The Scenario: Told largely through the documentary format, The Last Broadcast draws heavily on found footage to build its case for the murder of several members of a TV crew who went deep into the woods to deliver a live broadcast about the notorious Jersey devil killer. Only one of the team survived, and after being charged with murder based on seemingly overwhelming evidence he ends up dying in prison. But was he actually responsible? Others investigating the case believe that there is more to it than meets the eye. The Moment: The closing moment when the young woman assisting with the documentary processing the footage in order to reveal an image of the actual killer is suddenly pounced upon - by the director of the documentary. He proceeds to smother her in a plastic sheet, slowly suffocating her to death. Afterwards he drags her out to the spot where he murdered the TV crew and proceeds to finish off narrating his work.
18. You've Been Framed - Exhibit A
The Scenario: Warp Films produce this woefully under-seen found footage movie which charts the slow but inexorable mental breakdown of the father of a family, Andy, as he struggles to secure a promotion and buy a new home on the coast. Told entirely through the video camera given to his daughter for her birthday, it begins almost like a dark comedy soap opera, but before long descends into something much more macabre. The Moment: Dad films his son and daughter as they try to fake a tumble into the incomplete swimming pool to send off to You've Been Framed to earn £250. What begins as a humorous scene in which the father Andy initially comes across as your typical embarrassing dad soon tips towards something darker, as he gets increasingly angry at their ability to get the stunt right. It's the first sign that he's starting to crack, and the transition from light comedy to psychological horror is hugely effective.
17. A Weak Heart - Man Bites Dog
The Scenario: A documentary crew have been granted permission by a notorious serial killer by the name of Ben to follow him around as he goes about his daily life, which consists largely of beating, robbing and - of course - murdering as many innocent people as he feels like. Starting out as detached observers, as the film progresses the crew finds themselves increasingly conspiring with the psychopath, as he jovially outlines to them the finer points of his "profession" (for instance, the different weights used for sinking the body of a full-grown male compared to a dwarf). The Moment: After explaining to the crew how much easier the elderly are to kill, coupled with the fact they often keep their money at home, Ben talks his way into an old woman's apartment. He sits down beside her on the couch and amiably chats away, then suddenly pulls his gun out and points it towards her while screaming at the top of his lungs. As the old woman dies of a heart attack Ben turns to the crew and explains nonchalantly how he spotted her heart tablets and decided to save a bullet.
16. Acid On The Brain - Diary Of The Dead
The Scenario: George A. Romero takes his Dead franchise into found footage territory with a satirical swipe at the mainstream media. Diary of the Dead follows a group of film studies students as they find their horror movie project interrupted by real life reports of the dead returning to life and attacking the living. Determined to document the events for themselves (found footage movies often feature a character who is conveniently over-zealous when it comes to recording everything) they set out across America looking for survivors and a safe haven. The Moment: By George Romero standards the shocks and gore in Diary of the Dead are pretty tame - there's certainly nothing here on the same order as the death scene of Captain Rhodes, as zombies tear off his legs and rip his stomach open while he tells them to "choke on em!". But still, the scene where one zombie gets smashed over the head with a jar of acid stands out - the undead beast stumbles back and forth as the acid eats away at its skull until it drops to the floor, a cavernous hole exposing its brain.
15. The Drowning Prophecy - Lake Mungo
The Scenario: Lake Mungo is another faux-documentary in which found footage plays a role in moving the story forwards, in this case a low-key tale of a drowned daughter and the family struggling to come to terms with her death who find themselves experiencing an increasing number of supernatural phenomena, as the ghost of their daughter begins to appear in photographs. Some audiences at the time of release were so convinced this was a regular documentary that they believe the events depicted to be completely true. The Moment: As the family of the drowned girl dig deeper and deeper into her background and discover some dark secrets, they uncover footage recorded on her mobile phone of a weekend she'd spent at the titular lake with her friends the year before. On it, they see images of her drowned form stumbling out of the dark towards her. It is a chilling premonition of her tragic fate.
