This 2025 Indie Found Footage Horror Movie Is Unlike Anything You've Seen Before

One of the joys of the horror genre is in the way it revels in its various subgenres. In other words, not every horror movie is looking to be a trailblazer, as most are content to be a good example of its chosen subgenre, whether it's a haunted house movie, a slasher, or so on. Subgenres also tend to have a heyday, a period where they're trendy, and everyone is trying their hand at it. Because of this, it's easy to declare a subgenre dead or washed up prematurely, for while trends certainly die out, a decent subgenre — especially in horror — never truly dies.

It's no surprise that the found footage subgenre rose to prominence around the same time that smartphones began to transform how people communicated. Once the idea of people constantly filming themselves and others stopped being a novelty and became mundane, the subgenre began to dip in frequency, with fewer original and one-off films being made while long-running franchises like "Paranormal Activity" and the "V/H/S" series continued. All of this is why this month's "Man Finds Tape" is so particularly exciting. The film, co-written and directed by Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall, is an original entry in the found footage subgenre. Putting it like that sounds too trite; the movie feels unlike anything you've seen before, as it ingeniously blends several forms of mixed media. 

Everything from bits of found footage from camcorders and security cameras to YouTube videos to smartphone videos and professional documentary footage is utilized in "Man Finds Tape," and rather than being a distracting gimmick, this fresh approach only makes the film's horror that much more effective.

While the structural elements of "Man Finds Tape" are its biggest draw, it wouldn't matter if the story wasn't also up to snuff. Fortunately, Gandersman and Hall weave a compellingly eerie tale throughout the film, one which is as unpredictable as its mixed media trappings. The movie is ostensibly a documentary made by Lynn Page (Kelsey Pribilski) about her family and their rural hometown of Larkin, Texas. Lynn's younger brother, Lucas (William Magnuson), is a troubled man who came upon a mysterious videotape in his family home and found some deeply disturbing footage of himself as a child on it. He decides to chronicle this discovery and his subsequent investigations in a YouTube series entitled "Man Finds Tape." The series becomes enough of a viral sensation that even Lynn's life is disrupted. Until, that is, Lucas makes some accusations against the town's local televangelist, Rev. Endicott Carr (John Gholson). Carr forces Lucas to redact his statements. "Man Finds Tape" is suspended, and Lynn goes back home to do her own digging.

This may sound like most of the film's narrative, and in an average found footage movie, it would be. After all, the subgenre includes numerous features that have slow build-ups before a last-minute payoff (likely because of how well that structure worked in "The Blair Witch Project"). Yet "Man Finds Tape" has so much more in store, especially when a character known only as The Stranger (Brian Viallalobos) shows up and steers the entire film in a whole new direction. Ultimately, the movie feels like a heady mixture of found footage dread, Stephen King-esque social commentary (the entire town of Larkin is a major factor in the story), and squicky cosmic horror, which is a potent combination.

The use of mixed media in "Man indeed Finds Tape" isn't the film's most major innovation per se. Instead, the movie's novelty comes from its structure, as the "main" footage we're seeing is Lynn's documentary about the outrageous events, footage which includes the principal characters being interviewed about their experiences. This structure would appear to be a foolish mistake on paper, as it basically reveals to the audience who survives the story before it's done being told. Of course, unreliable narration has been used effectively in numerous films, often with some type of twist, as in Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard." Yet "Man Finds Tape" is not obfuscating itself by revealing that Lynn's documentary is all a fantasy or some other high-concept idea. It's on the level, which is what makes this choice by Gandersman and Hall such a high-wire act.

"Man Finds Tape" never loses an ounce of tension, intrigue, or scares as a result of this framing device, which is a minor marvel in horror filmmaking. The story unfolds in a manner which (obviously) recalls true crime documentaries and viral YouTube series, making the film one that blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction so subtly that even its cosmic horror seems more plausible. All of this makes "Man Finds Tape" one of 2025's most pleasant surprises, as it's great to see an indie movie be this ambitious and still work this well. The fact that this film is dropping late in a year filled with great horror movies just makes it feel more like the proverbial cherry on top. Seek it out — if you dare.

"Man Finds Tape" is now playing in select theaters and is available on VOD.