LIFE OF BELLE – found footage review

I find it hard to wrap my head around parents today. On one hand, they fret and worry over ‘predators’ and ‘grooming’ and want to safeguard their kids from the world all while they create social media accounts for them so they can be ‘influencers’ and followed by strangers.  It’s weird.  On one hand it… Continue reading LIFE OF BELLE – found footage review

RATTER – found footage review

There is something wholly insidious about how humans have found ways to weaponize every last thing we rely on to reach out into the world. As technology has evolved, so too have abusers and stalkers, and with a strong online support system of like-minded sickos, it’s become a scary time for a lot of people.… Continue reading RATTER – found footage review

WITHOUT WARNING – found footage review

OK, OK, OK, this isn’t ‘found footage’ per se, let’s be clear, it’s closer to ‘mockumentary’ but slides over toward pseudo-news, like GHOSTWATCH and similar films. It’s a film that falls into a very small niche within a niche.  Oh, but label aside it’s so, so good.  Presented as an emergency cut-in from a national… Continue reading WITHOUT WARNING – found footage review

WE ARE THE MISSING – found footage review

I am not sure if it’s refreshing that, with people putting their work on YouTube and other video-sharing platforms that there are more opportunities to get films out or if it shows how cutthroat the industry as a whole has become. While some filmmakers are shooting films with no greater desire than to have their… Continue reading WE ARE THE MISSING – found footage review

Bring on the Witch

If there’s a movie I reference a lot it’s THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT a film that, for me, nailed so much of what I love about movies. With an innovative marketing plan that stretched the bounds of the film past the screen and a deceptively easy premise, the film deserves the legendary status it (sorta)… Continue reading Bring on the Witch

HOME MOVIE – found footage review

I remember first seeing HOME MOVIE several years ago when I was first starting to get into found footage. A friend owned it and passed it on to me. I remember being shocked by it and intrigued. It was so different from BLAIR WITCH PROJECT but still fascinating.  Since it’s been many years I wanted… Continue reading HOME MOVIE – found footage review

THE BLAIR WITCH 2 – fan edit

Let me preface this by saying that I am not one to seek out 'fan edits'. To me, the movie that comes out is what was intended, or as close as we're apt to get. Movies evolve as they are made. Stories, change, focus changes, actors change, and the film goes through many different cuts… Continue reading THE BLAIR WITCH 2 – fan edit

So You Wanna Make a Found Footage Horror Film – Part 2 – Mocks and Docs

With the general found footage film rules out of the way I can now focus on the rules for the faux-documentary films/mockumentary films. The core rules are the same with both types of movies but there are a few specific ones that sit wholly with the faux-doc/mockumentary.  Now, these are not always horror as movies… Continue reading So You Wanna Make a Found Footage Horror Film – Part 2 – Mocks and Docs

So You Wanna Make a Found Footage Horror Movie?

It’s no secret that I love found-footage movies and after recently seeing someone’s post online asking for advice on what to do and not to do and it started the octopus moving in my brain and I thought I’d add my three cents to the whole thing.  Here’s the thing, the beauty of found footage… Continue reading So You Wanna Make a Found Footage Horror Movie?

RORSCHACH – found footage review

Well, crap. Color me shocked here because I just watched one of the best found footage movies I have seen in a minute and it's on YouTube. It flew in under the radar, though I vaguely recognized the name of it but I had never seen it and it never makes the core lists of… Continue reading RORSCHACH – found footage review

CASSETTE – found footage review

Since I watch so many found footage films I figured I'd go offroad a little for the next two reviews. I decided to see what YouTube had to offer. I am looking for feature films as there are far too many short form found footage pieces on there to try to go through. I adore… Continue reading CASSETTE – found footage review

THE COHASSET SNUFF FILM – found footage review

This feels like another of those films that people will stumble across wondering…is this real?  No, it’s not.  That should be clear if you watch it but, if you happen upon it blindly and aren’t certain then your pal Spooky Chris is here to tell you to rest easy.  It’s only a film.  It’s only… Continue reading THE COHASSET SNUFF FILM – found footage review

THE BLUE HOUR –  The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth – Found Footage Review

There is a subtle art to the mockumentary (LORD, how I hate that term). If the filmmakers don't take the subject and the film itself seriously then it becomes parody or worse. The best ones walk the line so tightly that you'd be hard pressed to know it wasn't real if you walked in on… Continue reading THE BLUE HOUR –  The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth – Found Footage Review