14. Aborted Foetus Ghosts - Norei The Curse
The Scenario: The Japanese found footage movie Noroi The Curse might mine rather familiar territory for fans of Japanese horror but it has enough slow-burning tension punctuated with shocks to warrant a viewing. It tells the story of an journalist investigating the disappearance of a ten-year-old psychic girl - his investigation leads him out of the city and to an old town where the locals previously practiced rituals to pacify a local demon. The Moment: After attempting to perform the ritual at the site of the old village, a strange psychic man wearing aluminium foil clothing who has been helping the journalist with his investigation suddenly sprints off into the woods. Setting off in pursuit as night begins to fall, after discovering dozens of mutilated dogs the two stumble across an old shrine. When the journalist switches his camera to night vision, an image of the disappeared young girl appears, with the ghosts of dozens of aborted foetuses crawling all over her.
13. Meet The Cult - The Last Exorcism
The Scenario: After receiving a plea for his assistance, a disillusioned minister sets out to a farmhouse in a remote rural community to perform what will be his last exorcism, taking with him a documentary team to record the event. He meets the farmer's daughter and believes that she has been misdiagnosed with possession, but after she steals their camera and films herself killing a cat in the barn they realise things might be more serious than they originally believed. The Moment: The crew return to the deserted farmhouse to discover the walls covered in occult and Satanic symbols and images. After wandering into the woods they spy a fire in the distance and stumble across the residents of the community dressed in cloaks carrying out a Satanic ritual, with the possessed daughter giving birth to an inhuman child before throwing it into the fire. The crew's desperate attempts to escape come to no avail - they're massacred with axes before the footage abruptly cuts out.
12. Night Time Visitor - The Blair Witch Project
The Scenario: The found footage movie which we can all thank - or blame, depending on your perspective - for the wave of imitators which followed, The Blair Witch Project follows a small crew of independent filmmakers as they attempt to uncover the legend of the eponymous witch. After interviewing a few creepy-looking locals in the nearby town of Burkittsville, Maryland, the three set off deep into the surrounding woods. The Moment: After getting lost and seemingly walking in circles all day long, the young filmmakers reluctantly set up camp for another night. Unfortunately their sleep is disturbed in the dead of night by mysterious noises coming from around the tent, and as they lie their terrified at the prospect of whatever it is lurking around them, suddenly the sides of the tent are violently shaken. It's a fantastic jump scare all the more effective for not revealing the source, subtle yet nevertheless shocking.
11. Encounter In The Apartment - REC
The Scenario: When the Spanish decided to get in on the found footage act their first major effort was REC, in which a documentary team following a crew of firemen on an evening's work in the capital get far more than they bargained for when they're called out to a strange disturbance in an apartment block. Mixing 28 Days Later with The Exorcist, it's a masterclass in escalating tension with some brilliant scares throughout. The Moment: The firemen and their camera-wielding companions arrive at the apartment where the disturbances were reported and hang back as the police break their way inside. All hell breaks loose when the old woman residing within attacks, viciously biting anyone who gets in her way and precipitating the wave of carnage which is soon unleashed throughout the apartment block. The atmosphere as they search for her and the sheer horror which follows stands as one of the best moments in found footage movies.
10. One Last Hug - Exhibit A
The Scenario: After flipping out while trying to film a pratfall for You've Been Framed, father and husband Andy's mental breakdown only quickens its pace - he takes to sitting in the shed chain smoking while talking to himself as his family falls apart around him, and when he accidentally plays back his daughter's footage of him losing his mind at a family gathering he takes charge of the camera himself to document his decline from his own perspective. Soon, his despair leads to thoughts of suicide. The Moment: Having decided to end his own life, Andy sits in his room and guzzles down a load of pills with a bottle of vodka. When his daughter comes into his room he gives her one last hug as he implores her to go to her room, but finds letting go to be impossible. After smothering her he picks up a hammer and heads upstairs to finish of his wife and son before lining them all up and caressing their corpses, making sure that the family stick together to the very end.
