RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - "WHO LOVES FOUND FOOTAGE FILMS?"

The found footage genre took off with a bang with the original release of The Blair Witch Project (1999) but then became the sub-genre that allowed no and low budget films and filmmakers to thrive with most of the results less than exemplary.  Now, for general audiences (and most horror fans) found footage films are a lost cause whose time has passed with most people thinking the genre never really achieved anything great passed the Blair Witch but I’m here to say that there have been plenty of great found footage films and there still continues to be great films produced.  Now, the conventions which were originated with the Blair Witch have become cliché but that does not mean that there is not still enough fuel left in the genre’s fire.

 

Many may not be aware of this but the first, and still the most harrowing, found footage film was Cannibal Holocaust (1980) which jump started the cannibal genre instead of an early version of the found footage.  It is more infamous for real animal cruelty and controversy than it is for being a film about a professor who is task with going over the found footage of a documentary crew.  It is an aesthetic that would later show up in Welcome to the Jungle (2007) and the non-found footage film The Green Inferno (2013).   Another early classic was Man Bites Dog (1992), one of my personal favorites that gained greater appreciation after the genre became popular.

 

Before the Blair Witch Project there was the similar film The Last Broadcast (1998) but that film was less successful due to many issues one of which was less interesting characters and bad editing.  For the next several years there were no films of note as the genre was quickly forgotten and Blair Witch, by many, had been seen as a one hit wonder.  Then 2005 hit and the rest of the ‘00s became littered with found footage films.  The next major found footage hit with mainstream audiences was Cloverfield (2008) but before that you had some small screen success stories with Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) (one of my personal favorites) but there was also [REC] (2007) and its American remake Quarantine (2008), American Zombie (2007), and  Brutal Massacre: A Comedy (2008) not to mention the fact that celebrated zombie director George A. Romero unleashed his Diary of the Dead (2007).  The rest of the ‘00s saw the release of The Fourth Kind (2009), The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) (depending upon when you were able to get a bootleg of this film) and the true king of the found footage genre Paranormal Activity (2007).  This film crossed over to audiences of all ages scaring up $193 million worldwide.  This was not as much as The Blair Witch Project (which managed $248.6 million worldwide) but it spawned an entire franchise, something that never caught on with the Blair Witch.

 

To date there are seven films in the franchise!  Included are Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014), Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), and the Japanese spin-off Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010).  There is also an untitled new film in the works!  I actually like most of the films in this series and thought Part 4 was the weakest and Part 3 and The Marked Ones being my favorites but the thing that makes this franchise successful is the fact that they all inter connect and feed into each other and the larger story and universe (something the SAW franchise also did extremely well).  A lot of found footage films fail because the characters are not interesting, and neither is the story being told but this franchise manages to keep audiences engaged and connected to the characters throughout each instalment.

 

The ‘10s were a mixed bag of releases as this is when the genre really began to stretch itself way to thin not only in terms of stories to mine but also believability.  There are some true clunkers like Chernobyl Diaries (2012), The Pyramid (2014), Phoenix Forgotten (2017), The Frankenstein Theory (2013), Devil’s Due (2014), and The Devil Inside (2012), to name but a few, but there are also some gems like As Above, So Below (2014), Trollhunter (2010), Creep (2014), Creep 2 (2017), The Bay (2012), The Sacrament (2013), Digging Up the Marrow (2014), The Visit (2015), and The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014).  Some of my personal favorites were What We Do in the Shadows (2014), The Last Exorcism (2010), Grave Encounters (2011) and its sequel (2012), Frankenstein’s Army (2013), Apollo 18 (2011), Europa Report (2013), and the entire [REC] franchise.  Some of the films I enjoyed but seem to have split audiences were The Gallows (2015), Willow Creek (2013), Exists (2014), The Last Exorcism Part II (2013), and the eventual sequel Blair Witch (2016), to name a few.

