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Found Footage; The Best to The Worst.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say that all found footage films post-2000 is a 'rip-off' of The Blair Witch Project (1999). I don't understand why they can't accept that found footage has become an amazing subgenre of horror cinema and is well and truly here to stay. And because of this, I just thought I’d write a little something and the best and worst found footage films.
Grave Encounters 2011
A televion crew are shooting their last episode of the series in an abandoned psychiatric hospital that is rumoured to be haunted. They decide to lock themselves in and begin their investigation.
This film is posbly my favourite found footage film to date and like the majority of them, this is of the supernatural kind. What sets this ade from other films in the genre is that it's not all about making the audience jump. There are solid back stories to both the supernatural beings and the camera crew. Even better that the crew who are investigating the hospital don’t actually believe in ghosts, so it’s quite funny to see how they react when they come in contact with them. Some parts of the plot are just brilliantly done, and will leave you mystified at what just happened. A few viewers have complained about the special effects being so low budget, anyone could do them and they just look bad. I do not agree with this at all, I think the way that the special effects have been used, work in favour of this film so much.
If you haven't seen this film yet (note the yet, because yes, I am forcing you all to watch this), I’d say stay away from the trailer. Quite a few of the scares are shown in it and it'll make your viewing experience a lot better if you don't watch it.
The Tunnel 2011
A televion crew start an investigation into a government cover-up, but find out that what they’re looking into is much worse than they expected.
This film is probably the most believable found footage film I’ve seen. At least a third of the film is the televion crew interviewing important people from the government, the tramps that live down in the tunnels and being interviewed themselves. Don’t let this put you off though; everything that is said is completely relevant to the plot, and interesting to watch. Out of all the elements in the film, the sound is definitely the best one. Quite a lot of the time it’s usually lent, but when you hear distant footsteps or dripping water, it’s actually pretty creepy.
The release of this film was an interesting one to say the least. It was the first Australian film to be distributed legally through BitTorrent, which means yes; you can watch it for free! Also, if you wish to give the filmmakers money for the great film they made, you can buy individual frames of the film for $1 each here
www.thetunnelmovie.net (best $1 you'll ever spend!)
Megan Is Misng 2011 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YbcexhFLEZI/TmGxBrl3POI/AAAAAAAABPE/9JZARaBOAv4/s1600/Megan+is+Misng+barrel+of+death.
A 14 year old girl starts talking to a guy on the internet, when he decides that they should meet. Soon after, she goes misng and it’s up to her 13 year old best friend to find out what really happened.
I’m slightly in two minds about this film. The concept alone is terrifying, but the film just doesn’t cut it. There are two scenes that I felt like I wanted to skip through, the first being a party lasting about 15 minutes of the film, with jerky camera movements actually hurt my head and the final scene which I’m not going to spoil, but it’s just one long shot lasting around 10 minutes. If those scenes were cut down and the film was only an hour long, it would have made it so much better.
About halfway through the film, there are a couple of shocking images that just changed the whole outlook of the film for me. From then on, this film in my mind was just like a torture porn film, but with children.. It is a slightly weird film, and it does leave you feeling a bit scared, but not from what happened in the film – the thought that this does actually happen to some children. I would definitely recommend you to watch this though.
Atrocious 2010 http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Admin/BkFill/Default_image_group/2011/9/15/1316085549461/Atrocious-007.jpg" class="photoborder" />
A family takes a holiday to a house in the Spanish countryde, but a few days later they’re all found dead.
I think that I expected too much from this. I really like Spanish horror films, but this one did not live up to any of my expectations at all. The film is only around 70 minutes long, but nothing much happens. A little bit of supernatural force here and there made it acceptable to watch, but that’s about it.
Around the back of the house, there is a maze which the father has banned his children from going in, but of course they do go in. The maze scenes were alright, and you do get to see a dead dog but in the end, it has nothing to do with the way the family died. The twist is really quite bland, especially as the whole film was building up to something that seemed supernatural, but in the end it was nothing like that.
Evil Things 2009
A group of college students have a weekend away to celebrate one of their birthdays. 48 hours later, they had all vanished without a trace.
This film is the worst found footage film I’ve seen for a lot of reasons. The biggest one being that it’s bacally 90 minutes of nothing happening, at all. The group of friends is being stalked by someone, but that’s about it. There is no bloodshed, nothing out of the ordinary and no explanation to what actually happened.
The ending has to be one of the worst I’ve seen too, it’s just a video recording of what happened - but from the stalkers point of view. I would seriously give this film a miss. It’s just a bunch of kids scaring themselves with someone watching.
Grave Encounters 2011
A televion crew are shooting their last episode of the series in an abandoned psychiatric hospital that is rumoured to be haunted. They decide to lock themselves in and begin their investigation.
