2024 is already shaping up to be a banner year for horror, with Longlegs grossing over $100 million and Late Night with the Devil earning a massive 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And yet, the breakout horror movie of the year might just be an $800 project that’s currently available to watch for free on YouTube.
Milk & Serial is a 62-minute horror film created by YouTuber Curry Barker that manages to be both ruthlessly effective and wonderfully authentic. Racking up 348,000 views in the two weeks since its release, its popularity has been boosted by praise on Reddit that has since spilled over into mainstream media. Bloody Disgusting called it “one of the best kept secrets of the year” and this week Barker found himself being interviewed by none other than Variety.
Part of the reason is that it’s a good story. In the credits for Milk & Serial, Barker is listed as the film’s writer, director, producer, editor, cinematographer, composer and star. Plus, the $800 budget was spent mostly on hiring an actor and buying a camera (which was later sold for a $100 profit, bringing the production close to profit). It’s the kind of rags-to-riches story that Hollywood loves, especially since the film is likely to represent a huge return on investment.
But more than that, it’s just a damn good movie. Milk & Serial follows a pair of insufferable YouTube pranksters who try to torment each other for clicks. But, without giving too much away, it all goes awry when one of the two reveals that his ability to torment far exceeds that of his partner. It’s a creepy, greaseless, deliberately dirty, and terrifyingly believable hour.
Of course, it helps that the film’s subject matter is highly engaging. There’s a huge subsection of YouTube devoted solely to tedious prank videos, where groups of friends stuck in stagnant development spend inordinate amounts of time and money making each other’s lives as miserable as possible, then laugh about it with glee.
Watching these videos is like watching a joyless, charmless version of Jackass that seems to double as a psychopathy manual. They have a chilling pathology, coupled with a compulsion to record everything on camera, to maximize all the potential content. Milk & Serial takes this pathology to its logical end point by dousing it with blood, but it keeps the core motivation intact.
And for the most part, it looks real, too. There’s a lack of precision in the photography, a sloppiness in the staging, and a ruthless approach to editing that’s becoming the hallmark of prank videos like these, as if the creators are afraid to slow down the relentless pace of their production by taking time for basic things like care.
It makes sense that Milk & Serial is also a found footage film. Increasingly, horror is turning to it to exploit a new form. Blair Witch did it with video cameras, Paranormal Activity did it with home security cameras. Rob Savage’s Host was extremely quick on the uptake when it came to video chats in the age of the pandemic. And so it is with Curry Barker and the endless self-absorption of the YouTube world.
As a movie, it’s great. There are some incredibly well-observed moments, like when the main character describes gaslighting as “playing pranks on someone but making them think it’s their fault.” Also, while the cast seems drawn from Barker’s own social circle, each character seems to be written to their individual strengths.
As a calling card, though, you can tell Milk & Serial is going to be unbeatable. Curry Barker has announced himself as a filmmaker to compete with, and he’s done so in the smartest way possible. The film will likely live on YouTube for free forever. He doesn’t have to haul it from festival to festival or break his back lobbying for distribution. It’s there, and it’s proof that he knows exactly what he’s doing.
Bigger names are already in the pipeline for Barker. According to Variety, he’s already working with Fall producer James Harris on his next film (and told the publication that he’s “never had a budget in my life”) and, depending on how it turns out, this could be the start of a glittering career.
Or maybe not. With Milk & Serial, Barker has proven that he is capable of producing slick, engaging horror films (and making a profit from them) by offering them directly to the public for free. That seems to be the choice he now faces: will he become part of Hollywood or will he help destroy it?