Looking for found footage horror movies without a supernatural hook? Wicked Horror has what you need!
Guest writer Lilly Cheung revisits three found footage horror films with no supernatural hooks (and a bonus film that’s still a bit up in the air!)
The discovered that the genre of footage probes the limits of cinema by recognizing the medium itself. This format is so well suited to the world of horror because it ultimately immerses the audience by feigning authenticity in a way that seems accessible and raw. The movie Cannibal Holocaust (1980) is widely recognized as the first of its kind, a graphic depiction of journalists committing heinous crimes against indigenous peoples for the sake of beautification. The story is told through recordings, some orchestrated by journalists, and snippets that reveal the true nature of their depravity. However, films like The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal activity (2007) put it on the map, inspiring countless conceptually adjacent films that ask: but what if we captured the haunting on camera? Although these films have come to define the genre, here I would like to shed some light on found footage films that do not rely on supernatural events such as possessions, ghosts, demons, or otherworldly entities to be effective.
Found footage, number 1 film!
Crawl (2014)
Mr.Ark Duplass plays Josef, a man who claims to have terminal cancer and hires a freelance videographer, Aaron. He is invited to a remote cabin in the wilderness, tasked with creating a film for Josef’s son to help him connect with his father after his death. The narrative is told through the cameraman’s point of view, navigating Josef’s antics in an incredibly intimate, uncomfortable and, at times, confrontational manner. The found-footage aspect adds a level of immersion that destabilizes the viewer, because the characters seem to confess directly to them. With minimal gore, Crawl plays with your emotions, creating the kind of tension and dread that sets this indie feature apart despite its shoestring budget. The film draws on Aaron’s naive lack of survival instincts, combining the horrors of combat with this man’s declining stability and the dangers of misplaced trust in a stranger. The end of the film shows that he never had a real way to escape, that Josef would always find him.
Found footage, film number 2!
Be My Cat: A film for Anne (2015)
Be My cat is a found footage film about a Romanian filmmaker who seeks to convince Anne Hathaway to star in his film. What the film lacks in budget and realism, it makes up for in this campy, outrageous way that creates abject discomfort in the viewer. He is willing to do anything to create a proof of concept for the actress to consider his proposal, including acts of violence. The film has this underlying tone of grief and pity as his delusions drive him to madness, as he becomes the murderous character he seeks to portray. The film includes vlog-style footage and clips from the filmmaking process, which connect the two narratives and show the gradual blurring between the two characters. The psychological aspect lies in the viewer’s inability to anticipate how far he is willing to go to prove himself and in the distressing feeling that he is unable to stop what he has started.
Found footage, film number 3!
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
The cassettes Poughkeepsie is presented as a documentary, including interviews, news clips and excerpts from the tapes themselves. This film is controversial due to its depictions of mutilation and sexual violence, providing a shock factor rooted in the horrors of reality. Rather than turning to a supernatural twist like Barbarous (2022), the film simply recreates what appears to be authentic evidence of a serial killer’s reign of terror. Some clips are first-person shaky-cam, while others are more polished, direct interviews with those involved in the investigation. Similar to the way Sinister (2012) depicts violent deaths through a camcorder, there is something so intimately disturbing about the feeling that you are being shown something so vile, graphic and almost personal. This is a true exploration of the found footage genre, combining multiple media to tell a cohesive and disturbing story.
Honorable mention!
Lake Mungo (2008)
Lake Mungo probes the interpretive nature of the recovered footage, and there may be debate over whether or not this film qualifies to be on this list, but rest assured, I’ll explain. The film follows the tragic drowning of Alice, a 15-year-old girl, and documents the circumstances of the incident and the family’s grief through interviews, news reports and camera footage of her resurfaced body. The horror elements are grounded in reality: the death of a family member, a missing person’s case turned body recovery, and the heartbreaking images of her waterlogged corpse dredged from the pond. Although there are short periods of cameras capturing what appears to be supernatural activity, these can ultimately be seen as doctored footage or delusion surrounding the death of their daughter. The documentation on Alice’s spirit is revealed to have been falsified by her brother, and it can be interpreted that all accounts of her ghost are visualizations of their inability to stop her death.
UUltimately, these found footage films seem more grounded in reality, leaving the viewer haunted by the feasibility of these horrific events. Additionally, I think it demonstrates a skill in being able to create a horror film that replicates the candid nature of surveillance or home video, both in terms of acting and cinematography. These films are a testament to the fact that it is possible to create an effective found footage film that does not rely on demonic scares or supernatural manipulation.
Meet Lily!
Lilly Cheung is a writer, blogger, and AMC A-list member from Florida who spends way too much time watching horror movies in the dark. The kind of person who paid real money to go see Saw: the unauthorized horror musical and I absolutely loved every minute of it. She is a self-proclaimed movie buff and lover who loves sharing via her blog, I said too much on the substack. Here on Wicked horrorshe writes primarily on cinematic analysis and the broader cultural implications of the medium, with her preferred subgenre being body horror.
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