The 20 best found-footage horror films

The goal of Italian director Ruggero Deodato wasn’t just to make a movie about an American documentary crew who gets captured and devoured by a remote tribe in the Amazon rainforest, but to make a film so believable that audiences might think it was actually real. He succeeded, and the result was so shocking and graphic that Deodato was brought up on obscenity and murder charges, with the latter arising because the director made the cast sign confidentiality agreements in which they agreed not to publicly promote the film — leading some to believe they were actually killed on camera. Once Deodato proved the cast was alive, the charges were dropped, and “Cannibal Holocaust” subsequently became an icon in both the cannibal and found footage genres.

Purported to be an actual snuff film sent to Japanese director Hideshi Hino, “Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh & Blood” was actually made by Hino himself. However, the movie about a man drugging and dismembering a woman was so convincing that when given a copy of the then-obscure film in 1991, actor Charlie Sheen believed it was real and sent it to the MIAA, who passed it onto the FBI. Hino was investigated, but the charges were dropped after the “Flower of Flesh & Blood” director explained and demonstrated some of the special effects used in the film.

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 for the titular Blair Witch. Murick and Sánchez then promoted the film as factual, made a website with fake police reports and interviews, and even handed out flyers at film festivals advertising the actors as “missing.” Shot on a budget of just $60,000, “The Blair Witch Project” earned critical acclaim and nearly $250 million at the box office.

“Incident at Loch Ness” is remarkable for numerous reasons. After all, it’s not just a faux documentary, and it’s not just a film within a film within another film, but it’s also a mockumentary because it prominently features director Werner Herzog, producer Zak Penn and about a dozen actors, filmmakers and crew members playing themselves. However, they are not filming “Incident at Loch Ness,” but instead “Herzog in Wonderland,” a fictional documentary about Herzog’s fictional documentary “Enigma of Loch Ness.” And, as the title suggests, in addition to being a mockumentary, “Incident at Loch Ness” is also a monster movie. 

The idea for a horror film shot entirely on webcams was first conceived in 2000 by writer/director Mike Costanza, but it wasn’t until 2006 that he was finally able to release “The Collingswood Story.” It didn’t catch on as well as “The Blair Witch Project” — a movie to which “The Collingswood Story” was often compared — but horror fans and critics alike were both entertained and frightened by the indie production.

Oren Peli wrote, directed, produced, shot and edited “Paranormal Activity,” his very first film. Presented as both security tapes and handheld camera footage courtesy of a couple (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) who just moved into a new house they suspected to be haunted, “Paranormal Activity” was praised for its approach, creepiness and ample jump scares. Made on a budget of just $15,000, the haunted house movie made almost $200 million and inspired six sequels and spinoffs. 

“[REC]” centers on a reporter (Manuela Velasco), her cameraman (Pablo Rosso), two firefighters (Ferrán Terraza and David Vert) and an apartment full of people who get quarantined and, one by one, end up infected by what they first believed to be a virus, but may actually be of a more demonic nature. The Spanish-language film was shot in handheld style, cost $2 million to make, earned more than $35 million at the box office and inspired three sequels. It also led to the production of a 2008 English version, entitled “Quarantine,” which also yielded one sequel.

The most impressive part of “Cloverfield” isn’t the astonishing and terrifying disaster visuals or the $170 million box-office haul; it’s the intricate marketing campaign that included numerous fake website, secret codes, automated phone numbers and random merch that all loosely connected to the monster movie’s plot. The New York City-set film was the first of three in the "Cloverfield" franchise, all of which were co-produced by J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot Productions.

A young Australian (Martin Sharpe) begins seeing the ghost of his sister (Talia Zucker), who drowned when she was just 16 years old while swimming with her family. He sets up cameras to catch the apparitions and ends up finding out even more than he expected, as chronicled in the faux documentary-style film “Lake Mungo.” Written and directed by Joel Anderson, the psychological horror film didn’t screen in theaters but made the rounds on the festival circuit and was met with a generally warm reception.

