Poll: What is your opinion on Found Footage style films?
 

Poll: http://www.strawpoll.me/11274299

Still can't believe the latest found footage, the one that started them all, the Blair Witch sequel, bombed. Can't explain it.

Well they did try to sell it as something else in the beginning. I don't know if it was going to be Blair Witch from the beginning. But the first trailer when it was called something else didn't really excite me.

My opinion on found footage is that I only like a few of them. I haven't seen that really popular one yet with the ghosts in the house. But my favorite was the tv show with the group that goes down a river in South America. At least when people talk about found footage, that's the one I remember the most. I can't even recall my favorite found footage movie right now.

Yes I think it worked for awhile but has outlived its novelty, like 3D. For me, the whole appeal is it makes you feel like you are a participant in the horror, with the first-person perspective. I think found footage has drifted away from that now.

And Blair Witch franchise will never recover. Very sad the studios have killed two franchises, Ghostbusters and Blair Witch, in a matter of months.

It did not bomb. A bomb would imply that it lost a lot of money. Blair Witch has already tripled its production budget. It's easy to see why it underperformed. Mixed reviews turned people off, Don't Breathe has had an incredible box office run so far, an oversaturation of horror movies this summer, found footage isn't as popular as it used to be, no recognizable faces to the general public, and the fact that the Blair Witch series isn't very popular.

The format isn't the issue here; like any other medium of film making or sub-genre of films/stories, it all depends on how original the story is & (or even if it's not so) the way they are executing or revealing it to the audience by keeping the interest or excitement for the story & characters till the end.

Well, the production budget was only 5 mil. Not a high bar to clear! And yes, I mean bomb in terms of critical and fan reception, too. 30% freshness rating and all that. But call it "flopped" if you wish...

People will go see good horror movies but, back to the thread topic, I think found footage has breathed its last breath....for now. ::devil::

Found Footage is not bad itself I think, it all depends of the ideas and the execution. I really liked some of them, like Blair Witch Project, [REC] and Cannibal Holocaust. But then again these sold the idea of a found footage very good. Then again, seeing the 100th version of some people seeing ghosts or whatsoever and wearing a camera just for fun on their head, it's so dreadful and boring. I mean, I saw some found footages that didn't have bad ideas regarding the story, it was just not meant to be found footage. I am happy that we are moving away from this trend and that horror movies are real horror movies again, cause I don't have anything against the whole thing, now and then they can release this kind of movie, but if its all the time only found footage when a new movie releases, it's just not what I wish for the future of the horror genre to be.

I liked the new Blair Witch, and I can enjoy some found footage. I really wanted to like Unfriended but I really didn't. Same with Creep, I really wanted to like it. But I think in general, the difficulty is with the wrap up. For some reason Found footage almost never leaves you the right way. The original Blair Witch did it right, I love walking out of a theater confused and wishing I knew the rest of the story. Too often does a movie (unfriended) throw a ghost or a demon at you right at the end as a way to wrap up the movie without giving you a real, solid, well thought out ending. Honestly what I really want is a return to the days of the slasher and the cult movie. I watched House of the Devil for the third or fourth time this last weekend. That is an excellent film. If you haven't seen it, catch it on Netflix, it has the perfect nostalgic feel.

I found Unfriended to be pretty good, not revolutionizing horror by any means, but pretty good; do you think it truly counts as a found footage however?

The last found footage I really enjoyed was Troll Hunter.

I've always quite liked the genre but its originality has been drowned out by a long line of below average films.

Exactly, its kind of a to each their own sort of thing. Lol. I was into the movie, I was really enjoying it at first. Then... The ending literally ruined the entire movie for me. I need a good wrap up, and solid ending. Not just a chick with make up on jumping at the screen. I turned it off, effectively forgot anything good about it and walked away thinking "what a terrible ending".

On if its "found footage" I think technically it is. But its hard to say, I mean "live found footage" maybe? I don't know.

I like found footage movies. They seem to have a more chaotic nature than most other horror movies.

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Maybe these movies shouldn't be called "found footage" as if they really were, there would be police or someone finding out what happened. And not just we found this and are selling it to people. Found footage is basically the new based off a true story. But most know those stories aren't that true most of the time.

I think that movie in Paris was a found footage one. I like that one. With the girl like Lara Croft going underground in the tombs. It was called Upside Down or something.

As I mentioned in one found footage review that I can't remember, sometimes they break the found footage to film the movie. So if you are paying attention, you ask yourself, where is the cameraman or didn't the cameraman die and how is this still being filmed?

Exactly. When it's just used an effective shot technique, it works.

When they stick to Found Footage like it's a law -- people picking up a camera when it's the last thing a sane person would do -- it's so jolting and pathetic. The story has to trump it.

There's films where it works for the story/script, and others it doesn't.

I think it worked really well for Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project, Chronicles and VHS, but most of the other films were just ridiculous.

But they are very cheap to make, so I see plenty coming yet.