Fear as a genre has always welcomed experimentation, and in recent years it found a particularly clear path to innovation. Within a short span, several works crystallized into a distinct movement: Skin Care (2022), Outer Waters (2022), We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021), Tell Me (2022), and the collaborative project Back Rooms. These horror films share a common thread: they push the boundaries of narrative and style while keeping their core intent intact.
At the heart of this surge is a new cohort of filmmakers connected by the internet. Many arrived through YouTube and other online platforms, transforming their experience with channels that draw millions of followers into feature filmmaking. They infuse their works with online vernacular, and they have watched these projects grow through the buzzing exchange on forums and social networks, especially Reddit. This zeitgeist breathes through their choices and methods.
visual and audio language
The second pillar is the visual and sonic language they share. Directors in this circle tend to update the texture of images with a conceptual and stylistic lightness, favoring dreamlike atmospheres and liminal spaces. They embrace the eerie peculiarities of abandoned places and the organic convergence of internet textures into cinematic forms. The result is a collision between horror and experimental cinema that feels surprising and irresistible.
A third pattern follows many of these titles. A majority of their creators identify as queer, and the films reflect varied, often nontraditional modes of storytelling. In interviews and public conversations, pioneers like Kyle Edward Ball describe a rising movement where queer perspectives reshape horror in bold, new directions. With films such as We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and Outer Waters, the sense is that a contemporary wave of directors is shaping the future of the genre. Several are already partnering with influential names and studios, signaling a shift in how horror projects are funded and distributed.
skin care: a pioneer
Skin Care (2022) began as a crowdfunding project funded with about $15,000. Kyle Edward Ball shot it in a single week in Canada with a small crew, evolving a project that grew from his YouTube channel, BitesizedNightmares, where a community of subscribers shares their fears and nightmares. The film centers on a nightmarish journey where a home becomes an alien landscape; objects shift, sounds distort, and danger lurks in the quiet. The drama unfolds in long, still takes with scarce light, punctuated by sudden, intense bursts of visual and audio shock. Although rooted in internet culture, Skin Care invites viewers to experience a mood rooted in an earlier era of cinema. It can divide audiences—loved by some, fiercely polarizing for others. The film premiered theatrically and performed strongly, drawing attention online as it circulated through leaks and festival coverage that fed conversations on TikTok and in forums around the world.
internet-centered origins
The filmmakers behind Tell Me and Back Rooms also emerged from YouTube, where their channels outperform most traditional indie debuts. Australian YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou, known as Racka Racka, have amassed nearly seven million subscribers on their channel, blending humor, practical effects, and horror. Tell Me, a story about a group of kids who summon a spirit, premiered at Sundance and sparked high expectations. Critics noted its effective storytelling within contemporary visual languages, while acknowledging a shift toward a more accessible and widely shareable horror experience. The Sundance description framed the film as a seamless blend of ghost-story spookiness with a modern horror thriller sensibility fit for the social media era.
Kane Parsons, who built his following on YouTube, offers another striking example. His Back Rooms shorts, which invite viewers into other dimensions through uncanny liminal spaces, have drawn millions of subscribers. The reach of Parsons’ work even reached big-screen ambitions when James Wan collaborated with A24 to develop a feature adaptation based on Parsons’ series, directing a project that travels from online virality to theatrical possibility.
virality and contagion
Outer Waters and We’re All Going to the World’s Fair embody a trend toward experiments that are both visually striking and thematically ambitious. These smaller, sharper films build expectations across networks by crafting distinctive online circuits. The viral spread of Skin Care, aided by a leak during a festival edition and rapid sharing on TikTok, demonstrates how online ecosystems can amplify a low-budget project into a global conversation. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair stands out as the most intricate entry in this collection, blending formal experimentation with a deep emotional arc. In the creative process, nonbinary filmmaker Jane Schonbrum drew on firsthand YouTube references to shape a central character, tackling themes of dysphoria within a framework that still speaks to a broad audience. Schonbrum later collaborated with A24 on another project, signaling continued momentum for this new generation. The collective future of horror appears bright, with a path that leans into independent voices while still welcoming established partners and networks.