10 Found Footage Movies That Are Actually Worth Your Time
Get your dramamine pills ready, there's a whole lotta shaky cam ahead.
There seems to be this persistent notion that the found footage method of filmmaking is the worst thing to happen to movies since Joel Schumacher decided to try his hand at Batman. But that's only because that notion is mostly true.
The simple truth is that there's a whole lot of dreck associated with the phrase "found footage", and it can be tough to slog through the swamp of atrocities to find films that actually use the technique in an interesting or effective manner.
More often than not, it's the directors with a tiny budget and an even tinier grasp of how to properly frame a scene that use a grainy, handheld camera as a way to cover up their many faults.
But like anything else, when the found footage concept is used appropriately - as a filmmaking tool, and not as a crutch or marketing ploy - it can help create stunning movies that are absolutely worth your time.
10. Cloverfield
A group of friends at a farewell party are recording their testimonials and best wishes to their relocating chum when the city is besieged by a monster that has no problem shot-putting the Statue of Liberty through the New York streets.
Admittedly, there are definitely some peripheral things to dislike about Cloverfield. And like a partially-healed scab, it's tempting to pick at those flaky edges until only the thick, purposeful shell remains.
So get rid of the side story about a rekindled love - the same love story that would force the protagonist into stupidly risky situations that make the whole "don't go into the basement!" idiocy of regular horror movies feel downright clever - and pluck away comic relief Hud's (TJ Miller) unexplained refusal to drop the camera when running away from Godzilla's more destructive cousin.
This is a first-person disaster flick stuffed inside a horror movie, and the demolition of New York City is a sinister kind of fun, much like the perverse pleasure you get watching these purposely-insufferable twenty-somethings get picked off one by one while their friend captures it all on home video.