"Rants & Ravings About Horror" - Week 8: “Why I Love Found Footage Films”

Week 8: “Why I Love Found Footage Films”

It is my opinion that the sub genre of found footage films has been given a bad name of late due to the numerous mediocre films bombarding both the theater and the VOD and online streaming platforms.  I love the found footage film; I always have ever since I saw The Blair Witch Project (1999) in a full capacity theater at a midnight screening.  I had seen other films in this genre before this film but this was the very first one I was able to see with such a large audience.  The film really had no effect on me because, unfortunately, I was raised on horror films and its pretty damn near impossible for me to find one that will scare or terrify me but this film terrified the audience.  People really got into this film.  They really believed what was happening to the characters and believed that what they were watching on the big screen was real.  The film affected them in a way that few other horror films ever had.  Audience members screamed and laughed and even yelled back at the characters on the screen.  Here in lies the real effect that a found footage has on its audience – it feels all too real.  If the film doesn’t feel real then the illusion of the found footage film is lost and it fails.

Now, one of my favorite films of this genre is Man Bites Dog (1992).  This film was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  The closest film to this is Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986).  Both films are raw and uncompromising and both stay with you long after the credits roll.  Another early found footage film is Cannibal Holocaust (1980) which is not only the best example of an early found footage film but also the crowning achievement of the cannibal films.  This film is actually an amalgamation of the found footage and traditional film but it comments on the nature of both in such a way that it leaves the audience polarized after what they just watched.  Early films in this genre tended to do this but that is not the case anymore.

I should also mention the little film The Last Broadcast (1998) which pre-dates Blair Witch Project but is not nearly as affective.  Although both films touch on some of the same themes Blair Witch is the film most affective in grabbing hold of the audience and never letting go.  The Last Broadcast is just a pale imitation (even if it was released first).

The early ‘00s saw a huge list of noteworthy films from REC (2007), Diary of the Dead (2007), Paranormal Activity (200), Cloverfield (2008), The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2008), Quarantine (2008) and Welcome to the Jungle (2007), to name a few.  Some of the most effective for audiences were presented as raw one-take films – i.e. Cloverfield, REC, and its American remake Quarantine.  This was a time when the genre was at its most effective and audiences were standing in lines for the latest found footage film.

Some of the reasons for this is that these films were produced on very small budgets, didn’t rely on name actors and presented old ideas in a new and entertaining way that seemed more real to the audience.

By the ‘10s the genre was relying on a tired formula despite presenting new ideas.  After several Paranormal Activity sequels and a glut of knock-offs like Grave Encounters (2011), Paranormal Entity (2009), Paranormal Asylum: The Revenge of Typhoid Mary (2013), 7 Nights of Darkness (2011), Paranormal Incident (2011), The Amityville Haunting (2011), Apartment 143 (2011) and Greystone Park (2012), to name a few, the genre was never the same and couldn’t recover.  It still can’t.

If you haven’t noticed there have been a huge glut of the ghost and paranormal found footage film but there are plenty of other films that decided to tackle other monsters like zombies in The Zombie Diaries (2006), Bigfoot in Willow Creek (2013), exorcism and demons in The Last Exorcism (2010) and The Devil Inside (2012), trolls in Troll Hunter (2010), space in Europa Report (2013) and Apollo 18 (2011), the underground in As Above, So Below (2014), Frankenstein (and his monster) in The Frankenstein Theory (2013) and Frankenstein’s Army (2013), cannibals in Chernobyl Diaries (2012), pregnancy in Devil’s Due (2014), giant creatures in The Bay (2012), Egypt and the pyramids in The Pyramid (2014), and even crazy fanatics in The Sacrament (2013).

When a found footage film is successful it touches upon our primal fear by presenting them in a more realistic manner than the traditional film.  This is why audiences adore them.  These films appeal to audiences that would not normally go see a horror film.  Over the last few years we’ve seen the genre delve more into spectacle and by so doing this lose their sense of realism and once that is gone they are no longer an effective film but just another horror film that just looks cheap.  Films like The Pyramid and Frankenstein’s Army and Troll Hunter appeal to the horror fan but not to the casual film goer, whereas Paranormal Activity and The Last Exorcism appealed to a larger audience.  If the genre is to survive it needs to return to the state of realism that it relies upon for its effectiveness.

As horror fan, I love Europa Report just as much as I love The Sacrament.  The bad CGI took me out of The Pyramid and The Frankenstein Theory was just atrocious on all levels.  Devil’s Due was a cheap-man’s Rosemary’s Baby whereas The Bay was a real-life cautionary tale in the vein of the original Japanese Gojira.  To some Apollo 18 was about killer moon rocks and Cloverfield gave people motion sickness but I enjoyed both of these films tremendously for each of their own unique way of telling a story.

