Reviews: A Few Favorite Found Footage Films

Found footage has grown into one of the one of the most popular Sub-genre used by filmmakers of horror in the last ten years. While its beginnings can be traced back to the 1980's it really didn't get its footing till 1999's 'Blair Witch Project' took the world by storm with its clever marketing and campaign that made over half the people that went to see it think it was a real film. 

Personal i'm not really a fan of most found footage out there, but there are some clever movies that i like that have used the format in smart ways that make the movies enjoyable. here are a few of my favorite.

 Troll Hunter
Dir. Andre Ovredal

Troll Hunter is a fantastic watch because of its size and scope. Three university students fallow Hans, a man that hunts trolls for a secret government organization. First of, this does not feel like a found footage film, it feels like a movie. I know that sounds dumb, but if you got to see this film in theaters you would not feel like you just paid $15.00 to watch some jerk holding a camera as he films a love story while a giant monster destroys New York (i'll talk more about cloverfield when i talk about found footage films i hate). You would feel like you just watch a movie that someone put a lot of the heart and soul into.
Watching Hans get ready to do battle with some of the trolls is awesome, the homemade Armour looks great and his truck with all the lights really shows that they wonted to keep some of the beliefs surrounding trolls in the Netherlands a fact more then just superstition.
The special effects are nice, its low budget and that shows on some of the trolls which kind of removes the believably part of the film, but its fun and they still feel very large.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes
Dir. John Erick Dowdle

When people tell me they don't get frightened from horror movies anymore, i asked them if they've seen 'Poughkeepsie Tapes' which most haven't seeing how it has never really been officially released except for a short video on demand run. So then i tell them to watch it... and they never speak to me again.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes is almost to real. Done more like a A&E crime documentary, it fallows the investigators who found over 800 videos of the "Water Street Butcher" capturing, torturing, killing, and mutilating his victims. Not only does the movie focus on the crimes but the toll watching these movie took on the officers involved.
Like the 'Blair Witch Project' this movie seems to real for some people but not because of clever marketing. More it has to do with the fact that it never got any kind of release. now more of a movie you hear about then have to track down on the internet tell your friends about then they track it down and so on. This movie is shocking, brutal, and powerful like so few other movies. It leaves you depressed and angry and more then a little afraid.

[Rec]
Dir. Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza

Very few movies turn out this intense, Trapped in a apartment building with these fast, demon possessed, zombie like creatures, locked in with nowhere to run or hide. Crazy shit.
The movie revolves around a young television reported and her camera man, who are filming a late night show at the local fire station when they get to do a ride along to what sounds like a routine call. they get to a apartment building and go to check on a elderly lady the other tenants are worried about and get attacked, then shit goes to hell.
[Rec] may be my favorite found footage film ever. The camera work is solid, the possessed are awesome looking especially the creepy girl at the end. its fast passed and cramped which makes for some really frighting scenes, and the acting is good, although i have a hard time gauging actors that speck a different language then me, but i believe them to be frighten when they we supposed to be, and that's enough.