From documentaries gone wrong to trying to capture what's walking down the hallway at night, found-footage horror movies transport audiences into a reality not too different from their own, blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Where horror movies attempt to make real life less scary, found footage places the audience right in the shoes of the protagonist, playing on their psyche as less becomes more. Although at times it's appeared as though the found footage genre lost its spark, it's proved time and time again that it's the most adaptable horror sub-genre of them all, keeping up to date on modern trends and technology to maintain its fearsome relevancy. As a result, here are the best found footage horror movies, according to the Tomatometer.
10 Paranormal Activity (2007) - 83%
Following the release of The Blair Witch Project, found-footage horror movies sort of lost their footing for a little bit. That was until the release of Paranormal Activity in 2009, which helped to perfect the genre and transform it into what it is today. The film follows a young couple called Katie and Micah, who begin to suspect that there are evil forces in their home after things go bump in the night. To find out the truth, they install various cameras all over their home, which shows they are dealing with something far worse than they could have anticipated.
At the time of its release, there was truly nothing like it. Advertisements demanded that viewers asked their cinemas to show it, while also claiming it to be the scariest movie ever made, causing people to faint at screenings. Compared to previous found footage horrors, Paranormal Activity kept all of its cameras stationary, so viewers had to stare at blank screens in suspense rather than have a camera point at what they needed to see. This helped to make it terrifying to watch, as audiences were having to scour the frame for something scary to happen.
9 The Blair Witch Project (1999) - 86%
While not the original found-footage horror, the genre would be nothing today without The Blair Witch Project. Marketed completely as a true story, the film follows three student filmmakers, who hike into Black Hills in Burketsville to make a documentary on a local myth about the Blair Witch. While there, they encounter a terrifying supernatural presence, although it's never physically seen on screen. As a result, all three of the students go missing, with only the footage left as evidence.
To make the film feel more authentic, the characters have the same name as their actors, who were in the forest mostly alone during filming. In order to get raw emotions from the actors, the directors kept them in the dark about a lot of the scares that would take place, resulting in genuine fear, which made the film quite controversial. After its release, the actors' IMDB information changed to say that they had passed away, with Heather's mother even receiving condolences letters from fans.
8 The Conspiracy (2012) - 88%
The Conspiracy follows two documentary filmmakers, Aaron and Jim, who decide to make conspiracy theorist, Terrance G., the subject of their next film. During their time together, Terrance delves into his research, showing the pair various newspaper clippings that he's collected throughout the years, which he believes show the connection between significant historical events. However, Terrance visibly becomes more agitated, believing that he is being followed, before he mysteriously disappears. Aaron and Jim decide to continue his research, where they learn that the Cult of Mithras might be behind it all.
What makes The Conspiracy so unique in comparison to other found-footage horrors is its ending. Rather than law enforcement getting their hands on the footage, as is the norm in these films, it's actually the cult, Tarsus, that gets it. As a result, the audience learns that the film has been put together by the bad guys, leaving the ending quite ambiguous. It's a very unique twist that isn't often seen, and it's executed well enough that it will leave viewers questioning the truth behind it all long after the credits roll.
7 REC (2007) - 90%
Just a couple of years before Paranormal Activity transformed the found footage genre, REC was attempting to bring it back to its roots. Mixing found footage with zombies and demons, REC tells the story of TV host Angela and her cinematographer, who are following a fire crew for the evening. The firehouse receives a call about an elderly woman stuck in her home in an apartment block, and they immediately head over to help. However, they learn that the apartment block is riddled with an infection that turns people into zombies, which leads the government to quarantine the entire complex, leaving even the uninfected stuck inside.
The plot might sound similar to those who have watched Quarantine, which is the American remake of REC, although it's not as good. Not only is REC's mashup of different horror genres incredibly unique, but it also is one of the most claustrophobic found footage movies ever made. The survivors have nowhere to go, with the police shooting any escapees, making it truly unnerving to sit through. Angela is also a fantastic female lead, and doesn't shrivel up in the face of danger, determined to free herself and her cinematographer from the apartment building.
6 Creep (2014) - 91%
Creep follows a videographer named Aaron, who travels to a remote cabin to meet his next client, Josef. The idea is that Aaron will help Josef film a video diary for his unborn son, as Josef is suffering from a brain tumor and will likely die before his birth. However, as they continue to film throughout the day, Aaron begins to notice that Josef displays eccentric and deranged behavior. At first, it appears as though most of this behavior can just be explained away, but when Josef admits to raping his wife, Aaron learns he isn't safe in his presence.
Whereas most found footage movies rely on scares occurring around the characters, Creep is entirely reliant on its performances. It plays out almost like an odd character study between both Aaron and Josef, drastically highlighting the differences in both of their psyches. What makes Creep so effective as a found footage movie, a genre hell-bent on feeling realistic, is that it genuinely feels as though it could happen in real life. Many stories already exist about creepy people on Craigslist, and Creep is no exception to that. It's a true warning about never really knowing who someone is, as well as a commentary on loneliness.
