|
I like found footage movies, and I'd like to talk about why. And I don't just mean horror movies (although found footage movies are dominated by them), there are non-horror found footage movies out there that I think are really great. I think a big component of it comes down to the suspension of disbelief - suspension of disbelief is important for any fiction, it's what lets the audience "buy into" the world presented (be it mundane or fantastical) and engage with the characters and story. It's been a staple of movies for decades, that you, the viewer, are an observer within the movie's world, guided by the director through the use of lighting, editing, etc. But for me, found footage movies inherently hijack that suspension of disbelief right at the source, through its filmmaking techniques. Even though the rational part of my brain knows it's all fiction, the use of things like seemingly "raw" footage (be it from a handheld camera, security cam, whatever), the apparently unscripted nature of what I'm seeing, the general use of no-name actors, subverts my rational thought and makes me go, "This is actual filmed footage, this really happened". That makes it that much easier to suspend my disbelief when something fantastical happens, and it increases my emotional investment in the same way as watching news footage on CNN, or "raw" video on Liveleak or wherever. An example of found footage contrasted with conventional filmmaking techniques, the birthday party scene in 'Signs' scared the loving poo poo out of me the first time I saw it. It's fictional footage nested within an already fictional movie, but the way it's presented makes it seem (both to me, and to Joaquin Phoenix) that it's actually taking place. Similarly, there's a "found footage" segment in 'Hellraiser: Revelations', and while that movie has its share of issues, I found that segment really, really effective. I'd be willing to say that a full-on "found footage" take on old-school horror icons could scare me silly. The other thing I've noticed but haven't been able to put my finger on why, is the acting in found footage movies often doesn't feel like acting to me. Maybe it's a byproduct of the "raw footage" filming style, but a lot of acting in found footage movies feels like people experiencing things in the real world, and not like actors reading a script. Of course this works better when it actually is actors improvising their dialogue on the fly, like in The Blair Witch Project. But it isn't just "raw footage" that can sell it for me - Lake Mungo is presented in a quasi-documentary style, with interviews and overall very little "raw footage", but the style and presentation at no point betrays that what you're watching is fake. 'The Bay' also does some similar things, presenting its footage like a documentary. In the general horror movie thread, someone mentioned the idea of found footage movies being voyeuristic, as if you're watching something forbidden. While I can appreciate that, and while certain movies seem to play that angle up (the first V/H/S movie comes to mind, less so with the sequels), the voyeurism angle isn't the appeal for me, and specially not with "mockumentary" movies. For me the appeal is definitely the illusion of "you're watching something real". Which leads me to the quickest way to ruin a found footage movie for me, and that's to break the illusion. Merely filming in a hand-held style with poor editing isn't good enough (V/H/S Viral is a bad offender), it's important that the movie present the footage in ways that seem plausible - and this can often restrict the director's filmmaking options in ways conventional filmmaking doesn't. Fixed or motorized security cameras, coming up with plausible reasons for the "cameraman" to actually film what's going on and not just haul rear end and run away (or optionally, having the cameraman drop the camera so it conveniently films something interesting), etc. When I get the sense that the filmmakers have actually put thought into what is being filmed, how it's being filmed, and restricting the movie to the realm of plausibility in terms of where the footage came from, it makes the movie that much more effective for me. In a sense it isn't that the suspension of disbelief comes from the audience having to accept that people can fly, or that ghosts are real, or whatever, it's that the suspension of disbelief is that the footage is authentic. If the movie can sell that through its filmmaking techniques, the acceptance of everything else becomes automatic. The cardinal sin is when a found footage movie ditches all pretenses of being found footage and switches to conventional filmmaking techniques simply because they're more convenient, or because found footage wouldn't allow the filmmaker to show what they want to show because it's too restrictive. The Pyramid is a real bad offender in this regard, and it's a shame because when it's playing by "the rules", I was very much onboard with the movie. A non-horror found footage movie I really enjoyed was Europa Report - the sense of awe when setting foot on Europa is palpable, and it really drew me into the movie in ways that most sci-fi movies can't. Another space-based found footage movie I liked a lot was Apollo 18, and a huge part of that was the lengths to which they went to make it seem "authentic" - it was all filmed using period-accurate cameras so that the film stock would look appropriate for the time period, and the sets and costumes were built to be period-accurate as well. It goes a huge way towards making it seem like you're legitimately watching archival NASA footage from the 