IHdb

TOP 50 
FOUND FOOTAGE FILMS

Beginning with Italian director Ruggero Deodato's cannibal exploitation horror film, Cannibal Holocaust (1980), the film technique of Found Footage has flourished under the horror genre. The footage may be presented as if it were "raw" and complete, or as if it had been edited into a narrative by those who "found" it, with the most common use of the technique is in horror films where the footage is purported to be the only surviving record of the events, with the participants now missing or dead. In fact, the footage can appear so real that, in the case of Cannibal Holocaust, Deodato had to supply proof that his actors were still alive to a Milan magistrate and that he hadn't just made a "snuff film".

Found footage is originally the name of an entirely different genre, but has sometimes been used to describe pseudo-documentaries with this narrative technique. typically employ one or more of the following four cinematic techniques: first person perspective, pseudo-documentary or mockumentary, news footage, and surveillance footage. In most cases, the actors can also operate the camera(s) and usually use their own first names for the characters they portray. The genre has appeal to producers because of its lower cost, with the feeling of an amateur documentary allowing lower production values and filming quality than would be normally be accepted on a conventional film, and allowing first-time filmmakers the opportunity to make a independent film with a chance of a more mainstream success - as was the case with The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2009).

IHdb looks back over these found footage horror movies from the last 35 years to compile the TOP 50 FOUND FOOTAGE FILMS, ranking them by the aggregated score given by Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb.

Just a quick note - we know there are a lot more found footage films within certain franchises within this genre. But for the sake of keeping this list a Top 50 and not a "Top 80-90", we've only included the first films in the series (if they have sequels, remakes, or reboots following them). Well, with maybe one exception... hope you can pick it out.


Thanks, and Enjoy!!!

#50
Apartment 143 (2011)

TRIVIA:   Although Apartment 143 is a Spanish horror film, the entire movie is spoken in English.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   0%

#49
The Devil Inside (2012)

Father Ben Rawlings: [being interviewed] When I was 23 I went into the priesthood and by the time I was 27 I was an ordained exorcist. I'll tell you this. After all the years that I've been in the Church, I've seen the Devil way more than I've seen God. It's just not the way it's supposed to be.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   6%

#48
The Pyramid (2014)

Holden: [on a video recording] This pyramid, unlike any structure other I've ever encountered, seems to have been built with the express purpose of keeping whatever is inside from escaping. If you come down here... bring guns.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   13%

#47
The Gallows (2015)

Reese Houser: We have to pull the fire alarm, the cops will come and somebody will find us.

Pfeifer Ross: What if he finds us?

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   14%

#46
Nightlight (2015)

Nia: You brought the flashlight of your deceased friend to the haunted forest where he mysteriously died? That's not a rational decision

Robin: Yeah, well hey, neither is fingering yourself to The Grinch, but here we are.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   17%

#45
Devil's Due (2014)

TRIVIA:   The faces of only four members of the cult are visible in the film. In order of appearance: the cab driver, the cult "leader" (who can be seen in the psychic shop, in the neighborhood they walk through on the way to the club, and inside the underground club speaking with the cab driver), the man watching from across the street when they return home, and the couple's second doctor (Dr. Dylan).

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   18%

#44
The Zombie Diaries (2006)

TRIVIA:   A sequel, Zombie Diaries 2, was released 5-years later in 2011, but is set only three months after the events of the first film. By the second film, the viral outbreak has wiped out 99.9% of the world population.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   21%

#43
Apollo 18 (2011)

Deputy Secretary of Defense: [over comms] John, you are ordered to abort rescue immediately. Captain Anderson is a high contamination threat. You will not recover him.

John Grey: You knew something was down there and you sent them anyway.

Deputy Secretary of Defense: [over comms] DOD to Freedom, if you do not abort in T-minus 60 seconds, transmission will terminate. You will not receive an updated state vector. You will run out of life support package. You will not return home. You have 45 seconds to abort this rescue.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:    24%

#42 
As Above, So Below (2014)

George: 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.'

Scarlett: Oh.

Papillon: What?

Scarlett: According to mythology, that's the inscription over the gates of hell.

