Scroll scroll scroll scroll AIIIGHH

August 23, 2011 4:22 PM

This comic isn't in English, but you'll get the gist of it. NOT for the easily unnerved. Scroll down slowly! Hat tip: Scott McCloud.
posted by Shepherd (155 comments total)

I thought I was more nerved than that.
posted by DaddyNewt at 4:28 PM on August 23, 2011 [28 favorites]

AUGH JESUS
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 4:29 PM on August 23, 2011 [25 favorites]

I felt a tingling sensation in my head and down my back. It momentarily took me out of myself and I was transfixed. I responded physically to it, even on the second viewing when I knew what was going to happen. It's some kind of perfect combination of sound and visual... the recognition of a face, the insect-like buzz... it's clearly designed to provoke this response and, well damn, it seems perfect. I could not possibly have created this. I don't wish to view it again, even to understand it. (It happens twice, btw.)
posted by rlk at 4:29 PM on August 23, 2011 [14 favorites]

I felt a tingling sensation in my head and down my back. It momentarily took me out of myself and I was transfixed. I responded physically to it, even on the second viewing when I knew what was going to happen.

This is exactly what happened to me.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 4:30 PM on August 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

It's like a basilisk.
posted by rlk at 4:31 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is awesome awesome awesome - thanks for posting.

However, I think there should be more of a warning, because if I unknowingly opened this with my 8 year old in the room he would probably wet his pants and have trouble sleeping at night.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:32 PM on August 23, 2011

I saw a translation on another forum:

Here's a rough translation of that comic:

Girl: "Oh, that poor man seems to have broken his leg!"
Man: "Excuse me, young lady, I've had a terrible accident. Can you direct me to the hospital?"
Girl: "It's just over there."
[Man leaves.]
[Man returns urgently.]
Man: "I forgot to thank you for your assistance. I greatly appreciate it."
Girl: "You're welcome."

Narrator: "And that is why you should look both ways before crossing the street."

posted by rollick at 4:33 PM on August 23, 2011 [56 favorites]

Just as I was about to close the link from meh-ness... AIIGHH. ACK@! WTF? /stabsyou. I do not approve of this message.
posted by jopreacher at 4:33 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

That was awesome. Anyone care to translate the text?
posted by freshwater at 4:33 PM on August 23, 2011

Yeah, I nearly pissed myself too when I "read" it.
posted by Kitteh at 4:35 PM on August 23, 2011

This is probably too far down the thread to help anyone, but still: DO NOT USE HEADPHONES.
posted by SomaSoda at 4:36 PM on August 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

Wait but seriously how does the page know which part I'm looking at and then scroll itself? I did not know this was possible. (I realize it has something to do with Flash, since it doesn't work with Flashblock on, but still.)
posted by shakespeherian at 4:39 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hey, cool pink Chucks that girl's wearing! Where can I buy em?

also that poor man needs medical attention, and a hot bath to calm his nerves!
posted by naju at 4:39 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Thanks SomaSoda, bit late for me as I've just AAARH- reflex-closed my window and shrieked a little. But thanks.
posted by dabitch at 4:41 PM on August 23, 2011

Can you imagine if this was applied to a website where you're concentrating on a long, somewhat dry piece of text? Like something on JSTOR, or The Economist... or hey I got it, that long piece on Michelle Bachman in the New Yorker! You're reading paragraph after paragraph, slowly becoming horrified by what you're reading, and then without warning MICHELLE BACHMAN WITH THE CRAZY EYES JUMPING OUT AT YOU
posted by naju at 4:44 PM on August 23, 2011 [30 favorites]

congratulations you got a screamer on metafilter
posted by LogicalDash at 4:44 PM on August 23, 2011 [17 favorites]

I scrolled the first time with Flash blocked and thought it was creepy - when I viewed it with Flash on I couldn't make it past the first animation.
posted by jcrbuzz at 4:45 PM on August 23, 2011

That's really cool. I guess it works well because it plays with your expectations of what a webcomic is, which makes the work itself creepy and unnatural as the story it's telling (which is pretty stock).
posted by codacorolla at 4:46 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can get pink Chucks from the official Converse site or any decent athletic shoe retailer will order them in for you. In fact you can build your own Chucks with almost any colour/style you want on the Converse site if you live in the US. (This fills me with envy.)

