Found Footage Horror Movies

In the past decade i have seen a small number of horror films that have been shot on a hand held camera. No, these are not some cheap film made in the woods out back by bored teenagers, these actually had a budget from an independent or ever major film studio and actually have a plot behind it. So, why make a movie in such a 'crappy' fashion? We'll talk about that later, first i want to recount my experience as a horror fan in discovering this genre.

The first film i saw made in this manner (and probably the same for most of my generation) is The Blair Witch Project. (earlier Examples include Cannibal Holocaust, Man Bites Dog and even The Last Broadcast the year before. But it was The Blair Witch Project that set the groundwork for future films in this genre. I wasn't too fond of Blair Witch when it first came out, i'm yet to re visit it and give it a proper review but back then it didn't really tickle my fancy. However, there have been films in the genre of late that i have seen over the years and i'll outline them below;

• The Zombie Diaries - Documenting a zombie holocaust in the UK, watchable but nothing exciting (6/10)
• Diary Of The Dead - George A Romero's take on the found footage genre, think of it as an American version of The Zombie Diaries (7/10)
• REC - Spanish film about a News Crew that get trapped in a quarantined apartment block, very suspense filled, plenty of shocks and all around brilliant horror (9/10)
• REC 2 - Picks up where the first one left off, where a SWAT team go in to investigate. Story takes some amazing twists (9/10)
• Quarantine - American remake of REC, just a typical remake (4/10)
• Cloverfield - The Godzilla of the found footage horror genre. 4 friends try to escape Manhattan after a giant monster starts rampaging through the city. Plenty of Action, Suspense and twists. (10/10)
• Paranormal Activity

So, now on to why has the genre become so popular despite the use of crappy cinematography? Well, in my opinion the whole hand held camera thing is effective because it feels real, like your looking trough the eyes of the protagonist and you can put yourself in that position. Also, the scariest thing is what you can't see. Say for example, the camera man is walking down a hallway and theres a monster around the corner that he (and therefore you too) can't see, and when it attacks, the fright is extra effective because you didn't expect it.

So, to conclude, while this style of film may not be everybody's cup of tea, it's still a new and fresh idea and i personally look forward to the next film in this genre. This is just an introduction so if you'd like to read further theres a bit more about it as well as a list of films to check out here