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best paranormal found footage movies

by Mr. Granville McKenzie V Published 4 years ago Updated 3 years ago

Found Footage Movies - Ranked best to worst.

  • 1. Paranormal Activity (2007) R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery.
  • 2. Gang Tapes (2001)
  • 3. Alone with Her (2006)
  • 4. Grave Encounters (2011)
  • 5. As Above, So Below (2014)

Full Answer

Is paranormal activity the best found footage movie?

The Blair Witch Project got the Found Footage Genre into the spotlight, Paranormal Activity reinvigorated it 10 years later. Most of all the FF films of today, pretty much copy or emulate it in some way. Not the best in acting but more than makes up for it using great sound and suspense.

What is the best horror movie with found footage?

Every Found Footage Movie. 1 1. The Blair Witch Project (1999) R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery. 2 2. Paranormal Activity (2007) 3 3. Cloverfield (2008) 4 4. The Dark Tapes (2016) 5 5. Cannibal Holocaust (1980) More items

Why is paranormal activity so popular?

The first Paranormal Activity was the film that completely changed the landscape of found footage horror, second in importance only to the cultural phenomenon of The Blair Witch Project, although it’s important to note that Blair Witch didn’t really kick off a true wave of wide release studio imitators back in 1999.

How much did Paranormal Activity The Ghost Dimension (2015) make?

20 years after a horrific accident during a small town school play, students at the school resurrect the failed show in a misguided attempt to honor the anniversary of the tragedy - but soon discover that some things are better left alone. Votes: 20,325 | Gross: $22.76M 15. Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) Error: please try again.

What is the scariest found footage film?

The Scariest 'Found Footage' MoviesThe Blair Witch Project (1999) ... Paranormal Activity (2007) ... The Devil Inside (2012) ... The Visit (2015) ... The Sacrament (2014) ... The Quiet Ones (2014) ... The Last Exorcism (2010) ... REC (2007)More items...

What is statistically the scariest movie ever?

The 10 most statistically scary movies to stream this HalloweenInsidious (2010) Average heart rate: 85 BPM. ... The Conjuring (2013) Average heart rate: 84 BPM. ... Hereditary (2018) Average heart rate: 83 BPM. ... Paranormal Activity (2007) ... It Follows (2014) ... The Conjuring 2 (2016) ... The Babadook (2014) ... The Descent (2005)More items...

Are any found footage movies real?

80% of This Found Footage Horror Movie Is True, According to the Director. Part of watching horror movies is being able to tell yourself “none of this is real.” That's easy with ghost stories and most creature features. But there's one found-footage movie fans can't say that about.

What horror movie is like a documentary?

The first found-footage film — horror or not — that most people think of is “The Blair Witch Project.” Directed, written and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, the 1999 film used unknown actors as its trio of faux documentary filmmakers who get lost and eventually vanish in the Maryland woods while searching ...

What is the scariest movie based on a true story?

Psycho, Scream, and more: The true stories behind 17 terrifying horror moviesPsycho (1960) ... The Birds (1963) ... The Exorcist (1973) ... The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) ... Jaws (1975) ... The Amityville Horror (1979) ... Poltergeist (1982) ... .More items...•

Which Paranormal Activity movie was the scariest?

Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) There's also a solid case to be made that this movie has the scariest scene in the franchise, with a sequence that involves affixing the camera to a revolving fan.

Are the Poughkeepsie Tapes real?

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a 2007 American pseudo-documentary horror film written and directed by John Erick Dowdle. The film is about the murders of a serial killer in Poughkeepsie, New York, told through interviews and footage from a cache of the killer's snuff films.

What movies were so disturbing that people walked out?

21 Movies That Are Just So Disturbing People Had To Leave The...We asked the BuzzFeed Community about which movies that were just so disturbing, they had to leave the theater. ... Ouija (2014) ... Final Destination 3 (2006) ... The Purge (2013) ... Date Movie (2006) ... Scream (1996) ... The Green Inferno (2013) ... Brüno (2009)More items...•

Is District 9 found footage?

The film is partially presented in a found footage format by featuring fictional interviews, news footage, and video from surveillance cameras. The story, which explores themes of humanity, xenophobia and social segregation, begins in an alternate 1982, when an alien spaceship appears over Johannesburg, South Africa.

