6. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
The Blair Witch Project. A controversial piece of film-making that established the found footage genre, and paved the way for films like Cloverfield. It showed that you needn't a big budget or flashy effects to be scary - you can simply allow the audience's own imagination to create the horror inside their own head, with some sound narrative construction and atmosphere. The Blair Witch Project is one of the most successful independent films of all time, and so obviously it wouldn't be left alone, with a sequel to cash in on the film's brilliance being released the next year. So, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. The reason this film barely relates to the original is because the first one didn't really show you anything other than the reactions of the crew. It left you to your own machinations, which created suspense, tension, and fear. In the sequel, they couldn't really make a carbon copy of the original; they had to up-scale somehow. Unfortunately, their idea of 'up-scale' was to have the characters be processed by spirits, as they proceeded to commit horrible acts, whilst completely unaware of the events themselves. In addition, rough handheld cinematography is nowhere to be seen. So, the film completely abandons the atmosphere, the delicate touches, and instead it directly shows us what happens, which immediately eliminates any ideas of subtlety or brilliance. From indie hit to blundering teen horror in one fell swoop.