Submitted by Fuzzman2012 t3_yc280f in movies
The title will sound a bit contradictory because yes I understand why most people hate it. The static shaky camera work, Bad Acting, cheap production, not to mention the unrealistic aspect of a character holding a camera to there face at all times has turned many off from the genre. But honestly when done right, Found Footage provides the kind of grounded authentic atmosphere you don't easily get with other horror movies.
Found footage really makes you feel like your watching a group of average people experiencing a scary situation instead of a group of actors, Instead of well stationed cinematography, you get Hand held type filming, like your watching the last recordings of a missing person. It's why The Blaire witch project was such a phenomenon all those years ago. I've recently discovered the world of analogue Horror and it reminded me of why I like found footage horror so much and I wish more directors actually took the genre more seriously because as I said in the beginning, its also a genre that is the easiest to mess up. The actors need to act as normal as possible without giving away to the audience that there watching a movie, but with the amateurish production of a lot of found footage movies this can be hard to do which can lead to some laughably bad acting. Not to mention the hand held cam filming is a huge turn off to those more used to traditional style filming.
But they are still a ton of gems that I recommend checking. If you want something to start with I recommend the Spanish Film REC (and it's inferior but still okay American remake Quarantine), Paranormal Activity 1, Cloverfield, the V/H/S series, the taking of Deborah Logan.
I also highly recommend analogue Horror such as Local58, The Backrooms, The Walten Files and Five Nights at Freddy's V/H/S (Even if you hate the games, trust me this series is pretty good)
ColdPressedSteak t1_itjypml wrote
It was simply more effective when it wasn't overdone. And with the internet not quite what it is now