What was the first found footage horror movie?

Cannibal HolocaustIn filmmaking, the 1980 cult horror feature Cannibal Holocaust is often claimed to be the first example of found footage. The device was popularised by The Blair Witch Project (1999).

Why are found footage films so scary?

An unstable camera, hyper-realistic performances that feel intentionally non-professional, the blurring of fiction and truth through framing devices—found footage has defining markers of its own, but it's a truly distinct and diverse subgenre that's got so much more to offer than Paranormal Activity (and even that ...

What make a good found footage film?

Write a convincing script with realistic character dialog. Found footage films should sound exactly like you'd talk to people in real life. Put together a script so your actors know what to say, but don't be afraid to let them take over and talk how they normally would.

What is the world's bloodiest movie?

13 Bloodiest and Goriest Movies of All TimeDead Alive (1992)Evil Dead (2013) ... American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore (2014) ... Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985) ... Adam Chaplin (2011) ... Tokyo Gore Police (2008) ... Cannibal Holocaust (1980) ... Day of the Dead (1985) ... More items...•

What movie does Stephen King think is the scariest?

Believe it or not, Stephen King does get scared, and he isn't afraid to admit when something gets under his skin. He famously referred to "The Babadook" as "deeply disturbing and highly recommended," noting that audiences don't watch the film so much as experience it.

What is the scariest movie ever Reddit?

That being said, the scariest movies I can recall are:The Ring (2002)The Blair Witch Project (1999)The Exorcist (1973)House on Haunted Hill (1999)The Haunting (1999)Oculus (2013)Paranormal Activity (2007)Stir of Echoes (1999)

Is sinister the scariest movie ever?

Sinister Dethroned By Host As Scariest Horror Movie Ever In New Study. According to the “Science of Scare” study, 2012's Sinister slipped into the #2 spot for scariest horror movie ever, narrowly losing to 2020's Host.

Who directed the 2014 Paranormal Activity?

Year: 2014. Director: John Erick Dowdle. In the wake of Paranormal Activity, “found footage” as a horror subgenre had a pretty tough time getting a fair shake from critics, and often from audiences as well. It’s not as if it wasn’t often warranted—anyone who remembers the likes of Apollo 18 can attest to that.

What is the prequel to Paranormal Activity 3?

Paranormal Activity 3 is a prequel to the saga of Katie’s demonic haunting, showing her and sister as children as the presence starts to appear in their home and terrorize their family. Its most tense scene is one of the most iconic moments in horror history: The camera placed on top of an oscillating fan.

What makes a horror movie so popular?

Horror movies made us jump for decades thanks to their calculated constructions. Creepy sets and props, outrageous kills, gruesome makeup, and camera moves perfectly designed to deny us just enough—horror owes more to its consistent visual language than perhaps any other genre. But a relatively modern subgenre innovation, the found footage horror film, seemingly throws all that out the window. An unstable camera, hyper-realistic performances that feel intentionally non-professional, the blurring of fiction and truth through framing devices—found footage has defining markers of its own, but it’s a truly distinct and diverse subgenre that’s got so much more to offer than Paranormal Activity (and even that movie is unfairly maligned).

Who is the king of found footage?

Koji Shiraishi is a king of found footage. His films such as Noroi: The Curse and A Record of Sweet Murder showcase his mastery of the art. While there’s no doubting Noroi is his masterpiece, Shiraishi’s 2009 film Occult is a cosmic horror nightmare told through a fascinated cameraman (played by Shiraishi himself) who wants to get to the bottom of a strange murder. He slowly becomes embroiled in something that transcends what we consider our reality. The ending of Occult is perhaps the weirdest thing you’ll ever see. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in a found footage film and while it is jarring, it also fits in with the chaos that’s been building throughout the entire film.— Mary Beth McAndrews

Is Afflicted a horror movie?

Afflicted is a vampire found footage film. That alone should convince you that this is one special horror movie. Vampires are not often seen in found footage, so this makes Afflicted all the more watchable in its spin on the lore of bloodsuckers. Two best friends, Derek (Derek Lee) and Clif (Clif Prowse), set out on a trip in Europe that they’re documenting through daily vlogs to keep those back home updated. But when Derek is bitten by a vampire, the trip takes a strange turn. His transformation is intimately documented from both of their perspectives which gives a deeper insight into the idea of vampirism. Becoming a vampire is usually shown in either a quickly edited montage or in one agonizing scene. Here, the entire film is dedicated to showing Derek’s terrifying physical transformation and Clif’s own helplessness in watching his friend’s pain.— Mary Beth McAndrews

Who is the mastermind of J Horror?

