My Dad's Tapes is an Alternate Reality Game webseries that began uploads in August of 2011.
A young man named Chris receives a few items after his father, Gerald's, death, including a collection of VHS tapes. These tapes all feature shots of a man in a strange mask torturing a woman the protagonist doesn't recognize. As he begins his investigation into this and several other murders, he attracts the attention of a person known only by their YouTube name, "donotcontinue," who quickly reveals himself to be just as dangerous as the man featured on the tapes.
"Season 2" of the series began in March of 2012, following the results of Chris' persistent investigation and the continued killings of young women.
The official channel can be found here
. donotcontinue's channel can be found here.
This series contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Because of his hatred for women, Chris' father had threatened to start beating his sister. This is what lead their mother to split from him.
- Alternate Reality Game: donotcontinue left loads of puzzles for viewers to work on as part of the experience.
- Apologizes a Lot: Melissa describes Chris' father as someone who apologized constantly for very minor things, which she believed to come from a very deep-seated feeling of guilt.
- Buried Alive: The ultimate fate of Chris' girlfriend, at the hands of Uncle Don and donotcontinue is to be buried alive on video.
- Cult Defector: One of the videos centered around interviewing a woman who had escaped from the actual Church of Happyology...
- Domestic Abuse: Chris' father used to hit his mother, likely due to his hatred of women.
- Dumb Muscle: Uncle Don describes his son as having the physical prowess but not much in the way of brains, contrasting Chris' puzzle-solving abilities.
- Face–Heel Turn: Melissa, after giving Chris important information about his father and acting as a friend, willingly joins up with donotcontinue thanks to an interest in his work.
- Found Footage: The series starts with Chris finding and uploading murder footage on his father's VHS tapes in addition to normal videos from childhood.
- A God Am I: In his journal, Gerald claims that he will see all of his victims in heaven, where he will "become their God" once again.
- He-Man Woman Hater: As explained by Chris's sister, their father hated woman- even his own daughter and wife, to the point where he wouldn't even look at his daughter once she'd reached puberty.
- Rejecting the Inheritance: Uncle Don tries to pass on the family inheritance to Chris, who vehemently refuses to take it, due to the fact that this "inheritance" is turning oneself into a woman-murdering serial killer.
- Near-Death Experience: As discussed in backstory, both the father and donotcontinue suffered from near-death experiences, which caused them to see the world in such a different way, it drove them to murder.
- Serial Killer: The father, donotcontinue, and Uncle Don each have a massive body count, mostly made up of young women. The Zodiac Killer is also mentioned, having been the father's mentor.
- Sibling Murder: Uncle Don was responsible for the father's death, not for any malicious reasons, but all a part of their plan to keep balance in the world.
- Snuff Film: The VHS tapes all show women being tortured by a man in a mask. donotcontinue's videos feature the same, but much gorier.
