A new microbudget horror movie titled Milk & Serial has gone viral on YouTube. Made by Curry Barker, Milk & Serial is a 62-minute-long horror movie whose plot centers around a group of YouTube pranksters who get wrapped up in a series of troubling events that grow in severity. The film was released for free on YouTube two weeks ago.
Now, that’s a bad idea‘s Milk & Serial has become an unexpected viral hit. You can watch it below:
The film premiered on August 8, and was made by Barker alongside his comedy partner, Cooper Tomlinson. Tomlinson and Barker are also both producers and actors for the film. In just under three weeks on the platform, Milk & Serial has amassed over 388,000 views on YouTube. Even more remarkable is the fact that the found footage horror film was made for a microbudget of just $800. Tomlinson and Barker enlisted their friends to be in the film on weekends, in a four-month shoot whose schedule varied based on participants’ availability.
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Milk & Serial Key Facts Breakdown |
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IMDB Score |
6.8 |
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Budget |
$800 |
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Views |
388,000 |
Microbudget Horror Has Been Doing Well Recently
This Trend Is Evidenced By Blood And Honey & Terrifier 2
While the comedians did spend $800 on the film, they already made back the money before posting it online, as they sold the camera they used to make Milk & Serial, profiting $100. After posting the film itself, the crew swiftly made back even more money as they made out well via YouTube ad revenue. According to Barker, he did find a distributor that was open to taking on Milk & Serial, but after some unanticipated paperwork, he decided to release it on YouTube as it felt like “the best home for it.”
In addition to Tomlinson and Barker, the other actors in Milk & Serial include Adlih Torres, Sterling L. Pope, Jonnathon Cripple, Gloria Karel, John Simmonds, Paul Santoli, and Rob Harrow.
Milk & Serial continues, to a severe degree, a trend that involves low-budget horror doing extremely well. The 2023 horror movie Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, for example, grossed $7.7 million worldwide after being made on a minuscule budget of $50,000. Terrifier 2 also succeeded in this regard, made on a comparatively larger (but still small in the grand scheme of things) budget of $250,000 and grossing over $15 million worldwide. Both Blood and Honey and Terrifier 2 were awarded sequels, showing their unexpected success.
Taking a found-footage style, but still maintaining thrills and eeriness, Milk & Serial is a great reminder of how horror can still be fantastically scary, even when minimal resources are employed.
This microbudget to exploding success phenomenon is heightened even more with Milk & Serial. While its success is measured differently, the projected ad revenue will likely make the film receive similarly impressive returns. Its $800 budget also puts Milk & Serial at the extreme end of a low budget, as this sub-$1,000 budget is considered nothing when it comes to filmmaking. Taking a found-footage style, but still maintaining thrills and eeriness, Milk & Serial is a great reminder of how horror can still be fantastically scary, even when minimal resources are employed.
Where Can Milk & Serial Go From Here?
Could Milk & Serial’s Success Mean A Sequel?
The massive success of Milk & Serial puts it in an interesting place moving forward. With the film still available on YouTube, it is unlikely that it will get a theatrical release in the future. The fact that Barker was open to the concept of distribution, however, could be taken as an indicator that the filmmaker is open to bigger things for the franchise. Most likely, this potential expansion would take the form of a sequel to Milk & Serial, which could expand the story of the first film significantly.
Taking on the horror that can arise from internet trends, Milk & Serial has an enticing concept with ample sequel potential.
Even with the director’s apparent openness to distribution, a more formally distributed Milk & Serial sequel would be a huge step for the director. While he has been making movies for a while now, Barker’s past directorial work has previously been relegated to short films. His shorts have been featured at film festivals, including I Can’t Cry, which was selected as a finalist or winner at multiple festivals, including the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival, Florida Shorts, and Indie Short Fest. Even if a wide distribution break is a stretch, these achievements show the director’s promise.
While this would be a difficult road, this journey is not at all unheard of within the microbudget horror sphere. Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise, for example, began as a 2011 short before being adapted into a feature film. Now, the team will see Terrifier 3 release this fall. Found footage styles are also coming back into fashion in the horror landscape, as evidenced by the continuation of the V/H/S franchise. Taking on the horror that can arise from internet trends, Milk & Serial has an enticing concept with ample sequel potential.
Related
20 Best Found Footage Horror Movies
Found footage horror has exploded in popularity during the last two decades in a similar way to slashers’ popularity during the 80s and 90s.
Above all else, this demonstrates the strength of the horror genre, and the immense potential that it holds. Perhaps more than any other genre, horror allows for experimentation when it comes to format and storytelling devices. That even the lowest-budgeted movies can flourish proves that good horror doesn’t need to be big and explosive; smaller projects can be just as effective.
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