1970s, and it's a really great effect. I already mentioned Lake Mungo, and I personally find it hard to classify it as strictly a horror movie. Like, yes, it has a lot of spooky moments, but a huge chunk of the movie is dedicated to subverting your expectations of being scared. There are a bunch of found footage movies I've been meaning to watch and haven't gotten around to yet for one reason or another (The Tunnel, Chronicle, Cloverfield, to name a few), but I'd love to hear recommendations, as well as talk about what makes the genre work (or not work, if you're not a fan of it). If you're jonesing for some found footage right this second, here's a cool list of stuff available on streaming: Netflix: The Taking of Deborah Logan V/H/S, V/H/S/2, V/H/S: Viral The Europa Report Youtube: The MacPherson Tape and its remake Incident at Lake County Dawn of the Dead: Special Report Dawn of the Dead: Lost Tape Xenomrph fucked around with this message at 09:44 on Oct 1, 2016 |
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 05:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 05:43 |
|
|
The MacPherson Tape and The Midnight Swim are the best two I've seen, you ought to get on those
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 05:09
|
|
|
Jenny Angel posted:The MacPherson Tape and The Midnight Swim are the best two I've seen, you ought to get on those
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 05:15
|
|
|
I'll second the scene in Signs, that scare was so effectively done. I'm not big into found footage, but Chronicle is pretty great. It's found footage angle was cleverly done. Dane Dehan's character is the typical camera nerd, and when he gains his telekinesis powers, is using it to float his camera into unconventional areas. At the start, the camera's pretty shaky, but as he gains more mastery of his powers, the cameras become more stable (inversely to his psyche), and you forget you're even watching found footage.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 05:17
|
|
|
Have you seen the poughkeepsie tapes? If so what did you think?
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 05:21
|
|
|
I'll go to bat for The Taking of Deborah Logan. It's not strictly found footage because there's nothing that suggest it's found but it is all through the camera POV and is extremely loving dope with just the right enough of silliness to maintain the horror element yet introduce something unique to the genre. Lake Mungo is a standout of the genre but it's more like an Unsolved Mysteries episode that has found footage interspersed throughout.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 05:27
|
|
|
Watched Cloverfield the other day again, and the camera choreography is pretty much perfect, especially with the way they reframe after actions. The acting is great with fresh faces and Lizzy Caplan. The framing device they use with official government footage and wrapped around a love story is utilized to the fullest. Definitely the best film Abrams has produced so far.
bushisms.txt fucked around with this message at 07:39 on Sep 30, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 07:35
|
|
|
I'm making a short film about found footage, right now actually. I might post the script in a bit if anyone's interested. I fuckin love Found Footage, but so many films get it wrong. I should watch Midnight Swim. No clue what it's about but that'd be a perfect way to watch.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 07:42
|
|
|
I love many found-footage films, but my favorite is Resolution. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 08:32
|
|
|
Paranormal Activity is an excellent found footage, but I'd avoid the hell out of the sequels. Even the director's follow up Area 51 is terrible. As Above, So Below is my most recent found footage fave Oh and thirding that scene in signs.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 10:57
|
|
|
I haven't watched Incident but it gives me a lot of vibes that the old British show Ghostwatch did
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 11:22
|
|
|
There's a lot I haven't seen, but I have this weird attraction to the genre despite so much of it being plain bad. There's a couple cardinal rules you have to keep to sustain the suspension of disbelief: 1. Always have a reason the cameras are rolling. Far too many have a character piss everyone off by filming when they have a hundred better things to do, and are often told stuff didactically. 2. Never make the "found" footage's finding feel implausible. If your ending has the final character drop the camera and get eaten in the monster's lair, how the hell are we watching this?? The Last Exorcism blows an otherwise great film by breaking this one. I really appreciate when films can come up with creative ways of using the camera, such as the aforementioned Chronicle with the telekinetic camera angles. The Taking of Deborah Logan towards the end has one of the more believable cases of a camera's night vision replacing lost flashlights, and putting us in the protagonist's eyes. The House October Built, about a group of fools seeking out the most extreme haunted houses in the country and finding trouble for it has this incredibly creepy scene where someone breaks into their RV while they're asleep and starts silently filming them with their own camera. Grave Encounters 2 pretends to be a serious FF film, but is actually a tongue in cheek satire of the genre, culminating in the ghosts holding the cameras. On the topic of non horror ff, how is End of Watch, the one that's a cop drama? I remember hearing mixed reviews.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 11:27
