‘Analog uncanny’: how this weird and experimental side of TikTok is forging the future of horror

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Director Kyle Edward Ball’s feature film debut, Skinamarink, achieved unexpected commercial success last year after going viral on TikTok.

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The Conversation

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https://theconversation.com/analog-uncanny-how-this-weird-and-experimental-side-of-tiktok-is-forging-the-future-of-horror-222882

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Wednesday, February 14, 2024

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Social media, RackaRacka, VHS, Horror, Analog, Salad Fingers, Feedback, The Backrooms, Marble Hornets, Talk to Me, Television

Summary

Key Points:

Director Kyle Edward Ball’s feature film debut, Skinamarink, achieved unexpected commercial success last year after going viral on TikTok.
Hailed by some critics as the best horror film of 2023, or even the scariest of all time, Skinamarink is a work of experimental slow cinema.

Bite-sized nightmares

Ball’s distinctive aesthetic was developed via his YouTube channel Bitesized Nightmares.
Here, he shared experimental videos based on his nightmares.
He then invited viewers to share their own “nightmares” in the comments so he could depict them in subsequent videos.
Directors Michael and Danny Philipou have more than 1 billion views and nearly 7 million subscribers on their channel, RackaRacka.

From the ‘weird part’ of YouTube to TikTok

TikTok is now also emerging as an important site for this aesthetically rich “uncanny and weird” creative content.
It’s not surprising Skinamarink went viral on TikTok when you consider the app’s category of “analog horror” had 2.3 billion views as of when this article was written.
Analog horror videos may be depictions of creepy inhuman (but human-like) creatures, such as in this TikTok video.
But while analog horror is being driven in new directions on TikTok, it has long been a mainstay of YouTube.

The future of experimental art-horror

Director Jane Schoenbrun’s films also harness the themes and aesthetics of analog horror.
Like Skinamarink, their debut feature, We’re All Going To the World’s Fair (2021), is an unapologetically creepy work of experimental slow cinema.
The careers of Ball, Parsons, Schoenbrun and the Philipous showcase how experimental horror trends on TikTok and YouTube have successfully crossed into the mainstream.

Jessica Balanzategui receives funding from the Australian Children's Television Foundation, the City of Melbourne, and Creative Australia. Jessica is currently working with the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art to run public programs associated with their major exhibition, From the other side.