I’m not sure there is a more polarizing subgenre in the horror industry than Found Footage. Regardless of if you love it or hate it,one thing is for certain – Found Footage films are here to stay. Their popularity and abundance can be attributed to many things, but mostly cost and ease of production. We recently reviewed Hooked Up, and for those that don’t know – Hooked Up claims to have been filmed 100% on an iPhone…and I believe it. Even more shocking than its filming method…is that it isn’t bad.
We live in a very special and interesting time. Think about it. Any of us can pull out the device we have on us every single day and film 1080p (or even 4k) video. All we need at that point is a decent computer with a video editor. After that, create a free Youtube channel and boom… your film just got a “distribution deal” to reach millions of people. All you need is an idea… and a few friends. It’s incredible. At no point have filmmakers had such power over their created works. But as a wise man once said : “With great power comes great responsibility”.
So how are we managing that power? As you might expect…it’s like the fucking wild west out there. This ease of creation and distribution has lead to an alarming amount of talentless people creating films. Not that bad film making is anything new, but social media makes creating a “buzz” for a bad film easier than ever. We have recently seen one poor release after another. Quite frankly…it’s making the entire horror scene look bad. As if that’s all we have to offer.
But FEAR NOT! There are people out there using this film technique in extremely creative and effective ways. Any time you ever get bummed out and think that nothing good can come out of the dreaded Found Footage camp….think about these 5 films and realize that we are just beginning to scratch the surface on an exciting “new” way to create fear.
Remember – this is only 5 of the best. There are so many more out there that are worth mentioning. If you have a favorite that didn’t make the list, let us know! Be loud, be an asshole – do whatever it takes to raise awareness of the people that are taking the time to create an art form out of this otherwise crude film technique.