Interview With THE DARK TAPES Director Michael McQuown

Just one film into what promises to be a solid filmography, Michael McQuown is already making a name for himself on the festival circuit. His directorial debut, here.

The Dark Tapes, a found footage anthology feature, presents us with four short horror/sci-fi films: the paranormal infused The Hunters & The Hunted; the cyber-demonic Cam Girls; sci-fi revenge tale Amanda’s Revenge; and, finally, the film’s framework story, To Catch A Demon. Produced on a low budget and a depleted crew, The Dark Tapes nonetheless outshines many of its more mainstream counterparts. For a director serving up their first film, it isn’t bad going at all.

Film Inquiry spoke with Michael about the production process of The Dark Tapes, the critical downfalls of found footage cinema and what he has in store for the future.

Ryan Morris for Film Inquiry: So, congratulations on the success of The Dark Tapes! When did the film first start hitting the festival circuit?

Michael McQuown: We began in April 2017 at the Phoenix Film Festival and International Sci-Fi Horror Film Festival. That was a great experience. Huge festivals with over 25,000 people going day and night over 10 days, tents with parties, etc. Seven online reviews come out, six were positive, so it gave me the courage to go to more festivals!

It must be pretty exciting to have received such a great response for your directorial debut. How was the whole filmmaking experience for you?

Michael McQuown: Tiring! With a crew of sometimes just two or four people, I was sleep deprived when we were actually shooting it. I wore every hat, including getting food for the talent – I learned a lot.

It does sound tiring. How influential were other anthology horror films for you when making the film? The V/H/S franchise, for example.

Michael McQuown: I have said before, after watching V/H/S I told my friends “Let’s make a found footage anthology!” But I made one with my tastes instead, which is more sci-fi, dread and mystery.

V/H/S doesn’t attempt to connect its shorts in the way The Dark Tapes does. Was it always important to you for the short films to be tied together?

Michael McQuown: That actually came about during the editing, with a one day re-shoot on To Catch a Demon. It took a long time to finally figure out how to tie them together in a mysterious way.

It certainly paid off. The twist at the end of To Catch a Demon – which I won’t spoil on here – definitely ends the film on a high. The Hunters and The Hunted has a pretty great one too. Are you a fan of twist endings?

Michael McQuown: Yes I am. I’ve always enjoyed Alfred Hitchc*ck films and the stuff Joe Eszterhas wrote in the 1990s. But it only works when done well, a bad twist can certainly spoil everything.

It definitely can. Do you have a favourite of the four shorts? Or is that like asking a parent to pick their favourite child?

Michael McQuown: Exactly. No comment! Although we also have a fifth story that is just as good as the others that will be on the DVD/Blu-Ray – we only cut it out because of running time.

I look forward to seeing it! Cam Girls is my favourite of the four short films, the intricacy of its editing blew me away. Was that the most challenging of the films to piece together?

Michael McQuown: That was the easiest to shoot, actually, mostly because of the simple camera setups and smaller cast. The entire crew on that one was myself and producer Nicola Odeku. Editing the people in the cam chat was a challenge due to timing issues of line reads, but in the end I got it down, just took lots of editing.

Low budget horror or sci-fi films tend to look a bit cheap sometimes, but The Dark Tapes really avoids that curse. Did you mostly use practical effects and costumes?

Michael McQuown: Yes, we brought in Vincent Guastini for the majority of the practical effects specifically to avoid that pitfall. He has tons and tons of credits in this area and did a great job directing the To Catch a Demon segment.

Another really striking thing about The Dark Tapes is the performances – they’re all brilliant. Was casting the film a long process? You do need four sets of protagonists, after all!

Michael McQuown: Yes, casting was a loooong process. A casting director, Paul Ruddy, brought in 5 roles – well worth the money. Vincent Guastini brought in Cortney Palm. The rest were from auditions we did. We had 4000+ submissions and 500+ auditions. It took a long time.

I think it’s fair to say that more mainstream found footage films tend to struggle in terms of critical reception. Do you think there’s any particular reason why they aren’t very well received?

Michael McQuown: In part because they are full length features. I think found footage is tailor made for shorter stories. When you try to go 90 mins feature length, you have too much down time. Of course there are exceptions to this, such as Cloverfield, Afflicted, Grave Encounters and the like, but they mostly have a larger budget. If you have a small one, I say make an anthology. There will be only one Blair Witch and one Paranormal Activity and people should not try to replicate them.

Away from found footage, horror does seem to be in something of a resurgence lately. Are there any recent horror films that really stood out for you?

Michael McQuown: Believe it or not, I have had near zero time to watch anything in the last year, as working on the film and travelling to festivals etc. consumes me 24/7. I saw Rogue One since I’m a big Star Wars fan. The last horror film I can remember watching was It Follows, which was done well.

I heard you already have a sequel to The Dark Tapes in the works. How’s that coming along so far?

Michael McQuown: It will be called The Darker Paths and will be a standalone film, but it’ll tie into The Dark Tapes in some cool ways and continue the mythology.

Do you already have some of the new shorts worked out then?

Michael McQuown: Yes – we already did test shooting in an abandoned county jail.

Sounds exciting! Do you think you’ll branch out into other genres after that? Or are you firmly rooted in found footage?

Michael McQuown: I would love to branch out in other genres. I’ll almost certainly be shooting a sci-fi film about an astronaut stranded on another planet this fall. It will be a normal narrative, not found footage.

The Dark Tapes is available now on multiple VOD services such as iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.