A Beginner’s Guide To YouTube Horror [Video]
The ongoing digitization of life has plenty to frighten us. But the good news is that the same terrifying tech overlord future that appears imminent also brings positives, like new ways to access excellent horror productions.
YouTube has long served as a destination for independent horror to thrive. If you’re an old like me, you may have been sleeping on YouTube for a bit now. That’s okay if you have been. Read on to skim just a tiny sampling of the channels, creators, and productions you can discover.
Channels
Many YouTube channels have become their own production studios of sorts, providing us with a flood of independent horror releases that we haven’t seen the likes of since Blumhouse hit the scene. Here are four of the more popular ones to get you started on your journey.
ALTER
ALTER bills itself as a platform for daring horror storytellers. It’s fair to say that they’ve hit the nail on that one so far. For over five years, the ever-expanding content network has produced hit after hit online, regularly racking millions of views for their productions. Numerous shorts have featured prominent performers, including Bella Ramsey, Alan Ruck, AnnaSophia Robb, Amanda Seyfried, and Karen Gillan.
ALTER’s also broken through to feature releases, with 2020’s Piggy getting a full-length release two years later, with Carlota Pereda directing both entries.
CryptTV
Since launching in 2014, CryptTV has amassed more than 3 million subscribers, all through the magic of monster stories. The channel says it’s their mission “to tell monster stories that bring the world closer together” while also creating the next generation of legendary monsters. You be the judge of how far they’ve come in succeeding that mission statement. But one certain thing is CryptTV has united horror fans with a destination for consistently quality monster shorts.
Some of the channel’s most popular releases over the years include My First Day, Ice Cream Man, and The Birch, featuring a Pan’s Labyrinth–esque tree monster you do not want to cross.
BlackBoxTV
Since joining YouTube in 2007, Tony E. Valenzuela has developed a reputation as a horror, sci-fi, and VR leader. His work has earned him over one million subscribers, millions of views, and a slew of notable partnerships and productions. Valenzuela’s BlackBoxTV provides a range of horror experiences, including immersive VR featuring memorable horror film characters, anthology shows, and various other productions.
Valenzuela has gone on to produce two full-length films since launching his channel. Before checking them out, watch popular videos like It and Five Nights at Freddy‘s 360 VR shorts and the YouTube original series Fight of the Living Dead.
DarkFun
DarkFun is a more recent entry to the list. Popping up on YouTube in May 2023, the channel has consistently produced weekly horror shorts ever since, racking up hundreds of thousands of views for some of its most-watched uploads.
Each release is directed by an abbreviated director under the DarkFun banner. Many releases focus on a woman in the crosshairs of terrifying situations, including the apartment-chiller The Painting, the paranormal road trip Don’t Run, and The Elevator, a claustrophobic journey into darkness.
Indie Shorts and Producers
This section could quickly expand into its own compendium of excellent horror shorts you can discover on YouTube. The plethora of award-winning films is nearly non-stop. Go beyond the award winners, and you’ll find a world of additional shorts worth checking out, ranging from just a few seconds to almost full-length run times.
Selecting just a few to pique your interest comes with heavy bias and a bit of traffic analytics to pick the most popular. Kickstart your long, deep, and dark dive into horror shorts with some of these stellar productions and directors.
Deep End (2023)
Directed by Anthony Selleti, Deep End tells the classic story of a kid trying to cool off on a hot summer day. In need of respite from the sun, a young boy hops over a fence into a seemingly ordinary backyard pool. But what lies beneath is anything but refreshing.
She Knows (2020)
If horror will teach us anything, it’s that if you ever hit someone with a car, it’s not worth trying to hide the body. Spencer Keller reminds us of this fact with this release that hits closer to home than some might expect.
If you like hit-and-run horror, also check out Into the Night by director Chris Goldade.
Box Fort (2021)
Respectfully, there’s a special place in horror hell for any creator who turns cherished child memories into chillers. Tyler Czajkowski earned a spot with the story of one family’s fun attempt at a nostalgia trip gone horribly wrong. If you like Box Fort, check out Czajkowski’s 2023 release, Disguise, which has already racked up over 2.5 million views on YouTube.
Ignore It (2022)
In Sam Evenson’s Ignore It, we learn two things immediately: Dinner is ready, and the monster is back. Those two may not seem equally as necessary on the surface, but one will be vital to staying alive. Is the family up for another round of high-stakes silent treatment?
If you like Ignore It, check out another one from Evenson, The Changing Room, the most horrifying thing to hit brick-and-mortar retail since Amazon Prime.
Animated Horror
Horror animators and designers have opened up a slew of unique scares, allowing us to experience indie horror in unimaginable surrealist settings and altered realities.
Horror Shorts Party has done an excellent job of twisting beloved media, often in a trippy fashion. Others, like Lights Are Off, have been a personal favorite thanks to their range of creative horror scenes, from Krampus to the stairs to nowhere. And I can’t make this entry without mentioning Aleksey__n, who’s made chillingly realistic animations of everything from a Meg attack to pseudo-space terrors.
If you like episodic horror, check out Shortest Blockbusters’ three-parter The Goat Monster vs. Fat Werewolf. And if you’re looking for a proper short, check out Borisao Blois’ underwater titan clash The Bloop vs. El Majá – La Batalla.
So Much More!
I can put only so many words on this page before people start tuning out. To keep this ever-expanding world of unique horror content concise, check out the videos above and then dive deeper in with YouTube’s suggested videos.
If these selections aren’t your jam, head to the search tab and enter the kind of horror you’re looking for. YouTube is the second-most used search engine in the world, after all.
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