Since The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, audiences have had a love-hate relationship with the found footage sub-genre of horror. The format opened the doors to a wave of burgeoning filmmakers thanks to it not needing much of a budget or kit beyond something to record on. In horror circles though, found footage has often been looked down upon, and yet we all still continue to watch them, with pandemic-released Host proving that there’s still an audience for this type of movie. Directors Sarah Appleton and Phillip Escott explore this phenomena in documentary, The Found Footage Phenomenon.
An extensive range of interviews have been compiled with André Øvredal, Eduardo Sánchez, Oren Peli, Graham Hughes, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and Rob Savage being just a handful of the mega-talented brains picked. Out of all of the talking heads, it is perhaps Alexandra Heller Nicholas who is the MVP of the piece. The writer acts as the through-point for the documentary, counteracting the anecdotal nature of the filmmakers speaking with hard analysis of the genre as a whole.
Over the course of The Found Footage Phenomenon, Appleton and Escott look at the history of the sub-genre, charting its origins much further back than The Blair Witch Project, all the way to Bram Stoker’s literary masterpiece Dracula before doing a deep dive into the progression of the format across the years. The film touches on all the flagship films within the genre from Cannibal Holocaust to Paranormal Activity, by way of The Last Broadcast, Ghostwatch, and of course The Blair Wicth Project. Interviews with the minds behind these films offer insights and trivia that will serve to enrich future watches of all the films discussed.
As well as discussing the history of the sub-genre, the plethora of filmmakers, critics and fans, talk through the finer aspects of creating these films. A lot of time is spent investigating the peaks and troughs of the genre, and how the waves of popularity link up with a new form of technology. It feels obvious once discussed in the film, and yet it’s not something that many will have actually realised before. The Blair Witch Project for example came around the same time as the surge in home video cameras. The next big push came with the advent of video phones and now with platforms like Zoom, there’s this new trend of screenlife films. There’s an interesting analysis of what each set means and has to say about the society in which they were made.
A documentary that finally shines a light on the hard work and creative thought that goes into making a found footage film, The Found Footage Phenomenon might make a few viewers reassess their feelings toward the sub-genre. Once seen as a little silly or a guilty pleasure, this documentary offers plenty that proves that the sub-genre has worth.
The Found Footage Phenomenon
Summary
The Found Footage Phenomenon proves that it’s finally time to embrace the genre that has been unfairly branded as inferior.
The Found Footage Phenomenon was reviewed at Arrow Video FrightFest 2021.
