Editorials
Horror Fans Have Never Had it This Good
I hope you’re enjoying yourself, because we horror fans have it pretty good right now. If you’ve ever needed proof that our favorite genre is still very much alive, you needn’t look any further than this month’s offering of video games. Whatever flavor(s) of horror you prefer, we’ve seen a bit of everything — from supernatural to survival horror, prehistoric to post-apocalyptic.
For the most part, the last few weeks’ worth of horror-themed releases have been quality games, and the ones that are still on the way look incredibly promising.
Even if the rest of this month’s new releases are disappointing, that won’t change the fact that we haven’t had it this good in years.
So what, specifically, am I referring to? Well, technically, this horror game extravaganza kicked off with Daylight on April 29th. It wasn’t a great game, but that doesn’t matter, because it was quickly followed up by several other titles that are well worth your time if that one didn’t interest you.
May started strong, with the full release of developer Big Robot’s quirky, British robo-horror stealth survival game Sir, You Are Being Hunted. I’ve spent some time with the game, though not as much as I would have liked, and so far my favorite thing about it is its fantastic sense of humor. It’s also not an easy game, or maybe I’m just not very good at it. Either way, if you’re looking for a challenge, this one offers that and so much more.
A week after the British (robot) invasion, we saw the release of Outlast: Whistleblower (May 6), a prequel expansion to arguably the scariest game of 2013. It’s narrative is stronger than the base game, and it wraps up the story of Mount Massive asylum nicely, while offering a bit of closure for anyone who were unsatisfied with Outlast’s ending.
Not long after Red Barrels had put a neat, blood-spattered bow on their terrifying game of hide-and-seek, Telltale released the third episode in the five episode-long second season of their ridiculously good The Walking Dead: The Game.
In Harm’s Way continues the increasingly perilous story of Clementine and friends as they face new dangers, most of which consist of cruel people doing awful things, which is sometimes broken up by the sudden unwelcome appearance of a few zombies. If you’re wondering where my review of this is, I had to delay it to make way for a trip out of town. It’ll go live early next week, I promise.
And finally, Fatal Frame fans got their spirit photography fix with the long anticipated arrival of DreadOut on May 15. It follows a group of students who discover a ghost town during their class trip to Indonesia. Unfortunately for them, this ghost town lives up to its name, but it’s not all bad, as one of the students soon learns she has the power to vanquish these malicious spirits (because video games).
Alone, that many scary games in a little over two week’s time would be worthy of celebration, but the fun doesn’t end there, no sir. We haven’t even touched on the handful of titles that will be made available to the public in the coming weeks, albeit in unfinished states.
Last week, Dead Island: Epidemic hit Steam Early Access, introducing its colorful new take on the popular zombie franchise. It’s also free-to-play, so there’s no real reason not to at least give it a try. On Monday, F.E.A.R. Online will be joining Epidemic with its horror-themed free-to-play multiplayer offering, and the party ends with The Forest and The Stomping Land which both arrive on Steam Early Access on May 30.
If memory serves, it’s been at least two years since we were last gifted with a release schedule that was this exciting, and the month I’m remembering wasn’t all that impressive. If you’ll take a journey back to March 2012, you’ll likely remember how promising that month was, with its decent selection of promising horror games that included I Am Alive, Silent Hill HD Collection, Silent Hill Downpour, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, and Yakuza: Dead Souls. It was exciting, until the games came out, and then it wasn’t.
Thanks to a number of talented indie developers — six of the nine titles I mentioned are coming from small studios that are self-publishing their games — we’ve had a month that will be remembered. The reason I decided to take the time to write about all this is simple, really.
I’ve made it a goal of mine to use Bloody Disgusting’s substantial reach to promote indie developers who I think deserve it, because the games I’m most excited for nowadays are almost entirely coming from the indie space. I also keep hearing people say that horror is either dead, dying, or the bubble that is this golden age of indie horror we currently find ourselves in is about to burst, sending us all free-falling into a sea of brown and grey shooters, sequels, and casual games. I don’t believe it, not for a second.
Genres gain and lose popularity and attention over time — there’s no avoiding that — but in no way is horror on its way out. At least not for a while.
This leads me to my question: with all of these new horror games available or coming soon, which one(s) will have your attention as we head into E3?
I first heard about The Mandela Catalogue through a couple of nephews who were obsessed with the ARG’s sinister mythology. It was only after watching Wendigoon’s in-depth analysis of the series that I realized just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
In fact, I’d already been exposed to the nightmarish visuals of Alex Kister’s YouTube creation for years at that point without even realizing that it was the origin of several viral “cursed images” and spooky memes that had leaked into the wider internet – with this viral element actually being a part of the Catalogue’s overarching narrative.
Flash-forward to 2026 and the unprecedented success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has led to Hollywood betting on horrific internet properties with existing fanbases, which means that Kister’s unique hybrid of both religious and analog horror is finally headed to the big screen with a script written by Kister himself alongside Tyler Clifton.
