A blend of found footage and anthology horror genres, The Dark Tapes succeeds as a chilling fright fest due to its embracement and skilful use of its budget limitations.

It’s hard to think of another film genre that has as many off-shoots as horror does. Slasher film, zombie film, demonic possession movie… the list is far and wide. Two most prominent of late is the found footage and anthology horror movie, made famous by the likes of Paranormal Activity and V/H/S (respectively). The Dark Tapes, an independent production that has racked up a number of festival awards, combines both sub-genres and does it rather well.

Written and directed by Michael McQuown (with help from co-director Vincent J. Guastani), The Dark Tapes features four stories: an American haunting with a twist; a web-cam chat with a horrific climax; an alien abduction story; and a science experiment that conjures a demon. Each story has its strengths and weaknesses. But they also share an innovative spirit, no doubt inspired by the constraints of limited funds, but also by the creativity of McQuown who takes on genre tropes and flips them around to our frightful delight.

The performances from its varied cast are rather good. The goal of a found footage movie is, of course, to have the performances be as naturalistic a possible, and The Dark Tapes achieves just that. This is especially felt in the “Cam Girls” segment, which as a result is also the most memorable and horrifying of the bunch.

All matter of blood-letting and creatures feature throughout The Dark Tapes, and are rather well presented thanks to practical creature effects and make-up work, not to mention that all important tactic in all found footage movies to Keep. That. Camera. Moving!

Overall, whether fan of either two combined sub-genres or not, McQuown is to be commended for willing to do something different with horror tropes that have become stale through constant repetition. That he manages to create a truly chilling horror movie while doing so is all the better for horror devotee and novice alike.