Web Video / Surreal Broadcast

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Surreal Broadcast is a Web Original Analog Horror anthology series by Red Diamond. Set in the (fictitious) county of Berksaut in Maine, each video (ranging from found footage to short documentaries) paint a picture of a rural area where something is off.

The videos are:

• "Araneae", a school work project by Stephany Numman on spiders.
• "Radio", a short introduction by WXVC Radio on how radio signal works.
• "Unusual Tour Guide", a short guide by the Sunprise tourism company, showcasing Berksaut Forest.
• "Tales of Berksaut", a tape containing 3 stories about Berksaut's origin and the local mythos.
• "1989 Incident", a television broadcast of Berksaut's WXVC-TV, detailing the events of August 12th 1989.
• "The Cursed Days", a video diary by an unknown individual on his experiences late at night.
• "Art Contest", another television broadcast of WXVC-TV, this time showing this year's art contest results.
• "Receivers", a rerun by WXVC-TV of an old 1967 educational film about receivers.
• "Groove Cross Annual Festival", a television broadcast by WKKB-TV in Groove Cross regarding their annual festival.
• "Silent Forest", showing the various log entries taken by Silent Forest Surveillance System.
• "Culture And History", an interactive tape showcasing the recent history of Berksaut, most notably the Cabin Man Legend.
• "Marine Research Report", a project report by the Maine Marine Research Center for August 1986.
• "Architecture Demonstration", a short documentary about the history and design of the Groove Cross Clock Tower.
• "Animal Bite Emergency", a short guide with tips on how to prevent being bitten by an animal and what signs to look for in case you were bitten.

The series began on July 20, 2020 and is available on its YouTube channel here. Originally, there was to be one more episode after Animal Bite Emergency to wrap up the story, but Red Diamond eventually announced that it had been canceled due to delays and personal estrangement from the Analog Horror community.

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This show provides examples of:

• Alien Invasion: It is revealed in "Marine Research Report" that these creatures come from an Alternate Dimension that's linked to our own by a passage called "The Opening".
• All There in the Manual:
  • Each description provides some additional information on how the tape was found, its location and bits of trivia related to the video.
  • The Surreal Broadcast Twitter account shares photos related to recent releases, as well as information on Berksaut.
• Apocalypse How: Berksaut is subject to Class 0 on August 12th 1989.
• Apocalyptic Log: "1989 Incident" quickly becomes one, as WXVC-TV broadcasts the Servants attacking Berksaut on August 12th 1989, killing several residents.
• Arc Symbol:
  • The logo of the series, a crescent moon which appears at the end of every video.
  • The three-dot face of the Servant.
  • Concentric circles, similar to a representation of a broadcast being emitted from a transmitter.
    • It is eventually in revealed to be the Symbol of Connection, carved in the hands of Groove Cross' residents in preparation for their annual festival.
• Ax-Crazy: The unknown individual in "The Cursed Days" eventually kills a police officer.
• Body Horror:
  • "1989 Incident" indicates that the eyes of people bitten by the spiders have changed in some unknown capacity.
  THEIR EYES ARE INDESCRIBABLE.
  • Bites result to this.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In "Araneae", we learn about various species of spiders: The American House Spider (found in North America), the Tarantula (found across much of the globe) and the Thing (found in Berksaut Forest).
• Brown Note: In "Radio", it is shown that a strange radio frequency causes hallucinations, inducing paranoia, fear and anxiety to whoever listens to it for too long. In fact, it is such a threat that WXVC demands the broadcast to be shut down in case it is detected.
• Corpse Land: Both the description for "Animal Bite Emergency" and its companion piece on Twitter shows that parts of Berksaut Forest have become this as a results of the bites/attacks of the Servants.
• Cosmic Horror Story: Berksaut Forest is the new home of giant spider-like creatures feasting on the residents of the nearby city.
• Darkness Equals Death: You really want to avoid being in the vicinity of Berksaut and/or its forest after midnight.
• Death of a Child: In "Tales of Berksaut". Twice.
  • Happy Little Jimmy goes in the forest while a storm is brewing. He made a friend.
  • An entire classroom is decimated after they switched on the room's television, despite their teacher warning them not to do so.
  • The description of the video reveals that, upon investigation, these stories are all true.
• Deliberately Monochrome: "The Cursed Days".
• Don't Go in the Woods: Berksaut Forest. Home of the Mother, its Servants, a variety of Receivers and other such nightmarish specimens, it is vital you avoid the area at all cost... especially, at night. That being said, according to Sunprise in "Unusual Tour Guide": if you strictly follow their instructions, you'll be fine.
• Emergency Broadcast: One is issued on WXVC-TV in "1989 Incident". Things quickly escalate from there.
• A Fête Worse than Death: Groove Cross' Annual Festival, as the community offers a Human Sacrifice to praise "Them".
  • It is revealed in "Architecture Demonstration", that the town's Clock Tower is used as a temple for sacrifices.
• Giant Spider:
  • The "Servant" is a giant arachnid-like creature found exclusively in Berksaut Forest. Unlike our spiders, however, it is extremely aggressive, causing hallucinations and biting people.
  • "1989 Incident", and subsequently "Receivers" reveals that there isn't only one creature. There are dozens.
  • One of the submissions in "Art Contest", called The Mysterious Fog, shows a giant spider in the background.
• Haunted Technology: The description for "Art Contest" explains that the transmission wasn't from WXVC-TV, meaning it was broadcasted by a hijacking third party. When the staff tried to stop the broadcast, they were unable to do so.
• Human Architecture Horror: In "Animal Bite Emergency", some of the victims' skeletons appear to be fused into nearby trees or even the ground.
• In Memoriam: "Groove Cross Annual Festival" features a section dedicated to the memory of those who have been offered by the Groove Cross community as a Human Sacrifice.
• Kill It with Fire:
  • According to Stephany's presentation in "Araneae", this is what you need to do in case you've been bitten by a Servant.
  Isolate yourself in a room, with any flammable liquid and a lighter and let it burn.
  • At the end of "The Cursed Days", this is what the unnamed narrator attempts to do after his Sanity Slippage.
  Tonight, the forest will burn.
• Nightmare Face:
  • Instead of having an even number of eyes, the face of a Servant is just three glowing dots.
  • This applies to humans as well, in case they've been bitten.
• Ominous Mundanity: The green vortex in Eugene Coast is simply referred to as "The Opening".
• Sanity Slippage: "The Cursed Days" details the story of a man living in a cabin in Berksaut Forest. As days become weeks, the man becomes more and more agitated due to his lack of sleep and hallucinations caused by the Servants, until he eventually snaps, killing a police officer and attempting to burn Berksaut Forest.
• Spiders Are Scary:
  • Because of its subject matter, the description for "Araneae" warns viewers with arachnophobia that the video contains spiders.
  • The entire series revolves around arachnids, and for a good reason.
• Talkative Loon: The unknown individual in "The Cursed Days" keeps a video diary, as he experiences strange phenomenons at night; speaking in coherent sentences, even as his mind begins to warp.
• That Wasn't a Request: In "1989 Incident", WXVC-TV issues an urgent message to its viewers.
  Any suspicious behavior MUST be reported to the police.
• Town with a Dark Secret: Something's clearly amiss in Berksaut, Maine. It is quickly revealed that the nearby Berksaut Forest is inhabited by giant spider-like monsters that repeatedly wreak havoc in the nearby town, influencing their culture and history.
• Weird Weather: What the team in "Marine Research Report" was meant to investigate in Eugene Coast. The weird weather turned out to be "The Opening".

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There is something for you in the forest.