The West Records is a Surreal Horror web series following the life of cameraman Randall after a trip to an Abandoned Area goes very bad. He winds up trapped in the woods for two weeks but the weather there and time suggests he was there for much longer.
After escaping from the woods, the video quality seems to deteriorate, as does Randall's mental and physical well being. The series can be watched here
.
This series contains examples of:
- Abandoned Area: The West military base and to an extension, the forest surrounding it.
- Anachronic Order: Most of Chapter 1.
- And I Must Scream: Whoever or whatever is living in the forest, if the audio files are anything to go by, they technically might not exist.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Chapter 3 focuses on Henry continuing what Randall started.
- Anyone Can Die: Possibly averted in that the people may actually disappear from existence.
- Apocalyptic Log:
- The videos of Randall that Henry Phillips finds on a hard drive at his pawn shop.
- The audio files.
- Ax-Crazy: Randall by the end of chapter 2, he does not like it one bit.
- Being Watched: Whatever exists in the forest stalks whoever is unfortunate enough to enter it's territory and will imitate their voice to lure others to it.
- The Blank: The shadow person that Randall comes across in his dreams and at the end of a couple of the entries.
- Body Horror: Whatever the thing in the forest is, it can also mimic voices and has a horrifying face to boot.
- Body Snatcher: The creature in the forest as it takes on the shape and form of Andrew (who went missing after a couple of entries) and then reveals its horrifying face to Randall's camera while he's snapping photos to have even the smallest bit of light.
- Book Ends: At the start of chapter 1, Henry says he is piecing together the footage to investigate what it is and what is going on and by Chapter 3 they end up becoming part of the events after Randall's suicide while trying to escape the forest.
- Bound and Gagged: WR 21 - Chapter 3 entry 1 shows that Randall survived his suicide attempt and somehow wound up elsewhere in the forest. He is found by two mysterious people who decide to tie him up and wait for him to wake up.
- Don't Go in the Woods:
- Unless you want to be trapped there for weeks with something stalking you and screwing with your mind the whole time.
- All the KEEP OUT signs and red ribbons attached to trees in one area gives a good indication that there is something there that should not be approached.
- Downer Ending: Randall's suicide at the end of chapter 2.
- Driven to Madness: Whatever Randall encountered in the forest, also drives Randall to madness although he is trying his hardest to recover until... Subverted. The first entry of Chapter 3 shows Randall survived his suicide attempt as he is found by two people that confirm he is alive and then tie him up.
- Eldritch Abomination: Whatever is living in the forest.
- Eldritch Location: The forest near military base and the base itself possibly. As evidenced in season 3, it can also warp people to different periods in time.
- Empty Eyes: Randall has this when he is found at a public park and has it again in Log 19.
- Facial Horror: Whatever that being is, the face is horrifying to see. There may be two beings in the forest if the video records are anything to go by.
- Flashback Twist: Randall's memory of everything before and during the video entries may not be as he thought it was, see Imaginary Friend below
- Freak Lab Accident: A possible explanation for what is living in the forest and why the forest seems to trap people for awhile.
- Hallucinations: Randall's doctor suggest this might be what caused his mental breakdown.
- Heroic BSoD: Randall starts to have this once he begins to question what is happening in his dreams.
- Humanoid Abomination: The human-like creature in the woods that screams and can imitate voices.
- Imaginary Friend: The person Randall finds in Log 20 tells Randall that they are not real and that Randall needs to think back to who his real childhood friend was. He hands him a knife saying there is not much time left before he vanishes when Randall turns back to look at him again. This is also suggested again earlier on when Randall finds Andrew but Andrew does not recall ever meeting Randall despite Randall having his phone number. Although a couple of later video distortions suggest the Andrew he was with may have been from a separate reality or simply never existed.
- Incurable Coughof Death: Randall picks up this trait after leaving the forest, sometimes accompanied by a visual distortion
- Jerkass: Randall briefly becomes one when he finds the real Andrew and becomes infuriated he does not remember him or asking him to film an investigation with him.
- Jump Scare: The audio distortions can often come across as this.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Randall suggests this near the start of the logs, Parker replies they DO NOT do that.
- Mind Screw: The series in a nutshell and how it also affects Randall and possibly Henry since, as of chapter 3, he plans to finish what Randall started to investigate.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Being trapped in the forest for days, although being there makes one not feel hungry or thirsty anymore.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Andrew and Randall in Chapter 1 upon realizing they are stuck in the woods and Randall again later upon realizing no matter how far away from the forest he might have walked, that the forest is much larger than he thought it was.
- Sanity Slippage: Before Randall even makes it out of the forest after two weeks, although being stalked by a creature than can imitate voices it has heard does not help.
- Shout-Out: To The Slender Man Mythos although they make no appearance in this series. The series focuses heavily on a forest. However, something else appears...
- They Called Me Mad!: Randall's therapist suggests this.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Randall's therapist suggests everything in the tapes is just a hallucination.
- Time Travel: Randall wound up going back in time when he failed to kill himself. He's interrogated by two men asking if he is working for Woodrow Wilson or Dereleth (someone who was a close friend of H.P Lovecraft) placing him around the time of WW1 ending or near the 1930s.
- Unexpectedly Abandoned: The abandoned base. However, the lights are still on at night when the crew investigates it in WR 2 and a couple of people chase them into the forest suggesting it is very likely still in use.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Randall in Chapter 2 when he attacks Andrew who has no memory of ever meeting up or heading to the military base.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: "I'm not real Randall. Think back to who your REAL childhood friend was."
