The Dark Tapes is a 2017 American found footage anthology horror film written by Michael McQuown and directed by Vincent J. Guastini along with McQuown. The feature film consists of four segments To Catch A Demon, The Hunters & The Hunted, Cam Girls and Amanda's Revenge with a short opening sequence titled Wrap Around.

Plot

The film is presented as an anthology of short horror films, built into a frame narrative which acts as its own short horror film. Each short film is linked together with the concept of found footage.

Wrap Around

Sam and Marie find blood and a mess in their studio, and blame their friend.

To Catch a Demon

Dr. Martin Callahan and his student Nicole believes that night terrors are a result of the time dilation humans experience during REM sleep, which allows "transdimensional entities" to become visible. They attempt to perform an experiment to catch these entities, with Jason filming. During their second attempt, an entity attacks Martin and sticks tentacles down his throat. Nicole and Jason lose consciousness. After regaining consciousness, they see Martin unharmed. Martin informs them they are trapped in a different time dilation due to the experiment, and that the area may have different flows of time, keeping them trapped there. Jason attempts to escape, but dies by being cut in half due to time dilation. In a final attempt to reverse the experiment, Nicole attempts to charge the "flux capacitor" while the demon attacks Martin. Martin realizes he is already dead due to the first attack. Nicole triggers the flux capacitor and blacks out. She awakens with the bodies of both Martin and Jason gone. She assumes time dilation has been reversed, however when she goes outside and sees Sam and Marie from the beginning of the film frozen in time she realizes she is still trapped.

The Hunters & the Hunted

David and Karen moves into a new home, but begins hearing mysterious sounds coming from the roof and around the house. They decide to record the events and call paranormal investigators. After investigators arrive, they set up equipment and recorders, which capture a girl who Karen reveals is the couple's deceased daughter. Susan, the lead investigator, believes Karen and David's daughter is in danger from a "negative energy" in the house. They call out to the daughter, only to hear her scream in pain. Later, the cameraman discovers that both Susan and the other cameraman had their eyes gouged out. The cameraman is attacked from behind. It is reveal that David and Karen tricked the investigators into coming so they could murder them. The couple's still-alive daughter comes down the stairs and makes her first kill, with David's help.

Cam Girls

Caitlin, a cam girl in a lesbian relationship, video chats with her ex-boyfriend telling him about unexplained blackouts after going out with her girlfriend Sindy. Caitlin says she did things she could not explain and would never do sober. Sindy returns home and the two prepare for a special cam session where one member in a group chat receives a free private show. Sindy asks Caitlin if she can convince her selection to cut himself. They select Gerry, a mild mannered overweight man. Sindy walks off screen and Caitlin begins flirting with Gerry. She asks him to give her a video tour of his house. As he gives Caitlin the tour a dark female figure can be seen lurking in the background. Caitlin convinces Gerry to cut his hand, which he does. She then convinces and controls Gerry into cutting his own throat. Caitlin and Sindy appear in Gerry's house and reveal themselves as demons.

Amanda's Revenge

Amanda talks directly to the camera about being abducted and kidnapped for four months and states her intention of exacting revenge on her captors. Four month earlier, during a party, Amanda's friends Ryan, Ashley, and Josh, sees two men carry an unconscious Amanda into a room. Ryan and Josh break into the room, subdue the rapists, and due to quick action, appear to have prevented the rape. However, the next morning Amanda walks out in a trance saying she was violated in ways she could not imagine. Suddenly the entire house quakes and Amanda sleepwalks back to her room, only to awaken with no memory of the incident. A month later she calls her friends over to watch her sleep at night. However, instead of staying awake everyone mysteriously passes out and the camera shuts down. Amanda confides in Ryan, who is her childhood best friend, that something unexplainable has been happening in her life. She reveals telekinetic abilities to Ryan, however Ryan, believes it to be a trick. Two months later, she calls Ryan and sends him a video of an alien abducting her. Ryan comes to a remote cabin in Montana where Amanda has been staying to help her stop her abductions. She unquestionably demonstrates telekinesis to Ryan on video.

Amanda says that recording with electronics is useless as the aliens can shut off all electronics. She also states that previous attempts to stop the aliens with recognizable weapons were useless as the aliens disabled them before entering. She realized that filming with 8mm 1950s film cameras were effective in filming the aliens. She booby traps her room with water balloons filled with sulfuric acid. That night, the alien enters and triggers the trap wounding it. A month later during a video chat with Ryan, Amanda says the aliens have not returned since. They both have feelings for one another and Ryan promises to consummate the relationship in a few weeks when he can come. He sleeps with a webcam watching Amanda in case the aliens return. However, after falling asleep Ryan is awoken to the aliens coming for him.

Cast

• David Roy Banks as Sam
• Sara Castro as Marie
• David Rountree as Martin Callahan
• Cortney Palm as Nicole
• Matt Magnusson as Jason
• Shawn Lockie as Karen
• Stephen Zimpel as David
• Jo Galloway as Susan
• Clint Keepin as Cameron
• Jonthan Biver as Geoff
• Brittany Fisheli as Ashen
• Emilia Zoryan as Caitlin
• Anna Rose Moore as Sindy
• Aral Gibble as Gerry
• Brittany Underwood as Amanda Courtney
• Jake O'Connor as Ryan
• David Hull as Josh

Release

The films was released on March 17, 2017 in the United States.

Reception

The Dark Tapes received mostly positive reviews. It currently holds a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews. Bradley Gibson of Film Threat gave the film an 8/10 saying "this is effective, mysterious, and vibey millennial horror".^[1] Ryan Morris of Film Inquiry said the film was "fun, scary and consistently tense".^[2] Steve Barton of Dread Central gave the film a positive review saying "ends up doing more right than it does wrong".^[3] However the film holds a 5.0/10 on IMDb based upon user reviews.

References

External links

• The Dark Tapes at IMDb
• The Dark Tapes at Rotten Tomatoes