The Top 10 Most TERRIFYING Found Footage Horror Movies

Why Hello Again You Guys,

I’ve got a creepy little post for you!

As you all know, I am a borderline obsessed Horror Movie fan. I feel like I’ve seen almost every single one ever made, but that’s obviously completely impossible. Case in point… this past month I’ve been thinking a lot about Film & Movie-Making in general. I have lots of ideas for a movie of my own, that I’ve been itching to “attempt” Writing & Directing.. (which may end up being a total disaster, but you never know). While brainstorming this “Untitled Project”, I decided a good move would be to do a deep-research-dive into the belly of the beast.. which is EVERY “Found Footage Style” Horror Movie I could find. Let me tell you guys… I watched so many hours of twisted/terrifying/disturbing/incredible.. and overall just wonderfully fucked up footage.

I think the very first experience I had with a “Found Footage” style Film, was probably “The Blair Witch Project” in 1999. I remember hearing a school-wide “buzz” about this new Rogers Video “New Release”. We begged my Mom to rent it one weekend.. and I literally still remember those 1.5 hours like it was yesterday. I was so young (11), I couldn’t differentiate between reality & this new “found footage” thing. I was like “IS THIS A DOCUMENTARY… IS THIS REAL?!”. I still think about it all the time. It was one of the first times I had ever felt truly SCARED by something (“The Exorcist” was a close second).

Ever since then, I’ve always loved a good Horror Movie.. with a specific soft spot for a found footage moment. I think the next BIG one was probably “Paranormal Activity”, which was a completely different animal (in experience alone). I was older this time, and I could actually SEE it in the Movie Theater (without a fake ID). *Big Flex*. It was 2007, and I was TERRIFIED once again. I remember there being a VISCERAL reaction from the entire theater.. we all held our breath together & screamed together. My sister Paige screamed the absolute LOUDEST in the theater, just F.Y.I.

Over the years since, I’m still chasing that same thrill. I have SO many movies I want to rant and rave about in the Horror Genre, but for the sake of this post.. I’m going to stick JUST to “Found Footage” style ones.

So after careful, and exhaustive review.. here are (in my opinion) the TOP TEN BEST Found Footage Horror Movies.

1.) “Creep” (Also Creep 2)

10/10

I can’t put into words how deeply this movie DISTURBED me. In a great stomach twisting way. The concept is very basic, and everyday-real.. which is why it’s so scary. Basically this movie will make you never EVER apply for a job on Craigslist ever again. Also one word.. PEACHFUZZ. If you know, you FUCKING know.

I normally add lots of photos & an official plot blurb for the movies I’m reviewing/ or recommending.. but trust me.. GO INTO CREEP BLIND. It’s so shocking, and it’s an experience you won’t regret.

2.) “Troll Hunter”

10/10

Ohhh this movie was a fucking WILD ride. It was the perfect mix of a Norwegian snowy hellscape, mixed with all kinds of TROLL mythology & twisted lore. It really dives into the Norwegian folklore & culture as well. They are big time into Trolls! The found footage style lends itself to this story so seamlessly, because you feel like you are not only involved in their adventure.. but you are just as WTF as the cast.. while you literally get taken into this TROLL situation. It’s so dark, and the cinematography is brilliant.. it’s like you can physically FEEL how cold & terrified these kids are. Also the CGI for the goddamn TROLLS was just 10/10 chef’s kiss. I think about this movie often, and I aggressively recommend it often as well. So please, get after it. Also the MOUNTAIN KING TROLL THOUGH! (If you have seen this movie please message me about this Mountain King).

IMDB Plot Blurb

(A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.)

3.) “REC” (Spanish)

10/10 TERRIFYING

This movie was the inspiration for the American remake “Quarantine” that came out in 2008 (which was also fantastic). “REC” was in my opinion, much better.

This movie unfolds in a real-time sequence of horrifying events. It’s found-footage in the way that it’s a reporter and her cameraman doing the shooting. They are filming some local footage in a Firehouse in Barcelona, when all hell breaks loose. The Firehouse gets a distress call from a local apartment building, and the reporter tags along to film the action. This was probably a huge fucking mistake, because what transpires once they get there… still haunts me to this day. Just thinking about this movie makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, in a really sickening way. The CLAUSTROPHOBIC feeling of this film, is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It was genius.

Google Plot Blurb

(Late-night TV host Angela and her cinematographer are following the fire service on a call to an apartment building, but the Spanish police seal off the building after an old woman is infected by a virus which gives her inhuman strength.)

4.) “VHS”

10/10

A truly brilliant American anthology horror movie (all found footage style.. and very meta)

This movie was SO SO GOOD. It’s basically like 6 separate found-footage style Horror Movies. They are all so creepy, and some are truly horrifying. The titles of the 6 films “within” “VHS” are (“Tape 56”, “Amateur Night”, “Second Honeymoon”, “Tuesday the 17th”, “The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger” & “10/31/98”.)

This movie is pretty disturbing to be honest, and I was almost hesitant to recommend it. However, I do this it’s a really fresh and inventive take on the “Found Footage” thing. To have six separate takes on the genre, all with different styles & mixed media.. I thought was groundbreaking (especially for the specific genre). “Amateur Night” was hands down my favorite one of the 6!

IMDB Plot Blurb

(When a group of misfits are hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.)

