Paranormal Activity 4 has been out for a week now, and is all set to be the film of the Halloween season yet again, as fans search for a horror film to watch to ring in yet another Hallows Eve. Ariel Schulman’s film-cum-franchise has relaunched the “Found Footage” genre of horror that was first made popular by the 1999 film “The Blair Witch Project” into the public’s consciousness. So much so, it has replaced the Saw Franchise as the staple Halloween Horror release of the year, with a fifth film in the series having been confirmed for next October, too.
However, if “Found Footage” is your game, and you’re looking for an alternative to the Paranormal Activity franchise for this Halloween, here are ten more awesome found footage horrors that we personally think outdo it. Below, you will find number 10 on our list, counting backwards to our number one choice.
10. The Last Broadcast
Released in 1998 and directed by Stefen Avalos, The Last Broadcast focuses on a group of four documentary film makers. After a pair of TV journalists are murdered in suspicious circumstances, David Leigh, the central character, sets out to get to the bottom of the murders whilst making his documentary about it. He learns of “The Jersey Devil” myth, and recruits four colleagues to enter Pine Barrens and broadcast a live TV show of their exploits for TV and Radio. All but one of the groups members are also killed in mysterious circumstances, and the only survivor, Suerd, is sentences for their murders, but when a damaged videotape reel is sent to Leigh and the real, horrific truth comes to light through the contained footage, we learn that all is not as it seems.
A fairly predictable twist, but it is gruesome and gory, and the ending is well played out.
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16 Comments
The second entry is called “VHS”, not “VCR”.
How did he get the wrong title for “One of my favourite horror movies”?
You put a picture from Quarantine, not REC.
HAHAHAHAHA. The Amityville Haunting better than Paranormal Activity? HA.
Noroi the Curse is easily the scariest found footage horror film I’ve ever seen.
Lazily put together article.
What’s VCR?
I am really surprised that “Grave Encounters” isn’t on this list. It is THE “found footage” movies to end all the rest. Check it out on Netflix. It’s guaranteed a few jumps and beats Paranormal Activity on all levels. VCR was a good pick though, I have to admit…
Seriously, Diary of the Dead? Its not only one of the worst Found Footage movies (they use a Hollywood cam and add a musical score to remove it from the FF genre as much as possible, as such it never feels natural), its the worst of the Romero zombie series as well.
8. That’s a picture from Quarantine, not REC.
As others pointed out, you put up a picture from Quarantine for [REC], and you have the film V/H/S listed as VCR.
Also, the movie My Little Eye is a great “found footage” movie. It’s about a group of people who get picked to live in a house in the mountains completely disconnected from the world as part of an online reality show that will award the winner a boatload of cash. Needless to say, things go wrong, people turn up dead, and everyone is freaking out. It also features a WAY prefame appearance from Bradley Cooper, luckily in a very small role, because amongst all the unknowns in the cast, it is jarring to see such a known star.
Dude, did you even watch Cloverfield?
This guy is honestly one of the worst movie “bloggers” I’ve encountered, lazily throwing together “topical” “articles” for this joke of a site. I never fail to be genuinely pissed when I click a link from slashfilm’s Page 2 and it leads me to this site.
Although not a movie, Stone Hornets is an excellent found footage webseries.
Atrocious better than Paranormal Activity? What movie did you see? That was really, really terrible.
And while we’re at it… The Last Exorcism? Seriously? it was okay right up until that crazy batsh*t ending, but better? No. Wrong answer.
Where’s The Poghkeepsie Tapes?