The Top 10 Best Found-Footage Movies
5. Creep
People will tell you that freelancing is a pain. The work is never consistent and you never know when you might get hired by a serial killer. That’s basically the premise of Creep as a filmmaker answers an ad seeking a cameraman. The job seems easy enough as it’s revealed that his employer wants to make a film for his unborn child since he might not live to meet them. Sounds pretty wholesome, until it starts getting weird. Mark Duplass is the very definition of a creep as he constantly tests boundaries and then pushes right through them. As the project goes on, the man behind the camera begins to become more and more concerned for his safety, especially when it looks like he’s been lured there under false pretenses. Creep is a horror flick that’s developed quite a cult following, which makes it perfect for this list of found-footage movies.
4. Cloverfield
J.J. Abrams has had a meteoric rise since he released the acclaimed series Lost and he teamed up with director Matt Reeves to bring audiences one of the best found-footage movies ever made. Cloverfield is set during a giant monster attack on New York City as a group of 20-somethings tries to escape through the city and survive the attack. The monster though isn’t the feature of this movie, and instead, it relies on the talented cast to really sell the struggles they face as they try to survive. Cloverfield really sold the fact that found footage, if done right, could be used in any genre to create a compelling story that didn’t just rely on jump scares. Then again, what else would anyone expect from Abrams as a producer? Say what you want about lens flares, the man knows how to make a good movie.
3. Searching
Searching is a perfect example of elevating the found-footage technique from gimmick to narrative tool. John Cho plays a father searching for his missing daughter after she doesn’t come home. He’s no detective, but he is able to get into her personal computer and able to piece together clues from her digital footprint. Searching cobbles together the story from webcams, phone calls, internet searches, and videos found online. It all comes together to make Searching a taut thriller and one of the best found-footage movies ever made. It had me on the edge of my seat as Cho desperately combed through every digital clue he could find trying to track down his daughter and figure out what happened to her. Along the way, he uncovers plenty of dark secrets, but nothing could prepare him for how this story ends.
2. District 9
Alright, hear me out. District 9 is a film that is cobbled together from interviews, security footage, and camera footage to tell the story of Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley). Wikus works for the South African government overseeing alien refugees that crash-landed on Earth. The aliens are referred to as “Prawns” and treated as less than human, something Wikus hopes to help with. No good deed goes unpunished and soon Wikus finds himself in the middle of an adventure featuring brutal mercenaries, crazy sci-fi guns, and a badass mech suit. District 9 uses the found-footage technique to add strange credibility to the story since it looks like all of it really happened and just happened to be caught on camera. It’s a far cry from what you might imagine when you think of found-footage movies, but it’s definitely one of the best!
1. End of Watch
The number one spot on our list is actually a pretty far cry from the genre that made found- footage so incredibly popular. End of Watch tells the tale of Michael Peña and Jake Gyllenhaal as two L.A.P.D. officers and best friends who find themselves targeted for execution by a drug cartel. The movie follows them as they try to survive wave after wave of gang members trying to execute them. The heart of the story isn’t invested in them just shooting as many people as possible. Instead, the movie is really about their friendship and camaraderie that helps them get through the fight. Luckily for the audience, Gyllenhaal’s character records the entire thing for a law school project, which makes End of Watch perfect for the top spot on this list of found-footage movies.
Honorable Mention: Cannibal Holocaust
Found-footage movies were being made long before The Blair Witch Project ignited the mainstream trend. One of the first films to really use it was Cannibal Holocaust. It did it so well that people honestly thought members of the cast and crew were murdered during production. This also makes it one of the most disturbing movies ever made, but I still think that this “classic” horror film deserves a shout out.
Those are my picks when it comes to the best found-footage movies of all time. However, I know that there is an ocean of them out there, and I’d love to see some of your favorites in the comments down below. As always, I’ll be updating this list as new found-footage movies hit theaters. So, be sure to check back from time to time to see how the rankings might change.