So Japan made a video about car breaks. It's got all sorts of hidden meaning too. Supposedly the girl they narrowly avoid hitting is signing "Listen for the..." and then, supposedly, the audio fills in the rest via a small mumble. I couldn't make it out. em Japanese folk for ye.

Wasn't that great? 

Now don't forget to show your friends.

- Josh

So I’ve had this obsession with playing the song “Like Shadows in an Empty Cathedral” when writing lately.  I’ve tapped it out though and so I thought I’d go searching for more like it.

I stopped by my local record shop in search of music like “From the Mouth of the Sun.” The guy there thinks a sec and points out Loscil’s “Endless Falls” and Rafael Anton Irisarri’s “Reverie.” In passing he comments, “you kind of know what you’re in for by just looking at the cover.” No kidding.  Especially in the case of “Reverie,” but I want to talk about Loscil this time.

I mean, just think about what kind of tone for mystery, the strange, or tension this could enhance:

And don't forget to check out the eerily hypnotic “Estuarine” :

“Loscil is the electronic/ambient music project of Scott Morgan, from Vancouver, BC. The name Loscil is taken from the "looping oscillator" function (loscil) in Csound.” –From Wiki.

To Check out Loscil’s website, click here: http://www.loscil.ca/
The rest of "Endless Falls" is worth checking out. As is Loscil's discography.
- Josh 

There's all sorts of hidden treasure on the internet. Every once and a while an interesting piece resurfaces. Such is the case with the short called "Pencil Face", Directed by Christian Simmons. 

A friend of mine clued me in to this oldie (uploaded to Youtube May 15th 2008) but a goodie as seen on the SCADshorts channel. That creepy large pencil had an ominous presence to it to say the least (the music is an excellent addition). Sit back and enjoy:

Tracking down more info about where this came from was a little difficult.

According to SCAD(Savannah College of Art and design)Shorts' twitter, the entertaining branch was discontinued by  SCAD. As per the Youtube channel, it was a "Monthly series of shorts by the Dandy Dwarves". Dandy Dwarves do have a twitter but don't seem to have been active since May in 2011 at the time of this post. The website links to an other language site. 

If you like Simmons' work, there's a couple of other works by him on the old SCADShorts channel by clicking through to Youtube above. 

His IMDB listing is HERE

Got some other piece of internet creepy you want to share? Let me know through Facebook, Twitter or e-mail!

Thanks Mark for the heads up on this one

- Josh

Creepy webcomics like that of the ‘Bongcheon-Dong Ghost’ are always welcome here. Never heard of the Bongcheon-Dong Ghost story? Then check out the past post about it by clicking HERE. Do that first.

Looks like Writer and Illustrator Horang, of the above ghost story, followed up with another web comic known as the 'Ok-su station Ghost'. It’s a little late coming, but follow the link through to the comic and scroll down through the strip for a unique experience. Make sure to save this one for night time:

Oksu station is a real place. The event is portrayed as having taken place on the “Line 3” platform. 

Know about the "Posting and Picture on C bulletin board of D community website in 2009" that inspired this web comic? Know of any other web comics like it? Comment below. I would love to hear about it.

- Josh

‘Creepy Pasta’ is a term used to describe creepy horror stories posted to the Internet, collected in areas like creepypasta.com and creepypasta.wiki.com. Many among them are written in a way that suggests they are real life accounts… which is a huge pet peeve of mine.

I’m not a fan of masquerading a story around as real to boost the creepiness instead of working the story to suspend a reader’s disbelief and immerse them by other means. That aside, the stories - taken lightly - are often great reads. Add to that: a narrator, creepy background music and an unsettling Youtube Photo backdrop and you have an awesome and unnerving experience waiting for you to take in.

Now, there are many ‘Creepy Pasta’ audio readers on Youtube. One of these is the very talented ‘Scarecrow1719’. You should give her a listen. Her Facebook page can be found HERE and a cleverly named Pasta reading channel called “Sugar, Spice and Dark Stormy Nights” can be found HERE.

She has a flare for Dramatic reading, has some great background music and even added sound effects at times. 

Question: What happens when you find a man standing outside your house every night between 2 and 3 am? 

He looks ill, with pale skin and tattered suit. When you wonder about him, you receive a makeshift letter in the mail that reads "There is no need for your concern". You find him outside the window again that night. Your curiosity takes over. What happens next? Take a listen: 

Now listen to this one for some great added effects including a well delivered ending:

For more, visit her channel!

- Josh

Well, what you’d end up with would be something like the PC/Mac game “The Binding of Isaac”.

