Lost Tapes

After all the paranormal reality shows/docudramas comes this bizarre show from Animal Planet. Despite being a mockumentary show, it is "supposedly" based off of real events. These "Lost Tapes" capture the final events of the victim and their encounter with a supposed cryptid (aka Nessie, Big Foot, Chupacabra, etc.); like we haven't seen this before. The show tries to pull ploys from Blair Witch and Cloverfield, where the victim or victims are just pretty much running with a hand held camera; running from something that's behind them. And in Blair Witch/Cloverfield fashion, the creature is barely seen; either seeing a silhouette or a body part, but not the entire creature. Since this is Animal Planet were talking about, the show mainly just deals with cryptozoological creatures rather than full paranormal phenomenons such as ghosts and UFOs. No aliens or spirits on this show. While this show is humorous in many ways (as an equivalent of a SciFi Original Movie); the show does ponder the question...

WHEN THE HECK WILL WE FINALLY CAPTURES/VIDEO TAPES THESE CREATURES IN REAL LIFE? I mean, it took a while to film a giant squid in a nature habitat. Unlike with extraterrestials or the after life, at least the public has some idea that these cryptids have the "potential" to exist on Earth. Will we ever know, who knows. Overall, the series is a decent watch if you're bored; however, paranormal magazine shows like Sightings or documentaries like Monster Quest are more decent things to watch, if you're into that sort of stuff. Then again, there's always going to the library and reading about it too.

This was a waste of time. As if the slew of annoying commercials every 3 minutes wasn't bad enough, the whole thing stunk to high heaven of poorly manufactured farce. Even trying to get ten lines of text to make this comment worthy of the IMDb commentary is tough. What can you say about another idiotic TV show thrust upon the viewing public? Let's see - waste of time - yep. Waste of film - yep. Bad acting - Oh yeah. It's like they rolled the dice and came up with an excuse to get more air time for commercials featuring absolutely worthless products that no one needs. Animal Planet is getting just as bad as the Discovery Channel and the History Channel when it comes to commercials. Did I mention that an over abundance of commercials sucks? Current TV industry greed is way over the line.

"Lost Tapes" is one of the most inconsistent shows I have ever seen in my life. On its best episodes, its one of the scariest and most well made horror shows ever made. On its worst episodes, its equivalent to the very worst of the SyFy channel's schlock in terms of effects and acting. That said, good or bad, "Lost Tapes" is NEVER boring. Whether screaming in horror (Okay, maybe not SCREAMING, but jumping and/or getting a MAJOR case of goosebumps is frequent) or laughing in hysterics, "Lost Tapes" is almost always an insanely fun watch.

The episodes are all fast paced 30 minute "found footage" shorts spliced with background information on the particular subject of the episode. (Bigfoot, Aliens, Werewolves, e.t.c) The subtlety of the scares in the better episodes is surprising. Many times, the monster itself will never be fully revealed, but merely heavily teased via shots of its shadow, eyes or distinguishing features. It uses your imagination to terrify you, never revealing its monsters, but giving you enough information for your brain to conjure up something more terrifying than the best of effects can produce.

The acting is, like the quality of the show, inconsistent. Episodes like "Hellhound", "Bear Lake Monster" and "Dover Demon" boast solid, very realistic performances while others like "Zombies" and "Poltergeist" contain some truly laughable acting. The performances in these episodes are the biggest source of comedy to be found in the show, seemingly acted by unpaid interns or friends of the director rather than professional actors. Season 2 seems to contain the most consistently well acted episodes.

The characters aren't particularly deep (How deep can they really be in an under 30 minute short after all?), but they're likable to the point you don't want them to die and are, for the most part, surprisingly intelligent. Sometimes the characters are smart enough to actually survive their terrifying brushes with certain death, and when that's not the case, their decision making is at the very least reasonable.

"Lost Tapes" is FAR from a perfect show, but my GOD is it always entertaining. Whether scary or funny, the LAST thing anyone can accuse it of being is boring. It really was ahead of its time as far as the "found footage" thing went (Found footage movies existed upon its release, but the film was a couple years early of the real "craze" of the genre), and it's a shame, as this is one show that DEFINITELY deserved more seasons.

While the idea is definitely there, and there's enough variety in setting and story to keep each episode fresh and different, the writing and acting aren't up to par. It's a shame, because Lost Tapes is a fantastic idea for a show, especially one such as this...... I'm a sucker for a great idea, and Lost Tapes is a fantastic one, presenting its creature stories as found footage horror, complete with a variety of different characters in a variety of settings. It even occasionally addresses social issues. The research is also up to par, though it's presented in a half-baked manner that really could have been more organized and thought out...... Each episode presents a different creature, and it's in a bite-size 20 minute format that makes it easy to casually watch, while still covering its topics with enough depth and detail to feel like proper experiences.

The visuals are fine, especially for a show of this caliber. There's a variety of POV content and the focus on gimmicky effects means you'll either love or hate the exceptionally cheap budget...... I just wish the acting and writing were up to par. Dialogue never quite hits the level of convincing it needs to, and the performances never feel real either. It's a lack of effort on both ends that was probably caused by a lack of proper direction. Some scenes have too much exposition, which tends to remove believability as well.

That said, if you're a found footage fan, the show checks off most of the right marks. A variety of POV footage presented in a mockumentary format, with a brief episode format that leaves some ambiguity throughout. Plus found footage fans can't exactly afford to be picky when most of the content in found footage tends to be of the lesser quality variety.

It's become very apparent that the Internet has been taken over by viral videos of amazing events and strange creatures. Not the virus has infected Television in the form of back-t--back half hour episodes of Lost Tapes.

The budget: what budget? The effects and acting are the result of dollar-store film work, and the so-called "experts" have very little to say about the story. However, the show isn't about the science; it's about the thrill, the scare, and that it supplies well. If what you want to see is something that actually examines cryptozoology, avoid this like the plague; if you ant a scare, I would recommend this. It actually does its job: it provides cheap, fast entertainment with a sprinkling of actual facts.