From YouTube to Horror Movies: 6 Creators Who Became Filmmakers

YouTube has always had a niche horror community. 

A number of content creators have found viral fame by posting their horror short films on the platform: think David Sandberg’s short Lights Out, which he eventually turned into a full-length feature), or Dylan Clark’s Portrait of God, which will be turned into a film, with Sam Raimi and Jordan Peele to produce), or even Troy Wagner, Joseph DeLage, and Tim Sutton’s Slender Man-inspired Marble Hornets series, which led to Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story. The YouTube-to-horror-film pipeline is real, and two more YouTubers are set to make their directorial debut in the genre this year: Curry Barker’s Obsession is set to hit Philippine cinemas on May 27, while Kane Parsons’ Backrooms will begin wide screening on June 3. 

In honor of Obsession and Backrooms making their local premiere in the coming weeks, we’ve compiled a list of creators on YouTube, their origin stories, and how they eventually found themselves behind the camera on the set of a horror film.

RackaRacka, a.k.a. Danny and Michael Philippou

Before the success of their two full-length horror features with A24 — Talk to Me and Bring Her Back — the Australian twins were busy making YouTube sketches involving murderous video game characters, demonic Pikachus, and a regularly spotted Ronald McDonald going on a rampage. RackaRacka, the Philippous’ YouTube channel, was their first dip into the world of making videos (many of which, like their horror movies, were more than a little bloody). 

“Oh it was always movies, obsessing about horrors,” Danny told Screen Slate when asked about the early interests that got them into filmmaking. “We would always seek out the things that we weren’t allowed to watch.”

Chris Stuckmann

Chris Stuckmann’s directorial debut was long overdue. An avid cinephile, Stuckmann has been posting film reviews on his YouTube channel since 2009. In 2021, Stuckmann announced that he’d be writing and directing a found footage horror movie. He launched a Kickstarter campaign for Shelby Oaks, bringing in $1.4 million and becoming the biggest crowdfunding effort ever for a horror feature. In 2024, Mike Flanagan signed on as an executive producer, and the film made its world premiere that same year at the Fantasia Film Festival. Neon eventually acquired the world distribution rights for the film.

The movie debuted to mixed reviews (it currently has a 55% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes), but this hasn’t detracted Stuckmann from continuing his YouTube career. He’s still regularly posting film reviews on his channel, although it’s unclear if he’ll ever return to the director’s chair again. 

Jacksepticeye, a.k.a. Seán McLoughlin

If you grew up in the mid-aughts watching video game streams, then you know Jacksepticeye. The gamer made his name posting playthroughs of everything from Minecraft to God of War, and he’s also showed off his voice acting skills in games like Dispatch, Poppy Playtime, and Bendy and the Ink Machine. Last year, McLoughlin announced that he’d be executive producing an upcoming “ritualistic indie thriller” titled Godmother. Although the movie has yet to set a release date, it will star Dee Wallace (9-1-1, E.T.), Paige Evans (Revival), Bruce Davidson (X-Men), and more.

Markiplier, a.k.a. Mark Fischbach

Markiplier rose through the YouTube hierarchy making video game walkthroughs, many of which veered on the side of horror (e.g. Five Nights at Freddy’s, Resident Evil 7, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, etc.). His nearly 40 million YouTube followers were patiently waiting for the gamer to make his directorial debut with Iron Lung, a project which he’d been teasing since 2022. Based on the video game of the same name by David Szymanski, Iron Lung is essentially Markiplier trapped in a submarine and surrounded by an ocean of blood (yes, don’t think too hard about the plotline). Despite having made the film independently (with a $3 million budget) and being a relative unknown in Hollywood, Fischbach exceeded expectations when Iron Lung generated over $51 million worldwide for its box office run.

Kane Pixels, a.k.a. Kane Parsons

Although the concept of the “Backrooms” has been floating around the Internet since 2002, making its way across early 4chan forums and evolving into full-on digital folklore on Creepypasta, Kane Parsons turned the urban myth into a series of short videos in 2022. His Backrooms series — many of which feature a zig-zag of yellow hallways, unsettlingly arranged furniture, and something always lurking out of the corner of your eye — immediately went viral on YouTube, and it forms the backbone of his A24 directorial debut of the same name. The 20-year-old’s first-ever feature film also boasts a stacked cast, which includes Renate Reinsve, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Duplass, and Finn Bennett. Backrooms makes its Philippine premiere on June 3. 

that’s a bad idea’s Curry Barker

It only took years for Curry Barker to transition from YouTube sketch comedy (classics include “I Got Elon Musk’s Neuralink Early!!!!” and “Vodka Stand”) to horror feature filmmaking, but he did it with a bang. He posted his directorial debut, Milk & Serial, on YouTube via his channel “that’s a bad idea,” which he started with Cooper Tomlinson. The horror feature was highly acclaimed, and it’s led to Barker releasing his first cinematic work Obsession, which is the highest-grossing genre acquisition in TIFF history ($15M+). It follows a hopeless romantic as he breaks a mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, only to realize that his wish may have gone a little too far. Obsession’s opening weekend in the United States has already raked in $16 million. 

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