|
|
|
Good thread. One that I saw recently and really enjoyed is Creep. It's super low key for most of its runtime, but it does a remarkable job of building up dread. Mark Duplass is absolutely great. One that everyone else seems to like that I didn't care for is The Visit. I can usually overlook cheesy child performances, but that little boy is so cringey that I could barely keep watching. Plus I had just recently watched The Taking of Deborah Logan which held enough similarities to warrant a comparison, and was far superior.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 15:15
|
|
|
In my opinion, As Above, So Below is the best found footage movie ever made. The reason that I love movies so much is that they take me places. I'm never going to be a world traveler, and for various reasons I don't really want to be, but I love being able to relax in my own home and be transported somewhere exotic or scary or exciting. Found footage is that idea taken to the extreme, and when it works its a really unique experience that's completely unlike a traditionally shot film. That's what I think found footage should be used for, and that's why I love As Above, So Below so much. Take me somewhere that would literally be impossible in real life, and put me in the shoes of Indiana Jones. All of my favorite found footage movies do this. Europa Report and Apollo 18 are two good examples of what I'm talking about. I don't want to be in the shoes of someone wandering around in the woods or dealing with a poltergeist in the suburbs, I say use the format to give people more than that.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 15:49
|
|
|
Given your reasons for liking As Above, So Below, I think you would really enjoy Noroi (2005) and Occult (2009). They aren't explicit Indiana Jones style adventures, but both put the viewer in a passenger down the rabbit hole type position. Lil Mama Im Sorry fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Sep 30, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 18:25
|
|
|
In one of the movies, they go to the movies to watch Indiana Jones.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 18:32
|
|
|
HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:In one of the movies, they go to the movies to watch Indiana Jones. ooooooo poo poo I totally forgot about that
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 18:35
|
|
|
Its not super great but Willow Creek directed by Bobcat Goldthwait was pretty good. A couple goes to Willow Creek in search of Bigfoot. There is a very long, very effective scene that those of you who've seen it will remember. Don't want to say much more, but Bobcat goes way out his comfort zone making this movie. As a found footage movie I think it make great use of the limitations of the genre to make a thriller on a tiny budget.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 18:38
|
|
|
THIS IS A TRUE STORY. I love that tag at the beginning of movies. Back in the days of VHS, actual movies themselves could be considered "found footage" in that they were thought to be "lost" films that the majority of people haven't been able to see because of it's rare nature. Growing up, I remember watching a movie called Black Devil Doll From Hell. The VHS box was very non-descript. A semi-competetent painting of a black marionette doll with cornrows, silhouetted by a large fire in the background. The back of the box even more vague (what studio made this movie?), and the stickers on the tape itself looked like they came off an old dot matrix printer. I remember renting it and being shocked at how crude and low budget it was. Shot on video, like, the old rear end VHS camera recorder video, with in-camera cuts and in-camera audio. And it was graphic as well. There's not much violence, but the story revolves around the devil doll raping a conservative black woman, and it does not leave much to the imagination (the doll has a human tongue). I saw this movie when I was maybe 12 or 13 and fell in love with it. Showed all my friends and cousins. A lot of them didn't trust me already because I'd show them other movies I "discovered" at an early age like Sleepaway Camp and I Spit On Your Grave. It wasn't until I was in college that I found out the actual creator of the movie was born and raised in Chicago (where I grew up) and shot the movie completely (COMPLETELY) independently, to the point that he personally drove to each and every mom & pop video store in the Illinois area to sell them his movie directly.   Someone mentioned that when found footage movies "breaks the rules" it takes them out of the movie. I think half the reason why I love this genre is that there really are no rules. This is a genre that came about because of the adventure of discovering new movies. I'd say if anything, the things that would break the movies are things you wouldn't really think about at first. The company card at the beginning (although a lot of found footage movies try to mask this by altering the studio card to something more plain text), known actors in parts (Mark Duplass as the Creep), but even then, it doesn't ruin it, or "take me out of the movie". Impossible shots from cameras that no longer have operators is great to me. One of my favorite moments is when they completely break the narrative at the end of The Last Broadcast. A lot of people say something like that would take them out of the narrative, but the way I see it, it's using the break in narrative the same way a movie like Funny Games breaks the narrative. It's a purposeful tool to shock the audience into re-examining what they just watched. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wrnoGO2oKs Which brings me back to the original point I was going to make. THIS IS A TRUE STORY. What does that evoke when you see that before a movie you watched? That you're about to see something that maybe actually happened. A recreation of events as they actually went down in the real world. To that end, would you consider movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, or even a movie like Fargo a part of the found footage genre, or at least a close parallel cousin? Hell, Return of the Living Dead even works that "THIS IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY" right into the story itself, with Frank retelling the "true story" behind Night of the Living Dead. Fargo doesn't try to hide that it's a movie at all, but there's still that disclaimer in the beginning. And the whole feel of what an actual small town in Minnesota would actually be like (or at least what our expectations would have us believe it to be). TCM looks gritty and real. It looks hot as hell. I start unconsciously sweating during scenes in that movie that look uncomfortably hot. It beats you over the head at the beginning with it's ties to the real world. Just read/listen to the opening text crawl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGj1ZbM_4eQ It forces you to identify both Sally and Franklin, immediately binding you to their story, and makes you believe that everything you are about to witness actually happened to these two real-life people. Imagine seeing and hearing that, then watching TCM for the first time. The 70s broke all kinds of narrative conventions. The Manson Family documenary shatters any kind of boundaries and had cameras rolling before, during, and after the publicly known Family Murders. Censorship kept the movie out of the public eye for a long time, but it's sporadic resurgence through the years could classify it as a "found footage" movie in the same way that foreign docs were once considered "found footage" like Mondo Cane, The Guinea Pig Series, and coming back stateside, you have movies like Faces of Death and Traces of Death, that blur the line of what's real and what's not by combining real world footage of people getting maimed/killed with obvious re-enactments meant to titillate and excite the audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFJ_9pAAvHM With the death of the mom & pop VHS store, where do you go to discover lost movies? You can't anymore. Studios recognize that and don't even try anymore. Directors do, but they must find ways to trick the audience within the confines of the movie itself (or through goofy ARG poo poo and viral videos). They know their movie's not going to be passed around on an unmarked VHS tape with the words "promise me, you're going to love this." (this was how I saw Blair Witch, before it hit the theaters). Everything's marketed to hell and overly researched on the internet before it even reaches your hands. You could make the argument that youtube's the next frontier for found footage, but again, EVERYONE knows about it. It's like saying you're looking for a good found footage movie at Blockbuster instead of Uncle Terry's Old Timey Video Shack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dav3S82oeto And that's not to say youtube (or it's influence at least) isn't crushing boundaries when it comes to this genre either, mainly because the nature of youtube itself (content provided by everyone, both corporate and independent). Unfriended becomes a crazy meta-representational piece when watching it through a web browser. While not specifically horror, the rise of rap youtube stars have given way to a flood gritty "real life" music videos. Bobby Shmurda was in everyone's ear because of a youtube video. The Feds also took him down because of his youtube prominence (and his real life track record of trafficking narcotics). King Yella in Chicago was shot in a drive-by while shooting a music video called Black Lives Matter. The line between reality and fiction is all but wiped away on the internet, and while it's fun to speculate on where we're heading with this melding of genres and even what constitutes as reality vs. fiction, it's also just as fun to look back on where all this originated from. On the flipside, at the end of the day, perceived as real or fake, you always have to remind yourself, it's only a movie.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7TaOaLPLxU OR IS IT?! ruddiger fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Oct 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 19:04
|
|
|
I've been trying to think of notable non-horror found footage, and I just thought of one. Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers.  This is a bizarre, unsettling movie that I've been strangely fascinated by ever since I first saw it. It's composed of grainy VHS footage of a group of "elderly" people going around doing really strange, sick stuff. I put elderly in quotes because they're actually people wearing makeup/masks (think Jackass/Bad Grandpa). It's a surreal experience. Interestingly, it almost ended up being "found footage" in the most literal way: IMDB posted:Harmony Korine had at one point considered leaving the film on unmarked VHS tapes left in random locations to be discovered as a mystery to the unsuspecting public. This idea was abandoned when such a release strategy would mean the film would not retain copyright.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 19:18
|
|
|
didn't the WNUF Halloween Special do just that strategy at a VHS collector con?
