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Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins

Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:

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.
It is pretty bad, yeah, but it does have a small handful of effective scenes. The interview with the woman at the end where she keeps asking "What do you want me to say?" is the creepiest part, because it makes you realize how psychologically broken she was by this guy rather than just showing a bunch of 2edgy4me torture.

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The Saddest Rhino
Apr 29, 2009

Put it all together.
Solve the world.
One conversation at a time.



THe expert interviews in between are unintentionally silly especially the guy who can no longer touch his wife after seeing the tapes

Lil Mama Im Sorry
Oct 14, 2012

I'M BACK AND I'M SCARIN' WHITE FOLKS
It's a bit surreal in its presentation of the "real" which is what I enjoy about it. Everything it appears to be trying to pass as realistic is a little off, and it makes me uncomfortable as hell.

I'm trying to think of a word for it. It's not hyperreal, it's like hyperfake.

Lil Mama Im Sorry fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Oct 2, 2016

The Saddest Rhino
Apr 29, 2009

Put it all together.
Solve the world.
One conversation at a time.



I'll give the film a bit of benefit that the scene of the woman with plastic tape over her mouth and the killer crawling behind her is very, very effective

Lil Mama Im Sorry
Oct 14, 2012

I'M BACK AND I'M SCARIN' WHITE FOLKS
Overtly Unreal Realistic* is the best way to describe The Poughkeepsie Tapes for me.

And yeah, I always found that final interview with the girl really loving creepy/sad.

*This is the fun thing about found footage films imo: how they deliberately blur the lines between representation vs reality and then work within varying heady degrees of what's "real." It's an interesting reflection of what it's like for any media consumer, especially Americans, since we're pretty much accustomed to the unreal seeming more real than real, ie how a real murder caught on camera looks fake because reality can't keep up with the realness of special effects. Watch enough popular depictions of violence and all of a sudden real violence becomes unreal. That's just a really oversimplified example though.

"Perpetual reflexivity is a haunting" -Thomas de Zengotita

Lil Mama Im Sorry fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Oct 2, 2016

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
Poughkeepsie Tapes is one of those ones thats almost there for me.

Glamorama26
Sep 14, 2011

All it comes down to is this: I feel like shit, but look great.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

Poughkeepsie Tapes is one of those ones thats almost there for me.

If ol boy made it now, it'd be pretty good I bet. It's the same fella who made As Above So Below and that is the good poo poo

Xenomrph
Dec 9, 2005

AvP Nerd/Fanboy/Shill



Somewhat cross-posting from the "Horror movie challenge" thread. Kicked things off on the 1st with a pair of found footage movies I'd already seen before, The Last Exorcism and Quarantine.

I still like both of them a lot, and I still like Quarantine more than Rec (although I like Rec a lot, too). I really like how effectively both movies start out with "this is all really mundane, nothing could possibly go wrong!" and then they just go totally off the rails. If anything I think their very endings are a little weak, but that's a little bit systemic of "found footage" as a genre, and dates back to 'The Blair Witch Project'. Some found footage movies handle it better than others, though, notably 'As Above, So Below', 'Europa Report', 'Apollo 18', V/H/S 1 and 2, and 'Grave Encounters 2'.

Today I watched Afflicted, which I hadn't seen before, and I also liked that a lot. It's the most convincing and compelling "moral decay of someone turning into a vampire" movie since 'Interview with a Vampire', and it actually had a satisfying ending that made sense.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours

Glamorama26 posted:

If ol boy made it now, it'd be pretty good I bet. It's the same fella who made As Above So Below and that is the good poo poo

Maybe he needed his brother all along...

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Xenomrph posted:

If anything I think their very endings are a little weak, but that's a little bit systemic of "found footage" as a genre, and dates back to 'The Blair Witch Project'.

If you're implying the ending of The Blair Witch Project is weak, I will fight you.

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty

Spatulater bro! posted:

If you're implying the ending of The Blair Witch Project is weak, I will fight you.

