The 8 Ball 02.07.12: The Top 8 Found Footage Films

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 02.07.2012

From Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project to Chronicle, Diary of the Dead and more, 411's Jeremy Thomas breaks down the top 8 found footage-style films of all-time!

Welcome, one and all, to the 8 Ball in the Movie Zone! I'm your host Jeremy Thomas and as always, we will be tackling a topic and providing you the top eight selections of that particular category. Keep in mind that this list is meant to be my personal opinion and not a definitive list. You're free to disagree; you can even say my list is wrong, but stating that an opinion is "wrong" is just silly. With that in mind, let's get right in to it!




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Top 8 Found Footage Films

I know I had this set to be the Top 8 Action Thrillers in my announcement at the end of last week's column, but I decided to go with this topic instead considering the proliferation in this year alone. This weekend Chronicle hit the top of the box office, heavily overperforming and already being the second film in the subgenre to do so this year after The Devil Inside. The "found footage" genre is one that has been going for quite some time and can trace its routes back to 1980's Cannibal Holocaust...and actually even further back, to Robert Montgomery's 1947 film Lady in the Lake which is told entirely through the subjective eyes of main character Philip Marlowe sees. Of course, the subgenre exploded in recent years and has become the new gimmick format du jour, particularly with horror. Between the releases of Chronicle and Devil Inside plus the found-footage series The River coming tomorrow on ABC, I thought this would be a good week to look at my the best the format has had to offer.

Caveat: None. There are a few I have not seen, but that's the only real caveat.

Just Missing The Cut

[Rec], Paranormal Activity 2, The Poughkeepsie Tapes

#8: The Blair Witch Project (1999)



The one that started it all would earn likely place on this list just due to its significance in kicking off the subgenre. The movie has lost a lot of luster over the years, as people have criticized the ambiguous ending and the poor choices of the characters, both of which are flaws that weigh it down. However, in my mind the bigger elements that have drug it down have been twofold: the fact that so many other films have copied the same conventions and made it seem cliché in retrospect and the fact that Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows was such a terrible film. Neither of these are the flaw of the film itself, which was revolutionary at the time and took an ingenious concept as well as one hell of a marketing campaign to make it a huge success. I think the film is looked upon more poorly than it deserves and while I admit it isn't a great film, it is definitely a good one and its influence on 21st century film-making, not to mention independent film, is undeniable. The ending is something that you will either love or hate; I initially went out of the theater disappointed but the more I thought about it the more effective it seemed. A definitive ending that showed the witch would have been too much and I like the way it ends uncertainly. Having rewatched it recently I think it holds up and if not for the films that followed in its footsteps it would be considered much higher in stature than it is today.


#7: Diary of the Dead (2007)



Diary of the Dead didn't get the greatest of receptions among Romero fans, but I actually think it is the best of the Dead films to be made since Day of the Dead. This reboots the zombie apocalypse from Romero's storytelling universe and follows a group of film students as they try to survive in the midst of the unthinkable. As in all Romero zombie films, the theme is not that zombies are the most monstrous things on the planet but that people are, and what they do in a crisis shows how low humanity can sink. Romero has always tried to add his own social commentary in and while it it's sometimes heavy-handed, and some of the characters are difficult to like. In the end, though, good performances and a great look help the message be relevant without being too preachy. Romero's sense of style and knowledge of how to film a low-budget film serve him incredibly well and the gore is very well done, in particular well-done bit of nastiness in the dissolving of one zombie's head as it lumbers along, a jar of some sort of acid eating away at its brain until it finally collapses. It's a very nice merging of Romero's gorehound sensibility and the found footage style, and deserves another look by those who have dismissed it.


#6: Troll Hunter (2011)



Troll Hunter is one of the first found footage films to not be a pure horror film. There are many elements of the same kind of conventions found in the horror found footage films, but at its heart this is more of a dark fantasy film than horror. The plot centers on of a group of Norwegian students who go out to make a documentary about a purported bear poacher, who find out that there is a government conspiracy dedicated to the elimination of giant trolls in Norway and hiding their existence from the public. That plot is undoubtedly goofy-sounding but writer/director André Øvredal makes it work by creating a deliberate pace that doesn't push too quickly but also never seems to drag. Perhaps it is just the language barrier but the students don't have the annoying tendencies that you often find among the protagonists of these films. Additionally you have Otto Jespersen delivering a performance as the troll hunter that is both funny and weighty, keeping the film on the right course. The ending is not the greatest--a common flaw among found footage films--but it works well enough and what comes before is strong enough to make it well-worth watching.


