CLASSIC FILMS: Found-Footage Films
Horror movies come in a full range of subgenres. So-called found-footage films may be the creepiest of the bunch. Here are three to plug in this Halloween.
By Alan Herrmann
FILM CRITIC
One of my favorite things about horror films is the variety of sub-genres within the main horror genre. There is gothic, ghost, occult, slasher, psychological, monster, and folk – to name a few – plus the melding of several of these types together.
One of the most original sub-genres of the last twenty-some years is “found footage” horror movies. The impact of these films can be profound.
Film aficionados place the origins of found-footage horror in Cannibal Holocaust from 1980. This is a brutally violent film that is so realistic that the director was brought up on murder charges and had to bring his actors to court to prove he hadn’t made a snuff film.
But there are several movies in this sub-genre that aren’t as violent or exploitative that are still capable of scaring the bejesus out of you. I’ve enjoyed my fair share of these movies. Here are my top three favorite found-footage horror films.
Lake Mungo (2008). This Australian film by director Joel Anderson is one of the most realistic and frightening of the sub-genre. It does an excellent job examining a family tragedy that sends a current of fear throughout a small-town community.
Sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer goes missing and is found drowned. Her family is devastated but starts to believe something more insidious has happened to her after their son Mathew sets up a video camera to capture suspicious images. He finds shadowy figures that could be Alice, and other disturbing images.
Things suddenly turn supernatural. Law enforcement, the media, friends, neighbors, and a psychic get involved as the story takes on a decidedly more twisted turn.
All the actors are superb and very believable. The ending is a stunner, as we learn what fate really befell Alice. We are both horrified and saddened by the chilling turn of events. This is a complex and intelligent horror film that will stay with you for a long time.
Currently streaming for free on Tubi and Amazon Prime
Hell House LLC (2015). Hell House LLC is a very compelling and deeply creepy film that examines a Halloween haunted attraction gone terribly wrong.
Writer and director Stephen Cognetti pulls us into an atmospheric, autumnal small-town setting where a young crew prepares the abandoned Abaddon Hotel in upstate New York as a cash-making crowd-pleaser. Five years after the mysterious and devastating events that kill several attraction participants – unsolved or possibly covered up, depending on which witness one believes – another crew examines found footage and explores the hotel. The results are disturbing.
What makes this such a frightening and fun movie is the steady pace. Where some found-footage films get bogged down with slow builds, Hell House LLC keeps you engaged throughout with interviews, terrifying footage, and revelations that keep you on edge.
There is very little gore and no special effects. No need for CGI here. As characters talk directly into their cameras, they are unaware of dark, lurking images behind them. This is some spine-chilling stuff. Watch out for the CLOWNS!
Currently Streaming for free on Pluto TV and Tubi
The Blair Witch Project (1999). This found-footage film is my personal favorite. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s tiny budget movie asserts that three student filmmakers disappeared after hiking into the Black Mountains near Burkittsville, Maryland, to film a documentary about a homegrown folk legend.
It has become one of the most successful independent films of all time. The Blair Witch Project holds up as a terrifying archetype of found-footage horror and as the movie that popularized the format.
Much of the film’s success is due to the convincing young actors Heather (Heather Donahue), Josh (Joshua Leonard) and Mike (Michael C. Williams) who argue, scream, and cry with such conviction that it’s difficult not to feel the dread they’re facing. It is their own footage that makes up what the audience witnesses. Disturbing sounds and images not easily identified, particularly in wooded surroundings, work on the trio’s nerves. They desperately try to get back to civilization, away from the folk-like stick figures hanging in the trees, unexplained rock piles, and malignant sounds all around them as they become hopelessly lost in the woods.
What makes the film so effective is the knowledge that what one doesn’t see can be much more horrifying than the in-your-face methods of so many other horror films. Our imagination is put into overdrive trying to make sense of what is actually terrifying our characters.
Available for Purchase on Amazon Prime
I hope you’ll check out these films over the macabre season. Happy Halloween!
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