10 Found Footage Movies You Should Watch Before The New Blair Witch (2016)
Willow Creek
Bobcat Goldthwait is known for making dark – sometimes nonsensical – comedies that are, not so subtly, trying to say something about the human condition. So when he announced that he was going to make a found footage Bigfoot movie, people sat up. Everyone expected it to be more of a comedy or satire, but it wasn’t at all. Sure, it was funny, but it held to a very familiar structure introduced by The Blair Witch Project and had much more in common with a straightforward horror flick. Audiences were split on whether this worked or not, but no one denies that the nineteen-minute tent sequence in the middle of the film creates an intense and horrifying atmosphere.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPlc9UY2iuQ]
The story follows a woman agreeing to accompany her long-time boyfriend on a camping trip for his birthday to the same area that produced the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot footage back in 1967. They stop first in the self-described “Bigfoot Capital of the World,” Willow Creek, to interview locals about their own sightings and experiences with the legendary creature. Starting to sound familiar? Soon after, they head into the woods to try to capture their own footage and find the original meadow that originates the famous sighting. Their exciting camping trip devolves into a terrifying nightmare as a troop of the creatures find them first, begin to terrorize their camp, and hunt them throughout the night.
Bearing striking similarities to previous films in the genre, Willow Creek manages to stand apart by engulfing itself in the lore of Bigfoot and the local California legend. You do have to let yourself really believe in the found footage aspect of the story so that every twig snap and hoot makes your skin crawl. If you can do that, the ending will make you think twice about setting up a tent in the woods for a very long time.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes
With the recent ABC’s of Death and V/H/S franchises, anthology horror is making a huge comeback in the form of found footage films. The movie that did it first is still, to this day, not released on DVD or Blu-ray. There’s some kind of joke in a movie called The Poughkeepsie Tapes not being on modern formats that I’m not smart enough to make, but moving on, this is a film that is held in high regard by most of the people willing to seek it out.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGA2cIovENM]
A mixture of found footage and mockumentary storytelling, the film highlights the crimes of a deranged serial killer after hundred of videotapes are found, each with a different victim’s last moments recorded. This is a seriously deranged movie, and it will stick with you long after the last tape is shown. You will see people tortured and frightened in incredibly realistic ways, but unlike many of the other movies that have delved into this style, the mockumentary portion of The Poughkeepsie Tapes is integral to figuring out the whole story. If you can track down a copy and have a strong stomach, this movie is the type that ends up being passed around all over horror circles, and you can be the one to start the vomit-inducing in your own household.
Grave Encounters
Canada is responsible for more than just excellent bacon and top-tier television aboot teen angst. They’ve also given us the extremely entertaining story of a cheesy paranormal investigative reality show encountering real-life supernatural horror. Although most people Stateside have discovered Grave Encounters thanks to video on demand services, this is not your usual straight-to-DVD trash.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEmuFgHZZK0]
The movie nails the vibe of those repetitive late-night “unscripted TV” crews that go into supposedly haunted locations every week and scream in dark hallways for an hour and a half. Everything from the frat guy host to the unbelievably annoying tag-along psychic are presented in the film and pulled off perfectly. Seeing them start to run across actual paranormal phenomena and then be terrorized by it is just as enjoyable as it sounds.
Even without the best script or special effects, the cast and concept are enough to make this worthwhile of a watch. Avoid the sequels at all cost, though; this is one concept that overstays its welcome past the first film.
Unfriended
Unfriended is a movie that demands you ignore all the reasons why it should be horrible. An MTV-produced film about millennials sitting around on Skype and being killed off one by one sounds like it was thought up in a board room full of desperate studio execs trying to figure out what tweens think is cool. If you can get past that, however – and slug through a few plot-pushing coincidences – you have an incredibly unique found footage movie that throws off the shackles of its gimmick.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q72LWqCx3pc]
Following a group of friends who may or may not be responsible for the suicide of a former classmate, Unfriended has the supposed spirit returning to seek revenge on them and reveal the singular person actually to blame. As more of them bite the dust in creative Final Destination meets The Happening ways, the movie really comes into its own and demands to be taken – if not seriously – at least on its own terms.
