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The KAOS Brief (2017) / The Demonic Tapes (2007)




First up on Tubi, I watched this 2017 found footage sci-fi horror about 4 teens who go camping and encounter strange happenings.










The movie begins with a transmission from a mysterious organization called KAOS (they’re supposed to be like Anonymous), with a guy in a mask telling the viewer that the following broadcast is footage that they stole by hacking and are playing it to the world to let the truth be known. The footage shows Skylar, a web vlogger who frequently uploads videos to his channel called SKYLARTV. He brings his camera and a drone with him to document his camping trip with his boyfriend Corey, Skylar’s twin sister Dakota, and her boyfriend Tren. At first he just captures silly shenanigans of them laughing, setting up camp, going to the lake, etc. Then one night, Tren notices something strange and wakes the others to show them. They notice some strange lights in the sky, which Skylar records and uploads to his channel. The next morning, they awake to find a bunch of rocks piled on top of each other in an odd formation. They dismiss it as probably being the work of someone pranking them, and soon head home, thinking nothing of it. Skylar and Dakota’s parents are away on vacation, so the 4 spend the next few days hanging out. Soon enough, several strange things begin to happen, including a mysterious black car that is parked outside the house and is watching them, and finding their garbage cans piled up on top of each other like the rocks at the camp. Skylar installs a bunch of security cameras around the house to try and document the strange occurrences going on.











The movie is pretty cheesy for the most part. The transmission at the beginning from the KAOS organization is particularly laughable, oozing with amateur energy. The four leads do their best, but they’re clearly not professional actors, so the performances range from so-so to cringe, especially during the more dramatic moments. Despite a decent attempt at something creepy and mysterious, it comes off as a homemade movie made by a group of friends. The filmmaker throws in all the predictable tropes you would expect from an alien encounter flick, including the men in black, strange orb lights, alien implants, lost time, conspiracy theories, a mysterious video from Skylar and Dakota’s childhood, and even the name Indrid Cold (the mysterious entity from the Mothman Prophecies). It’s not a particular great movie, but it’s definitely not the worst I’ve seen. Check it out if you're in the mood for some UFO related silliness.











The 2nd movie I watched was this 2007 London produced horror about a guy who finds some creepy tapes in his basement.





The main character is staying at a home for the Christmas holiday. While unpacking and cleaning, he hears strange noises coming from the basement. He find an old tape recorder playing in a box with some tapes. They appear to have belonged to the previous owner of the place. He begins to listen to them as he sets up his Christmas tree and unpacks. They appear to document a medium who is investigating ghostly activity. When he looks up her name online, he finds that she had died under mysterious circumstances. As he continues to listen to the tapes, he starts getting plagued by strange dreams and visions.












The movie is mostly a one man show, with the main character being the only one who appears on screen for most of its runtime, save for the voice on the tape, and the sister of the medium who appears briefly. There are some creepy moments, and the desolate location and winter setting help to set the eerie mood. That being said, it does tend to drag at times, and could have better developed the main character, as he’s not all that interesting. Still, it does a decent job of creating some dread. It’s not the best movie, but for a low budget film, it wasn’t too bad. If you prefer slow burn films, you may enjoy this one. I watched it on YouTube, on a channel called Mansfield Dark Horror.








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