The last week of October may mean pumpkin spice lattes and sweater weather for some, but for some YouTube fans it’s a week filled with Halloween oriented content.
Britain based YouTubers, Dan Howell (@danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (@amazingphil) have a conjoined gaming channel called “Danandphilgames.” They post a variety of videos from Pokemon demos to “Undertale,” and they have a series of competitive games against each other. Last year they put together a weeklong series of horror and Halloween themed games, called “Spooky Week.”
They continued the tradition this year and posted a video to their combined channel every day leading up to Halloween. This year they chose to play Five Nights at Freddy’s Sister Location, Sonic 2.exe, Outlast 2 (demo), Timore Inferno and Spongebob Slenderpants. Fans of their videos can watch the Spooky Week videos even if they do not like horror themed games, because they list all jump scares and gory content in the video description. This addition to their normal video description warns viewers when they should look away or skip portions of the video.
They played the original versions of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Sonic .exe, Outlast and Slenderman last October. Timore Inferno was a new edition and according to Lester in the video, it was a recommendation from several fans who commented on their spooky videos from last year because it contains an unusually high amount of jump scares.
Most of the games are relatively docile and unfrightening, except for Outlast 2. Despite only playing the demo version, Lester and Howell were subjected to an alarming array of mutilated body parts, unexplained paranormal activity and excessive violence. The only redeeming thing to come away from their foray into the game is their humorous reactions. At one point Howell’s fear spawned a ridiculous amount of cussing that doesn’t appear often in their videos.
Both of the YouTubers were noticeably more vocal and less composed than they usually appear. This is especially noticeable when they both curse and scream throughout all of the videos. Their video game room is also adorned with neon orange cobwebs and hanging bats to give their usual white walls a bit of festive flair. Even their outfits are horror themed, for example on the first day Lester wears a ghost shirt and Howell wears a moth shirt (which is one of his biggest fears).
The duo left many fans upset when they ended spooky week a day early without posting a holiday themed baking video. They ended the week with Spongebob Slenderpants and announced that the 2016 Spooky Week was complete. However, they did not disappoint fans because they posted a monster cake pop tutorial on Howell’s personal account on the day of Halloween.
Spooky Week has given them a boost in popularity and has satisfied fans who have been anticipating there uploads to come on a more frequent basis. The videos are a great way to see a different perspective on a popular personality Youtuber.
