5 Best Found Footage Horror Movies Of All Time, Ranked – BGR

Perhaps one of the riskiest tropes in filmmaking is applying found-footage as a way of storytelling. Telling a story through a camera that can’t sit still, or shot through terrible lighting, is a gamble that sometimes doesn’t hit the mark. Thankfully, there are some entries that use this tool in a wonderfully effective way, especially in horror films.

No matter how bad things might look onscreen or how poor the sound might become, it only builds the immense dread that those daring to keep filming might not see their own final cut. Well, here at BGR, we love a good found-footage fright fest (“Europa Report” deserves honorable mention), and being the brave little soldiers that we are, we’ve found five films that fit the bill perfectly and have left us hiding behind our hands as it all plays out.

From snapping a serial killer’s smile, to poor connectivity issues adding bucket loads of tension to a terrifying moment, these found-footage movies have all delivered in the format they’ve dared to play with. To kick things off, we’ve got an unconventional horror film that perhaps feels the most real of all, and one that, frankly, doesn’t get enough attention. Then again, maybe that’s not a bad thing, depending on what kind of horror you’re into. So what are you waiting for? Press play, if you dare.

While it might be the only entry on this list without a supernatural element, that doesn’t prevent “Man Bites Dog” from being an at-times horrifying watch that perhaps holds more to say at its core than most of the other films presented here.

Released in 1992 and directed by Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, and Benoît Poelvoorde, the film is presented through the perspective of a documentary crew following the daily routine of a murderer named Ben (Poelvoorde), who’s increasing his kill count. Told with a dark sense of humor and continued filming even as the situation grows more sinister, with the unsuspecting victims entering Ben’s world, those behind the camera soon find themselves entangled in the very activities they’re capturing.

An unsettling examination of how lines can blur and how easily the viewers can become the viewed, “Man Bites Dog” is a nasty but compelling piece of work, with its teeth marks sinking into future films like “Nightcrawler,” “Funny Games” and “Natural Born Killers.” The film also got its bones picked for an impressive Venom short film, “Truth in Journalism,” which is better than most of the Tom Hardy movies. 

Every film on this list requires creativity, and while “Host” might not be at the top, it definitely deserves high praise for working within its limitations and becoming an even better watch because of that. Released during the Coronavirus pandemic, Rob Savage’s intense lockdown horror movie is as short as a Zoom call and doesn’t waste a single second.

After six friends join a call with a medium to contact the dead, a non-believer breaks the rules and unleashes an evil presence. One by one, participants are disconnected in chilling fashion as the timer counts down and the most popular lockdown app takes a frightening turn.

In an era that fostered many creative talents, Savage’s homemade horror is an inventive ghost story that thrives on the technological limitations it faces. Visual glitches, dips in sound, and each caller, at times, struggling to see what’s happening on their end, elevate the tension to brilliant levels. Looking back, Savage’s bold experiment with found-footage was definitely a product of its time, with the terror of its victims confined indoors, just like the audience that was eating it up. In doing so, Savage’s film becomes a time capsule of fear, always worth revisiting.

Ignoring the franchise that spawned from it and the immensely uneven entries that followed there are still wonderfully handled and hair-raising moments in Oren Peli’s “Paranormal Activity.” Earning the accolade of giving even Steven Spielberg the willies, the 2007 film dared to ask viewers to pay close attention to a static shot of a bedroom, and we happily obliged, trying to spot anything that would make us jump out of our skin because, well, that’s entertainment.

With a budget of around $215,000 and earning $194.2 million, Peli takes the classic formula of seeing a happy couple move into a new home, only to learn they might not be the only residents on the premises. From there, Micah (Micah Sloat) sets up cameras to try and deduce just what it is that’s going bump in the night, leading to pulse-pounding revelations.

It’s the simplicity of “Paranormal Activity” that makes it the great watch it is. On an initial budget of only $15,000, Peli earns his greatest scares by way of onscreen timestamps, or a door slowly creeping open before the frights really start ratcheting up. From there, Katie (Katie Featherston) is yanked out of bed, or throws her dearly beloved at the camera, all under the eerie blue hue that’s become synonymous with the found-footage franchise. It might’ve diminished, but the first activity recorded is still an effective one.

A brilliant batch of horror genres collided in 2007, thanks to directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, and a documentary crew that gets put through the wringer when they find themselves in an apartment building in Barcelona. Manuela Velasco plays the host of a television show, “While You’re Sleeping,” and, while tagging along on an emergency call from a fire station, finds a horror trapped inside that lets all hell break loose.

Compared to some of the other found-footage films on this list, “REC” is without a doubt the most frenetic and ferocious entry. Regardless of the wild camera work that tears down hallways or up staircases, the impressive cinematography from Pablo Rosso allows the audience to know exactly where they are while stuck in this tower of terror.

However, the biggest reward in “REC” is the impressive redirect the film takes when it takes us to the penthouse. While other found-footage films on this list stick to a singular spook or scary monster haunting our victims, Balagueró and Plaza dare to add a satanic possession element that fits seamlessly into the chaos. The result is undeniably one of the most unsettling creatures ever to be caught on camera, who quite literally hammers the final bit of dread into what’s one of the best zombie invasion movies ever made.

“The Blair Witch Project” still remains the found-footage film, just as “The Exorcist” is the possession movie that cuts through the competition. Fueled by what stands as one of the best marketing campaigns ever conceived, audiences flocked to see the supposedly “true story” of three friends who ventured into the Appalachian Mountains to film a documentary about the legendary Blair Witch.

What follows is a terribly shot, panic-stricken trip that leaves the viewer listening for every twig snap and rustle heard in the darkness beyond the treeline. Then there’s the growing lore of the witch herself that only adds to the growing dread as the trip out into the wild reaches its climax.

Is the acting hokey, and the snot in high amounts? Certainly. But throw that together with the predominantly blurry perspectives that flood the film, all culminating in that dread-inducing trip into the witch’s house, and a shot that’s seared into the brain of any self-respecting horror fan, before the camera goes limp. Plenty of found-footage films have come and gone, but the Blair Witch can still cast a spell on a quiet night that’ll make you leave the light on just that little bit longer than normal. If you need horror in a bingeable format, read about one of the most underrated and scariest shows on television here.