Lets face it: found footage movies arent going anywhere anytime soon. Why would they? Theyre cheap to make, fast to film, easy to market, and practically guaranteed to turn a profit, regardless of their Tomatometer score. And just as quality has become less and less of a priority, so too has the genres adherence to authenticity, particularly when it comes to casting. That Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams werent recognizable faces or household names was a huge part of the reason that The Blair Witch Project turned into such an insane success; by casting unknowns in the three lead roles, directors Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick enhanced what was already an uncomfortably palpable experience. Contrast that with last weekends The Pyramid, which stars familiar character actor Denis OHareof True Blood and American Horror Storyas a real archaeologist documenting his team's excavation into the dark bowels of an ancient Egyptian tomb. OHares a fine actor, but his casting reeks of a fundamental misunderstanding of the genre's basic appeal. After all, why make a found footage movie if all youre going to do is cast someone whose mere presence undercuts the entire point of the movie being pesudo-real to begin with? OHare is far from being the only famous face to ever pop up in a found footage movie and totally kill the film's "reality." Here are ten more egregiously distracting examples.
