The internet is a scary place. It’s filled with deviants, unicorn cake-decorating tutorials, and D&D cosplays. It’s also the hub for pure imagination, creating a land for the craziest entertainment known to man. Now the internet has made its way into movie studios. While it has been a rocky start for many, Gen Zers are finally making their way into the industry. Backrooms has proven successful as part of the YouTube-to-onscreen pipeline; showing how internet stories can become blockbuster opportunities for studios.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});As digital natives, many zoomers get their start and inspiration from online projects. From creepypasta stories to adult comedy, here are some stories that deserve their chance on the big and small screens. The Walten Files Takes Late-Night Creepshow to New HeightsThe Walten Files, created by Martín Paredes, focuses on the events surrounding the animatronic-based entertainment company Bunny Smiles Incorporated and its Bon’s Burgers restaurant. In the mythology, the eatery was created by college friends Jack Walten and Felix Kranken. Shortly after the restaurant’s opening, everyone connected to it disappears. Years later, Sophia Walten, the last remaining member of the original families, investigates what happened. We also get to follow those who have disappeared ourselves, seeing what they lived like before vanishing. Why It Would Work As a TV Series: The analog series builds the story in a way that makes the viewer feel like an investigator. The audience follows the events of the show through VHS tapes, ‘80s-styled commercials, arcade games, and flashbacks—in a true embodiment of the analog genre. There is a Twilight Zone-esque application to the show. That is why it works; it keeps audiences on their toes, not being too difficult to follow while also not spoon-feeding its audience.The Risk: While The Walten Files would make a great horror series, mixing both live-action and animated formats, it comes with the risk of excessive camp. Just look toward the adaptation of comparable project Five Nights at Freddy’s that took many liberties with the horror elements and lore of the games to make it a more “family-friendly” horror movie. Without the proper execution of its lore and aesthetic, The Walten Files could come off as a cheap knockoff. This needs to be a fully fleshed out, TV-MA series. Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl Is So RealHave you ever wondered why magical girls don’t just bust people in their kneecaps with a pipe? Don’t worry, this show answers that question. In Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl, series creator Kiana Khansmith shows us what it looks like to be “burdened with glorious purpose” as 15-year-old Aika finds her bad guy-kicking spark again with the help of her talking angel-winged star sidekick, Hoshi and best friend Zira. Together, they learn how to balance girlhood and teenagedom all while fighting evil magic users.Why It Would Work As a TV Series: It’s funny. It’s different. It represents girlhood phenomenally. It also serves a demographic that isn’t being represented right now: pre-teens. In a time in which everything is populated by adult humor, sex, violence, and abrasive language, this gives the younger generation their Disney XD and Teen Nick moment. It has a very Sailor Moon meets Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja feeling. The Risk: Though that can also be a worry — this series has a very 24-episode-a-season, long-form plot air to it which, in the current age of streaming, isn’t the norm. This feels like a Disney+ or Prime Video saga, but neither of those platforms is good at giving shows the episode-count to properly flesh out stories. Time and execution are going to be big factors in the success of this show. Knights of Guinevere Brings Hope, Horror, and a Half-Dead Robot Warrior PrincessAnother project from Glitch Productions (the studio supporting ultra indie hit The Amazing Digital Circus, Knights of Guinevere follows childhood besties Frankie and Andi as they discover an old animatronic model of Princess Guinevere, the mascot of Park Planet. The giant, kingdom-sized amusement park acts as an overseer that keeps the rest of the world, and the numerous others under their thumb, impoverished, sickly, and controlled. This discovery puts Andi and Frankie at the heart of a decades-old, possibly centuries-old mystery and in the hurricane of the Park’s wrath. To think, all these two dreamers wanted to do was Walt Disney their way into fame. Why It Would Work As a TV Series: A murderous amusement park regime that colonizes planets like Paul Atreides; how is that not a compelling plot line? It would be therapeutic for audiences to see an evil Walt Disney World that takes the genius and ingenuity of workers, creates evil bounty-hunting killing animatronics, and discovers the lies of an interstellar “amuse-matainment” conglomerate. Knights of