If anything, it's the film's strongest part.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Spatulater bro! posted:

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:

I mean, I would certainly call Trash Humpers a horror film, I don't know any other way to explain scenes like the pancake dinner.

A while ago SMG talked about Abandoned Grain Elevator and I actually sat and watched the whole thing. It's actually kind of great, except for the parts near the end where they attempt to make it an actual "horror film".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jonTL7R57A

And seconding that The Last Exorcism is phenomenal. I still love "banana bread sermon".

Xenomrph
Dec 9, 2005

AvP Nerd/Fanboy/Shill



Spatulater bro! posted:

If you're implying the ending of The Blair Witch Project is weak, I will fight you.
In the sense of it just.... cuts to black. Like, I like the ending to the Blair Witch Project, and it's executed about as well as it could be, but the "cut to black, roll credits" ending in found footage just feels really lazy in just about all other movies. It undermines the ramifications of the movie being allegedly "real" found footage.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Xenomrph posted:

In the sense of it just.... cuts to black. Like, I like the ending to the Blair Witch Project, and it's executed about as well as it could be, but the "cut to black, roll credits" ending in found footage just feels really lazy in just about all other movies. It undermines the ramifications of the movie being allegedly "real" found footage.

An abrupt ending definitely can, and does, feel lazy in a lot of movies. But its use in BWP is absolutely vital to the effectiveness of the ending, and really to the entire movie. The dropped camera and cut to credits provokes that immediate "what the gently caress" reaction, and then a couple seconds go by and the implication of the final shot hits you like a ton of bricks. Everything that came before suddenly feels utterly terrifying as you realize it's all legit. A perfectly landed one-two punch.

Edit: Just to clarify, I understand you're not saying the ending of BWP is lazy. I'm just kinda reiterating.

Lil Mama Im Sorry
Oct 14, 2012

I'M BACK AND I'M SCARIN' WHITE FOLKS
Lemme say tho that when FF uses the ambiguous abrupt ending effectively, it works really well. FF horror has a way of staying in my mind afterwards.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension got put on Prime and, as a shameless apologist for that series (especially the first one, either the second or third one, I honestly can't remember which one is good, and The Marked Ones, which is great) it's still really dull. It shows a lot and hardly tells anything and just ugh, it was so dumb.

e: And I'll also be the crazy guy who goes to bat for REC 3. I loved it.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

precision posted:

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension got put on Prime and, as a shameless apologist for that series (especially the first one, either the second or third one, I honestly can't remember which one is good, and The Marked Ones, which is great) it's still really dull. It shows a lot and hardly tells anything and just ugh, it was so dumb.

Is Ghost Dimension the 4th in the series? I loved the first one, liked the second, and hated the third. Then I stopped paying attention to the series.

VVV drat they're really churning those suckers out.

Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Oct 3, 2016

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Spatulater bro! posted:

Is Ghost Dimension the 4th in the series? I loved the first one, liked the second, and hated the third. Then I stopped paying attention to the series.

No, Ghost Dimension is the sixth. 4 is really bad (XBox!) and The Marked Ones was released between 3 and 4 I think?

The Saddest Rhino
Apr 29, 2009

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One conversation at a time.



I was hoping more entries in the PA series like The Marked Ones, the idiot hispanic teenagers were so much more engaging than the typical idiot white nice family in the other installments. Are they still making more PA stuff or will they just wait a couple years then "reboot" it?

trip9
Feb 15, 2011

It's a shame because the first PA is a legitimately great film imo.

Lil Mama Im Sorry
Oct 14, 2012

I'M BACK AND I'M SCARIN' WHITE FOLKS

precision posted:



e: And I'll also be the crazy guy who goes to bat for REC 3. I loved it.

yooooooo, we might be soul mates

I thought I was the only one who loved it.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames
I've read some really well-argued posts about how bad REC3 was, but it's like reading a novel in a foreign language. I know just enough of the language to know it's making sense, but not enough to still really comprehend it. In fact I think I'm gonna watch it again right now, just thinking about the end of the first act when the "found footage" film actually stops and it becomes a "regular" film I'm like "uh huh, that's my poo poo".

