Found Footage: Chronicles of Horror, Realism, and Case Studies

Found Footage” can be and has already been applied to numerous genres throughout the years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much, and on occasion not at all. What triggered it, though? How has it failed and succeeded? What marketing ideas were implemented in the process? What has been the magnitude of its implications? What does the future hold for it?

On this occasion, I am focusing on its application to the horror genre, and more particularly on the ones that caused certain confusion. With the intention of informing but also entertaining, I dug up some information and clues that shed some light on the aforementioned questions. Before I sink my teeth into it, though, I’ll start with the most basic question: What is “found footage”?

Found Footage” is a film subgenre where, partially or in its totality, the events that occurred have been recorded by the actors themselves and allegedly found, collected, and put together afterwards. In the horror genre, that serves the purpose of realism; what the viewer sees on the TV or the big screen has “actually” happened. In this case, whoever is watching bites their nails over the poor souls who have “documented” the last moments of their lives(?)

So… How did it start?

The Unintentional Beginning

Sunday, October 30, 1938: Before Orson Wells became the filmmaker we all know, he adapted, performed, and broadcasted H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds (1898), a Halloween episode from his radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theater on the Air. Presented in a news bulletin format, it caused mayhem for a brief period as numerous listeners truly believed that an alien invasion was actually happening.

The Intentional Adaptation

1989 (yes, just the year): A filmmaker finds and puts together a bunch of tapes dating back to 1983 from a little girl’s birthday party that gets disrupted when a UFO lands near their house. For many years, not too many people knew much about this film, and UFO fanatics were claiming that this was not a fictitious film and that these were events shot and recorded from a family member’s home video camera. There is mythology aplenty surrounding it to this very day, but for all intents and purposes, here are some facts…

U.F.O. Abduction (1989): The filmmaker’s name is Dean Alioto, and the film is “U.F.O. Abduction.” Alioto wanted to achieve Orson Well’s “The War of the Worlds” (1938) effect on videotape. And he did! UFO fans, some of them to this day, erroneously believe that the UFO landing, alien home invasion, and abduction indeed happened, and the film is the “found footage.”

The reality is far less exciting as the film was nowhere to be found for years due to the fact that the master tape was destroyed in a warehouse fire. In 2003, when the subgenre had not been created yet, Alioto started selling VHS copies via email which enhanced the urban legend behind the movie. In 2018, he remastered DVDs and digital downloads that became available from the movie’s official website. In July 2012, the United States Film Board had to go public, stating that “U.F.O. Abduction” is a fictional production by a professional filmmaker. Still, some people perceive it as an actual “found footage”.

Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County (1998): Before “U.F.O. Abduction’s” restoration and promotion, Dean Alioto remade the film without known production issues this time. Going through numerous reviews, I can only assume that its perception heavily relied on whether people were aware of the first one’s existence. And since “found footage” was not a horror subgenre yet, its viewers perceived it either as the real deal, a cheap “wannabe real”, a hoax, or just a… different horror film. However, despite the commotion and people’s cinematic unawareness, Dean Alioto cannot be credited as the “father”.

Pioneer and Innovator

Ruggero Deodato! The Italian filmmaker who took all the risks laid the foundation and paid the price. Cannibal Holocaust (1980) was the instigator of the subgenre that officially became one almost twenty years later. The story follows a rescue mission into the Amazon rainforest, where a professor comes across a film shot by a lost documentary crew. The question is, if it was so important or if it had such an impact to the film industry why was it not established, perpetuated or evolved? Nowadays, we claim that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Let’s go back almost forty years…

  • Arguably, the most gory film ever made.

  • The second and only part of the “Cannibal Trilogy” that truly shocked the audience but also the authorities.

  • The film was based on an actual documentary crew that died exploring a cannibalistic tribe in Africa.

  • Upon its premiere in Milan, the court seized the film, and Ruggero Deodato was arrested.

  • As the cast had signed contracts to disappear for a year after the film was shot, Deodato faced accusations of first-degree murder for “killing” the actors on screen. Eventually, the actors were contacted, they showed up in court, and Deodato’s charges were dropped.

  • Even though the actors did not die, the animals did.

  • According to numerous sources, it was banned from 50 countries.

  • Ultimately, Deodato stated that he regrets making this film now and wishes he had never done it.

