“Are all monsters a hoax, or is it possible that the monsters that haunt the 21st century hide in plain sight?”
Found footage and mockumentary horror films remain wildly polarizing and they’re subgenres where only the most successful or maligned releases seem to get any attention. For some horror audiences, there’s just too much of a buy-in and suspension of disbelief to truly get lost in found footage storytelling. The subgenre’s “simplicity” and budgetary freedom means that there are endless found footage films that are completely disposable and don’t have anything new to say or contribute. However, there’s been a growing trend of reflexive found footage and mockumentary horror films, like Found Footage 3D, Something in the Dirt, Butterfly Kisses, and Antrum, that strive to use the subgenre’s storytelling aesthetic to dig deeper into the human condition.
There are many opportunities for clever subversions where the horror film’s lo-fi presentation style feeds into the narrative and themes in order to create something even more powerful. Man Finds Tape is brave, brutal filmmaking that’s an extremely encouraging case of how to breathe new life into evergreen ideas so that they feel more relevant than ever.
Man Finds Tape shares several things in common with these postmodern found footage predecessors, but it’s undeniably its own entity here. The hybrid horror film explores the rich area of how amateur cryptid photography, and by extension found footage horror and true crime documentaries, force the audience to engage in an exercise where they seek to scrutinize and poke holes in these incredible ideas. There’s a natural tendency to criticize, be skeptical, and assume that found footage and true crime are meant to exploit, rather than educate. It’s an effective state of mind for Man Finds Tape to set up as the audience acclimates to this world and what they’re about to experience. Viewers should be prepared to rebel and have doubt over what they see and the validity of the film’s narrators. Man Finds Tape is a remarkable debut feature film by Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall that takes the audience down one of 2025’s most surprising and disturbing rabbit holes.
Man Finds Tape seems deceptively simple when it begins, the likes of which make its labyrinthine evolution hit that much harder once the movie really lets loose. The movie masquerades as a faux documentary on a cryptid-like creepypasta creature who has preyed upon a small Texas town, Larkin, for decades. There’s an investigative drive to this homegrown horror story that’s presented by a brother and sister duo, Lynn and Lucas Page (Kelsey Pribilski, William Magnuson), who share a very personal connection to what is afoot in Larkin. The film tackles some big, heady ideas, but none of this works if Lucas and Lynn don’t connect with the audience. Pribilski and Magnuson provide a naturalistic quality to these siblings whose love for each other quickly becomes the heart of the film and what propels the narrative forward. Lucas is frail, discarded, and really doesn’t have anyone in his life other than Lynn. Their bond is deeply rewarding and makes sure that Man Finds Tape always has a real, raw human element in addition to its percolating dread.
This is a horror film that taps into such a fascinating and terrifying concept wherein a social phenomena overtakes Larkin and collectively impairs judgment. It’s an eerie scenario that’s akin to the psychologically challenging Paranoia Agent in terms of how mob mentality and a shared psychosis, a la folie à deux, can infect a whole community. Man Finds Tape plays out like a very strong X-Files episode, which is meant with the highest of praise. In fact, there is an X-Files episode from the post-Mulder years that tackles essentially the exact same subject matter. Man Finds Tape still puts its own original stamp on the idea that leans into technology’s artificial eye. One of the film’s several talking heads announces, “We’re the culmination of our choices.” It’s a message that’s applicable to Lucas, but it also speaks to the tragic butterfly effect that spreads through Larkin like a fracture in glass that increasingly applies pressure before it suddenly shatters.
Man Finds Tape’s growing Larkin conspiracy is constructed out of a slew of mixed media that includes surveillance footage, 911 calls, Zoom chats, YouTube videos, and Reddit threads, which help feed into the idea that this monster is an inescapable threat that’s omnipresent. It’s not just an anomaly that was seen once in an isolated incident. There’s a growing social footprint to this monster as it continues to evolve, whether it’s real or not, like a tulpa that gains greater power as it’s increasingly discussed. There’s a haunting feedback loop to all this that injects unease from the jump.
This amounts to a slick presentation package, complete with testimonial talking heads, as if this were a docuseries that you’d stumble upon while browsing Netflix. Man Finds Tape commits to the bit here and embraces these familiar aesthetics to help sell the audience on all this. This also allows the film to operate with a minimalist, janky quality that’s expected of a docuseries of this nature. This works well, even when the film gets a little too comfortable in this mode and occasionally coasts. However, there’s a deeper layer to everything, particularly in regards to the people who have put this documentary-within-a-documentary together, that makes all this considerably more interesting. Some of the most interesting modern found footage horror movies are the ones that successfully get their audience to be skeptical of what they’re seeing and the way in which it’s being presented to them. There’s a strong story at the core of Man Finds Tape regarding Larkin’s cryptic creepypasta creation, but the context around it and why all this is being documented is the more compelling narrative thread.
There are admittedly a few presentation and storytelling elements that are strained. There’s some dissonance regarding whether this fictitious documentary would be televised, traded independently, or if it’s still in the process of being made. However, this is a minor hiccup that doesn’t really impede the experience. Man Finds Tape also gets a little too expository in the final act, which becomes a stark contrast to how the majority of the film shows restraint and trusts its audience. This hardly wrecks the movie’s ending, but it does become an awkward interruption that might pull the viewer out of the film to some extent. Nevertheless, this is another small quibble. These sequences are still filled with some really upsetting images that increasingly push the audience’s limits until things are too far gone and it’s impossible to retreat.
To this point, Man Finds Tape showcases some genuinely disturbing visuals, which can be essential for these types of movies. It presents several videos that feel cursed and like footage that the audience shouldn’t be watching. It’s an element that’s so hard to authentically accomplish and Man Finds Tape repeatedly pulls this off. There’s a lot to chew on as the larger mystery unfurls. The movie’s most intense moments get close to the same level of spectacle as The Poughkeepsie Tapes’ freefloating dread, which is no small feat. Man Finds Tape creates a world in which it feels like anything is possible and that damnation is inevitable. The movie absolutely earns its powerful final setpiece.
Man Finds Tape is a beautiful modern horror story that reflects the frantic paranoia of the internet’s many conspiracy theory rabbit holes that fuel hundreds of hours of virtual armchair detective work. One tangent segues into another as this increasingly intricate story metastasizes and mutates. It’s such a satisfying slow burn that culminates in something special that’s worth the tropes and theatrics. It’s an ambitious hybrid horror film that provokes and reinforces that seeing isn’t just believing, but that it’s an exercise that can be as fatal as it is informative.
Man Finds Tape premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
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