 

I was happy to see the found footage genre take on the anthology format most successfully with V/H/S (2012) and its sequels V/H/S/2 (2013) and V/H/S: Viral (2014).  This was at the height of the found footage popularity with horror fans but by this time general audiences had tired of the genre.  Films like Devil’s Due ($36 million worldwide), The Gallows ($42 million worldwide) , The Devil Inside ($101 million worldwide), As Above, So Below ($41.8 million worldwide) and others were all amazingly successful at the Box Office due to low budgets and huge returns.  The problem is that the aesthetics of the genre were becoming too predictable and frankly most audiences hated the abrupt endings to the films due to the fact that the person holding the camera dies and that’s the end of the film.

 

The genre needed to redefine itself and that is where the film Unfriended (2014) comes in.  It uses computer technology and social media such as the ability to group chat to spin an otherwise typical ghost story among friends.  This was huge final success bringing in over $62.8 million worldwide on a budget of about $1 million!  It quickly spanned (in my opinion) a better sequel in Unfriended: Dark Web (2018) which was still successful but did only a fraction that the original did with $16.02 million worldwide (on a $1 million budget).  The genre also got self-referential (i.e. Scream) with the entertaining but polarizing film Found Footage 3D (2016), which acknowledges all the faults of the genre as it shows a film crew trying to make a found footage film.  One of the more recent films that I enjoyed was the South Korean film Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) as it is always nice to see how other countries and cultures take on the found footage genre.

 

Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a different type of found footage film which gives new meaning and themes to play with which is exemplified in the film Host (2020), where a group on friends forced to social distance decide to do a group activity together which is a séance to talk to the dead.  Needless to say, that the séance does not go as planned and people start to die.  I really enjoyed this film as it had something new to say especially in the current times that we all find ourselves in.

 

Like any sub-genre of horror there will be lots of films that just don’t make the grade and it is unfortunate that since many filmmakers saw this genre as an easy way to make a film (i.e. no name actors, limited camera, low budget, easy to edit, etc.) but they forgot that the most important thing is that you need compelling characters with an interesting story and journey that needs to be told.  Telling a convincing and compelling found footage film is just as hard, if not harder, than telling a conventional film story in a conventional manner.  There are some amazing found footage films and I have to agree that the ratio of bad to good is pretty damn high (for every single film I’ve mentioned there are at least 10 really bad ones that I’ve seen that I didn’t mention).  I watch found footage films because I love the genre and I’ve managed to find those diamonds in the rough and I hope that horror fans take a look at some of the films I’ve mentioned above and give the genre another look and another chance as it is a shame to dismiss the entire genre just because you happen to have seen a handful that were just not that good.

 

The ‘80s and ‘90s were littered with extremely bad slasher films and the same can be said of the found footage genre in the ‘00s and ‘10s, or for that matter any horror genre that helped define a decade or a time in horror history.

 

 

RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - “A Look at the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Franchise”

 “A Look at the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Franchise”

With the release of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) a franchise with six entries finally comes to an end unfortunately more with a whimper than a bang.  When Paranormal Activity (2007) was first given a wide release in 2009 it stole the thunder at the Box Office from Saw VI, a franchise which had dominated the month of October for the previous five years.  

There was a lot of hype for the original Paranormal Activity as it was a low budget film that almost never got a theatrical release if not for the slow roll out to colleges first before catching lightening in a bottle with mainstream audiences.  It was a simple story about a couple who start to experience strange things in their home.  When the man starts to film more of the strange paranormal events he gets closer to realizing the truth.  A truth that he will wish he had never known.  The film was a surprise success not due to any star power or major SFX or even a complicated script.  In fact, it was simplistic in terms of script but it created a lot of suspense and kept audiences on the edge of its seat.  A found footage film hadn’t had this much of an effect on audiences since The Blair Witch Project (1999) but unlike that franchise (which was dead on arrival with the second film), the producers of the Paranormal Activity franchise found a way to expand upon their world in a satisfying way for audiences.

