Ever wish you could go back to the days of 'choose your own adventure'? Those books were the BEST, except when you took a wrong turn and the book was over after 3 choices...
Cynthia Koning of QueenKingSFX has taken every 90s kid's favourite part of reading and turned it into a dark and epic journey into the depths of YouTube.
In 'Help Yourself' Koning makes horror an interactive experience that traps viewers in a strange world of nightmares. After you, the viewer, are captured in first person, it becomes a test that asks 'how far would you go to escape?' Koning explains, "It is all about you. You make your own choices, you are the one that is joining the Illuminati by completing the missions. I chose YouTube because it is international, you can do it by yourself and you also do it with your friends on a fun night at home. You have to see it like a game that you are playing and you are making the choices on how your life is going to end... sometimes literally."
At a time when horror movies seem to be all about jump scares and CGI, it's refreshing to see an independent spirit looking to innovate and experiment with the genre. While this is not the first video of it's kind on YouTube, this style of storytelling could be something we see more of in the future (especially with the advent of VR). It makes you wonder what this style of interactive storytelling could be with a bigger crew and bigger budget .
If you love horror movies, practical effects makeup, and miss choose your own adventures (or in this case, demise) then check out QueenKingSFX's 'Help Yourself'.