My Personal Favorite Internet Horror Gurus

I said in the last post that I was just completely immersing myself in horror and weird fiction. A major part of that has been online, and a big part of that has been through the Youtube horror/dark fiction community. It's a relatively small (I mean, small compared to, like, the video gaming community.) group, but there's enough there to keep me occupied. And... well, I don't know, maybe some of you would be interested in my opinion on them. I'm going to give it anyway, but if you're here, I think it's safe to assume you might be interested in what I have to say. Or on the subject. Or something. I don't know, and fuck this transition. Here's my list of channels that, for me, are good jumping off points into the Youtube horror scene.

Night Mind:
I'm starting off strong. Night Mind wasn't my first introduction to the scene (I think I started with Marble Hornets, which inevitably led me to Night Mind.), but I feel like he's the quintessential hub for the community. His channel began as analysis with the big three Slenderman series (Marble Hornets, EverymanHYBRID, and Tribe Twelve). From there, Nick Nocturne (Our theoretically supernatural host.) devoted himself to not only analyzing more popular series (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, alantutorial, The Mirror, Lasagna Cat) and videos (Unedited Footage of a Bear, This House Has People In It), as well as occasional forays into other media (The SCP Foundation, Urban Legends). Bur according to him, his main goal nowadays is to introduce new webseries to the public. He's where I found out about Eckva, HOOH, Ben's Playhouse, and a ton of others. And with almost 160,000 subscribers, he's pretty good at getting that word out there. Combined with a very alluring, dark voice and just generally high quality productions (From the beginning. Very little is known about the actual man behind the four-eyed cat, but I have to assume he has some background in editing/narration/AV Tech/etc.), Night Mind is the big daddy of Youtube horror, and if you only grab one of these channels into your collection, I would personally recommend it be Night Mind.

Midnight Marinara:
Now, this is less for the actual Midnight Marinara series on the channel, and far more of a recommendation for Undercooked Analysis, a long-running creepypasta podcast. It combines readings of various creepypasta with analysis from people experienced in the genre and a healthy dose of humor (The worse the story, the more humor included.). This one doesn't hub out into video so much, but it is the best channel I've found thus far to lead you into that world of creepypasta that is so important to the internet horror world.

SlimeBeast:
Now, SlimeBeast is not one I love at the same level as Night Mind and Midnight Marinara. A lot of what he does, I just can't totally jive with. So he's not exactly one of my favorites, but I think he is very important and very influential. He's a very successful, well-known creepypasta writer, and does mostly readings on his own channel. Not my cup of tea. But he does go into a lot of the more overarching content, and having a creator do that lends a unique perspective on that type of content. He sometimes goes too far for my tastes, and comes off a little bitter and angry. But some people will love his particular style, and he is still very worthwhile to check out.

Nyx Fears:
Now, this one's going to be short. Nyx isn't exactly an internet horror guru. Instead, he's a horror guru working on the internet. He covers a lot of modern major releases like Get Out and The Babadook. But he also, if you're looking at it as a writer or other creator, brings a nice look at everything. He understands a lot about film theory and structure, and can deliver that information through the lens of horror. Perhaps he doesn't belong on this list, but I do love Nyx and think he's a worthwhile channel to check into.

ScareTheater:
Now, the rest of these channels I found through Night Mind, in fact. Not ScareTheater. I will always prefer Night Mind above everything else, but a lot of the difference here is length. Nick Nocturne puts out long content, but puts it out considerably less often. ScareTheater's videos run anywhere from 3-7 minutes on average. ScareTheater covers a lot of short content, too. Videos like "Obey the Walrus" and "Mareana Mordegard Glesgorv." His content on longer-running series is, in my opinion, just not up to snuff, but I will happily queue up two dozen of his short videos and run through them while I'm working.

There are others who touch on the community that I think really deserve attention, but maybe don't quite fit the mold. Tats Top Videos has some excellent creepy content, but it's not the channel's main devotion. Arkham Reporter and The Exploring Series both have a fair amount of content if you're looking for Cthulhu/Lovecraft information. My last one is a real departure, but Pop Culture Mythology/Mixology is a lovely channel... or was, anyway. It's been six months, which is a death knoll for most Youtube channels. I'm holding out hope, though, because his content was so good. Not all horror, but... well, I guess I'm putting out a bit of a PSA. Not pressuring him to return, but maybe he'll feel better about continuing if he knows people are interested? I don't know. But, one creator to another, I love the content he created. A lot of people did, I imagine. So if it's life, I understand. But if you happen to read this and are just discouraged... you make good content. That's all I can say to you. You make good content.

So all that aside, that's what I've got. Hopefully it can help you out and, if you have any that I missed and just really need to know about, leave them in the comments below.

Voss