The Dark Tapes
Imagine if Oren Peli has created “Paranormal Activity” as an anthology film. That’s the best way to do a baseline description of “The Dark Tapes,” but the truth is, Michael McQuown’s film is richer than just a typical paranormal thriller. Within four different stories, McQuown (and co-director Vincent J. Guastini, who directed the framing story, “To Catch a Demon”) find a way to bring different perspectives, and different forms of possession, to a base concept that feels as though, when people make a film about the supernatural, they tick every box to make sure they don’t forget anything. That’s why it’s so great what McQuown does here- while each story has central ideas we’ve seen before driving them, they find their own way of presenting them so that we are not just seeing the same type of film over and over and over. It’s hard not to enjoy what this film has going on.
The first story we are introduced to is “To Catch a Demon,” and after each of the next three segments, we will catch up with another piece of this narrative, wherein three researchers (played by Cortney Palm, David Rountree and Matt Magusson) are diving into an interesting dream study, as Rountree’s Martin tries to uncover the secrets of possession and inter-dimensional beings through scientific processes. I can already think of a few ways in which that will not go as planned.
The next story is “The Hunter & the Hunted,” and it’s about a couple who move in to a new house, and find that something is not quite right with it. This film ticks a lot of the “Paranormal Activity”/”Insidious” boxes, but has a wicked twist when ghost hunters are called in to investigate the goings on.
After we check in on the “To Catch a Demon” storyline, we go to “Cam Girls,” as a webchat with a pair of lesbian performers (Emilia Ares & Anna Rose Moore) gets a little messy for one, lucky follower.
Before we end up back at the beginning of “To Catch a Demon,” we see “Amanda’s Revenge,” as a woman who was victim of sexual assault at a party (Brittany Underwood) undergoes some unusual changes beyond the typical ones that we expect with such trauma. Like “The Hunter & the Hunted,” this has the feel of a typical “found footage” paranormal film, but Amanda uncovers some tricks that may help in saving her from the fate we typically associate with what she’s going through.
There’s honestly not a weak link in any of the stories. Some of them have better execution, or smarter twists on the material, but all of them have something to offer as McQuown crafts a deliciously fun anthology film. One of the reasons this works as well as it does is because no two stories being told are the same, and the throughline between them all isn’t a contrived narrative convenience going from one to another, but a look at the paranormal, and the ways it can haunt people, from several different angles and ideas, each one arriving at a conclusion that is freaky and entertaining. No one story stood head-and-shoulders above the rest (I think I enjoyed “To Catch a Demon” the least, but it’s not bad, by any means), which feels like a knock, but the truth is, you don’t need one to if everything is on even-footing, and it is here. This is worth a horror buff’s time to check out.
