Have You Seen The Wacky Horror Musical “Possibly In Michigan”?

Now, "horror" and "musical" are not typically genres that have much overlap, if any (though you could argue that Cats 2019 was a horror musical, but that's a debate for another time).

There's something that is incredibly unnerving about things that are typically sweet or innocent having an evil twinge to it, and "Possibly In Michigan" does this in a way that I have never seen before, and you may not have either.

Backstory

Back in 1983, a young director named Cecelia Condit released a quirky short film with a very catchy 80s-sounding tune (titled 'Animal Cannibal' - more on that later) and overall look that was common for that time. The official synopsis for the short film reads

Possibly in Michigan is a musical horror story about two young women who are stalked through a shopping mall by the cannibal named Arthur. He follows them home, and here the victims become the aggressors.

While the mask Cannibal Arthur wears is very creepy, the lyrics of the song and the discussions taking place are arguably even creepier. The film was largely forgotten about until it went viral on Reddit back in 2015, eventually finding its way to TikTok.

This clip perfectly captures the overall vibe and oddity throughout the film. Funnily enough, despite the nature of the film, Condit revealed in an interview she actually hates scary movies.

Was It Really In Michigan?

As the title implies, the movie possibly takes place in Michigan, however, it was not filmed in Michigan. Cecelia Condit filmed the short in Cleveland, Ohio where she was living at the time. The title was technically not a lie, considering it was possibly in Michigan, but maybe we should be grateful there aren't fictional cannibals roaming around our state.

Analog Horror

Analog horror, horror portrayed through "found footage" or analog media like VHS, CRT TVs, or other pre-digital media, is a very popular genre of horror right now. The visual style of this film is a style that many directors and video games draw inspiration from, so it is not all that surprising that the film has found a resurgence lately.