The Lost Episode (PANIC) Wades Through Typical Found Footage Tropes Using “Cops” as a Vehicle
Title: The Lost Episode
First Non-Festival Release: TBD
Director: Nick Wernham
Writer: Abaddon Night
Runtime: 82 Minutes
Starring: Anthony Grant, Ron Lea, Liam Marshall
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
This film’s review was written after its screening at the Panic Film Festival in 2025.
Officers Paul Massaro (Benjamin Sutherland) and Terrence Williams (Anthony Grant) are trailed by a television crew filming their day-to-day duties on Halloween Night in 2004. Throughout the night they respond to a series of calls that they gradually understand are connected. By the time they reach the end of their shift, they realize how much danger one young girl is in and risk everything to save her from a terrifying force.
A fun yet familiar found footage film, mileage may vary for extracted thrills in The Lost Episode.
You’ve seen The Lost Episode before in various shades of found footage horror films, which isn’t necessarily damning or celebratory. Kicking off with a chase sequence meant to set the scene, the story meanders as the we follow a pair of police officers trying to do their job in a seemingly small town. Despite the strangely high amount of crime for a decently rural area, The Lost Episode keeps its action grounded in the beginning. Responding to people on substances, an illegal protest, a sick young woman and more, there is a balance of frustration from the officers with a genuine desire to help, even if there are some power issues on display with some of their peers. This leads into perhaps its only truly interesting angle: the unexpectedly condemning tone it takes with various police related matters. From excessive force, corruption, and harassment, there are some compelling elements hiding under the guise of traditional scares.
Its central characters, Officers Massaro and Williams, have some depth to them but ultimately fail to rise beyond the limitations of the story. With baggage between them [Officer Massaro survived a near death experience when attempting to save his drowning daughter], the duo has a strained dynamic that is present throughout the film. Initially unspoken, the tension mounts as they get closer to the truth behind the strange events escalating throughout their shift. Outside of Officer Massaro’s trauma, however, the pair don’t have much to say beyond their reactions to the increasingly weird events. Officer Williams serves mostly as the traditional cop archetype, albeit with a loving family and some interesting pre-Black Lives Matter statements that are accurate to portray but feel empty just the same, to foil Officer Massaro.
Some of the less pleasant elements of found footage come to life in the film, spelling doom for anyone hoping for a reversal of tired tropes. Much of the aggravating elements of The Lost Episode come from its filming. Never knowing who is behind the camera, or how many of them there are, make understanding the geography and characters much harder. It isn’t until the finale that we understand two cameramen are present and not one. Their mostly silent inclusion feels like more of an afterthought than an intentional choice. Its final few minutes implement a series of irrevocably dumb character decisions that feel cheap given the buildup and nature of the antagonist.
Despite its familiarity, The Lost Episode does have a kick to it that makes its well tread story engaging all the same. A forgone conclusion can be exciting if the buildup keeps the story engaging, and The Lost Episode ensures this by making its audience guess which of its strange characters are benign and which are truly a threat. Once it reaches its final act, the action gets more exploratory as the officers and crew are faced with a horror that they are fully not prepared for. Its cosmic reveal is forecast well, and the effects look solid enough for the intentionally low-quality footage.
Neither exceptional in its highs nor lows, The Lost Episode scrapes by as another found footage film that will likely line the halls of a streaming service in the near future. This isn’t a bad thing. For those looking for serviceable frights without much thinking, it will do its job. For those that find the “Cops” meets found footage concept interesting, it’ll do wonders. For anyone else, The Lost Episode might be better off lost.
Overall Score? 5/10