Guinevere is a literal shock to the system, with a pilot that acts as a master class on laying the foundations for a story’s plot. The Risk: That being said, shows like this tend to not maintain momentum. It needs to follow a Gravity Falls-esque format when it comes to detail and filler episodes. Famously, the creators of Gravity Falls would take fan theories and add details of them into the show in order to throw viewers off from the build up of the main storyline. This series needs to have the same level of ingenuity. In a world surrounding a colonizing amusement park-enterprise, the story needs to feel alive with curveballs, subplots and hidden details that only make sense 10 years later. Marmalade is Missing Gives TV-MA Tom & Jerry RealnessAMMO Animation’s Marmalade is Missing is an animated short directed by James Nutting, showcasing the world of 1930s burlesque. Viewers follow Marmalade, the mischievously lovable feline of world-famous burlesque performer Margo Munro. Marmalade, who is a part of Margo’s act, goes missing from their dressing room just before their show. Turns out she is chasing a magical glove across the stage and backstage, and has to find their way back to Margo before their stage cue. Why It Would Work as a Movie: A very risque short, it blends humor with the provocativeness of burlesque. Showcasing women of all body shapes, sizes, heights, and ethnicities, it reminds beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Admittedly that’s an unusual setting for the animal-comedy genre, but it works well, showcasing the burlesque stars as not only objects of sexuality but also as unique characters with very unique personalities. Through their dance styles, fashion sense, and body language, we learn the demeanor of each character in 10 minutes. The Risk: The creative team behind the short is currently crowdfunding to raise enough money for a full film. With much hope, the team will reach their goal to bring the hilariously fun story fully to life. Though with stories like these, the worry becomes about how much stories change from their source material, especially when toeing the line between hypersexualization and body empowerment. The stage quality of burlesque needs to stay the same, without reducing it to something so hypersexual it loses its purpose. Regrettably, My Boyfriend is a Vampire: Vampires Aren’t The Only Thing That Will Suck You DryAfter vampires and humans call a truce, the realm of social media has immortalized the undead species in more ways than one. Now the trailblazers of the manosphere, vampires have made themselves the object of envy — promoting humans to transform into vampires in their content, dividing humans and vampires even further. Unfortunately for Mandy Moore (no, not that Mandy Moore), this is even more infuriating when her boyfriend Josh, becomes a vampire, and her best friends become vampire hunters. Stuck in the middle, Mandy is now battling anti-living propaganda, vampires, social media, her 20s, and a dead relationship. Why It Would Work as a TV Series: A metaphor for the impacts of social media as bloodsucking vampires? Count this writer interested. Its commentary on a growing disregard for human existence, while balancing a rather wholesome animation style, makes it engrossing. It’s crafted as an everyday story with vampires being a tool, not a focus, which makes for a concept in animation. Its use of reds, purples, greens, blues—colors connected to the supernatural—is more relaxing than scary or intense. The Risk: Regrettably, My Boyfriend is a Vampire is an interesting concept that would do well as a weekday cartoon, but it needs to avoid dragging out the relationship between Mandy and Josh. Relationship plots and the process of grieving tend to be drawn out in serial dramas, often without any real character development toward either party. If the show can balance both the emotional and narrative plots of the story, it will do well.The Rake Brings Appalachian Horror too Close for ComfortThe Rake, first introduced in 2013, is one of the most popular ever creepypasta stories and takes place, initially, in the summer of 2003, somewhere in the Appalachian region of the Northeastern U.S. Sightings of a bald, pale humanoid-like creature populate social media in the region — only to be scrubbed from the internet. Witnesses, primarily in rural New York State, publish their accounts of the creature, while others begin looking for older historical accounts of it. In journal entries from 1691 to 2006, the Rake has haunted the forests of the U.S. for centuries — claiming the land as its own. Why It Would Work as a TV Series: Similar to the Changelings in 2024’s The Watchers, the Rake’s presence in its territory predates the settlers of the country it resides in. Its inhuman appearance, yet being human-adjacent enough to learn to communicate with humans, makes the legend terrifying. Terrifying the internet through audio dramas, the Rake