First up was this 2021 found footage thriller.
The movie begins with a screen caption that states that a camera containing memory cards was found by state police, and the following is some of the recorded footage. We then get into the story of Jeff Blake, a YouTube personality who is working on a pilot to submit to the Food Network, who’ve expressed interest in his channel. He discusses the recent death of his father, and how that led him to submit a kit into ancestry.com to see if he had any relatives he didn’t know about. He finds out he has a half brother, so he goes to meet him while filming his submission for the channel. His half brother, a quiet, unassuming country guy named Andy Baker, seems shy but nice upon meeting him. As Jeff continues to film scenes for his show with his new found family, tensions begin to slowly arise between the 2 of them, mostly due to their clashing personalities. Eventually, the tension boils over and things become dangerous and creepy, leading to a violent climax.
The film is entertaining and moves along fast (runtime is only 1 hour and 9 minutes). The main character, Jeff, I found really annoying, with his smug, arrogant, pretentious and short-tempered attitude. Andy, his half brother, was initially more likable, though it soon becomes obvious that he’s not all right in the head. There are some creepy, effective moments of tension, as well as a few jump scares (the first being the best). If you enjoyed found footage flicks such as Creep, then you might want to check out The Andy Baker Tape. It’s available on Tubi.
The next one was another found footage horror about the employees of a video hosting website that investigate the origin of a clip that was sent to them.
The story begins by introducing the employees of Gigaler, a startup online video platform site that’s working on developing its algorithm to better taylor the videos they display to each user. They receive an anonymous clip that shows a woman in a cemetery, with some text about her engaging in self harm. Just as the viewer is drawn in and paying close attention, a creepy masked face appears on the screen with a loud scream, startling the viewer. They find the video to be great, so they put it on their homepage and it goes viral. Looking for a way to capitalize on it, they set about to find where it came from and who made it, hoping to get an exclusive deal with this person so they can run their videos only on their site. Their investigation leads to a post about a missing woman, and thinking the entire thing is a hoax, they go to the location the video originated from to get to the bottom of it.
The first 40-45 minutes is nothing too special, spending time introducing the characters and the behind the scenes day to day of how their business runs. It’s during the second act that they begin to try solving the mystery of the video, leading to the tense and jump scare filled final act. This is another flick where the lead is an annoying douche whose behavior will eventually lead to disaster. Unfortunately, the rest of his team, who try to talk some common sense into his stupid ass, get dragged down into the horror. While the scares are of the see-them-coming-a-mile-away variety, they still manage to be effective, if a little repetitive. I admit, that first one was set up quite well and got me good. It’s not a great film, as the first half drags, but if you’re patient, the end is pretty fun. #Screamers is also on Tubi.
The last Tubi selection was a late 80’s found footage style flick that shows a video recording that tapes a UFO and alien encounter.
The movie begins with an introduction that claims the film is legitimate and captures evidence of alien life. Then we’re introduced to a family celebrating a child’s birthday, gathered around a table and having dinner, with one guy recording everything on his camcorder. After some basic back and forth chit chat, they light the candles on the kid’s birthday cake and she blows them out. Then the power in the house suddenly goes out. The guys go outside to check on the power outage, when they see a light fly overhead. They go to investigate, and come across a spaceship that’s landed. Then they see alien figures around the craft. Panicked at being spotted by the aliens, they rush back to the house, arm themselves with guns, and the rest of the short film (it’s only 1 hour) details what happens during the rest of the night.
Pre-dating the Blair Witch Project by a few years, I found it to be unintentionally funny. Perhaps if I saw this when it was first released I might have bought their BS about it being real (probably not), but it’s hard to feel any suspense when the grainy VHS quality is so bad that you can hardly see anything. It also doesn’t help that it’s so badly acted. Once the aliens show up, it becomes hilarious as the costumes are so damn fake. I’ve seen more realistic outfits at Spirit Halloween. The grandmother had me cracking up, as she often said funny or ridiculous things (if they could fly they wouldn’t need spaceships) and some silly speech about women being used to waiting, to find a boyfriend, and then for their husbands to come home from work, etc. The actions of the characters are also not believable. After seeing the spaceship and aliens, the men are first panicked and determined to get everyone out of the house. They then suddenly calm down and decide to eat cake and open presents, as if they didn’t just witness something fantastic. Later, when two of the guys disappear after they go outside to get the truck so they can all leave, the rest of the gang decide to sit in the kitchen and play a game of Go Fish while they wait for the guys to return. If you’re in the mood to be scared or thrilled, this badly produced atrocity won’t scare you. But if you want a good laugh, check it out.
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