FilmSnobReviews

Title: The Dark Tapes
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Director: Michael McQuown
Starring: Brittney Underwood, Anna Rose Moore, David Banks
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

What It Is: This is an anthology series of found footage events split into five segments To Catch a Demon, The Hunters and The Hunted, Cam Girls, Amanda’s Revenge and The Wraparound. In each, we are given a different story with different characters with the exception of one segment that well you’ll have to check out for yourself. From things that go bump in the night to legitimate nightmares, you’ll want to turn on a light before you get caught up in the dark.

What We Think: As with any anthology the film has it’s ups (Cam Girls) and downs (a majority of To Catch a Demon) what made each story stick out was the lack of a throughline to connect them all as with things like Tales of Halloween or Trick r Treat which featured almost a hub story to go along. Here we get true anthology in the vein of V/H/S. Some of the acting was spotty in places that I’ll tell you but McQuown directs the heck out of this feature. Never does he let the weight of the project get to him. As you’ll soon see in the interview below there were some things McQuown had to battle against in order to make this thing happen.

Our Grade: C, The films biggest flaw is that McQuown shows up too much at certain points (To Catch a Demon) and without the budget to back him up we get some very bad costume moments. This film is certainly better than a few of the last Paranormal Activity at least I could follow this story. Films like this need to be seen. I’ll include the instruction on how to see the film for yourself along with our exclusive interview with writer/director Michael McQuown. Be on the lookout for that.