Maybe one day I’ll put together my list of all-time favorites but until then just know that like most genres, the found footage film is just in a downward position but it can return to the top at any moment and since I’m looking forward to this year’s Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension I hope this happens sooner rather than later.

Companion to “Conversations in Horror” - “My Favorite Evil Doll Films”

“My Favorite Evil Doll Films”

In the podcast “Conversations in Horror” hosts Ron McLellen and I look at different aspects of the horror genre in order to entertain and educate fans.  This article is a companion to the show as a means to touch upon things that the show doesn’t have time to.  Enjoy.

I decided that it was time to take a look at some of my favorite films that feature evil dolls.  Some of these films you may be very familiar with while others you may not be (which means you probably need to go out there and look them up).  If you listen to Episode #1002 then you will know that we touched upon some of these films but I will enlighten you even more. 

The film that got me most interested in evil dolls was Child’s Play (1988).  It had a profound effect on me as a child, so much that the franchise was and still remains one of my all-time favorites about Halloween, Friday the 13^th, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  The idea of using voodoo to become one with a doll and to continue killing people and manipulating a child terrified and fascinated me as a child.  It lead to my searching out other evil dolls especially Charles Band’s Puppetmaster (1989), which had some of the coolest dolls ever committed to film.  Chucky may have been the most terrifying doll there was but Band’s group of misfit and misunderstood dolls were among the most entertaining.  I still love all the films in the franchise and eagerly await a new film whenever they are released.

I think Charles Band and Full Moon Entertainment (and his various other companies) had the greatest effect on me growing up as a child because of the Puppet Master franchise and Demonic Toys (1992) and its various sequels.  Whereas the puppets of the Puppet Master franchise could be seen as good those in Demonic Toys were all bad which made them even more fun.  If there is one thing that Full Moon Entertainment does well, it is doll movies - others include Doll Graveyard (1995) and Dangerous Worry Dolls (2008), among many more.  One of the highlights of the Band produced films is Stuart Gordon’s Dolls (1987).  This is a superb film that’s over shadowed by Gordon’s other major works but no less a classic on its own.  I love this film.

Another one of my all-time favorites from this same time period is Dolly Dearest (1991), a largely ignored and forgotten film that doesn’t really have anything new to say but have always been an entertaining film.  It has not aged as well as some of the others but its slightly darker tone doesn’t come off nearly as campy as the Band produced films.  Another film in this same camp is the psychological thriller Pinocchio’s Revenge (1996), another largely forgotten film yet one that I really loved when it came out.  I’ve always had a fascination with doll films since the original Child’s Play and therefore any film featuring a doll was always high on my list.

Of a more adult vein is the Anthony Hopkins starring Magic (1978).  This is a classic psychological thriller that’s more of a character breakdown through the eyes of a ventriloquist who lets his fractured mind take over.  This is successful due to Hopkins’ powerful performance and descent into madness.  A mind not to be missed or forgotten.

Dolls continue to have a profound effect of children in the Tobe Hooper classic Poltergeist (1982) which is not a doll movie per say but it is most infamously remembered because of the clown doll that seems to have a will of its own.  This is not just a terrifying clown but a horrifying doll as well.  Makes you never want to have another doll around the house ever again.

Even more terrifying is the Zuni doll from Trilogy of Terror (1975) and its sequel of which most audiences remember the vengeful Zuni doll more than anything else in the film.  It overwhelms the narrative and ends the anthology film on a high note.  

More recent is the film Dead Silence (2007) which I thought was an amazing film overlooked by the fact that it is indeed a killer doll movie.  I love the atmosphere and the story and the look of this film.  It is written by Leigh Whannell and James Wan who had already created the creepy Billy doll in the Saw films but went one step further for this film.  They would go even one step further with their film The Conjuring (2013) which introduced the terrifying Annabelle doll (which would be the subject of her own film in 2014).

Dolls can be for good but more often than not they are the harbingers of evil (or that is there main function in horror films).  I’m not particularly afraid or scared of dolls and doll films simply interest and entertain me.  Love them or hate them evil dolls are here to stay.  I’m sure we’ll see more of them in the near future (especially in the Poltergeist remake to be released this year) but until then I suggest you seek out these films when you need something to take the edge off one night.

To watch the episode of “Conversations in Horror” go here –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypOa_wliFEI

Film Review: BLOOD FEAST 2: ALL YOU CAN EAT (2002)

It’s unfortunate that I’m just now learning about the films of legendary underground director Herschell Gordon Lewis as I probably would have enjoyed his brand of gore and humor growing up.  As it stands I can appreciate what he accomplished with his films from the ‘60s and ‘70s such as Blood Feast (1963), The Wizard of Gore (1970), Color Me Blood Red (1965) and Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964), to name a few.  In 2002 he decided to make a sequel to one of his earliest success’ with Blood Feast 2: All You Can Eat.

