“Man Finds Tape” (2025) refers to a YouTube series that Lucas Page (William Magnuson) launched to great acclaim when he claims to find a mysterious childhood tape of himself in a barn. His sister, Lynn (Kelsey Pribilski), a documentarian who prefers being behind the camera, narrates this fake documentary to examine a phenomenon in her hometown Larkin, Texas, where the residents blackout and lose time for an unknown reason. These blackouts prevent them from seeing and investigating what happened to them without inducing another blackout, which can result in seizures. Lynn decides to check on her brother and help those who never left home. Who says that attention seeking does not have its perks! Codirectors and cowriters Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall’s feature debut is a solid movie even if their film omitted some connective tissue and felt as if it rushed to the resolution.
“Man Finds Tape” succeeds at creating characters that are relatable and normal, not annoying or stupid, so the audience can connect with them and get into the story. Whoever did the casting nailed it because Magnuson and Pribilski have great sibling chemistry and resemble their onscreen parents, Holly (Akasha Villalobos) and Richard (Shane Brady). Lynn is sick of her brother’s crap, but it is underdeveloped how he transgressed to lose all credibility with his only living relative. Magnuson seems erratic, but not in a way that suggests a need for a diagnosis or requires pathologizing. At most, he is a fame whore who disrupts his sister’s peaceful life with his success at becoming viral. They seem like relatively normal people dealing with unusual events. It grounds the film and makes the stakes seem high so when things go off the rails, it feels just as realistic. Lucas may have FAFO.
“Man Finds Tape” is confidently in the found footage genre and proves that the camera does not have to be shaky or the footage indiscernible to work on a budget. It consists of cell phone footage, closed circuit surveillance footage, screen casting of Zoom meetings, emails and text messages, archived footage of public access series called “The Salvation Hour,” which Reverend Endicott Carr (John Gholson) hosts, montage of photographs, home videos and YouTube videos. Audio recordings from voice mails or calls to 911 operators are transcribed on screen using different colored font against a black background. Because it is also a documentary, there is behind the scenes footage of the making of the film, specifically Lynn recording the narration. When it is time to bust out the special effects, it does not feel fake.
Exclusive interviews with many of the residents in the footage expands the story. Wendy Parker (Nell Kessler) is Lucas’ girlfriend and has a strange business deal with the Rev, who is understandably salty over some of Lucas’ antics and also is shown as vulnerable to the blackouts. Winston Boon (Graham Skipper) owns the local BBQ joint and provides some comedic relief. Joelle Cantor (Christine V. Hall), a mother, was present during the blackout incident that put it on everyone’s radar because it resulted in someone’s death. The twins from “The Shining” (1980) grew up and became Abigail and Fernnette Webber (Judy McMillan), who also offer their perspectives on the pastor and the phenomenon. They are all colorful characters that keep the story aloft without feeling perfunctory or twee.
Whenever I watch a film, I ask if the phenomenon is supernatural, alien or man. The mythology is strong though “Man Finds Tape” does not offer concrete answers. The eleventh-hour reveal of symbols and a different language does not seem to have real life origins, but please let me know if you think otherwise. The Stranger (Brian Vilalobos) seems immune to whatever ails the town, but his motives are unclear; however, he knows more than anyone else. Once Vilalobos appears, it feels as if answers will be forthcoming, but his presence raises more questions than answers. Normally I have a strong feeling whether the filmmakers understand this world that they created and made a creative choice not to show more answers or if they lack the resolve to fill in all the details and just hope that enough atmosphere will satisfy the audience. I’m leaning towards the prior and wondering if it is just dry begging for a sequel to satisfy viewers’ curiosity and guarantee funding.
While movies are better when everything does not have to be spelled out, it feels as if the horror in “Man Finds Tape” is more of a metaphor for how trusted figures, whether firm established institutions or antidotes to what ails those institutions, sneak into communities and destroy them with their own self-serving agendas thus leaving them defenseless and without any closure. There are no reassurances that it will not happen again. The filmmakers were really aiming at the enduring power of families unconditionally being there for each other, but it feels like an afterthought. Please don’t pull a “Lost.”
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It is a different kind of vampire tale without the usual vampire characteristics. There is a Feeder who has infected everyone with Hitchhikers that look like worms and gives him the ability to control the town’s populace. How? He probably did it in the middle of the night and recorded his visits starting with the Page family when the siblings were kids. It did not work on Lynn. Why? Is she resistant, which is why she could leave and not be controlled, or is it because she left that she could not be controlled? Does she share some characteristic with the Stranger because she was briefly able to travel in another subterranean system that helps the Stranger move between places rapidly and seems as if it is from another dimension or not quite of this earth? The Stranger does not want to hurt people except the Feeder, who is the Rev., and wants to suck him dry reversing the Feeder’s technique. It is very “There Will Be Blood” (2007).
Gholson’s performance as the Rev. was not the usual evil pastor schtick so even though it was obvious that he was being set up to be the Feeder, it was also plausible that he was not. He seemed fairly normal albeit humorless. The one part that made it hard to suspend disbelief was the fact that everyone was fine with him making Wendy his surrogate through IVF and not having a wife. Yes, the idea that he had some weird tentacle thing in his body that fed off the town was not weird, but that his congregation would be ok with a single man with a child. Matt Gaetz walked so he could run. Anyway the Stranger kidnaps Wendy so the Feeder would have to defend her if she and his child were harmed. This being can take the energy from the town and direct it to Wendy to heal her under circumstances when she should die. This process makes the Feeder vulnerable to the Stranger attacking the stranger and ingesting the worm, but Worm Wendy attacks the Stranger, who must flee using his weird teleporting powers. This twist makes no sense. What are the logistics? Without the worm, at night, the Feeder combusts like a vampire in the sun. They claim the baby is normal, but I would not put bets on that.
As I watched “Man Finds Tape,” I actually thought to myself, “This reminds me of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s earlier work except it would have stuck the landing and made more sense.” When the credits rolled, and it revealed that they were the producers, I almost laughed out loud. They were great, but their later work and films that they influence resonate less. Success can weaken an artist so hopefully Gandersman and Hall’s next film will trust their own instincts more than well-intentioned, more experienced filmmakers whose best work may be in the past: “Resolution” (2012), “Spring” (2014) and “The Endless” (2017). Still need to see “Something in the Dirt” (2022), but the television work is inconsistent. When they were good, they were the best and a personal fave.
