10 Annoying Problems With Found Footage Movies
6. Forced Dialogue
These movies typically present what you're watching as footage that just happens to be on these cameras, but because of that some of the dialogue can often feel really forced. Isn’t it convenient that these characters are explaining this entire situation while they happen to also be recording?
Take a scene towards the beginning of the first V/H/S movie. The characters are recording while goofing around in the car when they suddenly explain that they’re being sent to this house to recover a VHS tape. Wouldn't everyone in the car know what they're doing, though? It’s being said just so the audience can hear that information, but it feels so painfully forced.
That happens way too often in these movies. The dialogue should feel completely natural and like the viewer is a fly on the wall, but a lot of times it's far too calculated, with the characters explaining things they wouldn’t naturally be explaining and expressing their emotions out loud in really obvious ways.