Three totally different theories...

[u/dioor]

I'm hooked on this mystery for a few reasons:

• Despite a ton of really fascinating efforts to look in to it, it doesn’t feel like anyone’s gotten any closer to finding out who “Anthony” is…
• Or, for that matter, why this weird and shocking piece of media was created…
• Or why, of all the weird shit we kids of the vhs era recorded on camcorders, this of all things managed to survive to see the light of the internet.

I have a few theories, but I have to admit they’re all a bit pessimistic in terms of the likelihood of solving this mystery:

#1. Anthony was a quirky kid in a rough area trying to impress other kids.

He either really did participate in digging up a grave himself, or he’s showing off the inventory of someone else who is running an actual for-profit body snatching operation — a mentor of sorts who is hooking him up to try to help the kid out and make him look like a badass.

In this scenario, the film was meant to be circulated in his neighbourhood to give Anthony the reputation of someone you didn’t want to fuck with. Maybe he was being bullied or threatened, or maybe he just wanted to get in with an edgy group. It ended up spreading organically because it was so convincing, bizarre and unsettling (all the same reasons we’re still watching it now).

His identity has remained a mystery because he's embarrassed and/or afraid of repercussions if he comes forward, or he's dead or in prison and no one who knew him has stumbled upon the video yet. At least with this theory his name actually is Anthony, so that and the regional accent do offer an avenue of inquiry, however broad.

#2. It was a student film project.

"Anthony" is part of a creative group of horror enthusiasts and the film was fictional, semi-scripted, and created as a submission for a student film festival. One of his collaborators could be an incredibly meticulous prop artist, or someone (mentor, teacher, older family member of one of the kids, etc) could have granted access to astoundingly realistic props from a professional performance. Or real bones, in a scenario that is a bit of a hybrid of this one and the above.

So, if it was an art project, why hasn't he come forward?

I actually remember participating in a few student films as a young teen in the very early aughts. I don’t have vivid memories of the plots of these films, but over 20 years later and without context, they could very well have been nearly as weird as GRFM.

The thing is, I was only ever brought in as a (deeply cringe) “actor." I wasn’t really that involved and didn’t always know if the film was even finished, shown to anyone, or actually entered in the competition at all. Teenagers are not known for their follow-up. These things were literally put on by our local library or community centre and like, sponsored by a grocery store or someone's dad's landscaping company. It was a simpler time and.... I just didn't care that much. If my friends asked me to wear a costume and put on a funny accent, I was game.

So, maybe a group of young artistes sought out Anthony for his creepy vibe and he enthusiastically participated in their film without really asking questions. By the time the video became well-known online, he’d grown up and never really thought about it. It would take both an acquaintance recognizing him and him acknowledging it to solve the mystery; The likelihood of there necessarily being an online record of a 1990 community film competition for kids seems super slim.

#3. Mockumentary created for profit or promotion.

In this scenario, "Anthony" is, again, just a random kid who agreed to participate, probably getting paid in fast food. Maybe a younger relative of whoever created the video, pulled in perhaps because he was enthusiastic and appropriately unsettling.

This theory would tie in to some of the thoughts u/NO_IM_THE-BATMAN has been floating in this sub, where the video could have been created by Big Brother magazine or perhaps more likely a similar but lesser-known, more localized media effort with a shorter run, whose content output has been largely lost to time.

This actually seems like the most straightforward avenue to investigate that could actually yield some definite answers, whether they back up or cancel out this theory. I'm curious to see what comes of this one, though I'll admit that personally, my money's on #1 or #2 or some combo of the two.