I must point out, however, that those are not official Chucks because the stars on Chucks are on the instep side.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:46 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Can you imagine if this was applied to a website where you're concentrating on a long, somewhat dry piece of text? Like something on JSTOR, or The Economist... or hey I got it, that long piece on Michelle Bachman in the New Yorker! You're reading paragraph after paragraph, slowly becoming horrified by what you're reading, and then without warning MICHELLE BACHMAN WITH THE CRAZY EYES JUMPING OUT AT YOU

I've always thought it would be fucking hysterical to insert this into a random clip somewhere on an otherwise regular porn site.
posted by threeants at 4:47 PM on August 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

This was absolutely great, and I'm happy I read the comic before seeing threeants's spoiler.
posted by Greg Nog at 4:47 PM on August 23, 2011

I love it, effective and engaging without reading the captions (though that would free up the senses for that little "NyahH") Great work. Are captions in English available?
The Converse.must.know.truth.
posted by clavdivs at 4:47 PM on August 23, 2011

Unnnh, my toe. The shiver went all the way down to my toe and I can still feel it. :(
posted by Rora at 4:48 PM on August 23, 2011

Sorry about the spoiler y'all. I genuinely thought people would appreciate being warned; I guess I am preternaturally faint-hearted.
posted by threeants at 4:48 PM on August 23, 2011

"I've always thought it would be fucking hysterical to insert this into a random clip somewhere on an otherwise regular porn site."

What, you're creating business for sex therapists??
posted by tomswift at 4:49 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

That was fucked up.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 4:49 PM on August 23, 2011

Like "W" said: ""There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.""
posted by tomswift at 4:51 PM on August 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

I approve of this warning if not for nostaligia purposes, like the old movie warnings. Heeded, my irises widen.
posted by clavdivs at 4:52 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

I didn't realise until going back up to see what would happen, but it's just individual frames automatically scrolled by really quickly. I wonder how much coding it takes to set something like this up, or what exactly controls it.
posted by rollick at 4:52 PM on August 23, 2011

I felt a tingling sensation in my head and down my back. It momentarily took me out of myself and I was transfixed. I responded physically to it, even on the second viewing when I knew what was going to happen.

Same here, wtf? How does it do that?? (i love it when unreal things do that by the way, even though i probably shouldn't.)
posted by usagizero at 4:53 PM on August 23, 2011

oh FUCK you.

God.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 4:58 PM on August 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

I've never understood horror in print. I'm not suggesting that there isn't horror in print or that people can't be scared by graphic novel or textual horror, I am suggesting that my ignorant view of it is of the reader slowly turning a page to be frightened by whatever word followed on the next page seemed silly to me.

This... this is a way to do it!
posted by tcv at 4:58 PM on August 23, 2011

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
BOO
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 4:59 PM on August 23, 2011 [22 favorites]

Aahhh!
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 5:00 PM on August 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

My cats came running down the hall when they heard me scream. Why the fuck do I click on things like this when I know better?!
posted by deborah at 5:00 PM on August 23, 2011

This sort of BOOGA! jump-startle is the cheapest, worst form of horror in the universe. The moral equivalent of tickling someone and pretending it's comedy.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:01 PM on August 23, 2011 [19 favorites]

I screamed, and instinctively brought my hand up to protect myself from the horrible thing.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 5:02 PM on August 23, 2011

Scared the crap out of you, eh ROU_Xenophobe? heh...
posted by tomswift at 5:02 PM on August 23, 2011 [8 favorites]

GAAH! I hit ctrl-w after that first shock!
posted by hooray at 5:03 PM on August 23, 2011

oh Metafilter, great to see the next chapter in your legacy of random foreign language nightmare catalysts
posted by mannequito at 5:04 PM on August 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

Not really the same, but check this out. NSF people with trypophobia.
posted by Ad hominem at 5:04 PM on August 23, 2011 [18 favorites]

I didn't know I was such a fraidy-cat. I shut my MacBook so fucking quickly I didn't realize what I'd done till a moment later. By God, that's scary!
posted by Roachbeard at 5:06 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Neat!
posted by eyeballkid at 5:07 PM on August 23, 2011

So it's an ad for Converse shoes?
posted by asnider at 5:08 PM on August 23, 2011

Ad hominem -- I love that comic. So creepy and cool. It's available in the second volume of GYO, which is pretty good too.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 5:09 PM on August 23, 2011

I love that comic. So creepy and cool. It's available in the second volume of GYO, which is pretty good too.