Books On Tape
Dec 26, 2003

Future of the franchise
If you haven't seen Troll Hunter, see it now. Great unique concept and great effects.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Books On Tape posted:

If you haven't seen Troll Hunter, see it now. Great unique concept and great effects.

Oh yeah, it's absolutely the tits.

Books On Tape
Dec 26, 2003

Future of the franchise
30 minutes into The McPherson Tape and so far it's just been a bunch of really annoying people all screaming at the same time. I'm getting ready to shut this off. Does it get good?

Edit: OK it got better, but how annoying was the dude with the camera.

Books On Tape fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Oct 3, 2016

Xenomrph
Dec 9, 2005

AvP Nerd/Fanboy/Shill



Books On Tape posted:

If you haven't seen Troll Hunter, see it now. Great unique concept and great effects.

Gonna go ahead and echo this, Troll Hunter isn't particularly scary but it is really compelling and is totally worth a watch if you're a fan of the genre.

Books On Tape
Dec 26, 2003

Future of the franchise
Leaving DC - This one is pretty bad. It's about a guy with Asperger's who moves out to the country to escape the city and ends up terrorized by a ghost who can apparently play the flute. Actually, terrorized is a strong word. Slightly annoyed would be a better term. 75% of the movie is watching the guy using sound editing software to analyze audio recordings he takes at night.

Long Pigs - A decent mockumentary about a filmaking duo who somehow gets a cannibal serial killer to allow them to follow him around as he "works". The dude playing the killer is well cast. He's certainly creepy but at the same time he's also just a normal guy. Worth a watch.

Books On Tape
Dec 26, 2003

Future of the franchise
Also should recommend Home Movie. It's the movie that really made me glad I don't have kids. That poor cat. :(

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Books On Tape posted:

Long Pigs - A decent mockumentary about a filmaking duo who somehow gets a cannibal serial killer to allow them to follow him around as he "works". The dude playing the killer is well cast. He's certainly creepy but at the same time he's also just a normal guy. Worth a watch.

Speaking of which, I can't believe nobody has mentioned Man Bites Dog yet.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

precision posted:

Speaking of which, I can't believe nobody has mentioned Man Bites Dog yet.

Good one. Great movie, and I suppose it fits under the FF umbrella.
And what a poster:

ruddiger
Jun 3, 2004

precision posted:

Speaking of which, I can't believe nobody has mentioned Man Bites Dog yet.

I was going to mention it in my post but wanted to see if this thread had the cred on its own. It's a shame the op started the whole thing off with "I like found footage movies, but.." And then goes on to list what sins they make to make them faulty in their eyes (and then only mentions movies only made in the past few years).

Todd Browning's Freaks. First ancestor of the found footage? While not shot in a documentary style, it is shot as a behind the scenes look into the backstage going-ons of carny life while focusing on the real life deformities of the sideshow freaks, and gives a candid view of traits that were taboo at the time (infidelity, trans lifestyle, etc) and presents them only because they're attributed to members of the freakshow. It sucks that Browning's original 4 hour cut is lost to time. Art lost to time is a tragedy, but art lost to censorship should be a crime and the people who perpetrated it should be condemned in the annals of history.

Xenomrph
Dec 9, 2005

AvP Nerd/Fanboy/Shill



ruddiger posted:

It's a shame the op started the whole thing off with "I like found footage movies, but.." And then goes on to list what sins they make to make them faulty in their eyes (and then only mentions movies only made in the past few years).
Yeah dawg that's not what I said in the OP. I broke down what elements work for me and why, and what elements don't, and why. And the movies I mentioned in the OP span over 15 years.

Thank you for the recommendation on Man Bites Dog and Todd Browning's Freaks - I'd heard of Freaks a while back but somehow forgotten about it before taking the time to watch it, so thanks for reminding me about it.