Falling somewhere between a fantasy film and a horror movie, 2010’s “Trollhunter” follows a trio of documentary film students (Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck and Tomas Alf Larsen) who track an alleged bear poacher (Otto Jespersen) but end up running across a bigger threat. Written and directed by André Øvredal, “Trollhunter” earned a Best International Film nomination at the Saturn Awards and won honors at both the Norwegian International Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival.

Two documentary filmmakers (Aaron Poole and James Gilbert) set out to chronicle the story of a conspiracy theorist, who disappears during filming, causing the directors to climb down a rabbit hole and tangle with a secret cult that may be controlling major world events. Directed by Christopher MacBride, “The Conspiracy” is a fascinating and frightening found-footage film — mostly because it actually features a plausible plot.

Directed by Barry Levinson (“Rain Man,” “Good Morning, Vietnam”) and co-produced by Jason Blum and Oren Peli, “The Bay” is a found-footage film about toxic parasites that infect humans in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. Gory and gripping, “The Bay” couldn’t manage to break even at the box office but nevertheless received favorable reviews from film fans and critics alike.

Unlike most film franchises, the "V/H/S" series (which now includes the original film, two sequels, a spinoff and a miniseries) actually improved from the first to the second installment. 2012’s “V/H/S” was a solid six-part anthology, but 2013’s “V/H/S2” did more with less by featuring only five parts. Although the website Bloody Disgusting produced all three of the original films, each one features a different director for almost every segment, totaling nearly two dozen filmmakers in all.

Three men (Gordon Kennedy, Robin Hill and Aidan McArdle) are tasked by the Vatican to investigate odd occurrences at a rural church in the British horror film “The Borderlands,” also known in the United States by the name “Final Prayer.” Written and helmed by Elliot Goldner in his directorial debut, “The Borderlands” was generally praised for both its character chemistry and ample frights that don’t rely on cheap jump scares. 

If I told you there’s a movie that’s basically just Mark Duplass (best-known from the sitcom “The League”) acting creepy for 77 minutes — and it’s actually pretty freakin’ freaky — you probably wouldn’t believe me, unless of course you’ve already seen the 2014 found-footage indie horror film “Creep.” It didn’t make it to theaters, it didn’t receive much attention and it only featured two on-screen actors, but “Creep” is absolutely worth a watch the next time you’re flipping through Netflix. (And so is its 2017 sequel!)

A couple (Alexie Gilmore and Bryce Johnson) ventures into the California wilderness to search for Bigfoot, but the only thing that gets found is the footage that makes up the 2013 horror film “Willow Creek.” Directed by legendary comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, who also penned the screenplay, “Willow Creek” made the festival circuit and was generally praised by critics and audiences alike.

“The Taking of Deborah Logan” isn’t the kind of movie you plan to watch; it’s the kind of movie you try on Netflix late one night when you’re not quite ready for bed yet, and then realize after 90 chilling minutes that it looks like you won’t be getting any sleep for a while. Or at least that was our experience with the 2014 Adam Robitel-helmed possession horror flick that stars Jill Larson, Anne Ramsay, Michelle Ang and Ryan Cutrona.

“Be My Cat: A Film for Anne” might be a weird title, but the movie itself...well, that’s pretty damn weird too. Adrian Țofei wrote, produced, directed and starred in the film about an Anne Hathaway-obsessed director who makes some deadly decisions while filming a movie to send to the famous actress. “Be My Cat: A Film for Anne” won numerous honors at film festivals and award shows, including Best Film at A Night of Horror International Film Festival in Australia and the Special Jury Prize for Best Actor at the Nashville Film Festival.

In October 2009, 15 attendees and staff members died at a haunted house in Southern New York under mysterious circumstances. What exactly happened to them was recorded as part of a documentary made by the organizers of the annual attraction — or so goes the plot of the 2015 found-footage horror film “Hell House LLC.” Written and directed by Stephen Cognetti, “Hell House LLC” is a frightening look at what can happen when a fun Halloween tradition goes terribly wrong. A sequel was released on the Shudder streaming service in September 2018.

Five segments (counting the intro) make up the indie anthology film “The Dark Tapes,” which was released in 2016 and written and directed primarily by Michael McQuown, with Vincent J. Guastini directing one part as well. The plots and characters of each segment are unrelated other than the fact that they all involve found footage, but together they form a diversely disturbing film.