Networked Spectrality and the Glocal Mediation of Cultural Anxiety in Digital Horror

Abstract

Digital horror operates not only as a mode of fear production but as a site for immersive psychological and existential engagement, employing a wide range of narrative strategies and aesthetic forms. A defining feature of many digital horror texts is their reliance on participatory spectatorship, requiring audiences to interpret symbols, navigate fragmented archives, and actively reconstruct meaning. These practices articulate contemporary anxieties surrounding surveillance, dislocation, identity instability, and existential uncertainty. This study examines selected digital horror narratives to analyze their formal and aesthetic configurations in relation to their broader cultural, ethical, and transnational circulation. In doing so, it demonstrates how digital horror reconfigures traditional cultural motifs within globally circulating media frameworks, revealing the mutability of cultural memory and the destabilization of tradition within networked environments.