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 19:21
|
|
|
Trash Humpers is amazing, I love Harmony's use of the dogme95 style to blur the lines of what's real and fake. Gummo and Julian Donkeyboy are other noteworthy examples. And speaking of the WNUF Halloween Special, they're doing a screening of it at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles as a part of Beyond Fest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5iCF2Ltjlk ruddiger fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Sep 30, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 19:26
|
|
|
Not sure how this thread feels about it, but Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is top tier found footage for me. I remember reading that some people didn't care for the last act where the style completely changes, but it worked so much for me and the reason why it completely owned. For the whole film you and the characters have this disconnect to what is going on and the found footage, despite all things, actually helps that. You feel safe with the found footage. Once it switches? Yeah, the tension rises to the surface pretty hard. Also the cast is charming as hell, especially the guy who plays Leslie.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 20:25
|
|
|
CelticPredator posted:Not sure how this thread feels about it, but Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is top tier found footage for me. I remember reading that some people didn't care for the last act where the style completely changes, but it worked so much for me and the reason why it completely owned. For the whole film you and the characters have this disconnect to what is going on and the found footage, despite all things, actually helps that. You feel safe with the found footage. Once it switches? Yeah, the tension rises to the surface pretty hard. I had never seen it until some months ago, but I found it immediately charming.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 21:22
|
|
|
Hell yeah thank u for the great post
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 21:54
|
|
|
I love found footage so much. Last year I started a blog all about found footage movies called Keep Filming, Keep Filming: https://www.kfkfblog.com. Haven't updated it in too long, but maybe some of you will enjoy?
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 04:04
|
|
|
ruddiger posted:Unfriended becomes a crazy meta-representational piece when watching it through a web browser. Aside from the actual content of found footage movies, I love that they give filmmakers the opportunity to make a movie that, to put it stupidly, "looks the way it's supposed to," without spending a shitload of money. Obviously there's plenty of found footage that heavily relies on convincing effects and stuff, but the nature of the genre (or whatever you'd call it) allows filmmakers to get under your skin with way less financial hurdles I think.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 04:51
|
|
|
banned from Starbucks posted:Have you seen the poughkeepsie tapes? If so what did you think? I have not, but I've heard of it. As an aside,  if anyone knows of any found footage/mockumentary movies available on streaming sites, feel free to mention them and I'll compile a list for the OP. Off the top of my head, Netflix has The Taking of Deborah Logan, Europa Report, and the 3 V/H/S movies. I'm not aware of any that are on Amazon Prime or Hulu right now but I haven't done a whole lot of digging yet. weekly font posted:I'll go to bat for The Taking of Deborah Logan. It's not strictly found footage because there's nothing that suggest it's found but it is all through the camera POV and is extremely loving dope with just the right enough of silliness to maintain the horror element yet introduce something unique to the genre. CelticPredator posted:I'm making a short film about found footage, right now actually. I might post the script in a bit if anyone's interested. I fuckin love Found Footage, but so many films get it wrong. I should watch Midnight Swim. No clue what it's about but that'd be a perfect way to watch. Ambitious Spider posted:Paranormal Activity is an excellent found footage, but I'd avoid the hell out of the sequels. Even the director's follow up Area 51 is terrible. I haven't seen Area 51, but I want to based on the premise alone and I've got low enough standards that I'm willing to give it a shot. I similarly enjoyed The Chernobyl Diaries well enough even though there's way better found footage movies out there. I've always been fascinated with the Chernobyl disaster and the abandonment of Pripyat, so setting a found-footage movie in an already inherently interesting (and creepy) setting like that made me much more lenient of the movie's flaws. Likewise, part of the appeal for me of Grave Encounters 1 and 2 is