Number 5: The Tunnel
For a movie that was released online for free (download it here), The Tunnel is actually pretty damn good. It adds a bit more depth to the standard found footage formula, by including talking head interviews/commentary of the footage by the characters that filmed it, and survived. The movie is about a news team in Australia that goes "down under" in some abandoned tunnels beneath Sydney to investigate the disappearance of some hobos. I think the thing I liked most about this movie, was the convincing dialogue. Everything the characters did and how they reacted seemed very real to me. There was no moment where I found myself yelling at them to stop acting stupid like most horror movie protagonists do. The downside to this film, is that it was longer than it needed to be. The interviews we're cool, but most of the time, unnecessary, and really killed the momentum of the movie every time it started to pick up. My verdict: 6/10
Number 4: Paranormal Activity
This was a great movie. This movie kept me on edge, I mean, the tension just kept on building and building until it exploded in a bloody ending. Paranormal Activity is about a couple living together who soon begin to suspect that their house is haunted. So they buy a camera and film everything that goes on. They soon come to realize that this "ghost" isn't fucking around and is a one mean motherfucker.The two lead roles worked together perfectly and really made the film as convincing as possible. Although this wasn't the first ghost story to be shot with a home video camera (see number 2) it was by far the scariest, for me at least. My verdict: 8/10
The Sequal: The 2nd installment of Paranormal Activity was every bit as scary as the frist, tying in to it's father film perfectly and adding some new originality. In my mind, this was a pretty successful sequel. If you liked the first one; see it.
Number 3: Cloverfield
I'm gonna guess it's really self conscious about those red earmuff growths.
Cloverfiled introduced the public to found footage horror. It was also the first monster movie to be done in this way, and damn, was it done right. Seriously, JJ Abrams is the next best thing in Sci-Fi movies. He made this movie as good as it could have been. Although the whole story of going towards the danger zone to rescue a loved one is a bit overused, it doesn't matter at all here, because the shit storm that they get themselves into is so crazy, you'll forget what they we're looking for the whole time. I mean, vicious little parasite crawlers that make your head asplode after they bite you? Thats some crazy shit, And after giving you tiny glimpses of the monster for the whole movie, you finally get to see this stone cold motherfucker right before the army bombs the shit out of central park. Luckily, bridges there double as bomb shelters apparently, so the camera survived. My verdict: 8.5/10
Number 2: The Blair Witch Project
So this was pretty much the first found footage ghost movie, and is probably the source of inspiration for Paranormal Activity. This one's about a group of college kids with a cam corder searching for a Witch in a forest out of some urban legend. Unlike Cloverfield, I'll try not to give to much away here.Basically, they get trapped in a forest that they can't seem to leave, all freaking out and tearing at each others throats, and for some reason, there's a lot of spare teeth laying around. Although not as scary as Paranormal Activity, it was a lot more fucked up. And the ending can be interpreted many ways, depending how much you lend yourself to paranormal beliefs. My verdict: 9/10
Number 1: REC
Finally! Someone had the brilliant idea of making a found footage Zombie movie. Sadly, this genius isn't american, so you'll have to watch this movie with subtitles. You could also watch the American remake, Quarantine, which is alright, but not nearly as epic as this. It starts with a news crew (just 2 people) doing a feature on firefighters, in which they go on duty with them for a night. Well, they happened to get called down to an apartment to bust out some trapped old lady. When they get there, shes a zombie. Then the movie erupts into one epic gore fest. The best part of this film however, is that the guy with the camera is a BAMF. He fucking hits a zombie in the face with his camera! Far from the useless cameraman position that is given to most of his affiliates across the genre. I'm a really big fan of zombie movies, and I rarely consider them scary. This movie is the exception, the zombies are batshitfucking crazy, and seeing it all from a POV perspective really puts you in the shoes of the characters who you will soon share a feeling of mutual panic with. Even if you hate zombie movies, you should definitely give this one a shot, it may change your opinion of the genre. My verdict: 10/10
The sequel: Here's the rundown: The worlds worst SWAT team is sent into the same apartment, an hour after the first movie takes place, with a CDC agent who tells them nothing but lies. He eventually reveals that 1. He is a priest, 2. These aren't zombies, they are people that have been infected with a chemical found in exorcism victims. 3.They aren't leaving. Now, I had faith and sat through the whole thing, only to have the foundation of the plot shattered by one scene in the end that just didn't fit with the rest of the movie. Unless you really like zombie movies, don't watch this.
I don't give this movie enough credit to think that there's actually a
reason for a worm to be crawling out of a zombie/demon girls throat.
Well, that's my top five. Some honorable mentions to The Last Exorcism and Diary of the Dead; two so-sos that weren't really good enough to be put on this list.
