The 20 Best Found Footage Movies Of All Time

Horror films have made us scream for decades because of their meticulous plotting. Horror owes more to those continuous symbolic imageries than almost any other genre in terms of creepy sets and objects, extravagant deaths, gory makeup, and camera techniques that flawlessly deny us just enough. Found footage movies do have the best cinematography to scare the shit out of you.

The found footage horror film, a relatively new subgenre innovation, appears to throw all that out the window. Of course, found footage has distinguishing characteristics, such as an unstable camera, hyper-realistic performances that feel purposefully amateurish, and blending fiction and reality through framing techniques.

Still, it’s a unique and diverse subgenre with much more to offer than Paranormal Activity (and even that movie is unfairly maligned).

Often misrepresented as a lesser horror subgenre, found-footage films reflect technical knowledge and precision of mobile surveillance but retain the sexiness and rawness of any (usually ill-advanced) character holding the gun.

Finding footage gives audiences access to the horror that will take place on the character. It is no wonder the sub-genre was rediscovered on 9/11 when its events played out over millions of disconnected phone screens and traumatized our country to its core.

20. “Creep” (Patrick Brice 2014)

Year: 2014
Director: Patrick Brice
Writers: Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass
Stars: Katie Aselton, Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass
IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%

Tell me the truth. Is it true that Duplass was convicted of murder? This is an excellent idea for all kinds of low-cost indie outings, but Patrick Brice’s “Creep” uses the film with wild new uses.

Having fun with drama in “My Life” (not really), Duplass stars as an off-kilter Josef hiring a videographer to record special memories for his young daughter as cancer-affected Josef is forced to give birth to him.

Aaron is on board for this assignment, but he seems nice enough (and yeah, Josef dies, too) to ignore the initial warning about something he isn’t quite sure is correct. Unfortunately, we have no time left to go back now.

19. “REC” (Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, 2007)

Year: 2007
Director: Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza
Writers: Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza
Stars: Manuela Velasco, Pablo Rosso, Jorge-Yamam Serrano
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%

Before the shot-for-shot American remake of “Quarantine,” this claustrophobic Spanish film brought an extra dose of zombie horror to genres. During emergency calls, a local television reporter interviews the cameraman.

As firefighters arrived, the news crew began recording the screaming voices of older women inside the unit. Then, after the building was sealed to prevent an imminent attack on residents, they retreated inside to face deadly danger. With a camera in motion, the chances of survival seem unlikely.

18. Cannibal Holocaust

Director: Ruggero Deodato
Writers: Gianfranco Clerici
Stars: Robert Kerman, Carl Gabriel Yorke, Francesca Ciardi, Luca Barbareschi, Perry Pirkanen
IMDb Rating: 5.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 65%

United Artist Europa’s 1980s “Cannibal Holocaust” has been considered the most polarizing film to date, but its early use of discovered film sets the foundations of each film on that list.

The movie reportedly consists of actual and unpublished footage that went missing in the Amazon while filming indigenous cannibal tribes to capture the cannibal tribe. In addition, it is forthright about presenting its character’s “exploration” as brutal, barbaric exploitation.

17. The Taking Of Deborah Logan

Year: 2014
Director: Adam Robitel
Writers: Adam Robitel, Gavin Heffernan
Stars: Jill Larson, Michelle Ang, Anne Ramsay, Brett Gentile
IMDb Rating: 6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Adam Robitel is once a strong player in horror films and has a strong track record in creating the fourth Insidious movie. His most excellent film is “The Taking of Deborah Logan,” 2014. A strangely thought-provoking horror film on the ravaging Alzheimer’s — one which doubles up as a cruel supernatural freak-out.

A sane man (Jill Larson) accepts to have the film crew document his mental decline, and they can neither be prepared for the consequences.

16. “V/H/S” (various, 2012)

Year: 2012
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Tyler Gillett
Writers: Brad Miska, Simon Barrett, David Bruckner
Stars: Calvin Reeder, Adam Wingard, Lane Hughes
IMDb Rating: 5.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 56%

The most exciting horror anthologies recently published have been crafted to allow young filmmakers to experiment with discovered horror in a new way.

“V/H/S” is compiled by some ambitious micro-budget American filmmakers today who do not work exclusively for horror. A group of young hooligans has been charged with stealing a mysterious tape from an infamous residence from Brad Miska.

15. Paranormal Activity

Year: 2007
Director: Oren Peli
Writers: Oren Peli
Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
IMDb Rating: 6.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

The Paranormal Activity of Oren Peli struck festival circuits as lightning from the blue and elicited audience walkouts. The film is considered the largest and most profitable film ever made.

Five sequels with different quality follow. But few horror films have reached the tension of the first “Paranormal Activity,” where the couple Micah and Katie (Katie Featherston) used their phones as surveillance devices.

14. Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 1999)

Year: 1999
Directors: Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick
Writers: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard
IMDb Rating: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

While Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sassoon’s breakthrough hit wasn’t the first horror film, it wasn’t the first film found footage. No other found footage movie plays up the real-life “No – No, that’s real” aspect quite as horrifyingly as “Blair Witch.”

The film star is also a student filmmaker whose names are similar to their characters, which further combines the fictional and natural world.

Blair Witch Project –. The found footage film is not only part of horror — some film historians even suggest that the first found film was an experimental collaboration with Shirley Clarke about addiction.

Horror films are canny creators and use what exists to create all kinds of scares in the last 30 years since “The Blair Witch Project” altered the game. Technology is more terrifying and omnipresent.

13. Host

Year: 2020
Director: Rob Savage
Writers: Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage, Jed Shepherd
Stars: Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb
IMDb Rating: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%

Shudder filmmaker Rob Savage decided in early 2016 to create a horror film based on traumatic experiences during a pandemic. The film features a cast of actors that work remotely to make scenes for “Host.”

This 56-minute terror fest has a short duration that is hardly wasted until it strays into a highly expressive (and believably terrified) fast-escalating series of demonic intrusions.

12. “The Last Broadcast” (Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler, 1998)

Year: 1998
Director: Stefan Avalos, Lance Weiler
Writers: Stefan Avalos, Lance Weiler
Stars: Stefan Avalos, Lance Weiler, David Beard, Jim Seward
IMDb Rating: 5.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 50%

Is the last episode of The Last Broadcast still available to watch? Stefan Avalos & Lance Weiler adopted documentary methods for the fictional stories of public television hosts killed in search of finding the mythical Jersey Devil.

The film recovered footage reveals new evidence that the convicted murderers weren’t the whole thing – a crime story.

11. Lake Mungo

Year: 2008
Director: Joel Anderson
Writers: Joel Anderson
Stars: Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger
IMDb Rating: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

ARCLIGHT – Films The 2008 movie “Lake Mungo” was famous for its harrowing, precise exploration of family grief. The story focuses on how a young girl was drowned accidentally by her mother, Alice (Talia Zucker).

After early small success on its release, Joel Anderson’s psychological horror film undergoes further revision and re-appraising by audiences.

10. Grave encounters

Year: 2011
Director: Colin Minihan, Stuart Ortiz, The Vicious Brothers
Writers: The Vicious Brothers, Stuart Ortiz, Colin Minihan
Stars: Ben Wilkinson, Sean Rogerson, Ashleigh Gryzko, Merwin Mondesir
IMDb Rating: 6.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

Tribeca Film gleamingly delivers the “ghost hunters” reality television series in the ’00s and a surprising high-voltage jump scare. Admittedly, it is an obscure film. However, Colin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz called the movie-making duo The Vicious Brothers to pull out real suspense. It’s simple: They have the money.

9. Cloverfield

Year: 2008
Director: Matt Reeves
Writers: Drew Goddard
Stars: Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, Michael Stahl-David
IMDb Rating: 7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

The film “Cloverfield” follows five New Yorkers fleeing a giant unidentified creature out of the ocean that deposited waste in the town’s waters. The protagonist is transported to crumbling buildings as the camera-equipped camera takes in the viewer’s desperate attempts to escape the inner-city carnage of the city.

8. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

Year: 2018
Director: Jung Bum-Shik
Writers: Beom-Sik Jeong, Sang-min Park
Stars: Wi Ha-Joon, Yoo Je-Yoon, Seung-Wook Lee, Ye-Won Mun
IMDb Rating: 6.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

The popularity of discovered footage horror has resurged in the era of social media and other technological advances, with Gonjian: Haunted Asylum adopting a fresh strategy.

The movie follows a horror YouTuber who visits an abandoned psychiatric hospital and live streams it after learning about the abduction of two amateur ghost adventures after they were there.

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is an ambitious and successful debut into the genre that balances self-awareness and genuine dread. At its core, the game is a lesson about avarice that will invite several eye rolls.

7. Noroi: The Curse

Year: 2005
Director: Koji Shiraishi
Writers: Kôji Shiraishi, Naoyuki Yokota
Stars: Jin Muraki, Tomono Kuga, Rio Kanno, Marika Matsumoto
IMDb Rating: 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: —

Since Noroi: The Curse was first released more than fifteen years ago, part of it has aged poorly because found footage tends to recycle certain cliches. However, the movie is still a significant development in Japanese horror and discovered footage in general.

The movie is entangled in a complex web of curses and devils that requires a second viewing and a notepad to keep track of, but the film’s most compelling moments are its dull ones because they help the movie create its underlying dread. Although there aren’t as many typical scares, the ones that happen stick in my mind.