I have it on my Amazon wishlist, added after I saw the above comic. Maybe I'll actually pull the trigger and buy it.
posted by Ad hominem at 5:12 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

That scared the fuck out of me. It also apparently scared the fuck out of my cat as he scratched me up good escaping his previous position on my lap.
posted by troublewithwolves at 5:17 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Translation, via reddit:

2011 Mystery Sketch Bong-Cheon-Dong Ghost
The story is based on true personal accounts.
It was probably around 11:20 at night. I was heading home after long, tiring night-study sessions. But I didn't see anybody around that day, which was weird, since the apartment complex is pretty big and I usually see a lot of people even at night.
Anyways, I was a little scared so I was just walking while looking down on the ground,
when I saw a shadow stretching towards me. Even though there had been no one around just a moment ago.
When I looked up..
I saw a woman walking in front of me. But it just didn't look right.
I could say she looked slightly indisposed.. She was limping pretty hard.
She was walking very slow, and I soon caught up with her. I was able to see her even better up close.
She was wearing dirty pink pajamas.. and it looked like every joint in her body was twisted. Her hair was a mess and sticking out in every direction.
It seemed really weird, so I stopped walking.
I felt like I shouldn't get any closer to her, and I didn't have the guts to pass by her.
[The ghost turns around.]
They say when you're really surprised, you can't even scream. I couldn't move, and just froze there.
"Where's my baby?"
Her question made my thoughts race..
I don't even know why I did it then.. And it still scares me.
I pointed as far as I could and answered.. "O, over there."
I just wanted her to get away from me.
She limped towards the direction I pointed to..
And I couldn't see her anymore.
I didn't want to risk running into her again, so I tried to turn around quickly and leave the apartment complex.
I couldn't think of anything but to get to some place where there'd be people around.
Then
"She is not there!" [The ghost runs towards you.]
I don't remember anything afterwards. I heard that my neighbor found me passed out on the ground and took me home.
In 2007, at an apartment in Boncheon-Dong, Gwna-Ak-Gu, Seoul, a 33-year-old woman jumped off the apartment and died on the spot. Jo, who was divorced due to her affair, had lost the custody of her daughter and decided to kill herself.
She was seen walking around the apartment complex many times after her suicide. She was barefoot and wore the pajamas she was wearing when she died; every join in her body was twisted, and she was an awful sight.
posted by PercussivePaul at 5:19 PM on August 23, 2011 [19 favorites]

I had flashblock on, so I read the comic without any accompanying sound/page tweaks.

Looking at it again with the flash movie enabled, I find it is critical to the scariness (and enjoyment) of the comic.

Watch with flash movie enabled!!!

because it wasn't really scary at all the way i saw it the first time...
posted by chimaera at 5:19 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

This sort of BOOGA! jump-startle is the cheapest, worst form of horror in the universe

no
posted by Greg Nog at 5:21 PM on August 23, 2011

Aw. I like rollick's translation better.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 5:22 PM on August 23, 2011 [6 favorites]

This was a pretty interesting experience.

Additional layer of weird for me: I can read hangul, but it's a little laborious for me when I'm out of practice...like, it takes a second or two to read each character. So I mostly scrolled through, skimming a little here and there. Now I'm going back to read and the text is really explicitly warning you that something scary and jumpy is going to happen, even more than the garden-variety creepy that the images give you. I feel like my mom commissioned this webcomic to punish me for not taking hangul class more seriously.

Also I'm disappointed, the story is kind of a dumb urban legend-style story. I need more payoff if I'm going to put in the effort, Mom!
posted by peachfuzz at 5:30 PM on August 23, 2011 [6 favorites]

Thanks for the high octane nightmare fuel. I'll just sit here with the lights on a while longer.
posted by Verdant at 5:30 PM on August 23, 2011

Tomorrow on Metafilter: goatse.
posted by zvs at 5:31 PM on August 23, 2011 [7 favorites]

Scared the crap out of you, eh ROU_Xenophobe? heh...

Nope. It only startled me, same as any other unexpected loud noise might. I assure you I won't have a nightmare about it tonight, or find it haunting my thoughts in a week, the way that actually good horror might.

It's the cheap provocation of an immediate physical or reflexive action. There's no dread, no actual fear, nothing lasting. Just BOO! Just banging on a pot behind someone who's not expecting it.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:34 PM on August 23, 2011

This reminds me of those ridiculous Youtube videos back when Youtube was new where the video's description would exhort you to 'Stare at the thing in the centre - interesting how it changes shape!' only for a loud, shrieking noise to play about 20 seconds in and some suitably frightening image to flash on the screen.

This was better done, though.