It’s a dark and unforgiving adventure that has the main character running the abomination infested labyrinths beneath his house to escape his crazed mother. Take a look:

Ok, so that was a little weird. Game footage looks pretty good though. Here's the story set up:

The game takes pages right from Zelda handbook, with a reminiscent top down viewpoint, hidden doors ready to be bombed and more than one boss or monster that reminds me of baddies from “A Link to the past.” Find the Pin boss fight and tell me it doesn’t remind you of the lanmola one in the Zelda SNES classic. 

It’s a great throwback and excellent skeleton off which to pin this grim gaming experience. While it has no continues (meaning you start over each time you run out of life), It’s got enough diversity with it’s random dungeon generation – bosses, items and baddies included – that’ll keep you coming back for more.

That being said, the game’s probably darker than some would like.  I mean, your main weapon is the tears your character’s crying… That’s how frightened and disturbed he is! Watch the videos above again to decide if you could stand the sometimes exceptionally gruesome experience.

Good? Good. Now head over to Steam to purchase it. It’s worth the money.

Steam Link HERE

The Binding of Isaac is a 2011 Steam release by Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl (with a great soundtrack by Danny Baranowsky (associated with Super Meat Boy)).


- Josh


FYI - Pin and Lanmola Comparison:
Link for Pin details HERE via Wiki 
Link for Lanmola details HERE via Zelda Dungeon.net

Here’s a great piece of horror just in time for Friday. Sure, its been around since 2011, but in case you missed it, this grim, old western, god fearing, gruesome piece of animation will be sure to taint this gateway day to the long week end… in a dark but good way!

Sure, the concept of narrow minded, “Wrath of the church” is a tired one, and the blood spilling bordering on excess, but the artwork is too damn pretty not to be entranced by. The undertaker’s character, top hat, bike and all was great, especially the glimpses of its black wings expanded!

I’d be interested in hearing more about the feature length script that was mentioned at the beginning of the vid above. More along the lines of “The Backwater Gospel” sounds like a good thing.

The vid’s Directed by Bo Mathorne and produced at the Animation Workshop. Big thanks to my friend, Crystal, for sharing this dark clip with me.

- Josh

I’ve always been a fan of Nine Inch Nails (NIN). Not much so for the lyrics, but for the sound. While some could name any number of Trent Reznor’s NIN albums that could be used as a backdrop for creating, I’ll only suggest one today: Ghosts I-IV. Ever heard of it?

This entry is bursting at the seams with creativity! First, listen to the haunting Youtube video below.

The piano’s a bit heavy and somber up front, but the electronic hum at 0:49 is just plain awesome, culminating in a mournful hiss at 1:49.

According to Trent Reznor via the Ghosts website,

“This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams”

On creating the entry, Reznor explains, “The rules were as follows: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as… something”

So, not only is Ghosts I-IV a great backdrop for creativity but is also a creative experiment. Did I mention that it’s DRM (Digital Rights management) Free! (means you can share and remix the work (while making sure to attribute the work appropriately, not using it for commercial purposes, and distributing the work under the same or similar license)).

Also, there was a Reznor organized Youtube film festival, “an experiment in collaboration and a chance for us to interact beyond the typical one-way artist-to-fan relationship.” (source: Wiki)

You can pick up a copy of the CD at the Ghosts website here:

http://ghosts.nin.com/main/order_options

Have fun. Now get creating!

- Josh

I thought I'd break the silence over here at TheDarkOpera.com a minute to bring you a Youtube vid of "Big Dog," a wild piece of machinery (and source of nightmares) straight out of Boston Dynamics. 

creepy as hell, real life movements at 0:54, gingerly hoping at 2:27 followed by a "I'm gonna get you" charge at 2:39!

and if you don't believe that the thing above (as cool as it is) could be the stuff of horror, turn the volume of the "Big Dog" vid real low and hit play on the "Dr. Steinman" track from Bioshock OST for some background music. Play em simultaneously!

And if you aren't sold yet,  do the same except with Ben Frost's "The Carpathians" 

What more, new such four legged robots can track while others run faster than any human being.

- Josh

Not that I do those things anyway. Ok, I  do one of them... but not after seeing this video. 

So I was scanning Vimeo for new horror when I came across an excellent Dark fairytale with some great production value. I mean, check out the way those two branches make up the title (Below). In the vein of grim cautionary rhymes of our youth (Think of about the plague as described by the dark "Ring Around the Rosie" and go from there. This one's not for kids), and has a pretty interesting twist in the end. Take a look:

Was there more? I took a look at the Bloodycuts site (and you should too) to find that Suckablood was indeed part of a small series. I got in contact with Ben Franklin, Creator, Producer, Editor and dark mastermind of Bloody Cuts who gave me permission to post their first episode in the series below. Take a look:

So now, going into the office late is out of the question. Good thing I don't do that anyways! 

There are three other dark episodes over at their website:
http://www.bloodycuts.co.uk/

Their Vimeo page is here:
http://vimeo.com/bloodycuts

- Josh