The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.177: The Lost Coast Tapes

Another in ur series of Lovecraftian found footage, like yesterday’s Evidence, The Lost Coast Tapes was released in 2012, and also begins as a Bigfoot-themed found footage movie; like Evidence, in The Lost Coast Tapes things don’t quite turn out to be what they seem. The similarities between the two movies are, otherwise, superficial - and The Lost Coast Tapes has a more distinctly Lovecraftian feel - at least in the final stages of the film.

And here I will be slipping into spoiler territory, so you have been warned.

The Lst Coast Tapes begins with a group of film makers heading off to the wilds of Californa to get footage of what is supposedly the corpse of a Bigfoot; there they find themselves harrassed by a group of said creatures. But the twist here is that these Bigfoot are simply trying to warn the protaganists off - as something far more terrible lurks in tne woods.

What follows is a series of encounters with strange and ultimately murderous phenomena, all of which appear to be not-of-this world. Whilst in true Lovecraftian fashion nothing is explicitly revealed, there are intimations that what is causing the havoc is either demonic, alien or interdimensional in nature, often appearing in relation to something akin to glowing gateway which manifests in the night sky. In the film’s denouement, there is also a moment of supreme Lovecraftian horror in the reaction of one of the protaganists, who is reduced to a state of utter, numbing shock after catching a glimpse of the thing that is hunting him. Be warned, however, that the final few frames give away a little two much, and somewhat dilute this moment of raw, uncomprehending  horror. Not a classic of the genre, but one with a surprisingly (and I suspect unintended) Lovecraftian mood to it.

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