Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Paul Gandersman, Peter Hall
Starring: Kelsey Pribilski, William Magnuson, John Gholson, Brian Villalobos, Nell Kessler
The found footage sub-genre has long evolved from simply dashing through the woods with a shaky camera. Recent offerings have veered more towards a mockumentary style, with Stephen Cognetti's Hell House LLC series leading the charge. For their feature debut, Man Finds Tape, Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall have opted for something similar to Cognetti's approach, deploying a mix of talking head interviews, CCTV footage and grainy video tapes to unspool a mythos that might lead to further sequels.
The title refers to the name of the YouTube channel of Lucas (William Magnuson). He sets up the channel after discovering an old camcorder tape in a box marked with his name in the basement of the family home he inherited. The tape contains disturbing footage of Lucas as a child being approached in his bedroom by a black clad figure who appears to place something in Lucas's mouth before rendering him unconscious. Lucas has no memory of such an occurrence, so he begins investigating and comes to believe that the mysterious figure might be creepy local preacher Reverend Carr (a supremely sinister John Gholson).
Gandersman and Hall present their film as an investigative documentary assembled by Lucas's sister Lynn (Kelsey Pribilski), who returns home when her brother shows her the unsettling footage. It seems an evil force is manipulating the residents of their small town, causing blackouts and bouts of amnesia. Is Reverend Carr really behind this or is a greater evil at work?
Man Finds Tape immediately stands out from the found footage crowd with some novel ideas that draw us into its mystery. Lucas uncovers footage of locals freezing during blackouts, but when he tries to watch them he falls into a trance himself. Lynn, however, is immune to such effects and is able to see the full horrors of his footage. Like a sighted person leading the blind, the initially sceptical Lynn finds herself in the position of heading her brother's investigation.
Man Finds Tape has some big name producers in Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson and C. Robert Cargill, and it fits in with the work of all three. Like the Cargill scripted Sinister series, it pauses to present us with eerily realistic footage of disturbing scenes. In its final act it all goes a bit cosmic and Lovecraftian in the manner of the films of Moorhead and Benson. Along with Tim Buel, Moorhead also provides the film's visual effects, which are highly impressive for such a low budget production, especially a striking scene involving a never-ending staircase that seems to lead to some ungodly abyss.
Ultimately, however, Man Finds Tape is constrained by the limitations of its mockumentary approach. It occasionally runs into the major flaw of found footage cinema, i.e. the difficulty in creating suspenseful sequences when we're only seeing the protagonist's POV. The talking head structure also makes what should be some tense and unnerving scenes redundant as we know the people involved survived their ordeal, otherwise they wouldn't be giving interviews after the fact.
Gandersman and Hall wrap up their narrative in an ambiguous manner that suggests their mythos might be expanded upon in sequels. Taken as a standalone feature though, it's a frustrating ending that leaves us asking a question that the film simply answers with little more than a variation of "shit happens!"
Man Finds Tape is on UK/ROI VOD from January 19th.
