Your premier resource for Found Footage reviews.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Lost Tapes, Season 2


Lost Tapes (Season 2)

In an era where paranormal shows have been swept up into the reality show tradition, leave it to Animal Planet -- of all channels, right? -- to put together something that's stylized, unapologetically scripted, beautifully reminiscent of the para docs I grew up with, and actually pretty creepy. Lost Tapes ran for three seasons in 2009 & 2010. Rumors of a fourth season have yet to be corroborated, but Animal Planet still currently airs reruns in the dead of the night.

Each episode of Lost Tapes features expository interviews about the legend and the possible existence surrounding a particular cryptid, coupled with found footage content depicting a group of people running afoul of said cryptid who invariably has every intention of slaughtering them. The plot diagram is never particularly original but the settings, characters, and set-ups are wonderfully varied and should keep your interest well enough.

A mix of faux-documentary and found footage, more so than The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield or any of those films, this TV series is descended from what is perhaps the first found footage TV spot -- Alien Abduction: Incident In Lake County. UPN's original broadcast version played out very much like a 45 minute version of Lost Tapes, featuring action clips interspersed with fabricated expert interviews.

A paranormal found footage TV show is a strange beast. To do a truly great found footage TV show would be an incredible thing, but it would be unspeakably difficult to accomplish. Lost Tapes' 20 minute runtime (minus commercials) categorically lacks the timeframe necessary to capture the build-up and nuance that is the quintessential hallmark of most found footage, particularly of the paranormal variety. And the commercials intentionally cut into all of the suspenseful moments, which massacres the atmosphere. Moreover, part of what makes found footage so enticing and effective is the inherent concept that the footage is of a unique and novel nature -- a once in a lifetime event uncannily rendered on tape for the first and only time. It's part of the mystique, part of the believability. So it's difficult to return to that setting in every single episode and maintain much intrigue.

But that's beside the point, in light of how much fun this show is. I'd choose it over most paranormal shows today just for the spooky documentary aspects. There are some really nice episodes here. The creepy vampire in the crawlspace was preemptively reminiscent of Paranormal Activity 3, and the birthday 'girls weekend out' trip interrupted by the ground-dwelling lake monster was wonderfully frightful.

It's not something that'll ever live up to Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch, [Rec], etc. Just a fun little show. But for a found footage junkie like me? It's an absolutely fun-raking commentary on just how pervasive Found Footage has become today. Here we have 34 (full series) 20 minute short films in the found footage genre, predominantly of the cryptid variety, how can I not adore it? Each one is like a little piece of found footage culture. You see all the classic staples of the genre... the lost documentary crew, the urban legend turned deadly, the military shootouts in a claustrophobic locale. I feel like there's an incredible drinking game somewhere in this show that I haven't figured out yet. Bottom line is, if you like cryptids and found footage, you'd be silly not to catch this show.

No comments:

Post a Comment