I personally didn’t think that there was much to the original Paranormal Activity film.  To a long time horror fan such as myself this wasn’t even nearly as entertaining or memorable as The Blair Witch Project but what it did have was presence.  I saw this film on opening night in a sold out theater after general audiences got wind of the film.  It was amazing to see and hear the audiences’ reactions to the film which was suspenseful despite being very low key and horrifying without any blood or gore.  It was a film about real people facing the unknown and that’s what audiences gravitated to – the possibility that this could really happen to anyone.  With the overwhelming success of this film a  franchise was born!

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) did something unbelievable.  It decided to tell a story parallel to the first film but from the perspective of the sister of the first film who experiences her own paranormal occurrence.   For those audiences that saw the original ending to the original film (before it was changed to create a more marketable film) there was never an intension for any sequels but you can’t keep a money making franchise down.  With an “actual” budget this time around this film crafted a story that adds to the first film while also opening up a bigger mythology that answered just as many questions that it asked.  Another thing that worked out extremely well was the cliffhanger ending that appeased audiences while also keeping them wanting more.  

I didn’t really care for this film either but again I saw this film on opening night with a packed audience who ate this film up.  When this film was released it was just before Saw 3D (aka The Final Chapter) which again would be buried under the dirt.  This was a successful film that broke expectations (especially those thinking this would be just another case of Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2).  What I loved about this film and the previous film was the way in which it was world building.  Due to the success of the Saw franchise which extended the story by linking back to previous films and characters with each subsequent film, the Paranormal Activity films were doing the exact same thing and they were doing it well.  For a franchise that I didn’t really care anything about, it sure had me hooked.  I also liked the way that they decided to use security cameras to tell the story which was very creative and this aesthetic would place a bigger part in latter films.

It was with Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) that I (finally) became a fan of the franchise and would forever be hooked.  This film played as a prequel to show the sisters of the original films as young girls who are first introduced into the world of the paranormal.  To me, choosing the girls as children to be the main focus of the film brought some welcomed freshness to the franchise and a much needed added suspense since innocent children in danger is always a good way to get audiences invested in the characters and the story.  I think this film is the point at which the franchise hits its highest mark and so did mainstream audiences as this would become the highest grossing of all the films in the franchise.  This film had all the suspense of the previous films but by corrupting the innocence of children it made it more potent as a horror film.  

It is at this point that I started to recommend the franchise to other horror fans.  For most of my friends the first two films in the franchise were pretty tame and not as memorable as say Cannibal Holocaust (1980) or Man Bites Dog (1992) or even Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) in terms of found footage films but with this third film I had a reason to tell people to look out for this franchise because this was a film I would recommend to anyone.

Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) is a step down from the previous film for no other reason that it had a lot to live up to coming from the high water mark of the previous film.  This film actually follows a new family and steps away from the main family from the previous three films (which is now only in the background).  This may have been a mistake but it was a needed one in order to open up the world that was continuing to be built.  A bigger mistake was using teenagers as the main characters for the film.  Unfortunately, that is the mistake of most horror films which is using teenagers as the protagonists which is a cliché and these films have never been a cliché, until now.  Audiences agreed and did not come out for this outing.  This film barely grossed $54 million domestically whereas the previous films had grossed $107, $84.8, and $104 million, respectfully.  This was a huge drop but because the production budget was only $5 million (and the film grossed 0ver $89 million internationally) it turned a profit and the franchise was still alive, especially since two more films had already been green lit.

The next film in the franchise is the first spin-off with Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014).  A much different film as it explores demonic possession from a completely different area.  It has been hinted at in the previous films but here it is front and center.  Another added bonus is the fact that this is the first film to put the camera in the hands of the main characters and it explores more locations.  The previous film used laptop cameras which the main character moved around but this film really puts it in the characters hands adding a new dimension to the franchise.  This film really tries to establish itself from the previous films and does a unique job of it by adding more of a supernatural element to the main character and opens the doors for unspeakable possibilities.  