that they're set in an insane asylum, which is spooky enough for me on its own. Also nth-ing the love for As Above, So Below, that was a lot better than I expected it to be (and again, was filmed in an inherently fascinating and creepy location). I think the movie deserves huge props for actually filming in the Paris catacombs, not to mention being one a unique horror movie setting that the general public can go and visit if they want. Choco1980 posted:Never make the "found" footage's finding feel implausible. If your ending has the final character drop the camera and get eaten in the monster's lair, how the hell are we watching this?? The Last Exorcism blows an otherwise great film by breaking this one. There are other instances where I stop and question the "source" of the footage I'm seeing in the movie, but I'm generally pretty lenient so long as the filming techniques and style are appropriate. The Bay has police dashcam footage that the "documentary" filmmakers ostensibly wouldn't have had access to if they're making a whistleblower documentary about a massive cover-up, but the dashcam footage is some of the most compelling stuff in the movie so I'm totally willing to give it a pass. Choco1980 posted:On the topic of non horror ff, how is End of Watch, the one that's a cop drama? I remember hearing mixed reviews. Basebf555 posted:In my opinion, As Above, So Below is the best found footage movie ever made. Ruddiger, you made a great effortpost and I think I'm going to respond to it in the morning when I can give it a bit more attention. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 09:36
|
|
|
My little short film is about a guy who finds weird footage, edits it, and throws it up for the world to see. I wanted to make a movie about the person who edits these things. Eventually it becomes a found footage movie. I'll post it tomorrow. It's a real quick script. Just something fun for Halloween Spooky Time. And what I mean by getting it wrong is filmmakers wanting to make a film when they need to be making a video. I see this a lot, especially inBlair Witch and most recently Project Avalanche. Where the film is basically a stealth film in the guise of found footage. Which just kinda ruins the whole fun of found footage, you know? It takes away the rawness. With some exceptions, found footage for me needs to be like, filmed with a cheap consumer camera or something older, it also needs to never look staged. Like some shots in Blair Witch were cool like how they used the Drone in the tree to give off neat colors...but it's like, poo poo you could've just made an actual film and did that and it'd be a lot cooler and more creative. I've watched some real life stuff, like the 9/11 ground footage or general disaster footage for research for that short film and it's interesting to see how real people behave in these events. Especially when you take into account the repeated criticism people have with the genre. Like "Uh, why are they still filming!??" In the 9/11 videos, these people are running for their lives, and they're still filming. Why? Because this footage is interesting and people would want to see it. They're documenting history, but in the most general way possible. There's no stunning shots. Nothing is well composed. Nothing is blocked. It's just real, and raw. And horrifying. It's cute when a neat shot pops up in a found footage film, but it takes you out. Being taken out of found footage feels like it goes against the point, which is all about you watching this footage. Like a film just exists. You can watch it, or not. But in the story around the found footage, someone found, or had this tape, edited, and has put it somewhere for you to watch. You sort of become part of the narrative. I don't think I'm explaining this right. Ehh.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 10:10
|
|
|
Also Area 51 was fun, but uh.....it lacked a good pay off. And by payoff I mean showing an alien or something. I'll wait the entire film, so long as the monster is shown by the end. Always bugs me when they don't. Although, some I feel okay with not seeing anything, like The Blair Witch Project.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 10:13
|
|
|
Lake Mungo and The Tunnel make a great double-feature. Both Australian found footage horror involving talking head style interviews, though Lake Mungo is a much slower burn.Choco1980 posted:On the topic of non horror ff, how is End of Watch, the one that's a cop drama? I remember hearing mixed reviews. I really wish FF would branch out to more genres like that though; I think End of Watch would've been better had the cameras been actually in the scenes, like the whole thing filmed via police body cams. But I'd love to see someone bring a camera into a magic fantasy world, or into space. I actually have a sci-fi script I'm trying to get produced where a bunch of hikers get taken by an alien ship, and the only reason anyone knows what happened to them is because their footage falls from space. Once I get paid for another script that's being developed, I might finance it myself because it's relatively low budget.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 11:43
