Home Entertainment: ‘The McPherson Tape’ Blu-ray review

For many, the beginning of the found footage movie sub-genre began in 1999 with The Blair Witch Project. However, if you dig a little deeper, there are plenty of examples from much further back in cinema history, with many scholars giving the title of first found footage to Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust. Others believe that it was actually a lesser known movie from 1989 by writer and director Dean Alioto. His film known as both U.F.O Abduction and The McPherson Tape caused quite the stir upon release after a portion of the US population and U.F.O enthusiast communities misinterpreted it as fact and not fiction. This error occurred after bootleg copies circulated the market with the vital open and end credits missing, leading many who watched it to believe that it was genuine. Now, having settled on the title The McPherson Tape, the film arrives in the UK on Blu-ray. 

The McPherson Tape is presented as being footage from the evening of 8th October 1985, taken during a 5th birthday celebration. The blowing out of the candles on the cake coincides with a power outage. Three of the group then venture outside to try and fix the problem only to be confronted with a spaceship; after catching the attention and interest of the beings inside the vessel, the trio retreat and a battle for survival begins. Confusingly, the family at the core of the tape are actually the Van Heese’s and not the McPherson’s, which makes the original title, U.F.O Abduction, the better name option. 

Even after all these years, it’s easy to see how audiences were confused about the authenticity of The McPherson Tape. Shot on a domestic video camera, the film looks and feels exactly like home movies of the time period. As found footage has progressed as a sub-genre, such films have become more scripted. Time and effort is spent trying to explain the camera and the need for it, and to setting up characters and dynamics. Whilst the information helps, it gives these projects the classic film structure and pulls away from the found footage ethos. Alioto keeps his script loose. Much of the pre-discovery is noisy chatter, perfectly replicating the chaos captured on thousands of home videos lurking in the cupboards in homes everywhere. If the viewer filters through some of the din, there are a few hints of personality types and interpersonal dynamics, but they aren’t in your face. 

At barely an hour long The McPherson Tape wastes no time in getting into the action. Many found footage films opt to leave their moments of fright until towards the end, but Alioto has our family discovering an alien spacecraft within the first fifteen minutes. It’s a manoeuvre that works well, selling the real event aspect. As the movie is being presented as a found tape, it makes sense that the story would kick in right away. The opening begins almost mid-scene, the videographer clearly already having filmed for a while. It’s an approach that makes sense, and it’s a shame that this is a component that has failed to become a convention. By jumping almost immediately to the scary stuff, The McPherson Tape is then able to spend the remaining run time focusing on the family’s survival tactic. Their main plan of action is to hunker down in the house. Cue plenty of eerie moments as the group try to protect each other whilst inadvertently trapping themselves. 

The set-up helps build tension and there’s something truly creepy about the idea that there are these creatures lurking outside the building, trying to find their way in. Glimpses of the alien adversaries peering in the window pump ice into the veins, the graininess of the videography adding extra scares. There’s a murkiness to what the viewer can see thanks to the low light level and quality of the tech that, rather than cause frustration, coats the film with a sinister veil. The inability to fully process everything in the image leaves the viewer on edge, fearfully wondering when something might pop up. One slight detraction is that eventually the aliens are shown in full and the limitations of the budget and the time period in which it was created is massively exposed, and doesn’t hold up well in modern times, dropping the fear factor slightly. The build up to their reveal is expertly crafted though, the camera discarded, leaving the viewer alone to experience their first proper appearance. 

As always with a 101 Films release, The McPherson Tape comes complete with a smattering of extra features. This release comes complete with a 2017 update of the film from Alioto, the main difference being that the visuals have been touched up a little. There’s also a director’s commentary complete with all the usual titbits and insights, as well as the full Q&A from the film’s 2019 screening at Fantastic Fest. Though there is not as much as on other 101 Films discs, there is still plenty of information for viewers to explore to enrich their knowledge about this slice of history. 

A clear originator of a now common sub-genre of film, it’s plain to see just how The McPherson Tape tricked so many. Watching it consistently elicits the sensation that you are seeing something you shouldn’t, and yet the viewer is unable to turn away. Alioto single-handedly helped create a visual aesthetic that many would go on to channel (either consciously or subconsciously) and proved you didn’t need a huge all encompassing story, clever dialogue, or a big budget to generate chills and an icy fear within the audience. 

The McPherson Tape arrives on Blu-ray via 101 Films on Monday 14th February 2022.