Books On Tape posted:

Also should recommend Home Movie. It's the movie that really made me glad I don't have kids. That poor cat. :(

I'm afraid to ask what happens, especially since i have two cats :ohdear:

A movie I feel is worth mentioning even though it's ostensibly not "found footage" is Session 9. I bring it up because while the bulk of the movie is filmed conventionally, there's one scene in particular that is shot in a handheld style using lower-quality cameras than the rest of the movie. When Hank gets chased through the tunnels at night, the bobbing, lower-fidelity camera as the cameraman runs gives it a pseudo-found-footage edge, and really ratchets up the tension.

sticklefifer
Nov 11, 2003

by VideoGames

Xenomrph posted:

If anything I think their very endings are a little weak, but that's a little bit systemic of "found footage" as a genre, and dates back to 'The Blair Witch Project'. Some found footage movies handle it better than others, though, notably 'As Above, So Below', 'Europa Report', 'Apollo 18', V/H/S 1 and 2, and 'Grave Encounters 2'.

Europa Report's narrative twist where the documentary portion ends and catches up with present time mid-story is one of my all-time favorite uses of FF.

BBC's Voyage to the Planets is done mockumentary style and is a surprisingly good drama in a similar vein.

The Saddest Rhino
Apr 29, 2009

Put it all together.
Solve the world.
One conversation at a time.



kinda surprised by how disappointing WNUF Halloween Special was. the whole "VHS copy of a cheesy 80s local news footage of a haunted house" thing had a lot of promise, but they filled it with way too many fake commercials, killing the pacing and rendering the payoff inconsequential. the frequency of the commercials got to a point where the repetition of the title card of "you're now watching the WNUF Halloween Special [thunder] [scream]" stops being funny.

other than Ghostwatch, which I've mentioned earlier, are there any other similar formatted shows?

Tenzarin
Jul 24, 2007
.
Taco Defender
Watch Cannibal Holocaust(1980) if you haven't it's actually a really good movie that got instantly banned.

Popelmon
Jan 24, 2010

wow
so spin

Tenzarin posted:

Watch Cannibal Holocaust(1980) if you haven't it's actually a really good movie that got instantly banned.

That movie really surprised me. I didn't want to watch it because it heard about all the animal cruelty but I'm really glad I tracked down a copy now. Very unpleasant to watch but the narrative structure was really interesting and I definitely didn't expect it to turn into FF after half the movies was over. Also: That soundtrack is loving amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT4UIwaZtME

I also thought it was pretty neat that they were actually commenting on the footage they were watching at the end, I have never seen that in other FF films (well, maybe The Bay to some extend).

Speaking of Man Bites Dog, I watched a very similar (killed is followed by camera crew) movie set in New York a while ago. Anybody remember the name? The killer was a British dude and in the end it becomes clear the the whole movie is just a statement against talking in movie theaters.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Popelmon posted:

Speaking of Man Bites Dog, I watched a very similar (killed is followed by camera crew) movie set in New York a while ago. Anybody remember the name? The killer was a British dude and in the end it becomes clear the the whole movie is just a statement against talking in movie theaters.

Not Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon?

Speaking of fake documentaries, The Fourth Kind was quite a bit better than it probably should have been. Especially that one scene. You know the one. poo poo that was creepy.

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty

The Saddest Rhino posted:

kinda surprised by how disappointing WNUF Halloween Special was. the whole "VHS copy of a cheesy 80s local news footage of a haunted house" thing had a lot of promise, but they filled it with way too many fake commercials, killing the pacing and rendering the payoff inconsequential. the frequency of the commercials got to a point where the repetition of the title card of "you're now watching the WNUF Halloween Special [thunder] [scream]" stops being funny.

other than Ghostwatch, which I've mentioned earlier, are there any other similar formatted shows?

Without Warning is kinda a similar idea, where CBS tried to ape Orson Wells' War of the Worlds a few decades back. It's not very good though.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours

Choco1980 posted:

Without Warning is kinda a similar idea, where CBS tried to ape Orson Wells' War of the Worlds a few decades back. It's not very good though.

Whoa whoa whoa. Without Warning owns pal.

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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
Has anyone seen The Black Door (2001) in English?

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