The Andy Baker Tape

I chose 'The Andy Baker Tape' for my 2022 Halloween film. I hadn't watched a found footage film in a while and this one seemed to be getting some decent buzz. It was okay, but sadly nothing special.

The film is a lot more polished than most found footage films. The actors are better looking and the acting is of a higher standard than you would typically expect. Usually you'd think this would be a good thing, but something that can often sell the found footage concept is the raw and unpolished quality of it.

The ending is always key to found footage films. Why has this footage been found and what ultimately happened to these people? The ending to this one was a bit of a let down. It just wasn't creative enough.

The film is short at only 70 minutes, so even if you are not loving it it is easy to persist. 6/10.

Not much happening here, not much new.

Jeff reviews restaurants on his YouTube channel, has an offer coming from the Food Network, and video records everything he does. He somehow ends up in a DNA database that says he has a half brother, Andy, that Jeff never knew about. Jeff meets Andy, who at first seems like a harmless weirdo but who becomes more dangerous the longer they hang around together.

Much of the story seems like filler--they hang around together so they go places and do stuff that make no difference to the story's outcome. They spend surprisingly little time critiquing restaurants' food. The ending is rather predictable and inevitable-you know what's going to happen, the question is how. This is a reasonable first effort by two new filmmakers, but it's ultimately pretty routine.

So glad I decided to watch this. I've probably seen 99% of every ff movie out there & every now n then I find one that I'm extremely grateful for & this was one of those. Keep up the great work fella's.

To be honest, i am a big fan of FOUND FOOTAGE movies, therefore i might not be the most objective reviewer. In any case, TABT is an average FF movie at worst. I have watched many worse movies of this genre. This is good.

I liked it a lot. It tries to be different. Story is kinda original and these two actors did a good job. They were convincing, for sure viewer empathize with these characters.

Unpredictability is rare in this genre. Viewer always knows what the ending would be. I wish for this to change, i mean, it's dumb to keep writing the same ending. Whereas TABT doesn't do something different, still there are some nice twists and turns. 70 minutes running time helps a lot for this to be interesting and not boring. Good pacing, nice escalation. Still, many things should change about FF movies. The same patterns over and over are getting tiresome.

In conclusion, TABT is a good psychological drama thriller movie.

I rate The Andy Baker Tape, which is a remarkable title, in my opinion, a 6.5/10. To my surprise, its biggest flaw is the introduction to and addition of the horror genre. For me, it does not work as a horror film - it feels unnatural. It begins as a tender slice of life with a jarring transition into thriller territory, but the charming plot makes the watch entirely worth it. Newfound brotherhood and bonding over good food? It makes for an entertaining and cute experience up until the turn for the worse, which is a double entendre. I don't find this film scary in the slightest, but that isn't such a bad thing. It is a completely competent family film. I recommend The Andy Baker Tape.