We here at HorrorBuzz like to think we’re your internet source for the weird and horrifying in whatever form it may come, be that film, games, haunts, or television, but it’s about time that we take a look at our own backyard and give you the latest developments on what is happening on the weird side of the internet in an easily-digestible monthly article. The Weird Side will look at Youtube channels, viral videos, internet mysteries, ARGs and everything else the dark corners of the web have to offer.

In our inaugural offering, we have a look at two uniquely unnerving Youtube channels that couldn’t be contained and have branched out onto new platforms.

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, often abbreviated DHMIS, is the sort of children’s programming that could only have arisen online. Quality programming that teaches kids the important lessons, like how green isn’t a creative color and the bad foods that will make your teeth go grey. The channel posted it’s first video, Bad Things That Could Happen, an art piece featuring giant cardboard food in November 2010, but it wouldn’t be until the following year until that we would get our first glimpse at Red Guy, Yellow Guy, and The Duck, the main cast of DHMIS. The series would continue for 6 episodes, coming to its conclusion in June 2016 with a climactic finale that seemed to provide as much closure as anyone could expect to a series as surreal and offbeat as DHMIS.

It was to everyone’s surprise, then, when just 2 weeks ago, a 30-second teaser titled Wakey Wakey… was posted to the channel. The video begins with Yellow Guy saying “wakey wakey” as the image of a town fades into view, a place called Clayhill. We get a short montage,  Duck opening a door, Red Guy walking through a forest, the living room with an anthropomorphized key featuring Easter eggs from throughout the show, and perhaps most interesting, a scene of the characters animated in 2D. There is plenty to analyze here and hardcore theorists have been working diligently to glean as much context from this as possible, but even for a casual fan, there is a lot to chew on. Duck is shown at the helm of a row of machines as a robot raises up a diabolical drill and the room he’s shown entering at the beginning is revealed to be the mayor’s office, but the mayor is nowhere to be found with his cup of coffee spilled on the floor and his phone hanging off the receiver. We cut to the gates of the city chained up with what looks to be Duck on screens rising above the city saying how the city is now safe, suggesting he might factor into the story of the town in some major way.

The biggest question is, what does this mean for the future of the series? Well, we get a big hint about what it means at the very end. As the DHMIS logo disappears, the logos for Blink Industries, Conaco, and Super Deluxe are all displayed. Blink Industries is a creative studio that produces commercials, music videos and short films that has worked with Coldplay, U2, and Bjork. Super Deluxe is owned by Turner Broadcasting and is known for producing web content and content for Adult Swim featuring comedians such as Bob Odenkirk, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, and Vic Berger. Conaco is a production company owned by Conan O’Brien that is most known for producing his show Conan but also notably co-produced Lost with NBC Studios.

But what do these studios have to do with DHMIS? Well, we didn’t have to wait long for our answer as a representative for Turner Broadcasting confirmed that plans are in the works to produce more content for the series and to bring it to new platforms. A speculative pilot has been shot and they are currently in talks with streaming and cable services, though as of the writing of this article, it has not been confirmed to be picked up by any service. The future of DHMIS may be up in the air for now, but with the series as a whole receiving a total of over 150 million views and this new teaser reaching 6.2 million in only 2 weeks, it seems likely that this won’t be the last we’ll be seeing of this series.

I love Poppy. You love Poppy. The internet loves Poppy. From a rather innocuous video almost 4 years ago of Poppy eating cotton candy to a world tour, videos for Super Deluxe, and multiple appearances on the Fine Bros. React channel and The Late Late Show with James Corden, everyone’s favorite bleach blonde cult leader has certainly left a mark. I could say a lot more about the Poppy phenomenon and I did, so go ahead and read that if you have no idea what I’m talking about.

When I wrote that article, we knew that Poppy was coming to The Wiltern in LA on Halloween night. Even if that’s all that was happening, just a regular Poppy show on Halloween, that alone is worth your consideration. Fellow HorrorBuzz writer Jeff saw her earlier this year during her Poppy.Computer tour, comparing its quasi-cultlike brainwashing aesthetic to an immersive theatrical show. But a concert is just a concert, right? No! That’s wrong! With the release of a cryptic 30-second teaser posted on the 20th, the truth of this show was revealed. It would be no mere concert, but an experience, The Poppy Halloween Experience.

What does that mean? I honestly have no idea, no one does. The video accompanying the announcement is just b-roll of antiquated computers and magnetic tape drives with an ominous scene of what look to be missiles converging on some geographical location with a skull and crossbones appearing over it while a snippet of her most recent major single Time Is Up plays. Is this Poppy’s ultimate plan? To gather a crowd under the pretense of a concert to blow us all up with missiles? All I know is I’ve got my ticket and if this is how I’m destined to go out, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Additional details are basically non-existent, though Poppy’s Facebook page does mention a secret after party and some tantalizing binary that just translates to “Am I A Girl” the name of her upcoming album that will also be releasing that same day.

Get your tickets for the upcoming android apocalypse before they sell out.

With the major news out of the way, here are a couple more videos released this last month that are worth checking out.

If I know our audience, the name Tommy Wiseau is probably immediately familiar to most of you. For the others, he’s the creative mind behind the “so bad, it’s good” classic The Room, a film so bizarre that it’s production was immortalized in the Golden Globe-award winning film The Disaster Artist, directed by and starring James Franco as Wiseau and based off a book written by star of The Room, Greg Sestero. To promote the recent release of the pair’s new film, Best F(r)iends: Volume Two, they shot a special video for Nerdist, their own unique take on the famous interrogation scene from The Dark Knight.

On the heels of Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role of the mad clown, Tommy shows us the huge mistake DC is making in casting an inferior actor for this part as he makes the case that he is born to play this role. In all seriousness, while there are plenty of moments of Wiseau’s trademark cotton-mouthed delivery where the audience isn’t quite sure whether he doesn’t know the words or if we just can’t understand him, it kind of works for this role and shows that he may just be able to shine if given the right opportunity. Greg Sestero doesn’t fare quite as well in playing Batman, but overall it’s a pretty fun little short that fans of The Room should enjoy.

I first discovered Jennifer Nangle in a segment from the horror anthology film 10/31 and upon finding out that her character, Malvolia: the Queen of Screams, had her own Youtube channel, I was instantly hooked. In the tradition of Elvira and Vampira, Malvolia is a campy gothic horror host with a wicked sense of humor. Featuring charming sets and characters and combining skits with some quality short films, this series makes me nostalgic for the 90s, back when I first grew obsessed with the character of the Crypt Keeper, the punniest ghoul around, who I viewed with a combination of intrigue and trepidation despite how goofy and comical he could be in retrospect. Sadly, after two years her channel is still south of 500 subscribers and it seemed as if she might be gone for good after she went dark following the conclusion of her 12 Dark Days of Xmas series at the end of 2017. As of just last week, however, we got signs of life as a new video was released announcing a return on October 2nd. I’m not sure whether the same market exists for horror hosts in 2018 that existed in the days of the Crypt Keeper and Elvira, but this is the sort of content I want to see more of and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to use my tiny pulpit to advocate for it.

And with that, we have scoured the depths of the creepiest news fit to print that was released this past month, but I have a feeling that there won’t be a lack of stuff to cover in November, so come back around this time next month for the next haul all the way from The Weird Side.