is atmospheric. The frightening aspects come from the ability to build a simple scenario and create a figure that haunts the narrative. The Risk: The challenge with adapting a story like that is losing that radio-show-like narration. Adapting words into visuals always has a bleeding effect — losing the impact that the literary source had in creating a visual atmosphere. The Rake needs carefully crafted dialogue in order to convey the true impact of the story.Jeff the Killer Takes the Slasher Title to Malevolent LowsWhile this one is apparently in development with creator-led studio Tongal and filmmaker Savannah Moss, Jeff the Killer’s internet infamy rivals that of Slenderman himself. Jeff the Killer is identified by his bleach-white skin, noseless face, dark black hair, and permanent grin. Jeffrey Alan Woods, or Jeff C. Hodek, depending on the storyteller, moves to a new town with his parents and brother, Lui. Three bullies target the brothers with knives, resulting in them being brutally beaten by Jeff. Lui takes the fall for his brother, which leaves Jeff guilt-ridden, rapidly declining mentally, and vulnerable to a second attack from the bullies that leaves him permanently scarred. Jeff goes on to mutilate himself, kill his family, and continue on to a larger killing spree. Why It Would Work as a TV Series: This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg of Jeff the Killer’s story. There has been a very popular Jeff the Killer vs. Slenderman story that was voiced by Mr. Creepypasta, a popular creepypasta narrator on YouTube. This opens the door to the creepypasta universe. This would be Gen Z’s version of Freddy vs. Jason. With a movie being in the works, which should give hope for creepypasta fans, the medium of a film may not be enough to fully introduce Jeff. The Risk: A Criminal Minds or Sleepy Hollow-like show would be the dream format for a character like Jeff — with over a decade of stories from hundreds of writers internationally, there is a lot to work with on top of the actual source material. Conveying the supernatural-unhinged villainy of Jeff may not mesh well in a time that wants sympathetic characters — Jeff is definitely not that. Skin Flick’s Demonic Influence Gives Horror-Comedy a Romantic TwistSkin Flick is a dark animated comedic horror-romance following SKIN FLICK – Graduation short film 2025, It follows Gasoline, a female-demon whose deal with the devil keeps her in a beautiful body to hide her demonic insides, in exchange for ratings. Sent to lure a runaway bride, they fall in love as she accepts Gasoline’s fluid frame and must now escape the devil’s wrath. Why It Would Work As a TV Series: The short can become a very visually distinct horror-comedy show that teaches important lessons about self-acceptance. Gasoline’s struggle with body image do to her gelatin unhumanoid form, makes her story very uniquely human. In tandom with her, the story’s runaway bride — whose backstory remain unknown — is hinted to be running from a religious background. Viewers can hypothesize that this conflicts with her sexual orientation, as there is a visible hesitance/shyness to her approaching Gasoline. Their journey through self-discovery, acceptance, and eventually freedom, all while dodging a tyrannical pimp devil in a crazy world of snuff-film porn, gives a lot of creative wiggle room. The Risk: With stories built on a thin premise, creators may feel compelled to dig into the lore. However, this story doesn’t need Gravity Falls level lore. It is a story focused on two characters growing into a future of both self-acceptance, understanding, and love. Romance should be the plot of this show. Junichiro Jackson (JJ) Takes Afro-Samurai to an Oni-Infested BrooklynSet in a near-future Brooklyn, Junichiro Jackson (J.J.) takes on the psychological thriller genre as it follows private investigator Junichiro Jackson, who can see Oni demons and becomes ingrained in a supernatural plot that threatens the world. The anime-style show mixes action, dark humor, and hip-hop to give life to a truly Brooklyn underworld atmosphere. Why It Would Work as a TV Series: The introduction of yokai mythology mixed with Black American culture gives a unique flavor to both the genre and setting. A mixture of cultural, musical, and visual identities, along with a 12+ episode season, would make this show a hit. With good dialogue and clever, current pop culture references, the story feels fresh enough to gain the interest of young adults. The Risk: The show needs to stay true to its pilot and the vibes they introduce. When non-Japanese studios try too hard to make something feel like “anime,” it can often feel like a mockery more so than a homage. It also causes the projects to lose the essence that drew people to it in the first place. As long as the creators of J.J. stay focused, it will be successful.The post 9 Internet Series That Deserve Movie or TV Screen Adaptations appeared first on Den of Geek.