Also, I agree: rollick's translation was much more amusing.
posted by WalterMitty at 5:34 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

WHEN YOU SEE IT YOU WILL SHIT BRICKS
posted by Nelson at 5:34 PM on August 23, 2011 [5 favorites]

Right, so that put me in the perfect mood to work on the Dunwhich building in Fallout 3. I have no idea why I look at these things.
posted by Canageek at 5:35 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Another possible interpetation:

Girl walks down a street, sees the deadbeat contortionist uncle who keeps asking for money from her dad. Uncle turns around and says, "Hey niece, your dad moved and didn't tell me where you guys are staying now. How about you show me?" Girl points in a random direction, and the uncle shuffles off. She turns and tries to get away, but the uncle, furious at being hoodwinked, runs after her, shouting, "No! Nooo!" She decks the uncle and escapes.
posted by WalterMitty at 5:37 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

i'm going see this the the next time I fall asleep scrolling down a metafilter thread.
posted by es_de_bah at 5:39 PM on August 23, 2011

Why is everyone so iffy on whether that yokai is a dude?

@zvs dont test me
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 5:41 PM on August 23, 2011

Delightful!
posted by Mister_A at 5:42 PM on August 23, 2011

The "create animation via forced scroll" thing is a very clever trick.
posted by edheil at 5:43 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

....and since folks seemed to like my previous masterpiece...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
HEY! THERE'S A SPIDER ON YOUR BACK!
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 5:45 PM on August 23, 2011 [5 favorites]

Translated:

Girl: I hate daylight savings time. It is a stupid American idea.

Girl: I bet the bus is late again.

Girl, sighting shadow: I hope that isn't that dork from the next block.

Girl, glancing up: No, happily, it appears to be Michael Jackson!

Girl, transfixed at sighting Michael Jackson: I find myself transfixed by Michael Jackson!

Girl, looking more closely: So that's what was going on underneath the glove and the spats. Sometimes there *can* be too much Diana Ross.

Girl: Perhaps, being shoeless, he will covet my Converses. Not a chance, bub.

Girl, nervous: What if he dangles me over a balcony?

[Figure turns head]

Girl: Holy crap, MJ, bandages on!

Figure: Shamone?

Girl: If he says "hee hee," I am going to soil myself.

Girl: Now is my chance to bust a move before the master.

Girl, slowly raising hand to point skyward: This is my opening stance. It is called Crouching Manero.

Girl, watching figure recede: Wait, where is he going?

Girl, as figure further recedes: Great, the king of pop thinks I pointed him to my bus stop.

Girl, half running: Maybe I'm supposed to do this Thriller skipping shit.

Figure, from behind: YOU LIKE MJ DOUGIE????

Spins through air toward astonished girl. . .
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 5:47 PM on August 23, 2011 [14 favorites]

Tomorrow on Metafilter: goatse

It's been done. Trust me.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:48 PM on August 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

In 2007, at an apartment in Boncheon-Dong, Gwna-Ak-Gu, Seoul, a 33-year-old woman jumped off the apartment and died on the spot. Jo, who was divorced due to her affair, had lost the custody of her daughter and decided to kill herself.


And when they pulled her from the twisted, burning wreck...it LOOKED LIKE THIS!
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:52 PM on August 23, 2011 [7 favorites]

I thought "comic" meant "comedian". I was expecting a guy making "airplane food, amirite" jokes in Farsi or something like that. A terrible mistake!
posted by thehmsbeagle at 5:56 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

hides her face and takes a deep breath
posted by dreamling at 6:00 PM on August 23, 2011

The first animation failed to work on my EEEpc, and I had to scroll back up to see the frames. The second worked as intended and I was like, "Hey, that's cool." But apparently webpage scrollage is a really processor intensive way to do animation.
posted by localroger at 6:05 PM on August 23, 2011

Someone's pooped in my pants!
posted by Nedroid at 6:07 PM on August 23, 2011 [14 favorites]

I can't figure out how to work this Internets. :(
posted by perilous at 6:09 PM on August 23, 2011

aaaaagh!
posted by carter at 6:12 PM on August 23, 2011

I should have known better.

I squealed, jumped out of my computer chair and ran out of the room.

Then I laughed at my stupidity, and made my boyfriend come in and watch it. He didn't get startled at all...

.....but I freaked again when the second bit hit.

Sigh.
posted by Windigo at 6:16 PM on August 23, 2011

Someone's pooped in my pants!

Oh my God! Somebody put shit in my pants!
posted by homunculus at 6:16 PM on August 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

Wait. What happened to the pillow I was sitting on?


Oh no.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 6:22 PM on August 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

I HATE ALL OF YOU

That was awful! Xenophobe's right, it's pretty cheap... but it also really works. :(
posted by Askiba at 6:32 PM on August 23, 2011

You all realize that in the grand scheme of Japanese comics this is about as unnerving as Garfield, right?