This film is posbly my favourite found footage film to date and like the majority of them, this is of the supernatural kind. What sets this ade from other films in the genre is that it's not all about making the audience jump. There are solid back stories to both the supernatural beings and the camera crew. Even better that the crew who are investigating the hospital don’t actually believe in ghosts, so it’s quite funny to see how they react when they come in contact with them. Some parts of the plot are just brilliantly done, and will leave you mystified at what just happened. A few viewers have complained about the special effects being so low budget, anyone could do them and they just look bad. I do not agree with this at all, I think the way that the special effects have been used, work in favour of this film so much.
If you haven't seen this film yet (note the yet, because yes, I am forcing you all to watch this), I’d say stay away from the trailer. Quite a few of the scares are shown in it and it'll make your viewing experience a lot better if you don't watch it.
The Tunnel 2011
A televion crew start an investigation into a government cover-up, but find out that what they’re looking into is much worse than they expected.
This film is probably the most believable found footage film I’ve seen. At least a third of the film is the televion crew interviewing important people from the government, the tramps that live down in the tunnels and being interviewed themselves. Don’t let this put you off though; everything that is said is completely relevant to the plot, and interesting to watch. Out of all the elements in the film, the sound is definitely the best one. Quite a lot of the time it’s usually lent, but when you hear distant footsteps or dripping water, it’s actually pretty creepy.
The release of this film was an interesting one to say the least. It was the first Australian film to be distributed legally through BitTorrent, which means yes; you can watch it for free! Also, if you wish to give the filmmakers money for the great film they made, you can buy individual frames of the film for $1 each here
www.thetunnelmovie.net (best $1 you'll ever spend!)
Megan Is Misng 2011 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YbcexhFLEZI/TmGxBrl3POI/AAAAAAAABPE/9JZARaBOAv4/s1600/Megan+is+Misng+barrel+of+death.
A 14 year old girl starts talking to a guy on the internet, when he decides that they should meet. Soon after, she goes misng and it’s up to her 13 year old best friend to find out what really happened.
I’m slightly in two minds about this film. The concept alone is terrifying, but the film just doesn’t cut it. There are two scenes that I felt like I wanted to skip through, the first being a party lasting about 15 minutes of the film, with jerky camera movements actually hurt my head and the final scene which I’m not going to spoil, but it’s just one long shot lasting around 10 minutes. If those scenes were cut down and the film was only an hour long, it would have made it so much better.
About halfway through the film, there are a couple of shocking images that just changed the whole outlook of the film for me. From then on, this film in my mind was just like a torture porn film, but with children.. It is a slightly weird film, and it does leave you feeling a bit scared, but not from what happened in the film – the thought that this does actually happen to some children. I would definitely recommend you to watch this though.
Atrocious 2010 http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Admin/BkFill/Default_image_group/2011/9/15/1316085549461/Atrocious-007.jpg" class="photoborder" />
A family takes a holiday to a house in the Spanish countryde, but a few days later they’re all found dead.
I think that I expected too much from this. I really like Spanish horror films, but this one did not live up to any of my expectations at all. The film is only around 70 minutes long, but nothing much happens. A little bit of supernatural force here and there made it acceptable to watch, but that’s about it.
Around the back of the house, there is a maze which the father has banned his children from going in, but of course they do go in. The maze scenes were alright, and you do get to see a dead dog but in the end, it has nothing to do with the way the family died. The twist is really quite bland, especially as the whole film was building up to something that seemed supernatural, but in the end it was nothing like that.
Evil Things 2009
A group of college students have a weekend away to celebrate one of their birthdays. 48 hours later, they had all vanished without a trace.
This film is the worst found footage film I’ve seen for a lot of reasons. The biggest one being that it’s bacally 90 minutes of nothing happening, at all. The group of friends is being stalked by someone, but that’s about it. There is no bloodshed, nothing out of the ordinary and no explanation to what actually happened.
The ending has to be one of the worst I’ve seen too, it’s just a video recording of what happened - but from the stalkers point of view. I would seriously give this film a miss. It’s just a bunch of kids scaring themselves with someone watching.
sickkgirl
Monday 3/05/2012 at 03:44 PM | 91119
Out of the films you've listed, I've only seen Grave Encounters, and Megan Is Misng.
First, Grave Encounters was an enjoyable ghost story, and had some great shots, but for the most part I found myself disappointed with the film. I was really expecting it to get under my skin, and it didn't really. The only memorable scenes in it was the hair in the hallway, and the bathtub. Not to say the rest was bad, it just wasn't what I thought I was getting into.Megan Is Misng on the other hand scared the ever living crap out of me. Why I agree the starting party scene is a bit lengthy, it really helps to give you an understanding of what kind of girl Megan is ( aka every girl I've dated), and the innocence that Amy is able to hold onto, while being exposed to a world of hard drugs and partying. The last shot, while I won't say what it is, I will say that it works so well because of the fact it is extended. The dialog coming out of the girl, juxtaposed against the lent 'get it done' attitude really left me feeling dirty by the end of the movie, even more so than some of the images we're 'treated' to shortly before.
