‘Man Finds Tape’ (2025)

Following YouTuber Lucas Page (William Magnuson) as he becomes a viral sensation, ‘Man Finds Tape’ is a found footage horror mystery that tracks the man’s downward trajectory as he and his sister Lynn (Kelsey Pribilski) probe deeper into the mysteries of their small hometown Larkin, Texas. The investigation leads both to learn of horrifying secrets hidden deep within the quiet community led by religious leader Reverend Endicott Carr (John Gholson).

Opening on a documentary narration to the feature, Lynn references well-known imagery of cryptids, namely the Patterson–Gimlin film depicting Bigfoot and the first image captured of the Loch Ness monster. Lynn questions their authenticity and queries the lack of monster imagery since the meteoric development of technology, arguing that the general public refuses to acknowledge the existence of real-life monsters. Determining that people are unable to see what is right in front of them, the woman posits that we choose not to see what terrors lie before us.

Segueing into a Zoom call between the siblings, ‘Man Finds Tape’ quickly establishes the fractured relationship between Lucas and Lynn. Distrustful of Lucas and his claims that there’s something wrong in Larkin, Lynn reluctantly agrees to watch a video he is frightened of, as Lucas says he cannot watch the footage in its entirety. On reviewing the footage, a CCTV video of a street corner, Lucas slips into a trance when the video shows all pedestrians in the video doing the same, resulting in one man being mowed down and killed by a van.

Returning to Larkin, Lynn agrees to help Lucas investigate the odd happenings. Interspersed with interviews of the people seen in the CCTV footage, Lynn sees how each individual also inexplicably slips into a trance, seemingly without reason, even after the examination of the footage by a forensic audiologist.

The investigation leads the two to discovering ‘the Stranger’ (Brian Villalobos) in their town. Tracking him, Lucas sees the Stranger take down another town local Boon (Graham Skipper) and perform a ritual on him. Subduing the Stranger, Lucas and Lynn discover that every inhabitant of Larkin is infected, carrying a parasite in them that drains their life force to be delivered onto another person.

Learning that Reverend Endicott Carr is the one harnessing the power and that the Stranger wants to gain that power for himself, the Page siblings take matters into their own hands and try to take the Stranger down. After a brief showdown, Lynn manages to chase the Stranger away, who disappears into the night never to be seen again. Having suffered injuries after confronting the Stranger, Carr attempts to flee but ultimately succumbs to his injuries, bursting into flames.

With a number of visually stimulating offerings, ‘Man Finds Tape’ fails to sustain its initial sense of intrigue. The opening offers an absorbing premise – seeing an unrelated group of people all fall under a trance at the same time in broad daylight suggests sinister misdeeds on a large scale, yet the film fumbles and lets that engagement fizzle out by jumping from one thread to another.

Later seeing the Stranger subdue Boon and extract a parasitic worm from the man introduces a surprising twist into the creature feature territory, veering away from the previously heavy lean towards mystical and spiritual themes. Again, the movie fails to stick the landing and the gross-out sequence only lasts that long until we’re taken to another brief ‘interview with the survivor’ bit that detracts from the manic energy that preceded it.

Perhaps a little tonally inconsistent, the film introduces the theme of survivors of abuse, yet this works against the dark and gross atmospheric heights that the feature had just soared to.

The culmination of the film sees the Stranger face off against Carr who had somehow learned to harness this dark power for himself. With the two wanting to use the power, the Stranger attacks Carr and absorbs his abilities. Sensing something bubble up inside her, Wendy (Nell Kessler), another victim of Carr’s, uses the dark power against the Stranger who casts a spell to escape the church basement they’re in. Opening the door to another realm, Lynn chases after him. Again, delivering mesmerising imagery, the film follows Lynn as she enters what appears to be a literal downward spiral staircase to hell. Perhaps not exploring the dark realm enough by providing a brief glimpse into the powers and abilities of the Stranger, the film does little with the idea and raises more questions and frustration.

Tonally muddled, the feature provides a handful of amazing concepts yet does not see any one idea through to a satisfying conclusion. With a lot of vying for power and incredible forces at play, the film is not too concerned with showing us the devastating impacts this could have had as seemingly everyone introduced on the investigative side of the story makes it out unscathed.

Disappointing in terms of wasted potential, ‘Man Finds Tape’ excels in terms of concepts yet falters in execution. By squeezing in too many different ideas and trying to cement itself as a rumination on surviving abuse, ‘Man Finds Tape’ lacks a clear and concise through-line, shifting violently from one idea to another, never really providing enough on any one thing to leave the viewers satisfied. A feature with excellent ideas a little too concerned with delivering an overarching moral lesson keeps it from truly reaching its potential.

Score: 2/4