I mean, the zoomy technique is novel, but, like, guro is a thing.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:33 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Eh I'm easily scared but I scrolled down quickly and that was it? Just a bit of gore? Its no Enigma Of Amigara Fault.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:44 PM on August 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

Apologies if this is sacrilege, but I must ask in earnest: What is so scary about The Enigma of Amigara Fault? Am I missing something? It's sort of creepy, I'll admit, but it just doesn't seem that scary to me.
posted by Krazor at 6:53 PM on August 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

CLAUSTROPHOBIA
posted by adamdschneider at 7:07 PM on August 23, 2011

Apologies if this is sacrilege, but I must ask in earnest: What is so scary about The Enigma of Amigara Fault? Am I missing something? It's sort of creepy, I'll admit, but it just doesn't seem that scary to me.

I think the idea of there being something ancient just waiting, just for you. Plus it knows how out of shape you are.
posted by delmoi at 7:16 PM on August 23, 2011

I don't get it.
posted by flabdablet at 7:25 PM on August 23, 2011

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFU

(I actually and literally squeaked "fffffu!" when it turned round.)
posted by subbes at 7:30 PM on August 23, 2011

I'm too scared to click on the link.
posted by storybored at 7:41 PM on August 23, 2011

NOT for the easily unnerved.

I read this and like a fool, still I clicked.

Then I yelled and made my boyfriend do it, but first I had to go in the kitchen and eat a loud cracker so that I would not have to hear it again. After he finished and admitted he got "spooked a bit", I continued to mumble incoherently for several moments. The end.
posted by Glinn at 7:57 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: Shamone?
posted by Minus215Cee at 8:06 PM on August 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

Not really the same, but check this out. NSF people with trypophobia.
OMG OMG OMG I read a summary of this story somewhere on the Internet years ago and I've been looking for it ever since but I've never been able to describe it adequately. Like "there were holes in the mountain? human shaped holes?" I considered doing an AskMe but all my descriptions were so vague as to sound stupid.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I had resigned myself to dying without ever finding this story.
posted by vogon_poet at 8:08 PM on August 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

Is there a synopis/explanation of the effect, for the squeamish? Curious but there's no way that link is getting clicked by me.
posted by polymodus at 8:28 PM on August 23, 2011

I totally yelped. Loudly.
posted by fancyoats at 8:29 PM on August 23, 2011

Is there a synopis/explanation of the effect, for the squeamish? Curious but there's no way that link is getting clicked by me.

yep. Title of the thread.
posted by mannequito at 8:37 PM on August 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

(allows page in NoScript)

Oh, it does that.

Well, OK then.
posted by flabdablet at 8:41 PM on August 23, 2011

. . . The red text in the top tells you it's a mystery and tells pregnant, elderly, etc people to not read it.
posted by curuinor at 8:47 PM on August 23, 2011

I was startled but, surprisingly, not scared. (I was more scared by an AskMe about ghosts that I read during daylight last week, and I'm not a believer in ghosts).

I think this needs to be mashed up with Nyan Cat. Who's got the skills to make this go viral?
posted by maudlin at 8:47 PM on August 23, 2011

You know, I've ran across plenty of these GOTCHA! animations over the years, but none of them ever got me to jump out of my chair and leave the room - so fast I didn't even think about it. I think it was the sound. Sure, the visuals got me, too. But there was something about the sound that just fucked my shut up. Hmmm.
posted by Windigo at 8:50 PM on August 23, 2011

Shit. Not shut. Autocorrect iPhone fail.
posted by Windigo at 8:51 PM on August 23, 2011

I was startled but, surprisingly, not scared. (I was more scared by an AskMe about ghosts that I read during daylight last week, and I'm not a believer in ghosts).

Link?
posted by codacorolla at 8:56 PM on August 23, 2011

Unexplained phenomena: Does anyone have experience with "things that go bump in the night"?

(I doubt most people will find it all that scary, but I do know that I'm not going to re-read it before I go to bed tonight.)
posted by maudlin at 9:00 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

OH MY GOD THAT WAS THE MOST TERRIFYING THING.
posted by subdee at 9:01 PM on August 23, 2011

After the startledness wore off, I was mostly just annoyed. This isn't a comic, it's animation. And poor animation at that! So there!

What is so scary about The Enigma of Amigara Fault? Am I missing something? It's sort of creepy, I'll admit, but it just doesn't seem that scary to me.