9. A Bedtime Visitor - VHS
The Scenario: The first in the VHS anthology series isn't exactly a consistent affair - the shocks on offer are hit and miss to put it mildly. That said, it has its moments, and the second short found footage film in which a young couple head off on a Second Honeymoon (as the episode is titled), during which a strange visitor enters their room at night, slowly builds up to a shocking conclusion. The Moment: After accusing his wife of stealing his money the night before, husband Sam heads to bed for the last time. As he sleeps, a figure approaches his bed and films him as he snoozes before sliding a switchblade into his throat, continuing to film unflinchingly as his throat fills with blood and he chokes to death. The killer then turns the camera on his wife, who kisses her passionately, the lovers reunited.
8. Meet Grandma - REC
The Scenario: After the woman in the apartment goes on her biting spree all hell breaks loose in the Spanish apartment block, which becomes increasingly overrun with infected residents eager to tear life from limb to anyone they come across. The camera crew, finding their options restricted by the second, find themselves heading up to the top of the building and entering a sinister apartment full of demonic paraphernalia and strange audio recordings. They're not alone. The Moment: After discovering the penthouse suite was the resident of an agent of the Vatican and realising the full demonic horror of their predicament, the crew hear noises from up in the attic and decide to take a look. A rabid boy breaks the light forcing them to switch to night vision, whereupon the source of the entire outbreak - a horribly emaciated girl by the name of Tristana - emerges from the darkness wielding a hammer. It's a truly nerve-jangling sequence and one of the best moments in the found footage genre.
7. Stand In The Corner - The Blair Witch Project
The Moment: After five nights of increasing terror as the supernatural visits to their tent continue unabated, the documentary crew wake up on the sixth morning to discover one of their party, Josh, has gone missing. That night, after recording a final message of contrition for having led her friends into such a dreadful situation, Heather and the remaining crew member Mike hear Josh's cries in the distance and rush out to try and find him. The Moment: Having discovered an old abandoned house they head inside as the sound of Josh's cries for help get louder. Confused as to where he might be, Mike races upstairs, but then the voice emerges again, this time seeming to come from the basement. As Heather struggles to keep up with Mike she dashes after him into the basement, only to catch a glimpse of him stood in the corner facing the wall before she screams out, camera crashing to the floor.
6. The Cult Leader Pounces - VHS 2
The Moment: By far the stand-out short from the VHS 2 anthology - and the entire series, for that matter - Safe Haven may well be the best found footage movie ever made. Directed by Gareth Evans - the man behind the Raid action movies - it uses footage from a documentary crew to show the ins and outs of an Indonesian cult accused of incest and strange rituals. Using hidden cameras, the team persuade the cult leader to allow them access to his compound only to discover that he has more than just a documentary in store for them. The Moment: While waiting with the cult leader for the documentary's director to return with a spare battery, the sound guy finds himself becoming increasingly on edge as the leader starts delivering a strange sermon-like message over a Tannoy to his cult members. When he suddenly rips his shirt open to reveal strange markings carved into his flesh with a knife the sound guy tries to protest, but a moment later the leader pounces on his and slices open his throat. As the blood sprays all over his face the leader hums a jaunty tune to himself, wiping the blood through his hair before spitting on the corpse.
5. Dinner Time - Cannibal Holocaust
The Scenario: The found footage movie to start them all, Cannibal Holocaust mixes up conventional cinematic narrative with the footage filmed by a film crew who set out to gather footage of Amazonian cannibal tribes, never to return. Hugely controversial upon its release on account of its graphic violence, director Ruggero Deodato was arrested after its premiere and accused of making a snuff movie - although cleared of this charge, the film was banned in numerous countries and remains a classic example of the early video nasties to this day. The Moment: As a band of marauding cannibalistic natives close in on the documentary team as they open fire on them desperately with rifles, one of the crew is shot with an arrow and dragged away. The remaining team film the horrors from the nearby foliage as the natives literally tear him to pieces, severing his penis and removing his head, before gorging on the still-warm flesh.