The pathways that lead up to the film’s dramatic conclusion are at times convoluted and silly, but it is done with the precision and love of J-horror mastermind Koji Shiraishi and is one of the most captivating and ambitious films in the genre.—. Jade Gomez. 10. The Taking of Deborah Logan.

Is Gonjian a horror movie?

With the rise of social media and other technological advancements came a revitalization of found footage horror, with Gonjian: Haunted Asylum taking a unique approach for a new age. The film follows a horror YouTuber who, upon learning of the disappearance of two amateur ghost hunters after they visited an abandoned psychiatric hospital, pays the facility a visit and livestreams it. Much like some of the other films in the genre, the fake scares planted by channel owner Ha-Joon are no match for the real horror within the hospital’s walls as it consumes each member of his crew. The film does its best to address found footage gripes, by explaining professional camerawork through the characters’ backgrounds as well as utilizing an impressive arsenal of equipment ranging from drones to night vision cameras. Each hospital room becomes more familiar with each scene until it becomes etched into your brain, and as the real threat of these entities becomes clear, it is easy to pinpoint each character’s growing disgust with the voyeuristic premise as they start to wonder what is and isn’t staged. At Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum ’s heart is a lesson about greed which definitely welcomes multiple eye rolls, but it is nonetheless an ambitious and effective entry into the genre that balances its self-awareness with genuine fear.— Jade Gomez

What is the purpose of the camera in Paranormal Activity?

But few horror films since have matched the full-force tension of the first "Paranormal Activity," in which couple Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherston) set up a camera to surveil the otherworldly presence haunting them at home. The genius of Peli's stationary camera placements is how this approach implores the audience to search every inch of the frame for terrors that are hidden in plain sight. Mounted on tripods around the house, these static cameras contribute to a near-constant sense of dread, locking the audience in for whatever frights a given night might have in store.

What is found footage?

Often maligned as a lesser horror subgenre, found footage movies can, at their best, reflect the technical omniscience of handheld surveillance while preserving the intimate, raw-nerve terror of whichever (usually ill-fated) character is holding the camera. Permitting audiences a front-row seat to whatever horrors befall their protagonists, found-footage offers no guarantee of anyone's survival save the camera's.

What sets Gonjiam apart from other horror movies?

What helps to set "Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum" apart from other, similar films is the slickness of its presentation. The characters utilize modern technology to shoot their videos, and all of them are professionally trained, allowing for smooth, graceful camera movements that make sense within the story. Jeong also ladles on the ominous, shadow-soaked atmosphere, establishing an uncommonly deep, dark labyrinth of abandoned corridors through which to guide his intrepid, increasingly fearful characters.

What is the most profitable movie ever made?

A watershed moment for the found-footage format, Oren Peli's "Paranormal Activity" first struck the festival circuit like a bolt from the blue, sparking audience walkouts; many felt too frightened to keep watching. Its theatrical release proved such a sizable success that the film (shot for just $150,000) is generally considered the most profitable movie ever made, and five sequels of varying quality followed.

What was the first viral terror attack?

It's no wonder that the subgenre exploded after 9/11 became the first viral terror attack, its events playing out across thousands of disconnected phone screens, the totality of which traumatized a nation. With its images of video feeds, pixelated shadows, and petrified faces thrust into view, found footage emulates the personalized, handheld sensations of smartphone-era self-documentation and exploited the anxieties of the era with visceral, emotional intensity.

Who plays the madman in Noroi?

As Kobayashi's research brings him into contact with a psychically gifted child (Rio Kanno), a tin-foil hat-wearing madman (Satoru Jitsunashi) who speaks of "ectoplasmic worms," and a woman who can't shake the sound of babies wailing inside her home, director Shiraishi takes the time to gradually weave plot threads together, allowing for plenty of eerie, shiver-inducing moments along the way. As Kobayashi follows the trail of an ancient demon named Kagutaba, "Noroi: The Curse" escalates in every conceivable way, becoming more dramatically compelling and conspicuously well-crafted even as its scares go from merely unsettling to full-on nightmare fuel.

