The YouTube horror gold rush is here.
Hollywood is now searching for the next major YouTube horror feature, following Curry Barker and Kane Parsons turning their low-budget projects into full-fledged films with mainstream attention.
According to Deadline, following a highly competitive 11-studio bidding war, United Artists’ Scott Stuber, Amblin’s Steven Spielberg, and Amazon MGM Studios have acquired the rights to the YouTube series “The Mandela Catalogue.”
The film will be directed by “The Mandela Catalogue” creator Alex Kister, based on a screenplay he co-wrote with Tyler Clifton.
“The Mandela Catalogue” has amassed well over 100M views across its official YouTube episodes, making it one of the most widely watched original analog horror series on the platform. It is also frequently cited as one of the genre’s defining works, alongside “Local 58” and “The Backrooms.”
“The Mandela Catalogue” is set in the fictional Mandela County, Wisconsin, which is invaded by entities known as “Alternates.” These shape-shifting, nearly immortal beings are led by a distorted figure and aim to eliminate humanity by psychologically breaking people down, often driving them to suicide.
This growing trend of Hollywood adapting popular internet horror properties—particularly YouTube-based analog horror—signals that studios are recognizing the potential of online horror “lore” and are increasingly interested in turning low-budget viral web series into theatrical films.
At the same time, there is uncertainty about whether Hollywood will misunderstand or dilute what made these YouTube projects effective in the first place. That remains a real possibility. Adapting internet culture into mainstream cinema will not always succeed as smoothly as “Backrooms” has. Still, I’m cautiously optimistic: if budgets are kept modest and creators retain creative freedom, these adaptations could lead to more ambitious and experimental horror films.
After this weekend, when “Artificial” and “Behemoth!” screen at NYFF, there won’t be many Oscar contenders left unseen. In fact, by my count, there are just two: ‘Cliff Booth,’ and “Dune: Part Three.”