I think it's pretty swell, but they should have cut the final panel.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:08 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

DRR...DRR...DRR...
posted by adamdschneider at 9:20 PM on August 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

Still haven't clicked. Still won't click.

want to wait until the kids are awake and watching
posted by davejay at 9:25 PM on August 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

oooh yeah, I read that askme late the other night and got a bit creeped out too.

thanks for reminding me, was nice to go back and read the added stories.
posted by mannequito at 9:33 PM on August 23, 2011

scroll wheel noise
scroll wheel noise
scroll wheel noise
scroll wheel noise
EUHHHH
scroll wheel noise
scroll wheel noise
scroll wheel noise
NGAAAHHH EUH
click to close tab
posted by troublesome at 9:37 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

I hate you.
posted by Deathalicious at 9:49 PM on August 23, 2011

Freaky cool! I got scared a bit, but the nice thing about the way this animation was done is that you can scroll back up and see the individual frames. So I did that for the first head turny bit to do a confront your fears sort of thing. Pretty creepy, but I've been chewing through a couple of scanlated volumes of the The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service so I shrugged it off.

Since I can't read hangul I continued scrolling down, a bit disappointed I didn't know what the pointing was all about and "oh shit!" But it was not real, so I scrolled back up again to look at the individual frames.

So yeah. I guess MetaFilter is making me stronger.
posted by Mister Cheese at 10:14 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

OMG OMG OMG I read a summary of this story somewhere on the Internet years ago and I've been looking for it ever since but I've never been able to describe it adequately. Like "there were holes in the mountain? human shaped holes?" I considered doing an AskMe but all my descriptions were so vague as to sound stupid.

Actually, if you google for "Human shaped holes" and the wikipedia article is the first result.
posted by delmoi at 10:15 PM on August 23, 2011

It's sort of creepy, I'll admit, but it just doesn't seem that scary to me.

Yeah it isn't jump out of your seat scary. But it deals with what I think must be primal fears, fear of darkness,fear of confined spaces, fear of being helpless, and fear of holes. Just clicking on that google image search can set people off, there was recently an askme by a person who saw the fake lotus breast picture and was still freaked out months later.

I think humans must have developed these fears over thousands of years as a survival instinct, to keep us away from confining dark holes.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:33 PM on August 23, 2011

For me its body horror. Fear of having my body twisted.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:38 PM on August 23, 2011

I'm on an iPod, so no flash. it was scary enough, and actually an excellent example of how still images can be extremely powerful.
posted by jb at 10:39 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

For me its body horror. Fear of having my body twisted

Oh god, that too.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:40 PM on August 23, 2011

yeah I only saw the comic in still images, so maybe thats why it didn't bug me
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:40 PM on August 23, 2011

Whenever you walk the streets of Seoul at night, be sure to carry a battery-operated fan for self-defense.
posted by kurumi at 10:46 PM on August 23, 2011 [8 favorites]

It's about 1:00 AM here, and the (locked) front door is making odd creaking noises.

Um...I think I'd better read it after some sleep.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 10:59 PM on August 23, 2011

I did not read this thread first and I didn't even jump. *shrug* I guess all the horror movies have desensitized me.
posted by IndigoRain at 11:43 PM on August 23, 2011

scroll wheel noise

skrrrik skrrrik skrrrik
posted by krinklyfig at 11:48 PM on August 23, 2011

Last time I had that reaction: late at night, Camden Road, sodium yellow street lights, walking home past a church with high iron railing and some bushes in the churchyard right up against them. I glanced to my left, into the churchyard. There, in the bushes, its nose poking through the railings and about a foot away from me, a shape. A face. Looking at me.

It had been, I realised about fifteen seconds and a hundred yards later, a large German Shepherd dog. It took that long to get back to my senses.

That thing day-old chickens do when they flee from the shape of a hawk? Yeah. Actually being in charge of my own flesh puppet? Not so much.

I don't like horror.
posted by Devonian at 12:01 AM on August 24, 2011

I like the idea of subverting expectations of what a webcomic could be but it seems like they could've done it in a way that wasn't "It's not a webcomic... it's a webcomic combined with those stupid scream videos that were totally in vogue for 12 year olds to send each other in 2003!"
posted by NoraReed at 12:17 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, it's a screamer, but it's also a pretty brilliant usage of the browser to turn static images into a zoetrope. The fact that the scroll action is hijacked also enhances the sense that events are spiraling out of the viewers' control.

So, yeah, it's a screamer, but it's not just a screamer.
posted by lekvar at 1:22 AM on August 24, 2011 [4 favorites]

Flashblock.

Because there are things on the Internet
that want to come and live in your head.

Choose wisely.
posted by hank at 2:13 AM on August 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Krazor: "Apologies if this is sacrilege, but I must ask in earnest: What is so scary about The Enigma of Amigara Fault? Am I missing something? It's sort of creepy, I'll admit, but it just doesn't seem that scary to me."

