Through his YouTube channel “Man Finds Tape,” Lucas Page has gone viral with a creepy video series that he says are home movies from his childhood — although online commenters are, naturally, skeptical. One day, Lucas reaches out to his sister, Lynn, to show her surveillance footage that shows a murder in the center of their hometown, Larkin, Texas, in broad daylight. Initially skeptical of her brother’s latest video, Lynn reluctantly heads back to Larkin to help him investigate the homicide. But in doing so, Lynn and Lucas quickly find themselves in the middle of a decades-old supernatural phenomena, one centered around the town’s charismatic yet enigmatic reverend that has plagued Larkin’s residents without them even realizing it.

Using a faux-doc style to their great advantage, rookie co-directors Paul Gandersman and Peter Hall engulf the unpredictable Man Finds Tape in a heavy coat of unease. The Texas natives infuse a lived-in, small town intimacy to a vast, cosmic-minded horror story powered by wild narrative swings and even wilder imagery, creating a fascinating and vibrant dichotomy that’s both playfully grungy and completely singular. It won’t take long for you to feel like one of Larkin’s own.—Matt Barone

Peter Hall and Paul Gandersman