5 Deadstream (2022) - 91%
Shudder
Rarely in found-footage horrors are viewers supposed to detest the lead, but Deadstream quickly flips that idea on its head. The film follows Shawn Ruddy, a YouTuber who does outrageous stunts to confront his own fears. However, one of his videos goes incredibly wrong, which results in Shawn becoming disgraced in the YouTube community. To make a comeback, he decides to livestream himself spending the night alone in a haunted house, breaking things he shouldn't, leading to spirits awakening once more. Even in the face of sheer danger, Shawn refuses to end the stream, concerned more about his career than death.
Found-footage films have always been designed to play on the real-life fears society has about tech. For example, Paranormal Activity released at a time when home security systems became more popular, and genre branch-offs like Unfriended created the Screenlife genre to play on fears about social media and video calling. Deadstream is unique because it kind of does the same thing, but instead it focuses more on the ambition many have to become internet famous, no matter the cost. It also introduces livestreaming into found footage horror, which is something that hadn't properly been explored prior.
4 The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) - 91%
Millennium Entertainment
Like a lot of found-footage horrors, The Taking of Deborah Logan is about a crew of documentary filmmakers who end up encountering something far more sinister. Aiming to make a film about Alzheimer's for her thesis, Mia and her crew document the lives of Deborah and her daughter, Sarah. Initially, nothing seems questionable about Deborah's behavior, with most of it being put down to her condition. However, they soon learn that Deborah is possessed by cannibalistic murderer Henri Desjardin's, whom she murdered after discovering her daughter would be his next victim.
Despite being riddled with some of the worst horror tropes, such as contrived stupidity, it's well worth the watch for found footage fans. It uses many of the key elements of the genre well to execute its scares, with plenty of shocking moments towards the end that most viewers won't be expecting. While it didn't add anything new to the found footage genre, there's a reason why it's so beloved by horror fans all over the world, with Jill Larson's haunting portrayal of Deborah being a large factor in its success.
3 V/H/S/94 (2021) - 91%
V/H/S is quite a divisive franchise for horror fans, although there's no arguing that V/H/S/94 is by far the best installment. Like its predecessors, it's an anthology that features five different stories, with its overarching one following a SWAT team that has discovered a series of cassettes in a warehouse where a ritualistic mass suicide has taken place. The first cassette tells the story of the Ratman; the second is about a reanimated corpse; the third is about a mechanical human hybrid, and the last is about white supremacist group who encounter a vampire.
What makes V/H/S/94 so great is not just how original each of the cassette tape stories feels, but also that the wraparound story feels like the most solid out of them all. It takes no liberties with its concepts, far surpassing what most fans of the franchise would expect when watching a V/H/S movie. V/H/S/94 has also proved, especially through its reviews and Tomatometer score, that found footage horror movies aren't dying out, despite the onslaught of terrible ones that almost ruined the genre.
2 Lake Mungo (2009) - 96%
Lake Mungo is a truly unsettling film that mixes mockumentary with found footage. After sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer dies from drowning in a lake in Australia, her family seeks to make a documentary film to make sense of her death, and whether she is haunting them. It's revealed that shortly after her death, Alice's brother, Matthew, sets up various cameras around the family home that capture her ghost. After a psychic fails to deduce the hauntings, Matthew admits it was all a hoax, but not before the family discovers something particularly odd about one of the videos.
Not only is Lake Mungo a heartbreaking tale of grief, but it also raises some thoughtful discussions about life after death. Despite appearing straightforward at first, Lake Mungo is full to the brim of twists and turns that are hard to see coming, and it feels as though you can never truly trust what you're watching. Not only is the family having to grieve the loss of Alice, but they also have to come to terms with the fact that she had secrets of her own that she didn't want anyone else to see.
1 Creep 2 (2017) - 100%
Netflix
Following on from Creep, Creep 2 yet again follows Josef, now calling himself Aaron, as he attempts to lure yet another victim to his cabin. The victim in question is Sara, a videographer who eagerly seeks out creepy Craigslist clients for her work. Unsatisfied with his usual approach, Aaron decides to switch his modus operandi up by telling Sara straight away that he's a serial killer, and that he will only let her live for another 24 hours if she records a documentary about his life. What he doesn't expect, though, is that he might have just met someone as equally unhinged as he is, who isn't so naive to his malicious tricks.
Creep 2 is an example of a sequel that manages to take everything that made the first film so great and turn it into something better. Not only is it satisfying to see someone as unsettling as Josef/Aaron be put on edge himself, but it's also an interesting exploration into how far both the characters will go to test each other's trust. The fact that Sara is so similar to Aaron and yet so different makes their dynamic incredibly complex, and manages to make Creep 2 as emotional as it is haunting.
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