The hole knows what shape your hair will be! Your HAIR! That's some amazing forward planning for a hole.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 2:38 AM on August 24, 2011 [7 favorites]

The fact that the scroll action is hijacked also enhances the sense that events are spiraling out of the viewers' control.

Yeah I think that's what got me. Screamers don't make the the hair on my neck feel like that.
posted by vicx at 3:32 AM on August 24, 2011

Sadly even with all scripts on that page allowed all I see is a vertical series of images and have to scroll through them manually. It's a bit scary but clearly I'm missing something. Would someone mind explaining what happens if you're watching it as it's meant to be watched?
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 4:02 AM on August 24, 2011

/me reads comic
Okay. That was sorta creepy, I guess.

/me reads comments
Oh. Thank goodness for NoScript.
posted by Gordafarin at 4:51 AM on August 24, 2011

This showed up on my Tumblr feed yesterday, with the title "well its a shame i can't read this comic cause its in japanese but i guess i can keep scrolling dowOHMYGOD"

And stupidly, I clicked on it 'cause I can read Japanese and was curious as to what it said. Took one look at the first bit, saw it was Korean, mentally shrugged and kept scrolling.

Then I jumped so hard I banged my knee on my coffee table and bit my tongue.


So then I closed the tab, and didn't know there was anything beyond that first jumpy moment until reading this thread.
posted by emmling at 6:07 AM on August 24, 2011

I still don't get how the people moved forward in the hole. Was it just really slippery and angled slightly downward or what?
posted by shakespeherian at 7:08 AM on August 24, 2011

This was awesome and terrifying. I'm glad the sound was off.
posted by Theta States at 7:13 AM on August 24, 2011

I love the questions raised by Junji Ito stories, taken out of context.

'But could a decomposing fish really generate enough gases to power an evil walking machine?' 'What did the angry WWII ghosts make the fish legs out of?' 'Why is the teachers' response to a child showing up at school and promptly turning into a giant snail to just make him a little pen in the yard?'
posted by emmtee at 7:15 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

I still don't get how the people moved forward in the hole. Was it just really slippery and angled slightly downward or what?

It was butterstone.
posted by adamdschneider at 7:15 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

I still don't get how the people moved forward in the hole. Was it just really slippery and angled slightly downward or what?

Yeah, the holes were angled downwards.
posted by Windigo at 7:19 AM on August 24, 2011

I think the actual idea with the Amigara holes was that each of the millions of ridges inside was kind of angled inward at the front and flat (or recurved) on the back, so with any movement your skin would sort of take the path of least resistance and squeeze over the next little ridge. Without the ability to turn around or get any leverage to push yourself back, every motion just moves you over another bump and further in. I guess you could probably have pulled someone out with a rope, albeit a little painfully, if they didn't all just happily wriggle themselves off to the land of the DRRRRRRR spaghetti people.

The whole Amigara thing was obviously hypnotic or aggressively memetic, though. Ito does this a lot without overtly referring to it much - the snail bit from Uzumaki I made fun of in the other comment is actually really creepy, if you look at it as the townspeople being mentally affected to the extent they don't spend much time questioning the utter insanity of what's happening to them. That total loss of perspective (and attendant inability to see that anything's happened to your mind) is something I would love to see more of in horror. As utterly mad and comedic as a lot of Ito's actual concepts are (the jack-in-the-box zombie dude from Uzumaki! The GASHUNK shark!) he definitely has a handle on something horrifying.

Also I maintain that Amigara! The Musical is a concept whose time has come, if only for the song titles: It's As Much Your Fault As Mine, It's Nobody's Fault In The End, and How Does It Have My Haircut?
posted by emmtee at 7:30 AM on August 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

I still don't think it makes sense.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:30 AM on August 24, 2011

It makes more sense than this. For Ito, that's about all we can hope for.
posted by emmtee at 7:33 AM on August 24, 2011

I cried after I saw goatse, and felt horrified for days. No way am I clicking that link. Or the lotus breast. Or anything that might make me cry at work.

(I cried at the beginning of Scream. I may be a wimp.)
posted by cereselle at 7:41 AM on August 24, 2011

The Enigma Of Amigara Fault creeped me out something deep. The psychological terror of some ancient unknown that seemingly knows you, the compulsion to explore it knowing it will be your end... And the near infinite darkness and madness. *shudder*
posted by Theta States at 7:49 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

How Does It Have My Haircut?

