Welcome to OG: Approved—where rule-breaking creators shape the future. Hand-picked by Open Gardens, they’re not following the playbook—they’re writing the next one.
Name: Deformed Lunchbox
Instagram: 295K Followers
Youtube: 73.9K Subscribers
Who is Deformed Lunchbox?
Apologies readers for my tardiness! I have been handling some things outside of Open Gardens. Back and ready to get into it with this week’s creator.
In 2016, Peter Hatch made a post on an online horror forum asking people to check out a new YouTube channel called Deformed Lunchbox. He was looking for feedback, potential collaborators, and anyone interested in watching some strange horror movies.
A decade later, Deformed Lunchbox has become an independent filmmaking collective with an extensive catalog of horror shorts, dark comedies, and genre experiments. Led by Canadian brothers Peter and Denman Hatch, the group has spent years producing original narrative films for YouTube, many built around premises that are as ridiculous as they are disturbing.
Make Me a Sandwich, a three-minute horror short about a husband who repeatedly demands that his wife make him sandwiches. What starts as an absurd domestic argument gradually becomes something much darker. The 2020 film has accumulated tens of millions of views and even received a sequel in 2025.
What makes Deformed Lunchbox particularly interesting is that they’ve built an audience around the films rather than themselves. Unlike personality-driven creators, the Hatch brothers largely stay behind the camera, allowing their stories and recognizable brand of horror to carry the channel. Each new release adds to a growing library of work that audiences can discover long after its initial upload.
YouTube provides distribution, while Patreon, memberships, and behind-the-scenes content give fans additional ways to support and engage with the filmmakers. It also allows the group to keep producing new work, testing ideas, and building relationships with actors and crew members without every project needing to become a feature or land a distribution deal.
The collective has since expanded into feature filmmaking with Baleful, a psychological horror film directed by Denman and produced by Peter. It’s a natural progression for a team that has spent years writing, shooting, editing, and releasing its own productions.
Three Things We Love About Deformed Lunchbox
They know how to make the ordinary terrifying: From Make Me a Sandwich to Toothbrush, Deformed Lunchbox turns everyday situations into disturbing horror films. Their ability to take simple premises and make them increasingly uncomfortable is what makes their work so entertaining.
They don’t take themselves too seriously: There’s a playfulness to their filmmaking that can sometimes get lost in independent horror. Whether embracing absurd premises or mixing pop-culture characters with horror villains, they’re willing to experiment and have fun with the genre.
They’ve made YouTube their own film studio: Rather than waiting for traditional Hollywood opportunities, the Hatch brothers have built a catalog of original films, developed a network of collaborators, and expanded into features. They’re showing how creator platforms can support filmmaking ambitions beyond individual uploads.