The Mandela Catalogue


The Mandela Catalogue is a 2021 analog horror web series created by American YouTuber Alex Kister. It is set in the fictional Mandela County in the United States that is invaded by otherworldly entities called alternates that psychologically torture their victims with the ultimate goal of assuming their identities as doppelgängers. The series became popular online, in part due to reaction videos and story analyses of it by internet users and YouTubers.

Summary

Primarily set during the early 1990s and late 2000s, The Mandela Catalogue takes place within the fictional Mandela County, located in Wisconsin, which is terrorized by shape-shifting creatures named Alternates. Alternates, led by a false depiction of the Archangel Gabriel, are nearly-immortal beings that aim to eradicate humanity by psychologically torturing them to the point of suicide. The Alternates can manipulate audiovisual media, such as televisions, personal computers, and vehicle GPS systems.

Themes

The series contains many biblical allusions, referencing Noah's Ark, Adam and Eve, Mary and Joseph, and the birth of Jesus. It is heavily implied that the Alternates are biblical demons, and that Archangel Gabriel is actually Satan in disguise''.''

Genre

The Mandela Catalogue is composed of 13 shorts and 5 volumes across two "Acts." The first short was released on June 9, 2021. The series belongs to a subgenre of horror dubbed analog horror. Series installments are usually presented as found footage material, or from the point of view of in-universe characters and/or their electronic devices. Nearly all the Act I installments are rendered in VHS quality, whereas most Act II installments are made in the style of old digital videos, reflecting the shift in the time period depicted. The series began to shift into mixed media following the early Act II installments.''''

Development and production

The Mandela Catalogue was created by then seventeen-year-old student Alex Kister from Richfield, Wisconsin as a series of short videos he began in 2021, while in summer college. It was Kister's first filmmaking project. Kister originally created "overthrone" as a one-off video based on a high school writing project, and planned to make a series where he edited children's cartoons to be creepy. However, due to the popularity of the video, Kister decided to continue making videos following the universe of "overthrone" into the modern day. He named the series after the Mandela Effect.
Kister had a low budget and used basic editing: scenes are shot in his home and characters are portrayed by his friends through still images and voiceovers. Kister’s mother once played an alternate.
Kister had said the series originally began as a creative outlet for the existential crisis he was dealing with, especially when it came to the subject of religion and Christianity. The series was also inspired by the isolation and loss of security Kister experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In October 2022, Kister worked with Makeship, a crowdfunding plushie company, to release merchandise for the series. In March 2024, Retro Release Video announced plans to release the first volume on VHS, though this was soon cancelled due to emerging abuse allegations against Kister. It would be re-announced in August 2024 after Kister denied most of the allegations, and that these allegations were proven false.

Episodes

Act I (2021–2022)

Act II (2022–present)

Characters

Main characters

  • Thatcher Davis - Former Lieutenant of the Mandela County Police Department. After the death of a colleague at the hands of an Alternate, Thatcher's main goal is to defeat the Alternate who killed his colleague and stop all Alternates once and for all.
  • Adam Murray - Member of the Bythorne Paranormal Society, a club of people who investigate paranormal activity. After being abducted as a child by an Intruder/6, Adam tries to find his missing mother and discovers a life-changing secret in the process.
  • Sarah Heathcliff - Founder of the Bythrone Paranormal Society. After losing her brother in an Alternate attack because the police did not respond to his cries for help, she seeks to find out the truth about the Alternates and bring down the police department in revenge for her loss.
  • Evelin Miller - Ex-girlfriend of Adam Murray. She broke up with Adam because of an inexplicable personality change, for which she wants to find out the reason with the help of Sarah Heathcliff.
  • Mark Heathcliff - Brother of Sarah Heathcliff. After being tricked by an Alternate into coming to his deceased friend's house, he becomes trapped in his house and is inflicted with M.A.D, causing him to go insane and commit suicide.
  • Cesar Torres - Friend of Mark Heathcliff. Assimilated by an Alternate and this Alternate is responsible for Mark's death. Not much more is known about him.
  • Jude Murray - The husband of Lynn and more importantly, the father of Adam. He called the MCPD for help and later fled to another precinct after losing his family.

