⥨ gmod args ⥦
source engine games are weird. the sounds and visuals in games like portal, half life 2 or garry's mod are extremely iconic and memorable. but running around in those games alone can also be... scarey . i'm talking liminal spaces and all. not knowing if you're being watched or not. :flushed: emoji
in the last 1-2-3 or whatever the fuck years a few channels have popped up using garry's mod specifically as their vehicle for telling horror stories. they often mimic old machinimas / sfm videos, which are usually silly and goofy, and turn them into something scary over time.
some of these ar ejust..... OOOHHHh dark figure in hte distance oughhhh. those are fine. however, i really like the ones that come up with a more interesting concept.
one of these is..... the switcharoo. instead of the player being haunted by the game they're playing, it's the other way around: the in-game characters fear the player. this works even better with the machinima angle - sentient characters being used as puppets for amateur filmmakers. it sheds some light on how fucked up the stuff is that you can do to ragdolls in gmod.
my favorite example of this is BadwaterVideos2009 (channel link) . here's their first video:
the character designs for the recurring guys are simple but very memorable and i love them alot. personally i would die for melonman
content warnings include: one video in this series shows a character's finger being broken. that's the worst thing i remember. the rest of the videos should be fine iirc, cartoon-level violence stuff.
as of the most recent episode: pov shots of the main character being tortured over and over, including torn off legs and a hanging!!! jesus christ !!!
the second arg of this variety is gunslingerpro2009 . they use the same concept as the one before, but executed a bit differently. the first video on the channel was privated / deleted, but the creator made a reupload:
while both of these tell their stories using characters from team fortress 2, the in-universe videos are shot in gmod, hence the name "gmod args". i enjoy these alot! alot of the scary stuff that's worked in is very subtle and unnoticable, and when it's in your face it isn't just a distorted ass visagé on your screen.
nostalgia plays a huge factor as well, with these games being old and loved by so many. another thing that i think is cool is gunslingerpro2009 actually recreating an old machinima with their video spy is sandvich.
† analog horror †
for a few years now a new category of internet horror has established itself. also called "vhs horror", analog horror preys on the nostalgia of the average 90s / early 2000s kid. these works frequently use a 4:3 aspect ratio and filters to make a video appear as if it had been stored on a vhs tape. they use scary imagery, long-lasting shots and suspense to draw the viewer in, sometimes hitting them with a jumpscare ouOUoUoUuOuh.
one of the most well known analog-horror type channels is LOCAL58TV . a tv channel is hijacked and shows wacky shit. honestly i don't remember the lore that much.
this is their first uploaded video:
i like this video alot, personally:
content warning: lots of weirdass distorted faces
i just love the execution of this honestly. tag yourself. i'm feeling loric today
one criticism i have for this stuff is that distorted, high contrast faces are used alot for jumpscares. they CAN be very spooky, don't get me wrong, but sometimes they're also just very silly. the creator of The Mandela Catalogue has literally made a parody of this!!!
another pretty good channel is MISTER MANTICORE . i particularly like the below video which is.... more Windows Movie Maker horror rather than analog horror. it's so fucking funny, i love it.
other popular examples for analog horror include:
- The Walten Files by Martin Walls - animatronics, drawn blood, distorted faces, car crashes, jumpscares
- The Mandela Catalogue by Alex Kister - distorted faces, jumpscares idk what else
- GEMINI HOME ENTERTAINMENT by Remy Abode - i haven't watched this, so don't know the needed cw's!
- FNaF VHS by Squimpus McGrimpus - harm done to children, distorted faces, animatronics, burning in fires it's FNAF GUYS. WJAT DID YOU EXPECT
- Vita Carnis by Darian Quilloy - jumpscares and spooky creatures
- backrooms videos by Kane Pixels - i haven't watched this, so don't know the needed cw's!
▲ gilbert garfield / faraone productions ▲
this one's afucking doozy
this arg starts out with our main character max receiving strange tapes of a mysterious cartoon titled "gilbert / garfield crossover" from his friend, who was archiving garfield broadcasts. max uploads what he finds to youtube and needless to say, they're fucking weird! don't watch this shit in public!
it goes from uploading these episodes, to a gameboy rom that reveals more info about faraone productions (including attempts, or successes i dont fucking know, to clone people, including augustus caesar, ronald reagan, and gilbert gottfried! HUH?) several parties start acting in the story and trying to unveal what is happening. faraone productions has a website, twitter and youtube account and possibly other shit, where they post stuff.
content warnings include: gore, blood, vomit, an entire visible asshole, bunch of other shit
let it be known that i hadn't heard of gilbert gottfried before at all. my only knowledge of him is from this monstrosity. i think that's just wonderful. idont even know what else to say.
here's the video that started it all:
♣ kane pixels: the oldest view ♣
the oldest view is a newer project by horror-genius kane pixels. he's more well-known for his backrooms-series, which is already impressive on a technical level, but this one takes the cake for me personally. TOV's newest entry (only a week or so old as of writing this) is an impossibly tense and nightmarish 45-minute video. i don't wanna spoil anything so i won't say much more, but i highly recommend it to anyone who likes slow-burn horror and liminal spaces.
content warnings include: the feeling of being watched, being trapped, a few jumpscares, death (?) from falling