6. The Downside of The Genre
The biggest advantage of found footage horror is also its biggest creative disadvantage - its cheap to do. Films like The Devil Inside are a textbook example of how to do found footage horror poorly - and ending the film with a link to a website is insulting a paying audience. I have no problem with open-ended films, but that takes the mickey. You cant just use the trope of "this footage was recoveredblahblahblahthe subject havent been seen sinceblahblahblahthe government dont want anyone to see thisblahblahblah" Go original or go home. Unlike vampires or zombies, you cant please Joe Public with a rehash of a subgenre that is very difficult to do well. But because studios will make a huge profit, they churn out factory-line found footage horrors made for pennies and given a healthy online marketing budget. If this subgenre, and a possible renaissance of great American horror, is to flourish in the long-term, studios and distributors need to be more selective with their found-footage output, to avoid oversaturating the market. Some things never change