First, Grave Encounters was an enjoyable ghost story, and had some great shots, but for the most part I found myself disappointed with the film. I was really expecting it to get under my skin, and it didn't really. The only memorable scenes in it was the hair in the hallway, and the bathtub. Not to say the rest was bad, it just wasn't what I thought I was getting into.Megan Is Misng on the other hand scared the ever living crap out of me. Why I agree the starting party scene is a bit lengthy, it really helps to give you an understanding of what kind of girl Megan is ( aka every girl I've dated), and the innocence that Amy is able to hold onto, while being exposed to a world of hard drugs and partying. The last shot, while I won't say what it is, I will say that it works so well because of the fact it is extended. The dialog coming out of the girl, juxtaposed against the lent 'get it done' attitude really left me feeling dirty by the end of the movie, even more so than some of the images we're 'treated' to shortly before.
HorrorDaily
Monday 3/05/2012 at 03:53 PM | 91120
I've seen Grave Encounters, The Tunnel, and Atrocious. Grave Encounters was definitely the best. I had read a few people commenting that the film revealed too much, but I was scared by it. The Tunnel was decent, and I support the film because they released it through BitTorrent, which to me was
a great way to get their movie out there. Atrocious was watchable but it definitely built up one story and then flipped it to a different one at the end. I'm surprised to see Gacy House wasn't on this list as one to avoid. It wasn't very good at all. As well as the Poughkeepe tapes. That was awful.
a great way to get their movie out there. Atrocious was watchable but it definitely built up one story and then flipped it to a different one at the end. I'm surprised to see Gacy House wasn't on this list as one to avoid. It wasn't very good at all. As well as the Poughkeepe tapes. That was awful.
Crymson
Tuesday 3/06/2012 at 01:22 AM | 91140
Justin! SPAM-ALERT! ^ ^ ^
Re. this article - I disagree a lot with your views but that's what's great about this te - to each have one's own opinion!
My favourite part of the found footage genre is the use of subtlety. I conder the likes of Blair Witch, Lake Mungo and even Paranormal Activity as being subtle with it's effects and use of horror and scares. What you don't see I find, is a LOT scarier than what you do see....
The reason I didn't like Grave Encounters is that it's as subtle as Cloverfield. The constant CGI and effects and absolute un-believeablility of what you see in the 'found footage' made it totally unscary for me. But to give it a kudos, I DID like the scene with the woman standing in the corner....
Re. this article - I disagree a lot with your views but that's what's great about this te - to each have one's own opinion!
My favourite part of the found footage genre is the use of subtlety. I conder the likes of Blair Witch, Lake Mungo and even Paranormal Activity as being subtle with it's effects and use of horror and scares. What you don't see I find, is a LOT scarier than what you do see....
The reason I didn't like Grave Encounters is that it's as subtle as Cloverfield. The constant CGI and effects and absolute un-believeablility of what you see in the 'found footage' made it totally unscary for me. But to give it a kudos, I DID like the scene with the woman standing in the corner....
joshk1986
Wednesday 3/07/2012 at 08:16 AM | 91178
No, I agree with you! That scene in Paranomal Activity where they find the photo in the loft? Creepiest thing ever. And The Blair Witch Project is posbly my favourite found footage film, I just thought for this article i'd go with some lesser know examples
sickkgirl
Wednesday 3/07/2012 at 01:51 PM | 91181
I watched Megan is Misng and I have to admit the ending left me very disturbed. I have avoided Atrocious due to poor reviews and just doesnt sound entertaining, but I do love the poster. I loved Grave Encounters! I thought it was a great spin on ghost hunter concept! Great Article!
allycat2488
Saturday 3/24/2012 at 08:18 AM | 91691
If you liked Grave Encounters maybe you should check out El Sanatorio... I think Grave Encouters ripped that movie off although they were only a year apart. El Sanatorio is ealy the best found footage film I have ever seen. This film is by far the best movie ever to be made out of Costa Rica. I saw it at Fantaa Film Festival last year. Hope you give it a shot but just so you know its more of a found footage horror comedy than just a horror film, but it was the one of the only films that really stood out last year.
reelbiga7
Wednesday 3/28/2012 at 05:31 PM | 91862
I don't think that they ripped it off, there are many, many, films about haunted houses, and found footage films in particular use them as their main setting. But yah, i'll make sure to check it out. Thanks!
sickkgirl
Thursday 3/29/2012 at 11:00 AM | 91890
