For some time, Iâve been creating a backlog of media to get through, both on an educational and personal level. As someone who both creates and discusses horror (and other fiction), the amount of the current accepted canon Iâve experienced is laughable (and criticized by loved ones) with unending streams of conversation punctuated with, âYou have seen x film / y series?â
So, in my journey to catch up on the classics whilst finding new and excellent pieces of media out there, I finally got around to a small promise I made to an old friend regarding their work on the Internet.
The two friends I know personally who are involved with the project are Rob and Locke â Iâve known them for over three and five years, respectively (and thatâs an insane fact in and of itself) â and our friendships have been created due to the very nature of fiction, content creation, and the digital landscape we all have been a part of, at various times acting as both creators and consumers.
We all know each other due to the countless projects that surfaced around our beloved Slenderman â countless projects amidst an unending conversation (argument?) about the quality, longevity, and interest and its waning nature with its multiple years of existence. Throughout this time, the critical conversation and interest in creating a lasting story, and, simply, good fiction was always prevalent. I fondly recall late conversations on group video-calls talking about new horror, or affectionately eviscerating each otherâs work.
While the project is still on-going, this motivation has continued in their One Bad Dream, a project that has gone through years of contemplation, writing, ârebooting,â and the like. A cursory tiptoeing into the primary channelâs uploads is intriguing, and two hard-hitting episodes watched at the suggestion of the creator powerfully grips the viewer to an undefined heyday of the âverse, a period that predefined popular found-footage, found a voice before the Hollywood tropes, and expanded on the simple idea of a character holding a personal camera, as awful things happen around them.
I noted, in reflection, just how vibrantly (lots of green) the settings stuck with me, (tl;dr Florida is awful and horror thrives there) and the decent but manageable size of the cast of primary characters. Without digging too deep into the narrative, the videos establish a possibility of multiple camera uses that are popularly introduced in found footage, but rarely capitalized on. I had not yet experienced this fatigue in One Bad Dream, and enjoyed, for instance, the often-joked about ârunning scene,â but utilizing camera gear unique to our period in time / tech. The sampling of other post effects also brought strong nostalgia and respect of the genre flooding to my mind.
In conversations with Rob, I can feel the enthusiasm attached to the project, and experience the secondhand motivation and inspiration myself (might have gone on a tangent thinking aloud on #817 this week about the feeling). I wish the best for the crew of Project One Bad Dream and am hyped for what they have in store. Also, again, fictitious Florida is awful and should feel bad.
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