Lost Tapes

I grew up watching this when it came out, I remember the advertisement for the 2nd and 3rd season playing on TV and I have every episode saved on VHS tapes! And I still to this day re-watch the episodes.

This show was my favourite cryptid show that molded me in learning more about the supernatural. I got into this in that 2010-era of Animal Planet where I watched everything on that station, and this show was my favourite. And...

I WANT A FOURTH SEASON OF THIS SHOW!!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.