Happy November to all my fellow fans of things that go bump in the night. With Thanksgiving in the States not too far away, I was racking my brain for a way to tie this month’s article into the holiday. After a week of careful meditation among falling leaves in the forest, an idea finally came to me. What is Thanksgiving about? While the biggest shopping day of the year taking place the day after it, may seem antithetical to the message, it is, at its core about gratefulness.
Therefore, this article will be about all things horror that I appreciate. First and foremost, fear. There’s something about that emotion that’s so enticing to me. It gets the adrenaline going. It keeps us on the edge of our seats. Above all else, though, it makes us think. How many scary films have you watched where you put yourself in the situation?
I know fans of Saw have done that. How much would our survival instinct override our morality? Then you have the more existential aspects of it like Lovecraft’s work. I’ve spent probably a concerning amount of time wondering if some form of Eldritch horror exists out there in the far reaches of the universe. The closest I can think of is nothingness (which was the topic of my first article for this site that I will link here), but this is one of the reasons I love this genre.
It challenges us and forces us to truly consider how small we are in the grand scheme of things. Nothing humbles someone quite like vulnerability. I also love just how many subgenres there are. You can have horror fantasy, horror sci-fi, horror romance, and horror comedy (my specialty) just to make a few. That’s another thing.
It’s so versatile. Even some of the worst horror movies I have seen at least have fascinating concepts behind them, even if poorly executed. Take the Unfriended movies for example (which I may get into in a future article). Hell, think about how many low-budget movies are horror, such as the Thankskilling series. Granted, there’s a right and wrong way to do these kinds of films, so that may not be the best example.
Better-regarded ones would likely be Birdemic, Troll 2, and Sharknado just to make a few. They have entertainment value. For that, we can always be thankful. You know what else kind of falls into that category that I love? Creepypastas. I’ve been into them since, at least high school, maybe longer.
I have a soft spot for even the ones that seem corny in retrospect. I remember when I didn’t have any homework and I was by myself, I would spend hours browsing the Creepypasta Wiki and r/NoSleep. The lore of it was what drew me in, especially with the Slenderman mythos. The effort that went into it like the creation of these pieces of art and these photos (I don’t know who made them, sorry. However, the skeleton one is an edit of some old artwork from what I have read) made me think it was legit for a while. Of course, I was more gullible back then.
As an aside, I consider any online horror stories to be Creepypastas. I know it derives from the term copypasta, but they’ve changed a lot since then. Again, this may be a topic I eventually explore further. It’s just that I’ve heard complaints about that. Going back to NoSleep. It’s such a cool concept, a horror subreddit where the stories have to be treated as if they’re real.
The subreddit has fallen from grace a bit in recent years in part due to the rules being restrictive to a lot of writers, and also issues with Reddit, in general. Still, I would be lying if I said it’s not what finally made me decide to start writing horror, and for that, I’m thankful. Well. it and narrations are what inspired me. Speaking of narrations, if I got asked whether I got into reading horror stories online or hearing people read horror stories first, I wouldn’t be able to answer. In my mind, they both occurred around the same time.
Although, listening to YouTube narrators is what eventually led me to the NoSleep subreddit. Before that, I was only reading through the Creepypasta Wiki. I love horror narrations so much that they’ve become a staple for me every Halloween season (which starts in July for me). With that said, I have changed who exactly I listen to in recent years. I’m not naming anyone.
I will say, if you’ve been in that community for a while, you’ll know certain people have some damning controversy around them. I don’t just mean refusing to pay writers for their stories. That’s a whole other topic. I’m talking legit messed up stuff. It’s because of this, I now almost exclusively support smaller horror narrators.
Those would be channels under 10k in subs/views. I didn’t start truly interacting with that community until a few years ago, and I must say, it’s been pleasant in my experience. On the live stream chat side of things, I have yet to have any hostile interactions. Whenever I see any get close to that point, they’re resolved fast.
It’s also extremely supportive such as having other creators on livestreams. All in all, it’s a fun time. Unfortunately, it’s hard for smaller creators to get traction since they’re competing with a lot of channels that have been established since around during early YouTube. I think they’re massively underrated and deserve more support.
That’s exactly why I made a list of ones I recommend which you can find here. I’m sure if you checked these people out and subscribed to them, they would be very thankful. Another thing I love about horror is the creativity. Something that gets likened to the early Creepypasta days is analog horror. I won’t get into it too much since I already wrote an article kind of comparing the two which you can read here.
I didn’t mean to have this many links, by the way. It’s just that they end up being relevant to the topic so sorry if it’s a lot. What I will say here is that analog horror as a subgenre has lent itself to being some of the most fun I’ve had with horror in a visual medium in a long time. As I have said, scary things get us thinking. Analog horror certainly does that.
I mean, you have the Mandela Catalog all about Lucifer replacing Jesus. I used to be religious. I’m not anymore. However, I can understand the mindset and from that perspective, this might be one of the scariest concepts ever. Then you have straight-up cosmic horror like with Gemini Home Entertainment and Midwest Angelica.
I can’t forget about Vita Carnis either or ones inspired by FNAF like The Walten Files, Harmony and Horror, and The Hotdog Archives (though, this is a horror comedy that I highly recommend). Oh shit, I almost forget to include the Jurrasic Park analog horror. This is what Jurrasic Park should be. I love it all, even the lesser-regarded ones I still have affection for like the ones based on already-known properties such as Inside Out or Batman. I know some of the series are shabbily thrown together for quick views.
Others, though are a means of creators dipping their toes. Even if it’s not well made, I can at least respect the attempt. Hopefully, they use the critique to improve and create better projects in the future. If I went on about how much I love analog horror this article would become a novel long. Therefore, I will say I’m grateful for it.
Lastly, it’s only fitting that I extend my thanks to the site of Horror Facts. Come January 10th, I will have been writing for this site for two years and that’s wild to think about. It’s been an intriguing exercise to come up with different topics each month to discuss. While I love writing fiction, being able to directly give my thoughts on certain subjects is a nice change of pace. I want to conclude this article by saying thanks to the horror community and Horror Facts for having me.
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.
If you enjoyed this article, consider checking out the pinned posts on my Reddit.
