What Is Analog Horror?

Good morning Consumers, This is Please consume, the film newsletter that loves you more than Ben Affleck loves being from Boston. 

This week we will be taking you into the depth of horror cinema for the Halloween season.

The genre is simultaneously one of the most beloved and most maligned, but we here at Please Consume love horror in all of its blood-splattered glory.

We are excited and hope you are too!

Skinamarink (2023)

Written by Tom Fortner

You may remember I recommended this film a few weeks ago.

If you didn’t watch it then, hopefully a second reminder will do the trick.

My friend Rufus and I watched this in a nearly empty, deathly chilly AMC at 9pm on a Thursday on a whim. It turned out to be the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. 

I’m not kidding when I tell you I was severely questioning whether or not I would be able to handle another jump scare if it happened. I was literally dreading it. 

 The crazy thing is, I can count the number of jump scares on one hand. 

 Go watch Skinamarink. And take your friends!

What Is Analog Horror?

For those of you who know your way around YouTube, you’re probably already aware of Analog Horror.

 For those who aren’t, Analog Horror is a subgenre of horror found mostly online, on YouTube. Its roots are a combination of found footage films and creepypasta (a word for horror content posted to the internet, like videos or written text, the most famous example of which would be Slender Man) and takes its name from its common aesthetic look and feel of analog electronics. 

 Part of what makes Analog Horror so terrifying is because it’s on the internet. We’ve all seen videos of UFOs and “ghost” sightings. They’re usually pretty fake and we can tell they aren’t real. But what about when you come across that video that you can’t explain away? At least for me, I get a chill running down my spine. What if this unexplainable thing is real? 

 Analog Horror takes that feeling and runs with it. Due to the anonymity of the internet and the analog aesthetic, these videos feel like they were found by some unassuming teenagers in a box in a cave or secured illegally from top secret government files. You get the feeling what you’re watching isn’t safe.

Atmosphere

Films like The Blair Witch Project are similar to Analog, but belong more concretely in the Found Footage genre. I feel like the main difference between these genres is the emphasis on atmosphere. Found Footage follows a clear story line while Analog puts the story on the back burner in order to highlight mood and tone.

 This doesn’t mean that Analog has no story, but it does mean that it’s not as important. The synopsis for Skinamarink illustrates this point perfectly. It reads: “Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.”

 This summary is practically useless as a means of explaining Skinamarink to someone who has never seen it. Those who have seen it know that those events mentioned in the synopsis are hardly more prominent than any other event in the film. It’s simply the result of trying to advertise to an audience that is used to seeing a film with a clear story. Skinamarink is anything but that.

In This House

So, what makes Skinamarink so damn frightening?

A lot has already been said about how the film harnesses the nightmares of our childhood, something nearly everyone can relate to on some level, but I think it’s worth rehashing here for those who are unfamiliar with it. 

The film uses a few methods in order to conjure our childhood fears forth from our subconscious. First, it’s essentially from the perspective of a child, heavily favoring shots from a low perspective and even sometimes taking their point of view. The footage was treated with digital grain in order to achieve that “analog” look and feel of the VHS or Christmas videos filmed on early digital camcorders. The camera also takes special interest in the architecture of the house. It feels like a kid pondering the shape of the walls or what could be around that corner. 

All of this combines into that “feeling” that Analog is so good at creating. As a kid, everything has the possibility to scare you, to hurt you. Your imaginations run wild and can cause a shadow to take the shape of a menacing creature only to transform into an upright armchair. Skinamarink forces you to watch those shadows take shape and stay that way.

Author’s Note: In light of the absence of any scenes available on YouTube the trailer is attached below.

Today’s Scene