Who is the director of found footage?

Found footage films don't often aim as high as this 2005 J-horror offering from director Kōji Shiraishi about the efforts of paranormal researcher Masafumi Kobayashi (Jin Muraki) to make a documentary about a series of uncanny, seemingly unconnected events. Positioned as footage recorded by Kobayashi's cameraman and released as a cohesive documentary — complete with news broadcasts, interviews, and 16mm film footage depicting a rare ritual — in the wake of his unsolved disappearance, "Noroi: The Curse" is impressively ambitious and cumulatively terrifying.

What is found footage?

Found footage is the perfect way for filmmakers to terrorize audiences without terrorizing their own wallets. These films combine raw performances with tense, first-person filmmaking to deliver their chills, all shot on a shoestring budget.

Who is the flag bearer for found footage?

Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick delivered one of the scariest films of the 90s with TBWP and quickly became the flag-bearer for the found footage subgenre. It trails three film students as they venture into the woods in search of the legendary Blair Witch.

What is the tunnel?

Framed as a documentary, The Tunnel is an Australian found footage horror movie that follows a journalist, Natasha, and her crew into the depths of underground Sydney.

What happened to Hell House on Halloween?

But something terrible happened that night; an unknown malfunction caused the death of multiple attendees and staff.

Where is Bigfoot's home?

Willow Creek. In an attempt to get some wicked footage of Bigfoot, a couple—Jim and Kelly—travels to the Bigfoot capital of the world in Willow Creek, California. When they arrive to the woodsy location, they try and gather interviews from the locals about the legendary creature.

Is Quarantine worth watching?

The American remake, Quarantine, starring an under appreciated Jennifer Carpenter, is actually worth seeing as well. [REC] has been listed among the top 100 horror movies by many critics, including TimeOut, and comes in with an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Is Blair Witch real?

This Spanish-language adrenaline rush claimed, a la The Blair Witch Project, to be actual real-life footage. A news reporter’s mundane human-interest story morphs into a hellish nightmare starring a population of flesh-eaters. It employs a shaky footage technique to great effect. The American remake, Quarantine, starring an under appreciated Jennifer Carpenter, is actually worth seeing as well. [REC] has been listed among the top 100 horror movies by many critics, including TimeOut, and comes in with an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. There are four installments, and each is sure to make you shiver.

Netflix kicked off 2022 with their latest horror series, Archive 81, which mixes found footage horror, nightmare logic and traditional terror with plenty of shocks and scares

But with Netflix turning back the clock with this buzzworthy series, we decided to shine a light on a number of found footage movies of yesteryear that deserve to be dusted off for your viewing pleasure.

1. Man Bites Dog

A shocking dark comedy that continues to drop jaws to this day, Man Bites Dog is a faux documentary about an impressionable film crew that follows a charismatic yet sadistic local serial killer.

2. The Den

An early adopter of the screen-based horror popularized by Unfriended, The Den is a tense and unsettling horror offering about a sociology student who is targeted by a violent and manipulative hacker after an strange experience on a Chatroulette-esque website.

3. Lake Mungo

A film that was incredibly ahead of its time, Lake Mungo is a legitimately scary ghost story that would fit perfectly among the creepypasta and urban legends of today.

5. S&Man

Part documentary, part mockumentary, S&Man follows the deepest, darkest section of horror fandom and fetish films while the filmmakers question if a troubled regional independent filmmaker may have blurred the line between fact and fiction.

7. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

In this spine-tingling found footage fright film, a group of horror YouTubers attempt to record a seance within a notorious abandoned hospital, only to learn, one by one, that the rumors pale in comparison to the terrifying truth.

8. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

A spin-off of the Paranormal Activity franchise set within a Hispanic American community, The Marked Ones breathed life into the franchise following the stagnant fourth entry and culminated in one of the wildest endings in the whole series.

Top 20 Best Found Footage Movies of All Time

Click any of the movies below to see that films' synopsis, plot, cast/actors, directors, full poster, movie trailer, and review.

Found Footage films sorted alphabetically from A-Z

Click any of movies below to see that films' synopsis, plot, cast/actors, directors, full poster, movie trailer, and review.

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