Ever since The Blair Witch Project terrified easily scared people all over the world in 1999, “Found Footage films have been everywhere. Movies made up of the shaky handheld images of people who disappeared in mysterious circumstances are so prevalent that they are now a genre in their own right. And like any genre, it has its high water marks such as Cloverfield, Troll Hunter and Rec that make the most of the first person perspective to create a truly immersive atmosphere. But there have been plenty of lazy efforts like the non-stop Paranormal Activity sequels which simply use the format as an excuse for cheap scares.
Then there are the standard, middling movies that you find in all genres. The Lost Coast Tapes falls into this category, it’s a decently entertaining, perfectly serviceable Found Footager that ticks all the standard boxes but doesn’t do anything new. All the now standard tropes are present and correct here: night vision footage, female characters being leered at with the camera, characters spending far too much time filming their own faces and people waving cameras around in forests while screaming “What is that?.
The setup sees an amateur film crew making a deal with mysterious old Bigfoot Hunter Carl Drybeck (Frank Ashmore), that in exchange for $75,000 he will show them conclusive proof that the elusive Sasquatch is no myth. The director Drew (Sean Reynolds) is a hardened cynic who thinks he’s going to ruin Drybeck’s reputation. Of course, once the crew are isolated in the Californian wilderness they realise the old man might not be full of it and the screaming and camera waving begins.
It actually starts off promisingly as the crew are made up of entertaining characters, especially soundman Kevin (Noah Weisberg), who is so constantly and over-the-top terrified that he’s basically a live-action version of Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. Unfortunately, once the comedy stops and the supposed scares begin it just becomes a bog-standard Found Footage experience that borrows heavily from more successful efforts like Rec and Troll Hunter. Although the Bigfoot idea is interesting, and promises something as entertaining as Troll Hunter, we don’t actually get to see the legendary apemen as the budget obviously didn’t stretch to CGI sasquatches (sasquatchi?) so we just have to settle for seeing the actor’s not very convincing reactions to them. At times you want to shout at the screen, “Stop filming your own faces you narcissistic bastards and show us the monsters!
There’s also the fact that, without giving too much away, towards the end the filmmakers clearly decided that they were bored of the whole Bigfoot idea and instead decided to spring another, much less plausible and interesting idea out of nowhere. When the people who made the film get bored of the central concept it’s hard not to expect the audience to as well.
Overall Verdict: The Lost Coast Tapes is a sporadically entertaining but ultimately disappointingly average effort. That’s enough found footage now please.
Special Features:
None
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon