Lost Tapes

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.

All over the world people have reported seeing and encountering strange creatures or monsters that cannot be explained. Are they a figment of our imagination, or, do they live among us? That's the question posed by Animal Planet's mockumentary series "Lost Tapes". Airing for three seasons, it showcased supposedly found footage of people who encountered any sort of varied cryptid or legendary monster, from Bigfoot to werewolves, and while it may not have been the most artful production ever made, it was entertaining for us monster fans. The standard episode would usually go something like this: a person or persons would be going about their routine (they just moved into a house, they're going on an expedition, they happen to be making a documentary or news report about something crime-related, etc.), they would just happen to have a video camera with them for one reason or another, and then they'd encounter one of things that haunt men's dreams! These usually ranged from some unusual, strange creature like Bigfoot or megaconda, or it could be something more supernatural, like ghosts or the Skinwalkers of the American southwest.

The monsters would be created through a variety of tricks, whether through sound effects, quick shots of the monsters, some creepy music, some interviews with cryptozoologists and general information about the supposed entities spliced in with the footage, and just the unnerving atmosphere that caused us to think, maybe, just maybe, this isn't beyond the realm of possibility. And that last part is really what made "Lost Tapes" as fun as it was; just that ability to fire up the imagination and make you wonder if some of the mysterious disappearances or savage murders you heard about in the local news were the work of something unknown. Even today, in parts of places like Africa or Asia you still hear about people being killed horribly by some type of animal, an animal that is never caught. Is it something known - lion, tiger, bear, wolf - that was just lucky to never have been caught, or is something else? Who knows? True, some of the actors in the footage weren't always the most convincing and some episodes were better than others, but the overall production usually was enough to overlook any faults. And hey, it's all part of the fun; the show isn't meant to be taken seriously. Regardless of whether one believes in things like Bigfoot or not, "Lost Tapes" is a fun way to kill some time for those who wonder what lives in the shadows. P.S. Episodes are available on YouTube

"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.

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.

When I was young I got scared so much but now I want more seasons because now animal planet has a bigger budget thanks to all their other dumb shows and those shows aren't really about so I want this show back because at least there are at least some kind of animals