#5: Man Bites Dog (1992)



Before Blair Witch there was this film, a 1992 Belgian mockumentary about a camera crew who documents a serial killer named Ben. While at first the filmmakers simply document the proceedings, they eventually begin participating in the actual murders. In a lot of ways, this film started many of the elements that Blair Witch was credited with, though it was the latter which brought these elements into prominence. What gives Man Bites Dog the edge for me is the addition of social commentary that Blair Witch lacks. Directors Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde create a remarkably disturbing tale about how the close proximity to the violence they see desensitizes the filmmakers, who eventually find the need to create their own violence. The idea of journalists creating their own news is nothing new in films, but the way it is portrayed here is chillingly effective. It's not the most well-known of the found footage mockumentaries but it is undoubtedly one of the better ones.


#4: Paranormal Activity (2009)





Where Blair Witch got this whole ball rolling anew, it was largely kept to mid-level successes until Paranormal Activity broke through. Again, a lot of people seem to hate on this film after the fact, which I don't really think is fair. Oren Peli solved many of the more common complaints about the genre; gone is the constant vertigo-inducing shaky cam with the solid plot device of stationary camera capturing what occurs when Katie and Micah are sleeping. The effects are very well-done for the low budget and while Micah is irritating from time to time, his actions are fairly understandable until a certain point when he clearly believes that the supernatural is going on and by then it's too late anyway. The ending has a nice little creepy bit of special effects and while the other films didn't make this list, they have also been solid entries in the genre. I for one am looking forward to what happens in PA 4.


#3: Cloverfield (2008)



Cloverfield was a film that had a lot of people enormously hyped upon its trailer that virtually struck out of left-field. The trailer had people speculating on exactly what it was about. Was it to be a Godzilla film? An alien invasion? A LOST tie-in? The end result was closer to the first than anything else but it was ultimately something better. Godzilla is a great franchise (except the American version), but it's a distinctly Japanese franchise and that's part of why it didn't work in the US as well. We needed our own giant monster and J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves gave it to us. The characters in this are well-played, despite one big glaring flaw that sets them on their path--trying to rescue the girl who will surely mean their certain death. This is a great sci-fi horror flick that does a fantastic job of building to the eventual creature reveal, with little hints here and there until we finally see it head on. Furthermore, I'm glad to see that there has not been a sequel, as I think everything that needed to be said was and Abrams and Reeves have done a great job of holding off on the potential cash-in since they haven't locked down a story. Much respect for that.


#2: [Rec] 2 (2009)



What is it that makes demonic possession such a common plot for found footage? I don't know, but there have been a lot of bad ones from The Last Exorcism and Paranormal Entity to this year's hideous The Devil Inside. All of these films need to look at [REC] 2 and see where it was done right. A lot of people like the first better but for my money the 2009 sequel is a just a wee bit better. This follow-up begins right after the events of the first film and follows a S.W.A.T. team as they investigate. The demonic mythology of the franchise is expanded upon here and unlike many horror films where they try to fill in the backstory and it comes off as weak, the expanded story of demonic possession as a virus is logical and well thought-out. The presence of original star Manuela Velasco as reporter Angela Vidal is explained nicely and unlike many found-footage horror films, the protagonists don't come off as stupid or whiny. The remake of this franchise, Quarantine, is another example of found footage done wrong; they should have paid more attention rather than just try and mindlessly ape what came before because they got the scenes right, but not the subtleties that worked.


#1: Chronicle (2012)



Yes, I know this film has only been out three days and it may be too early to label it as the best ever, but I don't care. This film fixes everything that is wrong with the subgenre as a rule and tells a compelling story on top of it. The tale of three teenagers who come in contact with a strange stone that gives them telekinesis is familiar in concept and theme, but the way it tells those themes is top-notch. The acting by all the leads is great, particularly that of Dane DeHaan who gives one of the creepiest performances I've seen in a while. All of the things you can fault the genre for are resolved; the characters are not annoying and there is enough backstory to make us even understand the villain, while the biggest question--why do you keep filming when things are so wrong?--is easily resolved. Large gaps are left open...yes, indeed, they don't just film every minute, and the telekinesis plus the use of other cameras creates an interesting situation that cuts out the need to always be looking through one set of eyes. Josh Trank has made his name in Hollywood with a great film that is one of the first such of the year, and with it he catapulted right to the top of this particular genre.

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Current Doctor


Current Series/Season: Series 3 (2007)
Episodes Watched: 488
Last Serial Completed: The Runaway Bride - Donna Noble's Christmas Eve wedding plans are dashed when she inexplicably ends up on the TARDIS. The Doctor scrambles to return her in time for her nuptials as a familiar adversary from a past Christmas rears their heads, heralding the arrival of a greater threat.
Surviving Episodes Remaining: 136

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From Schnuedo:
1 - Warrior not being nominated for Best Picture.

From Guest#3580:
^This. While it followed the tried and true formula of sports movies, it did it and told such a great story that you could forgive the predictable winner in the final match. Such a powerful drama that really made this much more than just another sports movies and worthy of a recommendation.