    Supporting characters

  • Ruth Weaver - Thatcher's fellow officer and MCPD sergeant who was killed by the Murray House Alternate, leading Thatcher to plan to defeat them in revenge.
  • Jonah Marshall - The third member of the BPS. Went to the house with Adam at 3am, not realizing it was a trap, and eventually died, leaving his quote-within-quote "friend" Adam behind.
  • Lynn Murray - The wife of Jude and the mother of Adam. Committed suicide by hanging after realizing that the intruder had taken her son Adam.
  • Dave Lee - Manager of MandelaTECH. Helped Thatcher Davis recover supernatural-themed VHS tapes. Employee/boss of Evelin Miller at MandelaTECH. Died to Archangel Gabriel after being tricked into getting a job at the local church.

    Antagonists

  • Archangel Gabriel, Microsoft Sam, Kyle DeNigris ) - The first Alternate and the version of Satan in The Mandela Catalogue. He managed to take control of humanity by appearing as an Alternate of the real Gabriel. He is also the leader of the Alternates. He is the main antagonist of the story. There is much mystery behind this character and many theories made by fans surrounding such.
  • The Intruder/6, Leon Rodriguez ) - The humanoid anomaly. Instead of being an Alternate, he is the threat working with the Alternates and "Gabriel" against humanity. He is also responsible for the kidnapping of over three thousand innocent children and the suicide of their parents out of grief.
  • The Murray Residence Alternate - Manifested through the television of Stanley/The Intruder and Adam after he killed Ruth Weaver. It even went further and haunted Thatcher seventeen years later.
  • Cesar's Alternate - An alternate of Cesar. He assimilated Cesar and made his friend Mark paranoid after tricking him into going to Cesar's house. He also drove him to suicide after probably telling him that his religion, Christianity, was a complete lie.
  • The Preacher - An alternate of an elderly nun. Also known as a messenger. An alternate who stalked little Adam Murray in his home before The Intruder kidnapped him along with over three thousand other children.
  • N - One of the example alternates shown in the T.H.I.N.K Principle, and is the alternate that stalked and drove Jude Murray insane.

    Cameo appearances

There were some cameo appearances from the old classic films that were only featured in Vol. 1 .
In the cartoon The Beginner's Bible, which appears in some cases, it is actually unknown which characters were dubbed, as each episode features the same voice actors in the credits without the characters' names. The only character known to have a voice actor is Adam, the first human created by God, who appears in The Mandela Catalogue Vol 2 and was voiced by Rich Swingle.

Reception

Audience

The Mandela Catalogue grew popular due to analysis and reaction videos on YouTube and quickly gained a following. Some users criticized an over-reliance on analog horror tropes. Vol. 4 received particular criticism for its use of live-action segments filmed with green screens. Some viewers disliked the scenes' lack of realism. However, Kister said the lack of realism was purposeful and an attempt to give the segments an uncanny valley quality.
A TikTok trend based on The Mandela Catalogue became popular in 2023. In these videos, which often have a similar VHS aesthetic, a person realizes they are being hunted by their "Alternate" when a soundbite plays, saying: "If you see another person that looks identical to you, run away and hide".

Critical reception

praised The Mandela Catalogue as "the supreme of what analog horror looks and sounds like", adding that "the sense of insecurity that comes from knowing you’ll be frightened is constantly visually manipulated". Ohio University student newspaper The Post favorably compared its use of the uncanny valley as a horror technique to The Walten Files. It was also praised by GQ. While TLK Magazine praised the series' worldbuilding, it criticized the "monotone" voiceover acting, saying it detracted from The Mandela Catalogue's tone.

Adaptations

The Indie games Maple County, Alternate Watch, and Assessment Examination are based on the series. In 2021, prior to his role on The Mandela Catalogue, actor Thorne Baker developed Maple County. The game is framed as an interactive training tape from the Maple County Police Department, in which players must determine which photos portray Alternates and which portray actual people. In Mandela Invasion, created by Broken Arrow Games, Alternates attempt to break into the player's house and must be repelled.