I was so scared at the end of the story, and yet STILL thought that...
posted by Theta States at 7:51 AM on August 24, 2011

That's the really unsettling thing. Not only will the ancient fault twist and warp your body, it's going to do unspeakable things to your hairdo.
posted by Drastic at 7:58 AM on August 24, 2011

I don't think I could recognize my own silhouette on a rock face on teevee.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:11 AM on August 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

You know, I've been thinking. The Amigara story is terrifying to me mostly because of the claustrophobia, of which I have always had a touch, but I think it would have been even more horrifying with a simple change:

Instead of punishment, make the holes some kind of ancient mystic rite, like a sojourn: they go in, spend a long time in the dark, unable to move, meditating, when they slide out the other side they are stone age buddhas or something. Only, the earthquake distorted it, so they are called by their ancient reincarnated memories to the holes, but they no longer serve their old function, so they all end up like Nagaki, not all stuck, but all doomed by the inertia of their past actions that no longer conform to the present state of the world. Could have been a nice subtextual mediation on fixed behavior patterns!

Oh, yeah, cut the last panel, too. The less you see, etc.
posted by adamdschneider at 8:16 AM on August 24, 2011

I don't know if the strong humanoid connection would still exist if you cut the last panel though...

...and DRR DRR DRR!

But I like your version of it adamdschneider. The comic does even mention in the first dream that it seems the earthquake distorted the tunnels.
But really given the accuracy and complexity of the tunnels they'd have to ultimately be supernatural in origin, which alludes to a larger mythology that would be interesting to explore.
posted by Theta States at 8:21 AM on August 24, 2011

I don't think I could recognize my own silhouette on a rock face on teevee.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:11 AM on August 24

Your flip-out bob cut silhouette is totally visible from a few-hundred feet away.
posted by Theta States at 8:22 AM on August 24, 2011

Thinking about it further, the scariest part of it to me is the knowledge that they are going to die. (they think they are going to die...)

The idea that you see something so profound and uncanny, and you know you will die, but you know you have to persue it.
That terrifies me, it resonates with many dreams I have had, especially while younger.
They see the hole, they know it will destroy them, but they have to enter anyways...
posted by Theta States at 8:34 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Dude needs to learn how to thank people.
posted by hellbient at 8:37 AM on August 24, 2011

I screamed and covered the computer screen with my REI SALE catalog. (I'm TOTALLY showing the kids when they wake up...)
posted by in the methow at 9:18 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Thinking about Amigara-- rather than stretching people, wouldn't people just get stuck at some point? Bones aren't diamond-hard, but they aren't liquid. And they'd die of starvation long before their bones gave way.

*beanplates*
posted by cereselle at 9:26 AM on August 24, 2011

Okay, I just found the manga. I think the last panel would have been more disturbing if it had just been the picture, with no dialogue.

What I find creepiest? There is a child-size hole.
posted by cereselle at 9:38 AM on August 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

So sad! I tried to show my co-worker but the sound & animation bit did not work. Stupid work computer. :(
posted by Glinn at 9:47 AM on August 24, 2011

There is a child-size hole.

Makes you wonder what the horrible crime these people all supposedly committed could have been. Some kind of sacrilege is all that comes to mind.
posted by adamdschneider at 9:48 AM on August 24, 2011

Thinking about Amigara-- rather than stretching people, wouldn't people just get stuck at some point? Bones aren't diamond-hard, but they aren't liquid. And they'd die of starvation long before their bones gave way.

If a being made it through for months without nourishment... Magic Cave is magical.



Makes you wonder what the horrible crime these people all supposedly committed could have been. Some kind of sacrilege is all that comes to mind.

Magical cave-making forces are sometimes just dicks.
posted by Theta States at 9:50 AM on August 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

Not as bad as I feared. Raised the hair on the back of my head, but I'd say it's what the producers of "The Outer Limits" called 'tolerable terror'. Pretty neat!
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 10:12 AM on August 24, 2011

Well, I won't sleep tonight.
posted by dustpatterns at 11:31 AM on August 24, 2011

It was a good scare, but not nearly as terrifying as waiting for someone in this thread to post a goatse image. I'm leaving and not coming back!
posted by thinkpiece at 4:15 AM on August 25, 2011

So, hang on... if you keep scrolling down, it happens a second time? I'd check, but I just don't want to do that to myself three times right before bed.
posted by Acey at 3:06 PM on August 25, 2011

So, hang on... if you keep scrolling down, it happens a second time? I'd check, but I just don't want to do that to myself three times right before bed.

Yeah, that's another thing that makes it so effective. The usual code for this sort of deal is a single scare.
posted by codacorolla at 7:33 PM on August 25, 2011

DDR... DDR...
posted by subbes at 3:24 PM on September 12, 2011 [1 favorite]