Channel Zero, created by showrunner Nick Antosca (The Act), is an anthology series first released in 2016 that adapts creepypasta stories into six-episode seasons. Each season takes a different online horror story and expands on it, creating a rich, vibrant, urban-legend themed story that’s deeply personal to the characters involved.
After producing four highly successful seasons for SyFy and Shudder, Channel Zero has sadly been cancelled, which means it’s the perfect time to take a look back on the series. A slow-burn, highly character-driven series, Channel Zero is not what most people expected when it was announced to the public that there would be a series based around the popular online stories, known collectively as creepypastas.
While creepypastas may be more in the public eye now than they used to be, these horror stories originated in forums and chat rooms as fictional urban legends designed to be passed around like online campfire stories. Usually very short and written in the first person, creepypastas are the next step in the evolution of the oral storytelling tradition, but how successful was Channel Zero in adapting these stories for the screen?
What Channel Zero Got Wrong About Creepypastas
Creepypastas began as short, scary forum posts designed to freak out fellow commenters. Now having ballooned into a huge fanbase of online scary stories, creepypastas have given birth to several popular villains like Slenderman and Jeff the Killer, in the online equivalent of campfire stories.
While Channel Zero does a great job of building dread over each season, the show is well known for its slow-burn pacing, which may leave some audience members feeling underwhelmed. The way that shots linger, close-ups are drawn out, and camera movements are slowed down are effective ways to build dread, but also creates an atmosphere that doesn’t quite gel with the feeling of creepypastas.
Channel Zero also takes itself very seriously, injecting almost no humor, levity, or camp into any of its seasons. This is very different from the world of creepypastas, which—by the very nature of being internet fiction—often include self-referential humor and a campy feel.
Finally, a few of Channel Zero’s seasons have been criticized for being a bit overcomplicated and hard to follow thanks to in-depth dialogue and a lot of moving parts. This is another major departure from its creepypasta origin in that many of the original stories are fairly straightforward in nature without much to them other than the main villain or primary scare.
What Channel Zero Got Right About Creepypastas
Channel Zero does a lot more right by their creepypasta source material than they get wrong; the number one thing they do well is their creature design. Season after season, the creature designs are creative, terrifying, and incredibly well-made despite the show being done on a tiny budget. From the Tooth Fairy monster in “Candle Cove” to Pretzel Jack in “Dream Door”, each Channel Zero season brings new and inventive creatures, something creepypastas are known for.
The next thing that Channel Zero really does well is their adaptation of urban legend style stories. Each season features some element of urban legend like all the friends in “Candle Cove” remembering a show from their childhood, a viral video spreading in “No-End House”, and the characters in “Butcher’s Block” sharing a local urban legend about a rich family. This is the perfect way to pay tribute to creepypastas, because so many of those are based on fictional rumors or local legends.
All of Channel Zero’s seasons tell a story that is deeply personal to the characters involved. As most creepypastas are told in first person and presented as personal encounters with strange occurrences, the show takes this aspect to heart through its storytelling. Channel Zero builds on its creepypasta source material, delivering stories that are chilling, but also incredibly human.