The oldest of the bunch, Marble Hornets hit the internet on Jit followed Jay Merrick (Troy Wagner) as he attempted to figure out what happened to a friend who had gone missing and why production had stopped on a film he was making before he disappeared. All three of them were essential to building the mythos of Slender Man, the character first created by Erik “Victor Surge” Knudsen on the Something Awful forums in 2009 - and, indeed, Marble Hornets saw its beginnings in that very same SA thread.
But I would amiss to put together a list of must-see creepy web series and leave Marble Hornets, EverymanHYBRID, and Tribe Twelve off the list it’s thanks to them that creepy web series became a thing in the first place. I know, I know - Slender Man is overdone, and yes, I’m cheating a little by including three items in one entry (so, the grand total of web series featured in this post is actually 11, not nine).
The lengths to which the creator has gone to make this one are also extraordinary it’s not easy to code or animate an entire non-existent game, but that’s exactly what they’ve done. The best part about this one is that it is ripe for analysis - so if you’re a fan of stories that make you work for it, Petscop is going to be right up your alley.
Paul’s narration, however, tips us off right off the bat that something isn’t right here - the first words he speaks are, “All right, so, this is just to prove to you that I’m not lying about this game I found.” We don’t know who he’s talking to, but it does appear to be someone specific - and as he continues to play, he uncovers all sorts of weird, hidden stuff that hints at an extremely dark story involving kids going missing, untimely deaths, and a lot of other nasty stuff.
At first, it looks sort of like a P okemon-esque game the point is to guide the player avatar around an area called “The Gift Plane,” collecting “pets” and finding them homes. On March 12, 2017, a person known only as “Paul” began uploading gameplay footage to YouTube of what he said was an unfinished Playstation game from 1997 called Petscop. These nine series (well, 11, really - we’ll get to that in a bit) exemplify the best of YouTube’s creepiest content. It forces you to be that much more creative, and the results are often stunning. And indeed, that’s why I think YouTube is such a gold mine for horror: The creators telling stories through the platform aren’t usually working with huge budgets, which means they can’t rely on flashy special effects to fix weaknesses in the writing or the performances. The suggestion of something terrible happening is, practically without fail, much more effective than seeing every (literally) gory detail - or at least, it is for me. Horror is one genre where the phrase “less is more” is almost always gospel truth.
You don’t have to go all the way to the movie theater to find something spooky to watch. It’s the perfect time to read ghost stories, go to haunted houses, and - best of all - watch creepy web series on YouTube. (Yes, even though it’s still 85 degrees in the Northeast right now.) But I don’t just love fall because of the fact the weather is (supposed to be) cooler and there’s cinnamon in everything I love it because it’s the spookiest time of year.
Not going to lie: The moment the calendar ticked over to September, I immediately packed away all my summer gear and broke out the sweaters, boots, and bottomless coffee mugs.