Pinback Curates Analog Horror... For You!

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After a while hanging around in Backrooms communities, I came to understand that the unsettling videos I was enjoying were part of a larger subgenre called "analog horror". These are usually short videos presented in the style of "analog media", primarily VHS tapes and old TV broadcasts. When done right, they bring an irresistibly compelling mix of impending dread and uncanny eeriness. For people our age (points at all the old guys in the room, which is all of you), these are things you instantly recognize from your youth, except something is just not right. I love it a lot, so here I will keep you updated on all of my favorite analog horror.

LOCAL 58
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This is generally regarded as the series which coined the phrase "analog horror" and gave birth to the genre itself. It's (mostly) presented as a series of short videos from "Local 58 WCLV-TV", a public access channel which is apparently being hijacked by... well, I won't spoil the surprise, but I bet ICJ is gonna love it.

KANE PIXELS
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Before I knew analog horror was a thing, I was just watching Backrooms videos, and the Kane Pixels series is so far and away superior to all of the others, it has to stand at or near the top of the analog horror mountain, because this little punk's (just turned 17!) skill with creating these videos is absurd, and I am angry at him for being so talented. If you don't know what the Backrooms are, this is a great place to start, because it's all downhill from here.

TRENDWATCH
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There were just two of these made back in 2016, but then the channel resurrected early this year and has been pumping out a ton of really amazing content. Each video is presented like an old-school Powerpoint marketing presentation, but those doing the marketing (and those being marketed to) are a mystery to unravel. Confusing, bewildering, this series is guaranteed to give you the oogies, even if you can't tell what's actually going on. Later in the series there is some overlap with Kane Pixels, and in fact Trendwatch's animation is used in one of the more recent Kane Pixels videos. Is Trendwatch part of the Backrooms, or is it the other way around?

THALASIN
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This is just a one-off, which I'd seen a couple years ago before I knew I'd end up coming around these parts again. Rewatching it this morning was just as unsettling as the first time. It's an ad for a Thalasin, an emotion-regulating drug. And then there's "Thalasin Plus"... An all-time classic.

There are many others I will be digging into over the coming weeks, so I will keep you up to date on my findings! Let me know if you enjoy this content, or if you have other analog horror to recommend!

[AArdvark]

That first one would have been cool to see on late night UHF Channel 31. I will watch it again with the sound up.

[Jizaboz]

Yup, I’m hip to the back rooms. Pool rooms are my shit. I’ve seen videos of creations of pool rooms that had the exact same architectural structure as an area I visited in a dream and that shit sent chills down my spine.

[AArdvark]

The Trendwatch video featuring A.I. and showing a garage door is hilarious!

Actually the emotional drug one is funnier!

There was a short story by Alan Dean Foster in 1972 called 'The Emoman' that used this idea. The story wasn't funny like this commercial is

[Jizaboz]

I visited :50 thru 1:15 in a dream. Though in the room of many pools there’s was water pumped in from the ceiling like rain, it was darker, and there were random people in the pools.

[AArdvark]

Chlorine smell permeates this entire video!

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I'm a "pure canon" guy, so I do not acknowledge the pool rooms. Even though they are super cool.

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Eventide Media Center



Love this series. Of particular note is the episode "Midnight Movie", which does a great job of lulling you into a sense of "what is the point of this, this is going on way too long" and then suddenly turning it around. I hesitate to call it a "punchline", but it's a pretty good punchline.

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Yup, I’m hip to the back rooms. Pool rooms are my shit. I’ve seen videos of creations of pool rooms that had the exact same architectural structure as an area I visited in a dream and that shit sent chills down my spine.

Well sir, do I have a game for you, and you can't beat the price:

Here's a screenshot I took just for you...

[Jizaboz]

Cool! Thanks. I'll have to check that out.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Very well.

[Jizaboz]

Tried it! Couldn't play long as it's late but this is pretty cool stuff so far.

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I really liked this one. The two main complaints I've heard are:

1. It takes too long to get going, which I understand, but disagree with. You're lulled into almost thinking it's just gonna be a regular traffic report. And if you know it's not (which you do), then the tension just keeps mounting, cuz you know something's coming.

2. The end is too much of a ripoff of Local 58's "Weather Service" video, which I understand, and definitely agree with, but hey, copy from the best, that's what I say.

Its look/feel and inclusion of timely news updates from the period really help give it the sense of time and place.

[AArdvark]

The vhs video effects are pretty cool. The tracking and slight jumps are very convincing, like it's been copied a bunch of times and played over and over in the basement rec rooms of countless suburban communities across the U.S.

It's more of a dread feeling when watching these because you know shit is going to happen. I was expecting jump scares at first but these are much better

[Jizaboz]

Played that game today and got lost/stuck on the 3rd or 4th level. Still, interesting concept.

[Tdarcos]

but hey, copy from the best, that's what I say

What's wrong with "Green Mountain Broadcast Center" :

1. WBHR is an AM radio station in Sauk Rapids, Minn. There is no WBHR-TV.
2. There is no channel 5 in Vermont. The nearest TV Channel 5 stations are WPTZ in Plattsburgh, New York; WABI-TV Bangor, Maine; and WCVB Boston.
3. The "theme song" at 0:35 for the station sounds vaguely familiar. It sounds like the "vanity plate" music from some other video producer, like WGBH Boston or Viacom.
4. Live coverage of a Nuclear Attack was done considerably better by the made for TV movie Special Bulletin

[Tdarcos]

And another thing: Who the hell would bomb Vermont? It has no military significance and a waste of perfectly good nuclear ordnance. It's like nuking Kansas, it might be years before anybody noticed.

[AArdvark]

Bomb? With temps dropping from 70 to 30s?

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Tdarcos did not understand the video.

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New Kane Pixels today, which is always the most important news in analog horror: