Tape 407 (2012) Reviews

• You won't like them when they're annoying

  kosmasp2012-05-06

  Though they do not turn green (any of the characters that is). Come to think about it, it would have made the movie better though. My strange thoughts aside though, this "Found Footage" movie is one of the worst offspring that this craze has brought us. I do wonder if anyone actually believes any of those are "real"? If you're too young to remember or never cared for them anyway, I will point you to Blair Witch Project. A movie that had some people trembling because the viral marketing (internet presence) made them believe it was real. But this movie does not even deserve that attention. While they do try to put some special effects in it, the fact it looks cheap is not the worst part. It's the characters, that might be up for a Guinness book entry for most annoying film characters ever. You almost feel sorry for the actors portraying them, if you can stop feeling sorry for yourself or your precious time that you've wasted that is. While I never was big on those Found Footage movies, there have been some exceptions (i.e. movies) that were made with some finesse and some excellent ideas/dialogue or characters. Those things are absent here. You do get a 2 or 3 scenes that may shock you for a second (and the ending is actually pretty neat, therefor the 2/10 and not the 1/10), but overall, you'll be wasting your time and test your nerves to the breaking point if you really take the challenge of watching this. I could write so much more, but I'll leave it at that. It's your "call" (no pun intended)

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• cut the film some slack!

  MikesIDhasbeentaken2012-05-25

  Jeez! been reading some of the reviews about this film... 'worst film ever'!! some people obviously haven't seen many films! And whats up with one guy having a go because the air hostess wasn't wearing a name badge, oh no! how unrealistic... people surviving a plane crash and being chased by dinosaurs OK, but only one air hostess? without a name badge? ridiculous. If you watch this film, you already know what its about, so don't moan about things like the first aid kit being the wrong colour. there are so many holes in the film you have to just go with it, rather than pick at them, like when everyones bleeding from the head, but they concentrate on the girl who's arms bleeding, or the fact that two people decided to exit and make a run for it from a car, when they could have just driven away... and yes the lack of script was evident, but hey, your watching a budget film about dinosaurs, so just go with it. I thought it was pretty good, if the actors behaved more believable then it would have been better, and if the main girl wasn't so annoying, this would have been better. But it was an OK film, for what it is, and the ending I thought was pretty good. You'll know what's going to happen, but how it happens is good, and the last few seconds... brilliant!

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• Found Footage Fromage

  gregsrants2012-04-29

  While many of the film-going public squawk about the gluttony of superhero films that are polluting our theatre screens on a repeating basis, it is with found footage films that I have reached my fill. Made popular and mainstream in 1999 with The Blair Witch Project, there have been more dismal efforts (Apollo 18, The Zombie Diaries, The Feed) than there have been engrossing ones (Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield). Yet week in and week out, whether it be in the local theatre, video on demand or on DVD, there are release after release of found footage films with budgets of less than the average person's minimum Visa payment. This week's latest cash-grab is Area 407 (also promoted as Tape 407). The film opens on a plane travelling between New York to Los Angeles on New Year's Eve where a young girl, Trish (Abigail Schrader) and her sister Jesse (Samantha Lester) are using their camera to video capture just about everything and everyone around them. Side note: how is it in these found footage films they all have cameras with batteries that last so long as to even baffle a NASA scientist? After the obligatory introduction of a few central characters on the plane the passengers and crew celebrate New Year's Eve with cheers and noisemakers until a bad storm and turbulence send the darkened plane into a freefall. The plane crashes in a remote government testing ground and the handful of survivors that are left, band together in an attempt to find their bearings in the darkened night of their secluded surroundings. But as we learn rather quickly, the plane crash was only the beginning of their nightmare as they are being stalked and hunted by some predatory creatures that look like mid-sized Jurassic Park raptors. Armed with only their wits and a single gun coming courtesy of the Sky Marshall on board (how convenient she survived) the group will find their numbers dwindle as they struggle through the night for survival. Area 407 was filmed in only five days and (according to IMDb.com) all the dialogue was ad lib. The dialogue before the plane crashes was actually engrossing banter that had our interest focused on the central characters. But once the survivors collect themselves amongst the plane's wreckage, things go off the rails and the cast begin to yell, scream and draw out too many inconsequential conversations likely just to inflate the running time to a feature accepted 90-minutes. As with most found footage films, the camera work is shaky and downright annoying. You will feel jerked, dropped and nauseous as the camera is passed between various characters that seem more intent on capturing their demise on film than putting down the damn device and using their senses to gather their bearings. Directors Dale Fabrigar and Everette Wallin keep the creature out of sight and in the dark for most of the film which could work if you develop enough tension and atmosphere. But in Tape 407 audiences aren't engaged to any sense of caring or urgency and seeing the creatures in more detail would be the trade off for the long-in-tooth banter we are intended to endure. Tape 407 ends in unexpected fashion with a conclusion intended to shock (I guess). But without caring about any of those that may survive or face their fate, you will likely just want it over at any cost. Even at the cost of writing off the video-on-demand investment. www.killerreviews.com

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• major flop!!!

  ogreen3362012-04-29

  i just got to say this is the worst film ever! what is wrong with these people? is it desperation? since lately i've noticed that almost every one is taking this homemade approach to films, where they have this one person or two running around with a camera thats delivering some real shaky video quality that makes the film really uncomfortable to watch. i mean u have movies done like this before that are exceptional, like CLOVERFEILD for example or even CHRONICLE i enjoyed those a bit but this..... oh man such a massive waste of precious time. and whats with all the constant bickering and unnecessary noisiness and confusion in the movie? its very annoying! and this movie is made almost exactly like TAKE SHELTER where for some reason u only deserve just a few seconds of what would have been the best part of the movie and then bam!! u get end credits, i mean seriously man! whats up with that?

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• The first 50 minutes were great! Then the rest went way downhill.

  Thrill_KillZ2012-04-28

  I have to say the first 50 or so minutes were excellent, the found footage was phenomenal, really great stuff. It was so realistic how this little girl went around the plane talking & getting acquainted, getting bits of people's background and such all on video. I also have to mention the parts before & after the crash were masterfully done. When I saw that all the acting was ad-libbed I was pretty impressed, they did such a good job with it. I think not showing the "attacker" was a very good idea because it leaves you to your imagination which is always better than some CG*spoiler* that they showed for 1/2 second at the VERY end. The last thirty minutes were kinda slow and there was a lot of goofs(unintentional). It just got sloppy on the last stretch, but this really had me hooked good for almost an hour and well that has to be worth something. So I'll give credit to that FIRST 50 minutes with a 10/10, Last 30 minutes 3/10 Total 6/10 If you like found footage or want some good thrills & have nothing to do, yea it's worth a look.

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