While this news shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing success of The Mandela Catalogue (both myself and Wendigoon having previously predicted that the series would inevitably make the jump to theaters one day), plenty of horror fans are likely confused as to why so many folks are excited for what appears to be a Hollywood adaptation of a series of creepy .jpeg images under a VHS filter.
With that in mind, today I’d like to invite fellow readers to accompany me as I explore the origins of Alex Kister’s viral hit and attempt to explain exactly why we should all be excited about the Mandela Catalogue adaptation!
From High School Writing Project to Internet Horror Phenomenon
The first seeds of The Mandela Catalogue were sown when Kister was still in high school and developed a writing project subverting religious tropes in a world where biblical history had been altered by demonic forces. A little while later, Kister came across an analog horror contest on Reddit and decided to adapt his ideas into a standalone video where he would edit a religious kids’ cartoon –The Beginner’s Bible: The Nativity, to be specific- into something far creepier. This is how the iconic Overthrone video was born, with this viral short film taking on a life of its own as fans demanded more eerie content from Kister.
Though the video was originally meant to be a one-and-done sort of affair, with Kister actually regretting some of its primitive visuals and considering the editing amateurish and “YouTube-Poop-like” when compared to his current standards, fan reaction and free time during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the (then) seventeen-year-old filmmaker to continue producing content set in this same world. The Mandela Catalogue name was inspired by the Mandela Effect conspiracy theory, as the series would slowly begin to explore the subtle horror of alternate histories.
Inspired by existential dread brought on by extended periods of quarantine as well as a personal crisis of faith, Kister continued to expand his alternate timeline where the rise of Christianity had been prevented by what was presumably the Devil disguised as the Archangel Gabriel. This alternate course of fictional events led to the existence of certain paranormal anomalies that had come to be accepted as “normal” by the 1990s, which is why most of the series’ supernatural horror is presented in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Most of this background information and religious lore is delivered by increasingly cryptic broadcasts and in-universe PSAs, as well as the occasional found footage video, that often have to be decoded by clever viewers. Of course, it’s the consistently disturbing imagery that made the series so popular – much of which was originally created by Kister on a smartphone!
The Alternates: Horror’s Most Unsettling Modern Monsters
The show’s early episodes mostly take place within the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin and depict life in a world where demonic entities are capable of using media to enter our reality. This process usually involves scaring victims into killing themselves and then repurposing their bodies as horrific doppelgangers referred to as “Alternates”. This terrifying phenomenon has become so common that local police already have specialized procedures in place to deal with the issue, though this usually consists of simply ignoring calls for help so as to avoid spreading so-called “Metaphysical Awareness Disorder” any further.
Over time, Kister would expand this mythology and incorporate different kinds of Alternates into the mix, though the story never stopped deconstructing religious concepts. The series’ second volume exponentially increased both video quality and the overall narrative scope as we began to follow the lives of characters who had already grown up in this dystopian hellscape where the government is forced to prohibit religion, television, and even mirrors in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the ongoing invasion of otherworldly entities.
The really interesting part comes into play when you realize exactly how the Alternates make use of scary media in order to spread their demonic influence, with the analog horror of it all being a diegetic part of the story and something of a memetic trap orchestrated by the false Gabriel.
I particularly appreciate how some characters begin to suspect that there’s something wrong with their version of reality and that things weren’t meant to play out this way, especially when Mark utters the haunting line “who have I been praying to all this time?” That’s why I think The Mandela Catalogue is an effective piece of religious horror even if you don’t subscribe to the Christian worldview, as the mere idea of a world where evil has already won is a universally terrifying concept in and of itself. Not only that, but the series’ uncanny analog imagery alone is already worth the price of admission, as you’ve likely already noticed by looking at the pictures accompanying this article.
Why The Feature Adaptation Could Be Horror’s Next Big Success
It’s actually been a whole year since Kister first announced that he had been working on a feature-length screenplay for a Mandela Catalogue movie since 2022, with his proposed story following an ensemble of high-school graduates who uncover a supernatural conspiracy after the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student. This premise sounds similar to narrative elements present in the series’ second volume, but I’m pretty sure that Kister is going to go the Kane Parsons route and make the movie more of a spin-off than a re-imagining of its source material.
While notable Hollywood producers like Aaron B. Koontz, Scott Stuber, and Steven Spielberg himself are backing the upcoming project, I feel like there’s no one better to adapt this deeply personal exploration of faith and the dark side of communication than the person who first came up with it. That’s why I can’t wait to see Kister’s work on the big screen, as I have a feeling that this young filmmaker is the next one on the list about to make cinematic history – especially since this is clearly a passion project that has been in the works for years at this point!
That being said, there’s always a chance that the film could end up unleashing a fresh wave of Alternate incursions, but I guess that’s just a risk we’ll have to take.
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