 

The story follows Fuad Ramses III (J.P. Delahoussaye) a descendant of the original killer from the first film who is set to open shop in the same place of his ancestor.  Of course, one of his first jobs is to cater a wedding from one of the town’s elite but nothing goes as planned as he soon becomes possessed by the statue of an Egyptian goddess.  Now he starts to murder young women in order to have a feast prepared that will end all feasts.  So put simply, this is the exact plot of the original.

There’s something to be said about Lewis’ films from the ‘60s and ‘70s as they are filled with gore and humor and we can laugh at the bad acting and subpar directing because frankly this was common back in especially during the drive-in era.  You watch these films now and they still retain a campy charm because they are so dated.  This sequel cannot be forgiven in the same way.  This film suffers from a lack of originality as well as really bad acting all around.  The humor falls flat and the direction is uninspired and this is because so many other directors have copied Lewis and done him one better, whereas, he’s progressed very little to say the least.

This probably could have worked better as a remake similar to The Wizard of Gore (2007) or 2001 Maniacs (2005).  As it stands this is a highly forgettable film and if you’re interested you should just watch the original again.

Film Review: MONOLITH (1993)

The ‘80s and ‘90s were filled with films featuring mismatched cop partners and an alien threat – The Hidden (1987) and I Come in Peace (1990) immediately spring to mind, but these were just two of many.  The Bill Paxton starring Monolith (1993) is yet another one which is not as much a cult film as the previously mentioned films. 

In this film, Paxton is rogue cop Tucker who’s Captain (played by Louis Gossett Jr. – also very familiar with this genre) has saddled him up with Terri Flynn (Lindsay Frost) who has the exact opposite style as him.  After a scientist kills a small boy, they are put on the case to discover the truth but a secret government agency lead by Villano (John Hurt) intercedes and stops them in their tracks.  It seems that the small boy is part of a top secret government experiment of which Villano will not allow anyone to get in his way.  What follows is a chase throughout the city for an alien that can switch bodies at will and time is running out as this alien has an end goal that threatens to kill everyone that gets in its way.

Now this film is every bit the typical buddy-cop film that made Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, Beverly Hills Cop and The Heat such enduring films.  What this film lacks is a strong story.  Paxton and Frost actually make for a very good mismatched pair but the body swapping alien story has aged the film horribly.  It also doesn’t help that the screenplay written by Stephen Lister and Eric Poppen has also aged horribly making the film come off as a cheap TV movie.

Overall this is a pretty forgettable film that may be more fondly remembered by those who actually saw it when it was originally released (such as myself) but this is not a film to seek out if you’ve never seen nor heard of it.

Film Review: DEMONWARP (1988)

The ‘80s were an amazing type for the horror genre as there was no one particular subgenre that dominated any other.  Between the slasher films, the mutated monster films, and the psychological film there was also room for the occasional alien horror film of which Demonwarp (1988) can partially be included.  The film starts off with a Priest witnessing a space craft crash land.  It’s not until years later that the ramifications are truly felt. 

Bill Crafton (George Kennedy) and his daughter are enjoying a nice day in their cabin (that they rented) in the middle of the woods when they are attacked by a Bigfoot Monster which knocks him unconscious and abducts her.   Crafton then vows to find and kill the monster at any cost.  Several months later Jack Bergman (David Michael O’Neil) and his friends go to this same cabin which is uncle owns to search for his uncle who has been missing for almost a year.  It seems that there have been many disappearances in these woods of which Jack and his friends quickly realize when the Bigfoot Monster appears abducting one of his friends and killing another.  Not only that but this monster has also torn apart their car and stolen particular items from the house; it appears that this monster is intelligent.  Now Jack and his surviving friends must find a way out of the woods before the monster comes back but there are more strange things going on in these woods than just a Bigfoot monster as they encounter dead bodies and bones and victims of the monster now turned into zombies.

Kennedy was a major fixture in horror films in the ‘80s with Death Ship (1980), Just Before Dawn (1981), Wacko (1982), Creepshow 2 (1987), Uninvited (1988) and The Terror Within (1989), to name a few.  He was a big influence for my love of ‘80s horror films but he is given little to do in this film.  The best thing about Kennedy is that he always brings his “A” game whereas much of the rest of the cast is pretty much throwaway especially since they don’t do much for most of the running time of the film.  It’s your typical ‘80s horror film where people get killed one-by-one and a few extra people are thrown in to add more victims.  By the time the film actually gets to presenting more of the obscure ideas of the third act it may too much too late.  Regardless, it’s still an interesting little oddity of the ‘80s that reminds us just how crazy that decade in horror really was.