4. Oral Demon Impregnation - REC 2
The Scenario: Following on directly from the previous movie, REC 2 sees another team of people entering the building, this time armed to the teeth with fully automatic weapons and head-mounted cameras. Before long they discover Angela, the intrepid reporter from the first movie, who is naturally very keen to get as far away from the building as is humanly possible. But Angela isn't who she appears to be. The Moment: At the end of the first REC audiences got to see Angela, filmed in night vision, dragged away from the camera just as she was about to reach out to it. REC 2 reveals her horrible fate in full gruesome detail - the possessed girl Tristana pins her to the ground and we see a dreadful demon worm burrow its way deep inside her throat and into her body.
3. Demon Woman - VHS
The Scenario: the first short - and the best - of the original VHS anthology sees a group of misogynistic men renting a motel room so that they can take women back for casual sex, planning to film it all on their discreet camera glasses. Amateur Night starts out unpromising, but when the girl they picked up called Lily starts to act more than a little strange, the short transforms into one of the best slices of horror from the found footage genre. The Moment: After getting more than a little excited at the prospect of sex, Lily suddenly sprouts fangs and proceeds to shred one of the hapless men to pieces, tearing off his penis and shoving it in his throat. Panicked, the two remaining men hide in the bathroom, and after one tries to kill her with a shower rail but ends up eviscerated himself, the lone survivor flees the apartment, desperately seeking help from some nearby strangers. His pleas are wasted - having grow into a full-on winged demon, Lily plucks him off the ground and flies into the night sky.
2. Sadako Emerges - Ring
The Scenario: While most of Ring - Hideo Nakata's seminal Japanese horror movie from 1998 - is shot as a conventional movie, it is found footage which forms the backbone of the plot. Revolving around the discovery of a mysterious video tape which curses those who watch it to a fate of death within seven days, like The Blair Witch Project, Ring inspired a host of sequels, prequels, remakes and imitators in the years which followed, few of which reached the same spooky heights. The Moment: After discovering the body of the young girl Sadako at the bottom of a well, the intrepid investigators believe the curse has finally been lifted - they couldn't be more wrong. In an iconic moment of horror movie history, found footage takes a disturbing twist as Sadako's ghost appears on the screen and crawls out the well, then out of the television set and into the room. Brilliantly executed, it's a truly chilling scene which lingers in the mind long after the movie ends.
1. Unleashing The Demon - VHS 2
The Scenario: After the cult leader has leaped over the table and gleefully sliced the throat of the documentary crew's sound guy, a wave of mass suicides sweeps through his compound. But this is just the beginning - with his girlfriend dragged away by some incredibly sinister-looking nurses, one of the remaining survivors desperately tries to rescue her from a fate worse than death. The Moment: In pursuit of his girlfriend, the unnamed man follows them down a corridor towards a surgical room but is blown back by an explosion. After gathering his wits - and a makeshift weapon - he cautiously makes his way forwards, only to be met by the cult leader, half naked and covered in blood. The leader spontaneously explodes before him and he finds his girlfriend on a table giving birth to a monstrous demon, and from here on out Hell is unleashed - literally. Zombies and other members of the undead pour out as an air raid siren blares out as the man tries to escape with his life intact. It's completely over the top but brilliantly executed - Safe Haven's ending is perhaps one of the most impressive grand guignol moments in horror movie history which would make for a fantastic full length feature film. Take note, Gareth Evans. Agree or disagree with the choices on this list? What are your favourite shocking moments from found footage movies? Why not post a comment below?