6. The Taking of Deborah Logan

Year: 2014
Director: Adam Robitel
Writers: Adam Robitel, Gavin Heffernan
Stars: Jill Larson, Anne Ramsay, Michelle Ang, Jeremy DeCarlos
IMDb Rating: 6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

This most current take on the prevalent possession genre is a mixed bag. Its basic premise is sound: a student film crew is following an elderly citizen with Alzheimer’s illness as the film crew is documenting them.

They don’t know that someone or anything else might have been allowed in as Deborah’s mind deteriorates. The movie earns props for being stylish on a shoestring and notably for Jill Larson’s terrifying, nuanced performance as Deborah. Still, it gradually runs out of steam in the latter third, becoming increasingly illogical.

5. Trollhunter

Year: 2010
Director: André Øvredal
Writers: André Øvredal
Stars: Otto Jespersen, Knut Nærum, Johanna Mørck, Robert Stoltenberg
IMDb Rating: 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

There is no disputing that Trollhunter starts by resembling another Blair Witch Project imitation. The first 20 minutes include a young video crew looking into some strange bear deaths and a shady man who might be poaching bears.

Instead of elaborating on the mystery, it abruptly changes course and informs us that trolls killed the bears and that not only that, but one of them is standing by and ready to headbutt you.

The charming comedian Otto Jespersen portrays the title character and is the supreme Troll Hunter, elevating the monster idea with his laid-back demeanor. Trollhunter delivers unexpected humor and incredibly intense action in equal measure, living up to its ludicrous name and premise in every way.

4. The Visit

Year: 2015
Directors: M. Night Shyamalan
Writers: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn
IMDb Rating: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%

The Visit is the least severe film Shyamalan has ever offered audiences, which is for the best. It’s a horror film that pretends to be about kids being terrorized by creepy grandparents they’ve never seen. Still, it’s a witty horror comedy that succeeds to some extent on several levels.

The adolescent leads give above-average performances, which is all it needs to glide to acceptance. It’s intriguing how, at points, the movie seems to almost parody the director’s earlier narrative strategies, as if he’s come to appreciate (and possibly even agree with) earlier critiques of his pretentiousness.

Sadly, the studio promoted it as a serious horror movie in the hopes of generating more box office receipts; hopefully, audiences weren’t misled about the nature of the film.

3. Afflicted

Year: 2013
Directors: Derek Lee, Clif Prowse
Writers: Derek Lee, Clif Prowse
Stars: Clif Prowse, Derek Lee
IMDb Rating: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

A vampire discovered footage movie is titled Afflicted. That should persuade you that this is a unique horror film. Given how infrequently vampires appear in found films, Afflicter’s take on the vampire lore makes it all the more compelling.

Derek (Derek Lee) and Clif (Clif Prowse), two best friends, have left for a European journey that they are documenting through daily vlogs to update people back home. But the trip turns odd when Derek gets bitten by a vampire.

From both of their points of view, his change is meticulously chronicled, providing a fuller understanding of the concept of vampirism. Typically, becoming a vampire is depicted in a single torturous moment or a hastily constructed montage.

2. Occult

Year: 2009
Directors: Koji Shiraishi
Writers: Kōji Shiraishi
Stars: Mika Azuma, Horike, Kōen Kondō
IMDb Rating: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: —

The master of recovered footage is Koji Shiraishi. His works of art, like Noroi: The Curse and A Record of Sweet Murder, demonstrate his expertise. Shiraishi’s 2009 film Occult is a cosmic horror nightmare portrayed through a captivated cinematographer (played by Shiraishi himself) who is trying to solve a mysterious murder, even though Noroi is, undoubtedly, his most excellent work.

He gradually becomes involved with something that goes beyond what we think of as reality. Occult’s conclusion is arguably the craziest thing you’ll ever watch.

While startling, it also fits in with the mayhem that has been developing throughout the film. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in a found footage movie.

1. The Bay

Year: 2012
Directors: Barry Levinson
Writers: Michael Wallach
Stars: Will Rogers, Kristen Connolly, Kether Donohue, Frank Deal, Stephen Nunken
IMDb Rating: 5.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 77%

The Bay, a found footage creature feature from Barry Levinson, was released in 2012. A parasitic organism from Chesapeake Bay pollution destroys a little beachfront hamlet.

They seize control of their host’s body and begin slowly devouring them from the inside out. People are shown covered in boils, going insane, gushing out of every orifice, and screaming in anguish in the middle of the street in The Bay, an example of a genuinely gruesome found footage movie.

It is complete pandemonium that is eventually caused by human-made pollution. The Bay will give you the creeps and make you second-guess going into the water.

Are Any Found Footage Movies Real?

80% of the footage is authentic, says the director. When we see a horror movie, we can tell you there’s nothing natural about the movie. Usually, ghost stories and creature features are pretty simple. The fans of found films have nothing but the truth to say.

What Horror Movie Is Like A Documentary?

The first found footage film most of the media will see is “The Blair Witch Project.” The 1999 film was adapted and starred unknown actors who were lost while looking around the Maryland woods.

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