The Boiled One Phenomenon

Submission 8,039

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About

The Boiled One Phenomenon refers to a short analog horror film by Doctor Nowhere about an otherworldly entity known as PHEN-228. Released on YouTube in March 2024, the film inspired memes, theories, fan art and other fan labor as it garnered attention online.

Origin

On January 21st, 2024, YouTuber Doctor Nowhere teased an upcoming analog horror video on his social media, with the teaser gaining over 480,000 views on X^[1] / Twitter and 11,400 likes on Instagram^[2] in four months.

On March 17th, Doctor Nowhere uploaded a short analog horror film The Boiled One Phenomenon to YouTube.^[3] The film tells a fictional story of Broadcast-813, a 2003 incident in which an episode of a nature program was interrupted by an anomalous broadcast, with an entity with a red "melted" face speaking to the viewers. The viewers of the broadcast later fell into a catatonic state, able to communicate only by blinking. Those of them interviewed said that they continued to see the entity in their vicinity and heard trumpets and screaming "of many voices." The film ends with the entity, referred to as "PHEN-228," "hijacking" the film and speaking directly to the viewer.

The video accumulated over 1.5 million views in two months (shown below).

Spread

In the following weeks, the video achieved viral spread, becoming a subject of discussions, fan theories and fan art. On March 28th, 2024, the YouTube^[4] channel GamerSault posted a theory video about the short film that gained over 156,000 views in two months (shown below, left). On April 13th, YouTuber^[5] LaurenZside posted a video that garnered over 660,000 views in one month (shown below, right).

In addition to fan art and theories, the video also inspired various memes on YouTube, TikTok and other platforms. For example, on March 25th, 2024, YouTube^[6] user Honked posted an edit that gained over 210,000 views in two months (shown below, left). On April 1st, YouTube^[7] user Menace posted a fan animation that received over 105,000 views in two months (shown below, right).

On May 12th, 2024, the YouTube^[8] channel The Film Theorists posted a theory video about The Boiled One Phenomenon that garnered over 900,000 views in four days, drawing more interest towards the video.