Launching a humble little blog with a humble little webseries.
A repost of an entry I wrote for a Best Television of the Decade series in a Facebook group.
Believe it or not, 2017 had two surreal horror adjacent series that gained a deep following and acclaim from many. The first, of course, was Twin Peaks: The Return. The second was a little thing called Petscop. Although it spawned more from the annals of creepypasta and haunted video games as a lot of horror web series, Petscop distinguished itself almost immediately despite an erratic release schedule and virtually no solid information. It might be the most Lynchian thing David Lynch didn’t direct himself.
Summarizing Petscop is difficult, so we may as well start from the beginning. The first video was uploaded on March 11, 2017 (a few months before The Return would air); a month later, an account named paleskowitz posted a link to the channel in /r/Creepygaming and other than a post in 4Chan’s /x/ (Paranormal) board, this would be the most interaction the creator would have with the outside world. From the opening frame, the series commits full-heartedly to the bit, showing the PlayStation start up sequence, and the boot up of the titular game. The conceit is that the uploader found a copy of the unreleased game Petscop, and can’t seem to find any indication that it, or its developer Garalina actually existed, but there’s some freaky stuff in it. The community calls him Paul after the name he gives the profile. At first, it appears to be a fairly normal – though unfinished – pet collection game. But once Paul inputs a sequence, suddenly it shifts to a new, darker place.
The crux of the series is Paul’s exploration through this place and suffice it to say, there’s a lot of mythology. I won’t even begin to try and untangle the mess of the Newmaker Plane, the various references to adoption and child neglect, various other characters like Care. Petscop‘s refusal to explain itself lends a mysterious air, as if viewing a transmission from another plane entirely. Every question answered raises more questions, even towards the end of the series when it starts giving more solid answers. Combined with the total lack of interaction from the creator (who eventually revealed himself a few months after the last upload), it sent the community into overdrive. But somehow, it never feels frustrating. Instead, the lack of concrete answers makes everything all the more unsettling.
It’s these lack of answers combined with the style that truly makes it worthy of a Lynch comparison. While other creepypastas feed off nostalgia by using famous properties, Petscop is an entirely original thing. Additionally, it is entirely devoid of jump scares in the traditional sense; there’s barely even any blood, gore, or creepy monsters. True to the master himself, Petscop draws unease out of long periods of silence and ellipsis alternated with droning, thumping sound. Most of the series takes place in total darkness, only illuminated by the player character. It makes me think a lot of Lost Highway, in that there’s nothing really all that scary happening on screen, but it combines to make you feel uncomfortable. And although it deals in a lot of heavy themes, Petscop never gets graphic or exploitative (helped by the fact that no one in it is actually real, despite some references). Confusing as it is, there’s nonetheless a sense of logic underpinning every episode, the idea that there are rules for this world that we can’t quite grasp, familiar as they are. It’s the same sort of grounding that runs throughout the original Silent Hill trilogy, this idea that you know you’re in a waking nightmare but that it all feels normal. All of this is combined with an analog horror style (even going so far as to start with the original PlayStation bootup), largely adhering to the stylistic constraints – low quality polygons, rudimentary movements, etc – with just enough deviation that it could be what you remember those games being.
While some of the mystique may have left once the creator revealed himself, there’s no denying that Petscop is an accomplished piece of work. Time will tell if it becomes influential on other series, or if the creator goes on to new things. If nothing else, I admire a single person for creating such an accurate feeling, singular product that made me excited every time a new notification came to my phone. Something tells me this creator has a long career ahead of himself.
Life of the Mind 