Lost Tapes
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 20th, 2009
Here is a rather strange fish. Imagine a series of very economical Blair Witch-style mockumentaries, featuring a different creature each week (giant lizards, giant snakes, werewolves, you name it). The “found footage” is interrupted every few minutes by actual footage of real animals related to the supposed monster while factoids parade on the screen. Most peculiar. Individual episodes have a certain ripe-cheese entertainment value, but you’ll want to watch them in widely separated screenings, as the mockumentary approach feels repetitious and tiresome quite quickly. Viewers expecting to get their monster fix in will also likely be disappointed by the brief and unconvincing FX.
Video
Hard to give a rating on this, since the footage is supposed to look raw (this is supposedly taped by the unfortunates who conveniently leave the camera running even as they are about to be swallowed up by the fearsome whatsit). The simulation is fairly effective, with all sorts of convincing grain and camera shake. The less frantic scenes are prone to a certain degree of aliasing, though that too is hard to blame on the transfer.
Audio
Here is where the production values are allowed to become a bit more slick. The 2.0 sound is plenty active when it comes to the score, pounding away in its relentless desire to freak us out. The dialogue is clear, and the track is generally a clean and efficient bit of production.
Special Features
None.
Final Thoughts
So this has the appeal of being odd, but it is also 322 minutes of the same oddness repeated at twenty minute intervals, so take it in small doses.
