20 Best Found Footage Horror Movies Ever

3. [REC]

Paranormal Activity
Filmax

Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza's [REC] is perhaps the most intense and adrenalised found footage film ever made, in which a Spanish TV reporter (a brilliant Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman's ride-along with a group of firefighters goes horribly awry once they take a call at an apartment building.

Soon enough, an infection begins spreading throughout the apartments, turning the afflicted rabid, prompting the authorities to seal the building, leaving those inside to fight for their lives.

Unlike many found footage films, [REC] doesn't leave a whole lot to the imagination, offering up a brutal, relentless take on the zombie film that leaves barely a moment for the audience to catch their breath.

With a refreshingly to-the-point 78-minute runtime, [REC] serves up nerve-shredding suspense and a tantalising central mystery, the payoff to which is one of the most genuinely terrifying endings of any found footage film. Sequel [REC] 2 is also a blast, though you needn't bother with the two other sequels or 2008's shot-for-shot English-language remake, Quarantine.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.