So I think this probably won’t qualify as a trend, because the examples I have are spread out enough that it doesn’t really point to an uptick in the number of times we see this trope over the years, but there is something interesting going on here. In some media offerings of the last 20+ years––most notably creepy mysteries, some puzzle box stuff––the writers have relied on a little device I like to call the “unearthed corporate-esque orientation video.”
Here’s what happens: usually once the story is a bit underway, the main characters discover a tape that gives some insight into the nefarious group at the center of the mystery they’re trying to unfold. Sometimes, it’s a corporation that’s a little culty; other times, it’s a cult that just happens (apparently) to like orientation footage that is corporate in style? Think cheesy music; placid-leaning-cheerful host; clear, instructional script; often drab, lame suits. To amp up the creep factor, the footage is often grainy and the tape often skips. According to some things I’ve read, this aesthetic is related to “analog horror,” but it is a pretty micro example of this and is found in the contexts of television shows and movies that cannot, themselves, be called part of that genre.
Herewith, some examples. You tell me if this is a trend? There are more than three, but again, I would think we’d be seeing this more often if it were building
Lost, Season 2 (2005)
Early on in season two of Lost, Jack, Kate, and John Locke successfully manage to descend into “the hatch” and discover it’s actually a bunker, population: one. Desmond (the sole resident of the hatch) has been down below for an undetermined, but presumably long, amount of time, and has been, per instructions, typing numbers into a computer every 108 minutes to avoid the end of the world. The trio from Oceanic 815 finds a video in which a doctor spokesperson for Dharma Initiative explains the history of the group and the purpose of the station.
The Empty Man (2020)
This isn’t a great example, because it doesn’t really have the hallmarks of a stock orientation video. The only reason it really makes the cut is because a) the logo of the Pontifex Society, a vaguely Scientology-esque outfit dedicated to sending messages via a long-paralyzed and comatose man, appears at the opening and b) it’s found by James Lasombra in an egregiously creepy (think worn out teddy bears on the floor) abandoned camp cabin while he’s searching for clues to solve a mystery. Whether or not this is a good example of this particular phenomenon I’m describing, the movie is worth watching if you’re a horror fan: after being released to nary a whisper (IYKYK), Vulture called it a “wildly ambitious” film that “tosses around more big ideas in its first hour than many great films have in their entire run time.”
Servant, season 2 finale (2023)
I’ve long loved Apple TV’s vaguely ridiculous Shyamalan-esque (he was a producer) movie about a strange young woman who takes a job as a nanny for a grieving couple in Philadelphia. The decor porn! The resurrections! The Lauren Ambrose of it all! (She is fantastic here.) Nanny Leanne Grayson, though, has a secret that rivals the one the family harbors: she’s the product of a cult made up of individuals who can––spoiler alert––bring people back from the dead, but only under specific circumstances and at a cost. At the end of season two, she’s visited by a fellow cult member trying to lure her back into the group’s fold, via––you guessed it!––corporate instructional video. Only this time, it’s Betamax. How’s that for analog?
Widow’s Bay (2026)
The belle of the television ball at the moment, Widow’s Bay is about an island off the coast of Massachusetts where inexplicable, bad, and inexplicably bad things happen. But that isn’t going to stop Mayor Tom from marketing it as the next beach vacation spot! As many critics more articulate than myself have pointed out, Widow’s Bay has to walk a very precarious tightrope in that it straddles genres, and it manages to be both horror and comedy without sacrificing either one. The Creepy Corporate Orientation Video is actually a two-parter: in one part, the nameless spokesperson speaks directly to people seemingly about to be sacrificed, and in another, he speaks to the sacrificers, telling them how best to carry out their duty (including: don’t comfort them)! It’s actually the oldest medium of the bunch too, as town employee Dale watches the footage on a projector.
Bonus example: Severance (2025)
Severance feels like it should be chock-full of this kind of video, given that it lives exactly at the intersection of eerie and corporate. Until I brave a third rewatch, though, I have to say that I’m pretty sure there are no orientation videos in the series itself. The only things that come close are when Helly wakes up for the first time on the conference room table––no video, just a voice over quiz––and when various people’s outies (Burt, Helly) send them video messages from the outside world. However, Apple TV released this little teaser video, in which Mr. Milchick and Ms. Huang explain the process of severance to other corporate entities, as a means of adding lore for hungry viewers. It’s not my favorite extra of all time, if I’m honest, but I also think Severance can do no wrong, so it’s still a little satisfying.
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