I enjoyed writing last week’s newsletter. Having one main topic on which I can write a mini essay that then leads into my usual updates really helped the flow of the piece. Last week’s issue was all about my on-again/off-again relationship with vampires. You can read that here.

With that in mind, let’s talk about Chat GPT.

I’m just kidding. Here are some cool things I watched on YouTube this past week.

Subscribers to this newsletter know I enjoy the subgenre/technique known as “analog horror.” I consider myself a fan. In particular, Gemini Home Entertainment is incredibly compelling and unique with how its story unfolds. To be completely honest, though, my enjoyment of works that fall into this category is usually reduced to a smile and a “hey, this is neat.” The video above, however, actually managed to creep me out. I even jumped once, which almost never happens in YouTube videos. Vita Carnis is a clever mix of cosmic horror and ecological thriller, told in the almost relaxing format of a decades-old instructional video providing facts about the new creatures that have come to populate our world and intercut with a few bits of found footage to allow for the occasional jump scare. Oh, and it’s called Vita Carnis because the creatures all look like they’re made out of raw meat.

This isn’t the only video in the series, so I’m curious to see what the others will reveal. The creator’s name is Darian Quilloy.

I also watched this absolute banger by user In Praise of Shadows.

If this guy wasn’t on your radar already, now he is! His longform criticism has the sort of attention to detail I wish I saw more often when discussing horror. The above video is all about Marble Hornets, the Slenderman phenomenon, and internet horror as a whole. It’s well-thought out, and you can tell he genuinely cares. Plus, he gives a shoutout to Todd Keisling’s Scanlines in it, which was a nice surprise. His two-part video on the Golden Age of horror comics is also worth a watch.

Last, but perhaps my favorite thing I watched, was this raw camcorder footage of a panel discussion from a SF/horror convention in 1983. The subject is “The State of Modern Horror Fiction,” and check out these panelists. We’ve got Stephen King, Peter Straub, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Karl Edward Wagner, Charles Grant, Whitley Strieber, and Dennis Etchinson. The idea of so many legends in one room is mind-blowing to me. If you’re a nerd about this shit like I am, seeing the trends of back then discussed and contrasting them with today’s trends is going to be a real treat.

I also watched 1995’s Castle Freak, but you’ll need to wait until the next episode of Make Your Own Damn Podcast to get my thoughts on it. Our newest episode is Patreon-exclusive and features Jeff’s thoughts on A Knock at the Cabin as well as my reaction to Smile and the criminally underseen I Spit on Your Grave III. You can check it out for just a buck right here.

It's going to be a short one this week, but I'll try to be back with something more substantial next time. Thank you all for being here.