masked woman, and other mysterious phenomena. What’s happening to Mary, and why is it happening? Viewers can now find out in full as the series concluded in 2020 after 19 videos, alongside its related Twitter and Blogspot account.

12 Gemini Home Entertainment

When Urban Legends Meet Cosmic Horror

• Created by Remy Abode.
• Inspired by Alien, The Thing, The Endless, The Ritual, and classic urban legends like the Skinwalker and the Wendigo.

Gemini Home Entertainment has been running since 2019 and has become a quintessential example of the analog horror genre. It has the hallmarks of the genre, from the retro presentation a la Local 58 to the cryptic, disturbing messages that involve possession, monsters, and the impending end of the world. They’re told through a variety of clips taken from the 1980s-1990s VHS releases by Gemini Home Entertainment.

On the face of it, they’re simple wildlife videos, or ones on storm safety, or the Solar System. However, when watched together, they reveal strange threats like shapeshifting Skinwalkers or the deadly Deep Root Disease. They’re connected by a mystery involving Regnad Computing, a campsite, and a cosmic entity known as ‘The Iris.’ The series is still ongoing via its Library subseries, so only regular viewers can guess how it’ll all come together.

11 Surreal Broadcast

Taking Over the Airwaves

• Created by Red Diamond.
• Inspired by Local 58.

Surreal Broadcast is a series of videos set in the fictional county of Berksaut, Maine. “Araneae” goes from being a standard video on spiders to a warning about something lurking in the Berksaut Forest. “Radio” tells the viewer about how radio waves work before mentioning an anomalous broadcast that induces hallucinations in its listeners.

Then the “1989 Incident” shows a local TV broadcast warning viewers of a strange affliction caused by an animal bite (“their eyes are indescribable”). It only gets worse as the seasons go on, as more broadcasts get hijacked, more anomalies appear in the woods, and more people fall to the phenomenon. While it’s not as inexplicable as Local 58, it’s just as strange and disturbing as the viewer learns more about Berksaut and its woods.

10 Midwest Angelica

Death From Above

• Created by Team AQ (Angel Tempo and CuriouQuandary).
• Inspired by Gemini Home Entertainment, Local 58, The Thing, cosmic/biological horror.

Midwest Angelica is one of the few series funded by a Patreon. It only has one paid level (as of this writing), which gets its members behind-the-scenes info, trivia, and early access to its episodes. The funds are used pretty well too, as the series’ editing and effects go beyond reducing the screen resolution and adding some distortion here and there.

They replicate era-accurate computer diagrams, graphs, and more, as the videos record how NASA discovered what seems like the corpse of an alien being. Dubbed AZ-001, the body landed in Nebraska, where government operatives went to retrieve it. However, it turns out it isn’t quite as dead as it looks, and it brought contaminants that don’t interact well with terrestrial life. Act 1 is all up on YouTube, with Act 2 due to debut in Summer 2024.

9 Somnium DreamViewer

Where Dreams Become Nightmares

• Created by Holly Fernwright.
• Inspired by 80s/90s infomercials, Local 58.

First appearing in January 2022, Holly Fernwright’s Somnium DreamViewer is about a product by Somnium Technologies that allows users to print images from their dreams. They just hook the device up to their head before they sleep, and then print the images when they wake up. The device is quite advanced for the 1980s, but it has its drawbacks.

The subsequent videos record how Somnium Technologies operates, inducts new employees, and deals with legal action over the violent nightmares their machine causes. If that wasn’t shady enough, they come under the view of the FBMI- Federal Bureau of Metaphysical Intelligence. There’s more to Somnium Technologies, its machine, and its side effects than people thought.

8 Archive 81

Sounds Scary

• Created by Dan Powell and Marc Sollinger.
• Inspired by Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast, The X-Files, Twin Peaks, H.P Lovecraft stories.

