Line #20 Film/Tape407


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/area_407.png]]
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3	''Tape 407: The Mesa Experiment'' is a 2012 found-footage horror film. It's also known as ''Area 407'' in the United States.
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5	The film opens with two teenagers flying from New York to Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Their nightmare begins when their plane hits extreme turbulence mid-flight. The relentless weather attack causes panic and terror amongst the passengers until the plane ultimately crashes in a remote government testing area. The handful of survivors from the crash, bloody and disoriented, are then insistently pursued in the darkness by unknown predators that are part of the government's top-secret Mesa Experiment.
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7	A sequel, ''Area 407: Part II'' is in production. On top of [[spoiler: dinosaurs]], the film will also feature '''zombified soldiers'''. From what is seen in the trailer, it will ''not'' be another Found Footage film.
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9	----
10	!!The film contains the following tropes:
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12	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: One of the survivors is bitten by [[spoiler: a Raptor]] and then vomits up eggs some time later. [[spoiler: real Dromaeosaurs, never mind any other Chordates,]] are capable of Parasitoid reproduction in such a manner, [[BioweaponBeast but then again]]...
13	* BioweaponBeast: It's all but stated that [[spoiler: the reason there is a bunch of rampaging Dinosaurs in the middle of the American Southwest desert is because a GovernmentConspiracy bred them to be used in this fashion]].
14	* CameraAbuse / OminousVisualGlitch: As the film progresses, the video has more static and glitchy display problems, moreso when the creatures are around. Oddly enough, the glitches are more in common with a film camera than with a digital one.
15	* DarknessEqualsDeath: And there are very few lights to keep it at bay…
16	* DeliberateVHSQuality: Implied with the way the rampaging monsters create a visual glitch when they are nearby. The main problem is that the two cameras supposedly capturing all of the film's footage are shown to be digital, and so would be showing a very different kind of glitching in those circumstances.
17	* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: Everything up until the crash.
18	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Everybody dies either to the raptors or to government agents who kill them to keep the raptors secret.]]
19	* DroppedABridgeOnHer: Laura is the only person who is killed by the stupidity of the other survivors, rather than the monsters (look below on SacrificialLion for an explanation).
20	* EveryoneDiesEnding: [[spoiler: Not even the plainclothes government agent who has the last survivors KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade survives the movie.]]
21	* {{Expy}}: The plot of the film shares similiarities with an unused film script of [[spoiler:Jurassic Park 3]].
22	* FinalGirl: [[spoiler: The last two survivors are Jess and Tricia, the first two characters introduced in the film. [[EveryoneDiesEnding Subverted brutally]] in the very last scene thanks to [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade a plainclothes Government agent]] who himself gets eaten moments later.]]
23	* FoundFootageFilms
24	* GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler: With [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade the regular solution]] that follows.]]
25	* HopeSpot: From the moment they crash, the whole situation is an endless barrage of these:
26	** The survivors hear people moving around and call out to them, thinking it's people from the front end of the place that survived. [[spoiler:It's the raptors, who have eaten everybody (living ''and'' dead) of the front section. This is confirmed by one of the survivors who wandered off to find his wife, that was on the front end.]]
27	** Returning to the plane, the survivors find food, beverages, and other supplies to help them survive, including the cameras with the powerful lights seen previously. Even [[{{Jerkass}} Charlie]] starts making nice with everyone. [[spoiler:Then Lois gets eaten.]]
28	** [[spoiler:Running away from the pursuing raptors,]] the group arrives to a hut that can protect them, with some flashlights, and a person arrives! [[spoiler:This person is a member of the GovernmentConspiracy, who only asks them who they are and how many are they, and then gets back on his car and leaves them to die.]]
29	** The survivors arrive to a GhostTown that has a general store, with enough supplies, a fortified structure, and even a working radio! [[spoiler:Nope, the person on the emergency frequency is a hard-core ObstructiveBureaucrat that absolutely refuses to search for them unless they go ''back'' to the plane and fire a flare into the air so they can be seen (even when they beg for the radio to be tracked). The survivors have to go back, and in doing so, lose more of their number.]]
30	** The group finds an abandoned car! [[spoiler:The raptors surround the car and Jimmy, who is already severely wounded, does a SenselessSacrifice in trying to draw them away that ends with him ''and'' Laura dead. The girls are forced to drive the car themselves, and crash it shortly after, forcing them to keep on running for safety.]]
31	** The girls are able to leave the perimeter and find a road, with a Good Samaritan! [[spoiler:Nope. It's a member of the GovernmentConspiracy, and they are KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade.]]
32	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The crash and subsequent events happen during the morning of January the First.
33	* HystericalWoman: Jess and Trish breaks into hysterical rambling and screaming. Some of the male survivors (Charlie in particular) might as well be the SpearCounterpart.
34	** Averted for Lois the flight attendant, who is the initial OnlySaneMan, and Laura, the Air Marshall who takes charge of the survivors.
35	* JumpScare: Multiple examples, but [[spoiler:Lois' death]] is the best one around because of it being the first.
36	* NothingIsScarier: You never really get to see good glimpses of the beasts, but rather you simply hear its noises and shrieks.
37	* OnlySaneMan: Lois the Flight Attendant is the only person trying to calm the other survivors down in the immediate aftermath of the crash. Laura the Air Marshall then takes charge of the survivors.
38	* RaptorAttack: [[spoiler:Turns out that the area the plane crashed in was a government secret project area that bred these.]]
39	* SacrificialLion: Laura, the Air Marshall and impromptu leader of the survivors. [[spoiler:She runs after Jimmy when he tries to perform a HeroicSacrifice by attracting the raptors away from the group and is run over by the girls when they try to drive the car by themselves, and Jimmy remains still (stunned by the occurrence and trying to reassure the girls) just long enough for a raptor to jump on him.]]
40	* StockFootage: One of the earliest trailers to the sequel featured [[spoiler: dinosaur effects that was created by splicing footage of the Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor from ''Film/JurassicPark'']]
41	* StockSoundEffect: During their attack on the hut, [[spoiler: the Raptors]] make some of the stock Large Animal Roars used in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', and ''Film/GingerSnaps''.
42	* SuperPersistentPredator: [[spoiler: They're raptors, what the hell do you expect?]]
43	* TerrifyingTyrannosaur: [[spoiler: Downplayed. The very last scene in the film has the government agent who [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade finished off Jess and Trish]] get attacked by a low-quality CGI Tyrannosaurus.]]
44	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailers for the film spoil the fact that [[spoiler:the predators hunting the characters are actually raptors]]. The trailers for the sequel don't even bother hiding it.
45	* VasquezAlwaysDies: [[spoiler: Already inevitable given the EveryoneDiesEnding, but Lois the Flight Attendant is the first named character to be killed off, and Laura the Air Marshall is killed shortly before the climax]].
46	* WhamLine: At the end, after [[spoiler: Jess and Trish are shot and killed]]:
47	--> [[spoiler: Plainclothes Government Agent]]: [[spoiler: [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade Sweep complete]] ]].

Context Film / Tape407