PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Have you ever seen a horror film that left you feeling very uneasy afterwords? For me, it’s rare for a film to actually leave me feeling queasy after viewing it. Paranoia Tapes is that rare film, and I applaud it for driving such an honest reaction from me!
(Synopsis provided by IMDb.com): Paranoia Tapes follows Ronnie (Jack Hunter) who enlists the help of his neighbors, Blair (Page Lauren Billiot) and Jen (Victoria Viveiros), to rummage through old tapes to look for clues to the disappearance of Ronnie’s father. With each tape and each story, they soon find out that the clues may have been in front of them the whole time.
Paranoia Tapes is a mix between The Poughkeepsie Tapes and V/H/S. Some segments were really well done, while others felt rushed and out of place with the rest of the film. That’s understandable though, because there are 7 directors for this film, and all the segments weren’t created for this film specifically. Unfortunately, I don’t know which director directed which segment, so I’ll just discuss my favorite segments and the overall film.
My favorite segments:
Slenderman
Yes, there is a story about Slenderman in this film, and it was done beautifully! Directed by Aaron Normand, this short stars him and his friend Justin Mitchell as they go on a mission to find Slenderman. The short was only seven minutes long but it had great camera-work and the characters were very funny and likable.
Knockout Game
Knockout Game was hilarious! It was directed by Douglas Farra and stars Joe Palubinsky and Dean Stump. Brothers Buster and Scaggs are prepared to pay their country back for its lack of civil involvement. They soon come across a group of thugs and things go bad. Once again, I like the characters, I love the ending and it was a pretty funny short!
Freaky 5 – Found Footage
The beginning segment of Paranoia Tapes was provided by the YouTube channel NationSquid. It’s a small documentary about the most controversial found footage films, mentioning the Columbine shooting and The Bohemian Grove Footage. It was definitely a great setup for the rest of the film.
One of the problems with the overall film is when it transitions from one segment to the next, it just cuts right to it and you don’t know if one segment is a part of another segment’s story or not. But these are some talented filmmakers. You can tell they take their work seriously, but they’re also not afraid to have fun.
Final thoughts:
As I’ve said before, Paranoia Tapes is a mix between The Poughkeepsie Tapes and V/H/S. It brought a lot of interesting stories and creepy segments that actually got a reaction out of me. I didn’t mention all of the filmmakers involved, but I can tell they all have a good future in the horror film industry.
