LOCAL 58
Horror and Enlightenment From Above
A lot of this particular internet-based media is dependent on personal exposure to it. It's a spooky news channel.
LOCAL 58
There's a lore to this channel and all the videos propose different puzzle pieces of an eternally unsolved mystery. I appreciate the passion put into them. Each are distinct, like different genres, and introduce questions, the likes of which raise disturbing implications. The audience has to work a bit to make sense of it.
"Contingency" is a 'false' public service announcement commanding all Americans to commit suicide because America has been defeated. It's horrifying, because you don't realise what it means at the start. Then everything clicks together in one swift realization. The U.S. fell? To what/who? Are they human? "Law enforcement has been ordered to ensure your compliance?" "Infants and pets, the smallest patriots?" What the fuck? Why does the US want to kill all their civilians? Pride? Or could it be that something far far worse exists to torment them otherwise? And then the video concludes with a twist that the video is officially declared as a hoax. Is it, or is that just a lie from the government? If so, who broadcast this?
"Show for Children" is, first-off, beautifully animated. It's intentionally reminiscent of 1930s animation, for an old-fashioned, unusual aesthetic. It also uses the 80s news aesthetic for the schedule, an effective technique adding to a sense of authenticity.
The music is creeping and repetitive, like a corrupted track. The innocent-looking main character is countered by what they see. Until the end where they look up, lying down. Only for death to come from above, from madness. The creepy smiling/frowning moon being placed over the tree is unnerving attention to detail. The stories seem to follow a pattern wherein the moon presents a mysterious danger.
The clown's eyes moving straight to the viewer at the end, for a second, is also a neat detail.
"Weather Service" has nothing to do with weather; contradictory warning announcements, each as chilling as the next. E V E R Y T H I N G I S F I N E.
I could write pages upon pages on each individual video, the mastery of horror within, and their implications.
Watch these videos at night and goosebumps show up within seconds.
Local 58 was created by Kris Straub, known for other work. Primarily including Candle Cove, one of the greatest creepypasta (portmanteau of creepy and copypasta, which itself just means a repeated wall of text.) stories, also being hugely popular. It also inspired a wave of more creepypasta and horror stories, also including unfortunately lesser stories within the community. In my opinion, the popularity of fake 'lost episodes', like 'Dead Bart' (The Simpsons) or 'Squidward's Suicide' (SpongeBob) (both written a year after Candle Cove), carry on similar themes; this specific concept of a hidden episode, the monstrosity of the horror genre released through something thought innocent, the deception of appearance.
Also, Candle Cove, an internet story, got its own TV series, which unfortunately wasn't as good.
A lot of this particular internet-based media is dependent on personal exposure to it. It's a spooky news channel.
LOCAL 58
There's a lore to this channel and all the videos propose different puzzle pieces of an eternally unsolved mystery. I appreciate the passion put into them. Each are distinct, like different genres, and introduce questions, the likes of which raise disturbing implications. The audience has to work a bit to make sense of it.
"Contingency" is a 'false' public service announcement commanding all Americans to commit suicide because America has been defeated. It's horrifying, because you don't realise what it means at the start. Then everything clicks together in one swift realization. The U.S. fell? To what/who? Are they human? "Law enforcement has been ordered to ensure your compliance?" "Infants and pets, the smallest patriots?" What the fuck? Why does the US want to kill all their civilians? Pride? Or could it be that something far far worse exists to torment them otherwise? And then the video concludes with a twist that the video is officially declared as a hoax. Is it, or is that just a lie from the government? If so, who broadcast this?
"Show for Children" is, first-off, beautifully animated. It's intentionally reminiscent of 1930s animation, for an old-fashioned, unusual aesthetic. It also uses the 80s news aesthetic for the schedule, an effective technique adding to a sense of authenticity.
The music is creeping and repetitive, like a corrupted track. The innocent-looking main character is countered by what they see. Until the end where they look up, lying down. Only for death to come from above, from madness. The creepy smiling/frowning moon being placed over the tree is unnerving attention to detail. The stories seem to follow a pattern wherein the moon presents a mysterious danger.
The clown's eyes moving straight to the viewer at the end, for a second, is also a neat detail.
"Weather Service" has nothing to do with weather; contradictory warning announcements, each as chilling as the next. E V E R Y T H I N G I S F I N E.
I could write pages upon pages on each individual video, the mastery of horror within, and their implications.
Watch these videos at night and goosebumps show up within seconds.
Local 58 was created by Kris Straub, known for other work. Primarily including Candle Cove, one of the greatest creepypasta (portmanteau of creepy and copypasta, which itself just means a repeated wall of text.) stories, also being hugely popular. It also inspired a wave of more creepypasta and horror stories, also including unfortunately lesser stories within the community. In my opinion, the popularity of fake 'lost episodes', like 'Dead Bart' (The Simpsons) or 'Squidward's Suicide' (SpongeBob) (both written a year after Candle Cove), carry on similar themes; this specific concept of a hidden episode, the monstrosity of the horror genre released through something thought innocent, the deception of appearance.
Also, Candle Cove, an internet story, got its own TV series, which unfortunately wasn't as good.
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