Papillon: What? I'm... I'm not going in there.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:    26%

#41
S_x Tape (2013)

TRIVIA:   S_x Tape had it's World Premier at the London Film Festival.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   29%

#40
Exists (2014)

TRIVIA:   At 6ft 7" this is the second time Brian Steele has played the role of a Bigfoot/Sasquatch. He originally played the much friendlier "Harry" from Harry and the Hendersons TV show. Creature effects were also designed by Weta Workshop.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:    35%

#39
A Night in the Woods (2011)

TRIVIA:   Seen by many critics and fans as one of the blatant rip-offs of The Blair Witch Project.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   42%

#38
Area 51 (2015)

TRIVIA:   Filmed in the fall of 2009, director Oren Peli spent nearly 5-years in post production for Area 51.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   42%

#37
Welcome to the Jungle (2007)

TRIVIA:   The entire crew for the shooting of this movie was only eight people, filmed in twelve days with no script. The weapons the natives brandish were also real.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:    45%

#36
Death of a Ghost Hunter (2007)

TRIVIA:   Right after Carter (Patti Tindall) outlines the history of the house, there are two creature-type whining sound effects during the scene change - these sounds are taken from the game Populous: The Beginning

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   46%

#35
Ragini MMS

TRIVIA:   The sequel Ragini MMS 2 (2014) starred former pornstar turned Bollywood actress, Sunny Leone.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   46%

#34
The Last Broadcast (1998)

David Leigh, The Filmmaker: At 10 PM, in what will be the last broadcast, Fact or Fiction goes live.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   50%

#33
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2014)

TRIVIA:   Despite the film having been completed and its theatrical trailer attached to several widely-released horror films in 2007, its first official release didn't occur until seven years later in July 2014 on VOD.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   50%

#32
Devil's Pass (2013)

TRIVIA:   The story revolves around a group of American college students investigating the real-life Dyatlov Pass incident of 1959, where one female member of the group inexplicably was missing her tongue when found by a Russian search party.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   53%

#31
V/H/S (2012)

[Clint cries out when seeing Lily approach him]

Lily: I like you.

[Lily then kisses Clint's body]

Lily: No like?

Clint: [Lily crawls away beginning to cry] I'm sorry

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   55%

#30
The Last Horror Movie (2003)

[to camera, after killing two people off camera]

Max Parry: The question is, were you at all curious to see what was happening? I mean I know you don't approve and I'm not saying that you do... but were you absolutely sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that you weren't craning a little to see? Hmm? Not even the teensiest bit? Now did you want to see that or not? And if not, then why are still watching?!

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   56%

#29
Atrocious (2010)

TRIVIA:   Writer/Director Fernando Barreda Luna's feature film debut

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   56%

#28
Inner Demons (2014)

TRIVIA:   After Carson (Lara Vosburgh) attacks and bites Jason (Morgan McClellan), the other TV show staff want to film Carson. Jason asks, "are going to film her now? It is almost midnight", then the time stamp on the footage was 10:34 pm.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   56%

#27
Home Movie (2008)

TRIVIA:   First time writer/director Christopher Denham is probably best known for his acting work, in such films as Charlie Wilson's War and Argo.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   58%

#26
Quarantine (2008)

Angela Vidal: [after witnessing Bernard be killed by a CDC Sniper] Scott... They're not gonna let us out of here alive, are they?

Scott Percival: No... I don't think so.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   58%

#25
Diary of the Dead (2007)

Debra: [narrating] Jason always wanted to be a documentary filmmaker. But for his senior class project, he decided to try to make a horror film. That's what he was shooting on that first night, the night when... everything changed.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   62%

#24
The Sacrament (2013)

TRIVIA:   Produced by Cabin Fever director Eli Roth, the film's plot borrows heavily from the real life events of the Jonestown Massacre of 1978.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   62%

#23
Unfriended (2014)

TRIVIA:   The movie was originally called Offline, then changed to Cybernatural during production, and finally changed again to Unfriended for the wide release.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   63%

#22
Grave Encounters (2011)

Lance Preston: [after hearing noises on the fourth floor] Listen, if there's anybody up here trying to fuck with us, it's not funny! Alright, we'll call the police! We have a right to be here! We have a permit, and you don't!

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   64%

#21
6 - 5 = 2 (2013)

TRIVIA:   Two versions of this film were made - the original 2013 film made in the Kannada language, with a remake released the next year in Hindi. Both films kept the same title.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   64%

#20
The Visit (2015)

Grandma: Would you mind getting inside the oven... to clean it?

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   64%

#19
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

[the group come across the impaled girl. Close-up of Alan smiling at the scene while Faye glares at him]

Mark Tomasso: [off camera] Watch it, Alan, I'm shooting.

Alan Yates: [feigns shock] Oh, good Lord! It's unbelievable. It's... it's horrible. I can't understand the reason for such cruelty. It must have something to do with some obscure sexual rite or with the almost profound respect these primitives have for virginity.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   65%

#18
Hollow (2011)

TRIVIA:   The two books referenced in the movie - Medieval and Early Modern Period Art in East Anglia and British Exorcisms of the 20th Century - actually don't exist and were created solely for the film. 

