Nostalgia is all the rage these days; that’s why a ton of movies and TV shows are reboots or remakes of what was popular in the 1980s and ’90s. Normally, this walk down memory lane is meant to delight audiences and make them recall what they watched as kids. But there’s also a scary movie subgenre that aims to weaponize these fond memories into something sinister: analog horror. Let’s explore the eerie, static-filled world of CRT TVs, emergency broadcast scares, and kids’ TV shows gone terrifyingly wrong.
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Analog horror is a film subgenre that derives heavily from the eeriness of watching low-grain footage in the days of yore. Have you ever watched an old VHS tape with low fidelity that would skip randomly or get grainy in parts, distorting the images and audio? Analog horror capitalizes on the creepiness of this obsolete technology that’s a far cry from the smooth footage we all can capture on our phones today.
The genre takes its name from analog media, like CRT TVs and VHS tapes. The grainy footage may hide untold monstrosities, while the distorted audio will have you trying to piece together what kind of message is trying to be conveyed. As such, analog horror may step away from traditional narratives to focus more on subtext and environments.
Analog horror trademarks
- Audial dissonance: Static and distortion are integral elements of the genre, causing a natural sense of unease and jolting the viewers’ senses to pick up on what just transpired.
- Deteriorated visuals: The idea behind many analog horror movies is that you’re watching VHS tapes from decades ago. The film stock has degraded, providing a rawer aesthetic—as though this is something you weren’t meant to watch.
- Fractured storytelling: Since analog horror is drawn from VHS tapes and similar old media, it may feel like portions are missing or taped over. You don’t get the full story, so it’s up to you to piece everything together… if you dare.
- Haunting ambiguity: Footage may be missing, or you can’t quite see clearly, opening films up to interpretation.
- Downer endings: Horror films usually have final girls who ultimately find a way to defeat the monster—but this subgenre often delves into cosmic elements and the idea that there are greater evils out there than you can comprehend.
Before getting into proper examples of the best analog horror movies, it’s vital to understand where this subgenre came from.
Found footage: Found footage is an inherent part of analog horror, as it’s reliant on cameras that exist within the world of the film. To be clear, it’s slightly different from simple found footage horror films that incorporate VHS aesthetics. Analog horror, specifically, doesn’t often rely on jump scares, but rather creates an unsettling atmosphere where you feel like something isn’t quite right.
Example: “The Blair Witch Project” (1999, dir. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez) feels eerily realistic, complete with shaky camera movements and a fragmented narrative with pieces missing. However, it still has a fundamental story at its core, making it feel more polished than a lot of what would come out of analog horror.
Creepypastas: Another pivotal source of inspiration comes from creepypastas, horror-related urban legends that gained prominence online. While the term “creepypasta” has since come to encompass any short horror story on the internet, its roots were originally founded in anonymous postings to message boards. Again, this adds an element of realism because it feels like someone was actually documenting something real.
Example: “Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver” (2013, dir. David L. Hunt) consists of an online diary about a man and his friend exploring an uncharted cave system. But things go awry when a malevolent force also seemingly in the cave appears, accompanied by nightmares. In the final entry, the narrator speaks of bringing a gun into the cave, only for the film to end suddenly. The use of diary entries feels akin to analog horror films using VHS tapes, as it’s an almost archaic form of storytelling that allows for missing pieces within the story.
1. “No Through Road” (2009, dir. Steven Chamberlain)
“No Through Road” is a testament to how any budding filmmaker can impress the world with a camera and some friends. The short film and subsequent webseries begin with a group of friends who get stuck in a loop driving down the same road repeatedly, only to notice a masked man following them. The sound design is impeccable, complete with a low hum and distorted screams to distort what really happened to the boys.
2. “V/H/S” franchise (2012–present, created by Brad Miska)
The “V/H/S” series stands as arguably the most accessible of analog horror media. Each film in the franchise follows the same basic format: Someone stumbles upon a collection of VHS tapes, and they then watch the tapes in an anthology format and witness horrific monsters and other supernatural phenomena. There’s even analog horror within analog horror, as the framing device typically employs someone filming themselves as they watch each tape, with something haunting them as well.
3. “The Backrooms” (2022–present, dir. Kane Parsons)
“The Backrooms” originated as a 2019 creepypasta centered on the idea of liminal spaces, a neverending series of hallways that look like any other office building but with terrifying monsters that could be hidden anywhere. One enters the Backrooms by clipping out of reality, and YouTuber Parsons brought the Backrooms to life via a series of videos of people recording their interactions with the rooms. It’s a manic location, as the camera holder runs past numerous rooms with monsters chasing after them; but the monsters themselves feel out of touch with reality. They look and sound like video game creatures that haven’t fully rendered yet, lending itself to the cognitive dissonance so often found in analog horror.
4. “Skinamarink” (2022, dir. Kyle Edward Ball)
“Skinamarink” is analog horror by way of David Lynch. It relies heavily on a foreboding atmosphere as it follows a pair of siblings who wake up in the middle of the night unable to find their father—and with the doors and windows of their home now gone. It operates by dream logic, as the locale is familiar yet simultaneously distant. The sound design is otherworldly, evoking the sense of hearing something strange at night and not knowing where it came from.
Analog horror is so very frightening because it’s effectively the uncanny valley of film. The uncanny valley refers to when something looks human but is slightly off, creating a sense of unease—which is precisely what analog horror aims to do. It presents images and sounds that seem normal, but there’s something… not right. Whether you’re in the backrooms or your own house, everything looks like somewhere you’ve been before, but there are important differences. Throw in a lurking monster, and you have all the ingredients for a terrifying work of art.
As such, there’s much for filmmakers to learn from this evolving subgenre. Even if you don’t plan on making analog horror movies yourself, there’s plenty to learn.
- Build tension: Far too many horror films rely on jump scares to get a quick fright out of viewers, but some movies linger in the consciousness longer when they fill you with dread throughout a 90-minute runtime. Analog horror films typically forgo cheap scares in lieu of creepy imagery that doesn’t relent.
- Create a unique atmosphere: Consider “Skinamarink,” which takes place in a typical suburban home. It’s something we all recognize, but it’s made foreign due to how Ball fills it with dread. This is achieved with minimal lighting and disturbing sound design, which can be implemented in any horror subgenre.
- Withhold information: Have you ever watched a film where it felt like way too long was spent doling out exposition? TMI can grind a story to a halt, but analog horror is at its best when we have no idea what’s going on (to an extent). You don’t need to fill in every detail, but some well-placed imagery can allow the audience to connect the dots on their own.
Analog horror is very much still in its infancy. But given its popularity online and growing acceptance into the mainstream, including an A24 “Backrooms” movie in the works, it may be worth breaking into the scene sooner rather than later.