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Man Finds Tape is a faux-documentary horror show like many others…at first. A man finds a tape (duh) and begins chronicling his investigation into strange happenings, ultimately descending into supernatural madness—but familiarity is short-lived. Writers and directors Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall have concocted an Eldritchian ode to The X-Files or Supernatural episodes with a backroads Texas twist. It’s cryptic creepypasta for the YouTube generation, delving into an online conspiracy world of Reddit hoaxes and fraudulent celebrities. On a meager budget and with clever ideas, Man Finds Tape introduces viewers to the chaos of actually finding the truths you seek.
Everything starts when Lucas Page (William Magnuson), a nobody from Larkin, Texas, finds an ominous tape in his childhood barn. He gains notoriety after starting a YouTube series about the tape, which gains overnight popularity. The more comments he receives, the more attention he gets, the more worrisome his videos become. Lucas’ sister, Lynn (Kelsey Pribilski), frets over her obsessive brother’s new project and finally visits after a disturbing video call where he appears unwell. What Lynn discovers, with Lucas’s help, is far bigger than a single video clip—Larkin itself is full of mystery.
Gandersman and Hall build folklore from the ground up, creating their own Bigfoot-esque unbelievability. This idea that we’ve lost our ability to differentiate between Loch Ness fakers and real monsters permeates Man Finds Tape, which makes Larkin such a haunting pitstop. The faux-doc angle of interviewing locals, such as Graham Skipper’s BBQ restaurateur Winston Boon, adds authenticity to Lucas’ surroundings, like in The Legend of Boggy Creek or Willow Creek.
As footage becomes more inexplicable—including stretches that cause blackouts in viewers—an addictive investigation unfurls. Lovecraftian existentialism looms overhead as Lucas barrels toward answers to simple questions, including who, on the “tape” in question, broke into his room as a child. These types of guerrilla filmmaking flicks with interviews spliced in are often reserved for serial killer stories, such as The Poughkeepsie Tapes or Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire. However, taking a more not-of-this-world route feels very much like The Fourth Kind (in a good, eerie way).
The technical composition of Man Finds Tape keeps us invested in Lucas’ ramblings. Screenlife elements adhere to YouTuber culture parameters, while scrolls through screenshots of Variety articles or Reddit threads keep us in the moment. The documentarian angle of the talking head segments is cleanly produced and staged, with distinctive on-set lighting that distinguishes it from watching “past” clips. Then there’s the found footage nature of exposing forbidden reels, which thrills as Larkin becomes this sleuthy “from beyond” playground. Gandersman and Hall are meticulous in the way visual mediums are integrated and thorough as components unite to form a stream of consciousness that keeps us in suspense with each new reveal.
Central to Lucas’ paranoia is Larkin televangelist Reverend Endicott Carr, played with stern piousness and Jonestown-ish charm by John Gholson. He’s an obvious target for blame, as evident in Lucas’ videos, and his moral pleas as a man of God (with his bellowing voice) bring a soft yet real intimidation. Gholson isn’t the only possible red herring—there’s also Brian Villalobos’ vagabond known simply as “The Stranger” and other shifty townsfolk—but Man Finds Tape is in Reverend Carr’s hands. His videos can feel like threats from the Lord, while the control he displays over his congregation captivates like a tractor beam. That’s all coming from Gholson’s commanding performance.
It’s no surprise that the Rustic Films boys—David Lawson Jr., Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead—produced Man Finds Tape. Gandersman and Hall approach the horror genre with a similar curiosity to Benson & Moorhead (à la Something in the Dirt or The Endless), succumbing to the crushing unknown of our mortal existences. Fears of the unexplainable never erase how our overexposure to absurd video theories has warped humanity’s worldly comprehension. Pribilski and Magnuson are steadfast leads as their characters lose touch with reality; both actors abandon their earthly logic in a way that society does not facilitate. The thrills and terrors of Larkin’s underbelly aren’t traditional by nature (very few jump scares, for example, if any), but it’s the lingering, crawl-under-your-skin breed of nightmare that forces you to examine the world around us with newfound concern.
Man Finds Tape is an impressively chilling feature debut, especially on its indie budget. It’s not perfect, and you’ll leave with more questions than resolutions, but that’s the film’s wavelength. What’s accomplished by blending subgenres and filming techniques into a singular vision deserves notice, paying homage to the best conspiracy tales that’ve taken over the internet. It’s not in-your-face frightening and may leave us asking for a little more exploration in scenes that cut away too soon, but it’s clear that Gandersman and Hall made the most out of indie-as-hell means. Plenty of “first-timers” would kill to come out of the gate with Man Finds Tape—I’m excited to see what comes next for these two emerging filmmaking voices.
Movie Score: 3.5/5
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