Archive 81 stands out because, in its original form, it was a podcast. Each episode follows an archivist called Dan (played by co-creator Dan Powell) as he’s commissioned to restore some old audio recordings of a woman named Melody interviewing the residents of a strange apartment block called the Visser Building. He also has to record himself from his isolated bunker for archival and legal purposes.

All sounds fair until Dan fixes up more of the tapes and learns more about Melody and the Visser Building. The residents are strange, referring to an odd song that has them under its spell. Dan gets more and more involved in the case until, like Melody, he goes missing. It’s an engaging mystery that shows how powerful sound can be in freaking people out. It did get a Netflix adaptation, but as neat as it is, it’s best experienced aurally rather than visually.

7 The Walten Files

Animated Analog Horror

• Created by Martin Walls.
• Inspired by Five Nights at Freddy’s.

The Walten Files wears its Five Nights At Freddy’s inspiration on its sleeve, as it also involves a Chuck E. Cheese-like animatronic restaurant. The story involves a man called Anthony coming across a set of videotapes from the defunct Bunny Smiles Company. They were behind the Bon’s Burgers restaurant, which mysteriously vanished in the 1980s.

It stands out from the crowd as it’s an animated series. Its main videos gradually reveal the mystery behind Bon’s Burgers, its animatronics, and its founders, Jack Walten and Felix Kranken. The visuals are crude, which adds to the disturbing atmosphere each video builds up, and lore that’s just as dark and bloody as its video game-based forebear.

6 The Man in the Suit

Method Acting at Its Most Extreme

• Created by Unknowingly
• Inspired by Godzilla/Gojira, possibly Shadow of the Vampire.

Analog horror has become rather commonplace now, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be surprising. With Godzilla and kaiju monster movies coming back into style thanks to the Monsterverse and Godzilla Minus One, The Man in the Suit uses the original 1954 movie as the basis for some behind-the-scenes terror. Just as the movie Shadow of the Vampire told a fictional story about Nosferatu. In that movie, the director used a real vampire to play the title role.

In TMitS, it sees a man don the rubber suit for Godzilla, and get deeper into the role. He’d wear it regularly until he began to fuse with it, swelling to completely fill its interior and become a 10ft fleshy monster. Even worse, he could transmit his condition to others with a bite, as he aims to make Godzilla’s kaiju friends allies in his goal to become real monsters.

The Spaces Between Reality

• Created by Kane Parsons.
• Inspired by a 4chan post, liminal space images.

The Backrooms started as a brief post on 4chan asking for images that felt ‘off,’ and they provided a photo of some dimly lit, beige, empty backrooms. An anonymous user described them as a space between realities that people could glitch into by accident. Once there, they’d be stuck in an infinite maze of dark and foreboding liminal spaces. It inspired video games, a Wiki, and a short film.

Kane Parsons recreated the story in January 2022 with The Backrooms (Found Footage), depicting a camera operator from 1996 falling into the rooms and searching for a way back to reality. It’s possible, providing one doesn’t fall victim to whatever else is lurking in the darkness there. Parsons has since produced 12 more follow-ups on his channel Kane Pixels on YouTube.

4 The Monument Mythos

Landmark Horror

• Created by Alex ‘Mister Manticore’ Casanas.
• Inspired by alternate history, Lovecraftian horror, cosmic horror.

The Monument Mythos combines analog horror with some very alternate history. For example, James Dean lived on to become the 37th US President, Martin Luther King Jr. survived his assassination, and strange things keep happening around American monuments. Immigrants are disappearing in the area around the Statue of Liberty, an “infection” afflicts people near Mount Rushmore, and the Lincoln Memorial requires constant surveillance.

This strange, new timeline is told across three seasons, each with 11 episodes worth of eerie audio & video recordings, detailing just what’s happened to the “United Zones of America,” what’s at the heart of its monuments, and their connection to older ones elsewhere like the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Whatever it is, it certainly isn’t pretty.