Like the original film, there is a lot of world building in this film but what I really love about this film is how it ends which somehow links up with the previous films in a franchise.  I’d tell you but then it would be ruining one of the best parts of this film.

I think this film is a mixed bag for fans of the franchise.  Friends of mine who may have seen the previous films skipped over this one altogether while others have seen this film but not necessarily all of the others.  This is a film that can stand on its own despite the way in which it links up to all the previous films in the series.  This can only be said of the original film and Part 3.  This film is the lowest grossing at this point and it has become obvious that audiences are now losing faith with the franchise.  This film was released in January unlike all the other films that were released in October.  This was mainly because Part 5 was to be released in October but due to the lackluster response of this film the next “official” film in the saga would be pushed back a year. 

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension may not have originally been designed as to be the last in the franchise (especially if the previous film had been a huge hit) but if you’re going to end a franchise try to do so in a big way, so, this film would be the first to get the digital 3-D upgrade and actually bring the story to an end, which really means that audiences would finally get know who and what the infamous Toby is.  You can’t draw out a franchise for too long and this franchise was releasing one a year for up to six years (Saw did so for seven years before it).  It also didn’t help that the found footage genre was over saturated.  I personally loved the idea of having a “ghost” camera in the film to be a new element in telling the story and even though the film ends the story in regards to Toby there are so many other elements left unanswered.  It’s not as satisfying an ending to the franchise as Saw 3D was to that franchise.  This film feels like just another sequel and part of an ever expanding story.

There are many reasons why this film did not do well at the Box office and was quickly forgotten chief among them being that the film had a limited release that was simultaneous with its VOD release (so many theaters refused to carry the film).  The marketing campaign was not as strong as with previous films and neither found footage nor 3D are ways to sell the film.  Without a unique hook to get people into the seats the only people this film was going to appeal to were the fans which would go see the film regardless of the gimmicks used to produce and sell the film.

I like found footage films.  I like the genre and 2015 had many such releases with The Gallows, The Visit, and Unfriended, to name a few.  It is not a genre mainstream audience even care for anymore due to the glut of films over the last few years that have disappointed.  This being said, it’s a shame that despite six official films (and the unofficial Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night which has not had an official US release as yet) this is a franchise that will disappear with a whimper instead of a bang which is not the way this franchise should be remembered.

Film Review: EXISTS (2014)

Director Eduardo Sanchez returns to found footage territory with his latest film Exists (2014).  After becoming an international sensation with The Blair Witch Project (1999) Sanchez kind of laid low for a while directing a few indie films instead of going the Hollywood route.  His films Altered (2006), Seventh Moon (2008) and Lovely Molly (2011) are of particular note but with this latest film he tackles his biggest monster yet – Bigfoot. 

A group of friends venture out to an old property not seen in decades for a little vacation in the Texas woods.  They take along a lot of cameras to film their adventures but they hit a snag when they run over an animal that almost puts their car out of commission.  This doesn’t stop them from continuing to their destination and having a good time.  That good time is short lived as they soon realize that a creature has followed them.  Something big and angry and vengeful and will stop at nothing until they are all dead.

This film follows the same conventions of most other found footage film but Sanchez decides to go the opposite route of his previous film by showing the Bigfoot creature front and center and not hiding it in the shadows.  This is the problem of most other found footage films as they don’t tend to show anything leaving the ghosts or monsters in the shadows; this film has a great looking monster and they aren’t afraid to show it.  This is what sets this film apart from the others especially the other Bigfoot film of 2014 Willow Creek.

Sanchez’ technique as a director and storyteller has improved over the years and he doesn’t take the easy road when it comes to the stories he chooses to tell.  I’ve seen a lot a Bigfoot films over the years (mostly all bad) and not one of them holds a candle o this film.  I’ll trust Sanchez with a found footage film any day.