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   68%

#17
The Last Exorcism (2010)

Cotton Marcus: [seeing a picture Nell has made] That's all of us dead. I'm in the fire.

Iris Reisen: I'm in a million pieces.

Cotton Marcus: Daniel, you get your head chopped off.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   72%

#16
Noroi (The Curse) (2005)

Masafumi Kobayashi: No matter how terrifying, I want the truth.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   76%

#15
Cloverfield (2008)

Beth McIntyre: [sees monster] What is that?

Hud: It's a terrible thing.

[while trying to get to a flight of stairs, Rob encounters a parasite and kills it]

Beth McIntyre: Oh my God! What is that?

Hud: I don't know! Something else! Also terrible.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   77%

#14
The Bay (2012)

Dr. Williams: This is Dr. Williams in Communical Disease. You believe you may have a bacterial case?

Dr. Abrams: Not one, we have thirty.

Dr. Williams: What?

Dr. Abrams: I have thirty people in my waiting room right now.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   77%

#13
The Borderlands (2013)

TRIVIA:   Leading British film critic Mark Kermode is a great fan of the film and the horror genre in itself. The first time he saw the film, he was half tempted to walk out of the cinema, he was so unsettled. Released as Final Prayer in the US.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   79%

#12
Afflicted (2013)

Derek: I need to find Audrey... It starts with her.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   79%

#11
Europa Report (2013)

Rosa Dasque: Compared to the breadth of knowledge yet to be known... what does your life actually matter?

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   80%

#10
The Den (2013)

TRIVIA:   The originally ending was that Elizabeth (Melanie Papalia) dead in the car accident when the truck hits her and she is thrown from the car. It was later changed to her died on the web cam being tortured as a new young lady sits back and watches showing that the game is about to repeat.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   82%

#09
Paranormal Activity (2009)

Micah: [discussing demons] Basically, they're these malevolent evil spirits that only exist to cause pain and commit evil for their own amusement. It's pretty creepy- I mean, they stalk people for years, like decades, and sometimes they're really intelligent in the way they do things to freak you out.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   83%

#08
The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Interviewee: There was this old Mary Brown...

Heather Donahue: Mary Brown? Hmm.

Interviewee: Yeah, and she was kind of a crazy - - crazy lady.

Heather Donahue: How was she seen by the community?

Interviewee: Crazy.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   86%

#07
The Conspiracy (2012)

Terrance: That's the genius of these rulers, that they've created this society that's conditioned to deny what's right in front of its eyes.

Jim: Which is what?

Terrance: That we're slaves.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   86%

#06
Willow Creek (2013)

Jim: Hi, I'm Jim Kessel. I'm here at the Trinity National Forest along Route 96 also known as The Bigfoot Byway. I'm here with my girlfriend Kelly Monteleone where we plan on retracing the famed 1967 Patterson Gimlin footage, and our search for Bigfoot.

[pause]

Jim: What's that face?

Kelly: Just... it's your thing, just make it about... you. You know, no girlfriend, my name, all that.

Jim: You don't want to be in the movie and now you're Stanley fuckin' Kubrick.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   86%

#05
Lake Mungo (2008)

Kim Whittle: Alice kept secrets.She kept the fact that she kept secrets a secret.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   93%

#04
[REC] (2007)

Sergio: Tell us everything you know.

Health Inspector: Okay. Okay. Yesterday, we received a call from a vet who had a dog brought in with an unknown disease. The dog went into a coma and a few moments later came to, and was extraordinarily aggressive. He started attacking all of the pets at the clinic. We had to give him several tranquilizers and then put him to sleep. We followed the chip in his ear, which led us to this building.

Ángela: One moment - was the dog called Max?

Health Inspector: Yes.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   96%

#03
Creep (2014)

TRIVIA:   The first in a planned trilogy of 'Creep' films.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   96%

#02
The Tunnel (2011)

TRIVIA:   The A$36,000 budget was raised via an early version of the online crowd-funding method, and was the first Australian film to be distributed and promoted legally through the BitTorrent internet downloading platform.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   100%

#01
The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)

Deborah Logan: I do all my little puzzles. I do crosswords. I'm lifting weights. I am doing everything that I have read will help to stave off the progression of this disease. Stave it off! There's no cure. And so when I am in the middle of something and suddenly my mind just leaves the premises, there are no words to describe how distressing it is.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   100%









Missed out on the other IHdb's Top Horror List - 
Check some of them out below!