The Birth of a Sub-Genre

18 July 1999: Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick wrote and directed The Blair Witch Project where, in October 1994, three film students travelled into a Maryland forest to make a documentary on a local urban legend called “Blair Witch”. So, even though it is not the instigator of the “found footage” horror, and it is not original, why is it the one that popularised it? Facts:

  • The three principal actors’ and actresses’ names have been entered as themselves on IMDb and, prior to the film’s release, were listed as missing or presumed dead. The idea wildly enhanced the concept of it being an actual “found footage” documentary/horror.
  • Interviews with family members and allegedly experts were not included in the film but were used successfully for marketing purposes.

  • Shot in approximately 8 days (and edited in approximately 8 months) on an estimated $60,000 budget (and $25m to market), the film grossed a worldwide $248,639,099, entering the Guinness Book of World Records.

  • The directors misled the actors, making them believe that the “Blair Witch” legend actually exists. The townspeople interviewed were planted by the directors.

  • A lot of theatregoers were experiencing nausea due to the camera shakes. In some theatres in Toronto, the ushers asked easily nauseated patrons to be seated by the aisle seats so they don’t throw up on others.

  • The film’s impact was such that, upon its theatrical release, the hunting season in that forest was among the worst in years as the ‘believers’ had been camping all around the forest looking for the “Blair Witch” – scoring all wildlife away.

  • Heather Donaghue’s mother received numerous sympathy cards from people who watched the film or heard about it, believing that Heather was either dead or missing in the forest.

Fun fact: There is a fan-based popular theory that the “Blair Witch” is a fabrication by Joshua and Michael used as a plot device to lure Heather into the woods and murder her. If true, upon the film’s success, did the directors and producers let it slide?

From Popular to Successful

16 October 2009: 29 years after the “Cannibal Holocaust”, 20 years after “U.F.O Abduction”, and 9 years after the almost forgotten “Blair Witch”, some unknown to the public guy with no previous record whatsoever shows up and revives the subgenre. His name is Oren Peli. What do we know about him? Not much. I’ll tell you what we know about his work, though…

Paranormal Activity (2007). Yes, I know. It wasn’t released until two years later.

  • Shot in 10 days, entirely at Peli’s house, with a home digital camera, the film cost around $16,000 and made $193,000,000 worldwide.

  • Peli’s directorial debut caused dozens of people to leave the cinema during the test screenings, as they couldn’t take the intensity.

  • Steven Spielberg had to stop watching halfway through as he couldn’t take it.

  • No studio logo appears, as neither opening nor closing credits whatsoever.

  • Upon release, there was a lot of confusion as to whether the events recorded actually happened or not.

Past, Present, and Future

Arguably, fear is one of our strongest emotions and, to a certain extent, guides the choices we make in our lives. The “found footage” type of filming has not found significant success outside the horror genre. Why? Possibly because the illusion of realism gets lost. It is more obvious to the viewer that it is not true, so why watch something in a documentary-style with a nauseating, shaky camera?

Following Cannibal Holocaust, and in between the aforementioned case studies, a lot of filmmakers from various countries have tried the recipe in a number of genres but mostly in horror. Causing no doubt as to whether the recorded “events” happened or not, below, are some of the exceptions to the rule where “pseudo-documentaries” have found some critical and/or financial success.

  • Man Bites Dog” (Belgium/1992)

  • The Collingswood Story” (USA/2002)

  • Zero Day” (USA/2003)

  • Noroi: The Curse” (Japan/2005)

  • Exhibit A” (UK/2007)

  • REC” (Spain/2007)

  • Cloverfield” (USA/2008)

  • District 9” (South Africa/2009)

  • Trollhunter” (Norway/2010)

  • The Tunnel” (Australia/2011)

  • V/H/S” (USA/2012)

  • Project X” (USA/2012)

  • Afflicted” (2013/Canada)

  • Creep” (2014/USA)

  • The Visit” (2015/USA)

The latest – not well known but worth watching – “found footage” horror I watched and even spoke with the director was Butterfly Kisses (2018). Once again, some of the actors appear by their names on IMDb, and the director adds extra layers and depth by jumping on board himself, making a film on a documentary that researches a documentary on a student project (very “Inception”). Another interesting addition was the interviews of Matt Lake and Eduardo Sanchez, author of Weird Maryland and writer/director of Blair Witch Project, respectively, deconstructing the “found footage” and urban legends.

By now, the illusion of realism is gone in all genres. It is highly unlikely that the audience will nowadays watch a “found footage” film and wonder if the events occurring have actually happened or if the actors are portraying themselves or not. More or less, everyone has seen everything and trained accordingly. What is left of the “found footage” subgenre to explore? Can it evolve somehow? Will it just stagnate? Is it dying out?

References and Further Reading

Thanks for reading!

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Solidarity for all the innocent lives who suffer the atrocities of war!

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