Movie poster for 2013 film The Levenger Tapes
I would like to start off by saying I love the found-footage horror sub-genre, films like Quarantine and Cloverfield always manage to excite and intrigue me. I will be the first to admit that with every good found-footage flick there are numerous crappy ones. Recently I came across The Levenger Tapes on Hulu and decided to give it a shot and after watching it I'm not entirely sure if I loved it or hate it!
The movie is part found-footage part cinematic and revolves around a group of detectives trying to solve a missing persons case by going through footage found at the scene of the crime. The footage centers on three extremely stupid teenagers attempting to party who are confronted by a terrifying unknown force. Who or what is after them is never fully explained and we rarely ever see it.
I want to first point out that this film is scary as hell, the tension is constant throughout and you are rarely granted a release from it. The film doesn't rely on jump scares but instead uses fear of the unknown and creepy atmosphere to unsettle you and I will go ahead and confess that I spent a lot of this experience watching the screen through my peripherals with the lights on.
Aside from that, this movie is also filled with things I hate. The writing definitely suffers from poorly written characters who make almost inexplicably dumb decisions and have rather shoddy dialogue throughout. The male character is portrayed as a typical horny dude trying to get lucky while the two female characters are used as stereotypical grade-A sluts with painted-on jeans and low alcohol tolerance levels. I also noticed that the camera spends a lot of time pointed down these actresses shirts or halfway up their butt which is to often be expected but it doesn't mean I have to like it. I just prefer films where the main female protagonists are not used as beat-off material.
Also there is an issue with sound in this film, there are several scenes where the dialogue cannot be heard especially in key moments where you are trying to get a clue as to what exactly is going on. Also as I said before the film never really explains exactly who or what is after them which does amp up the fear factor but I would of liked something at the end to explain what I just watched. This film is available on Hulu, I recommend it for horror fans who like to speculate and if you do watch this I would like you to leave a comment as to what you think this movie was about. I give it a 2.5 out of 5!