5.) “As Above So Below”

10/10

Okay this is a found footage horror movie (American), that is literally set in the PARIS CATACOMBS. If you guys remember, in 2015 I went to Paris.. and the Catacombs were one of the hi-lights of my trip. It was such an eerie, beautiful, but overall deeply unsettling place to visit. All those thousands upon thousands of bones.. lining the dimly hit haunting hallways… deep underground. It was enough to scare probably anyone. So yeah.. a HORROR movie set within the Catacombs.. I’m all over it. It was ALSO almost entirely filmed within the actual Paris Catacombs, which is fascinating. Also it is loosely based on “The Seven Layers of Hell”.. so if you weren’t aleady hooked.. that might do it for you.

Google Plot Blurb

(Archaeologist Scarlett Marlowe (Perdita Weeks) has devoted her whole life to finding one of history’s greatest treasures: Flamel’s Philosopher’s Stone. According to legend, the artifact can grant eternal life and turn any metal into gold. When she learns that the stone is hidden underground in the Catacombs of Paris, she assembles a crew to guide and document her historic mission. As they begin their descent, the team-members have no way of knowing that they are entering their own personal hell.)

6.) “Grave Encounters”

10/10

A Canadian Found Footage Horror Movie, filmed at RIVERVIEW HOSPITAL.. which is a known Haunted local abandoned place. I found this element of the movie SO deeply creepy. Especially since I’ve been there with a friend, checking out the abandoned building. It was fucking terrifying to explore that building, and I can’t even imagine what a traumatizing experience this film crew had actually shooting a horror movie here. It must have been HORRIFYING. The movie is really good too, and I can’t help but think the acting was probably close to reality haha.

Google Plot Blurb

(Grave Encounters is a 2011 Canadian found footage supernatural horror film. The footage follows the crew of a paranormal reality television program who lock themselves in a haunted psychiatric hospital in search of evidence of paranormal activity as they shoot what ends up becoming their final episode.)

7.) “Willow Creek”

10/10

A Bigfoot Horror Adventure. I might be the only person who’s like legit always kind of low-key believed in Big-Foot.. so I had to watch this. Who doesn’t love a good Sasquatch?

Wikipedia Plot Blurb

(Willow Creek is a 2013 independent found footage horror film written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. It stars Alexie Gilmore and Bryce Johnson as a couple who go into the woods of Willow Creek, California looking for material for their documentary on Bigfoot lore.)

8.) “Paranormal Activity” All FIVE of these Movies!

10/10

The Theatrical experience of these movies, is really such a nostalgic thing for me. I feel like everyone who saw any of these five films in the theater, knows what I’m talking about. It was a whole EXPERIENCE. The terror was intensified 100 times. I think being alone in a theater, with no cell phones or talking to distract you.. really immerses you in the horror of these films. “Paranormal Activity” will always be a classic, and they are legends in this Found Footage genre.

Wikipedia Plot Blurb (For The First Film)

(Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film produced, written, directed, photographed and edited by Oren Peli. It centers on a young couple (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them.)

9.) “Incident At Loch Ness”

10/10

Not only is this a Monster movie of the highest thrill, but the fact it not only STARS but is Produced by the legendary German Film Director Werner Herzog.. is just the icing on the cake! (He also wrote the Screenplay). This film is the PERFECT example of the classic “Film-Within-A-Film” storytelling device.

I can’t tell you how brilliant I found this Mockumentary. Werner is BRILLIANT. Also the Loch Ness is another Monster I’m obsessed with. Jesus, three of my Recommendations for you guys include Trolls, A Bigfoot, and now this Loch Ness beast. Guess I’m more into Monsters than I realized haha.

Google Plot Blurb

(Believing that the Loch Ness monster is a figment of the collective psyche of the Scottish people, famed avant-garde film director Werner Herzog leads a crew to Scotland, accompanied by producer Zak Penn, to make a movie about the myth, and not the monster. However, Penn has also arranged for a second film production team, led by director John Bailey, to make a documentary about the renowned and sometimes difficult Herzog. While on a boat in the middle of the lake, something unexpected happens.)

10.) “The Blair Witch Project”

10/10

How could I not include this masterpiece? This is really the O.G of Found Footage, and it birthed a new genre of horrifying films. It may have come out in 1999, but it still holds up.. and is arguably more terrifying than ever. Something about it’s simplistic approach, would by 2021’s standards seem like a quaint minimalistic device.. but it was & will always be what’s so brilliant about it. It’s just the right level of amateur, that as a viewer.. it feels like you actually found someone’s abandoned camera. That is a very hard thing to actually achieve, and have it feel authentic is hard. “The Blair Witch Project” feels like the movie that started it all, and I hope you have all seen it.

I also found this on Google, that I found fascinating.

(And it was shot in an authentic way: directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez actually had their actors go out into the woods and find their way around using maps. They filmed the entire movie themselves with a 16mm camera and an RCA Hi8 Camcorder.)

Rotten Tomatoes Plot Burb

(Found video footage tells the tale of three film students (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams) who’ve traveled to a small town to collect documentary footage about the Blair Witch, a legendary local murderer. Over the course of several days, the students interview townspeople and gather clues to support the tale’s veracity. But the project takes a frightening turn when the students lose their way in the woods and begin hearing horrific noises.)