|
|
|
Talking about atypical Found Footage, and bodycams, what is the consensus on Hardcore Henry another non horror film I haven't watched but heard a lot about. I mean, I would assume the conceit of literally seeing through a cyborg's eye-camera still counts as a FF technique, and I got the impression that was pure sci-fi action. Also, unrelated, but several people have been recommending the Grave Encounters films. Just a heads up, if you go into part 2 expecting a sincere, straightforward horror film, you're gonna have a bad time. It's a very deadpan satire of the whole sub-genre that gets pretty ridiculous at times.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 12:42
|
|
|
Martman posted:I think this is a big part of why The Den hit me so hard too. the den was dope bc the first time i watched it was streaming it for goons so it got super meta poughkeepsie tapes is booty even though i like it
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 15:33
|
|
|
Hardcore Henry is mediocre at best, unfortunately. It's a concept that did well when they filmed the original music videos but as a feature film it falls flat and even Sharlto Copley's performance as wildly different hilarious personalities couldn't save it. this also reminds me the Paranormal Activity people tried to do a found footage series The River, which lasted 8 episodes before it was mercifully killed off. It has an interesting premise of a small riverboat crew entering the Amazon to look for a missing tv personality, but i recalled other than a few creepy stuff like an island full of abandoned dolls it didn't really go anywhere
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 16:48
|
|
|
I ended up watching about half of The River when it was on. The doll episode was decent, and based on a real place in Mexico. For the horror october challenge, I just watched Mexico Barbaro literally in the last few hours, and one of the 8 segments based on Mexican folklore was about this island as well.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 19:38
|
|
|
I feel like laptop/webcam horror is almost a different subgenre, though I guess there's little difference from a webcam aside from being relatively stationary. I still don't think I've seen it done effectively for the duration of an 80+ minute film. The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger was V/H/S's weakest segment but still had a pretty good buildup of tension. My problems with The Den are mainly characters being stupid (don't use your laptop that you know is hacked to go looking for answers about your hacker), and its silly "gently caress you for enjoying horror" ending that takes the narrative out of found footage. Otherwise the content itself is pretty solid. I have similar problems with Unfriended; although the "I Never" scene is pretty well done, the characters are idiots for not just saying "let's just get offline and talk tomorrow guys" and its goofy attack-the-camera jumpscare ending. Also I just can't find Haunted Facebook scary. Choco1980 posted:Also, unrelated, but several people have been recommending the Grave Encounters films. Just a heads up, if you go into part 2 expecting a sincere, straightforward horror film, you're gonna have a bad time. It's a very deadpan satire of the whole sub-genre that gets pretty ridiculous at times. I've shot at Riverview before, it's a legit abandoned mental hospital and it's creepy as hell there. I sat by myself in a dark boiler room recording ambient sound for several minutes with a boom mic and a pair of headphones, so every sound was amplified. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 22:14
|
|
|
Oh Grave Encounters 2 is directed by the guys who made Extraterrestrial? Oof. Oooooooofffff
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 22:43
|
|
|
It's also directed by the guys who did Grave Encounters 1.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 22:59
|
|
|
Seriously, if you can't figure out they're deliberately taking the piss out of the sub genre In GE2 by the climax where the friggin ghosts start holding the cameras I don't know what to tell you...
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 23:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 05:43 |
|
|
Grave Encounters 2 is one of my favorite films. I also really dig The Poughkeepsie Tapes because it scratches my trash itch like no other. It's a totally lovely movie though, I just like it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 00:10
|
|