4. Dumb Characters Acting Dumber
Horror films are already full of dumb characters. They put their weapons down at all the wrong moments, always decide to split up, and cant seem to resist investigating situations that will almost surely lead to a certain and painful death. So how do you make them even dumber? Put a camera in their hands. Its just impractical. If youre in a situation with life or death stakes, would you really make sure you were filming every last moment of it? Even at the expense of having both of your hands free? Consider Hud, the faithful camera operator in
Cloverfield, carrying the camera with him as he crawls from one leaning skyscraper into another.
Is it exciting? Well, sure, yeah, maybe. Does it make any sense, even within the context of the film? Absolutely not. There are countless other examples of characters acting beyond idiotic for the sole purpose of giving the audience a cheap thrill. Like most of the other items on this list, these lapses in character logic work against the sense of reality that found footage films try so hard to create.