Warrior was a film I loved and it would have made my Best Picture voting, but I didn't personally feel it was as strong of a film as others which were left off like Tinker Tailor and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's very worthy of a recommendation, but not quite there for biggest Oscar snub.


From mcb84:
Senna and Project Nim for best doc

I have yet to see either but I've heard they were definitely snubbed.


From Guest#8468:
You're up to 2006 and have 143 episodes to watch? Either your sums are wrong or you skipped a bunch early on.

Not exactly either. My sums are right and I didn't skip any; however, since I began this project several new serials from the earlier episodes have been released and they've been added to the list even though I technically passed them; they just were not available in the US at the time I was in their time period. As it stands I have twelve First Doctor episodes, five Second Doctor, twenty-eight Third Doctor, fourteen Fourth Doctor and ten Fifth Doctor episodes that were unavailable when I hit them but now are.


From Rise:
Where's Andy Serkis for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"? Fuck You!

Well, thanks for the reasonable response. In the Best Supporting Actor category I think Serkis was worthy of a nomination, but not quite as much as Albert Brooks or Alan Rickman who put in better performances.


From Mark of Excellence:
How was Kirsten Dunst not rewarded for her fantastic work--easily the best of her career--in Melancholia? Easy. She's boring and plays the same boring character the same boring way every time. She's boring. And so is Melancholia.

From Guest#4527:
Kirstin Dunst is to acting as paint drying is to excitement

With all due respect, saying that Kirsten Dunst's character in Melancholia is the same as her character in (for example) Spider-Man, Elizabethtown, Marie Antoinette or many other films just proves that you haven't seen the film. Those are a couple good quips, but wit lacking credibility behind it is just hollow.


From Zeus:
Good article. 50 50 for best original screenplay is a major snub too. And how does Moneyball have so many nominations? A decent enough film for certain, but nothing about it was Oscar worthy, aside from maybe the screenplay.

50/50's script was definitely snubbed, but as I said I tried to limit my snubs to one per film. I really liked Moneyball and while I do think it got over-nominated a bit, it's not nearly as glaring as some other nominations.


From M A Weyer:
Ironically, you left off the biggest snub: Tilda Swinton, who turned in her finest performance ever, and one of the best of the year, in "We Need To Talk About Kevin," which pretty much every award BUT the Oscars recognized.

Only because I have yet to see the film, so couldn't say. It's definitely one I wish I'd been able to catch though.


From Guest#0295:
I read that TinTin wasn't eligible for Best Animated because it mixes performance capture and digital animation

That's why the Academy didn't vote for it, but it was absolutely eligible. It's believed that the more traditional Academy is not accepting of mo-cap yet, and that's why TinTin and Andy Serkis in Rise of the Planet of the Apes got screwed.


From The Great Capt. Smooth:
I wonder if there will be some type of "Occupy The Oscars" protests with signs that read "Justice for Rickman!". Wow! I just wrote an SNL scene.

And one that would probably be better than any Oscar scene the real SNL will write!


From Guest#1348:
I find it Mind Boggling that Rickman has never even been nominated for an Oscar. He is so good in everything he is in. He is always the best part of all the movies he makes an appearance in. Same can be said of Gary Oldman, but the Academy finally recognized him with a nomination this year. I would love it if he surprised everyone and won. Rickman better get his due one day, and Depp along with DiCaprio better win soon too. I'm tired of Daniel Day, Sean Penn, etc. taking turns every year winning the award.

There are certain people who the Academy loves to be sure. And while DDL and Penn bring it every time (and Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, and so on) I always end up rolling my eyes a bit when some of them, especially Streep, get nominated for performances that other actresses would have just gotten a few kind words in reviews about. I have no doubt that Depp and DiCaprio will be honored finally one day; hopefully Oldman and Rickman will be to.


From Guest017:
JGL? Snubbed? Come on, man. This year was VERY strong for the Best Actor category, and I haven't really seen JGL's name thrown around anywhere. You still have Michael Shannon (Take Shelter), Michael Fassbender (Shame), Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar) and Ryan Gosling (Drive/Ides of March) on the outside looking in as well. It's not like JGL put in an all-time great performance or anything like that. Be real here.

All good performances, but with all due respect I thought Gordon-Levitt was better than all of them. As I said, it's easily the best of his career and while I undoubtedly loved Gosling's work in both Drive and Ides of March not to mention Fassbender in Shame and DiCaprio in J. Edgar, I personally thought Gordon-Levitt's was the more real performance and meant more to his film than the other ones did. To each their own, though!

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And that will do it for us this week! Join me next week when we'll look at the Top 8 Space Captains; until then, have a good week and don't forget to read the many other great columns, news articles and more here at 411mania.com! JT out.