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Love it or loathe it, we’re all aware of the runaway smash hit The Blair Witch Project. Although not the pioneer for the Found Footage genre, it pretty much opened the flood gates in bringing to light a way film makers could produce a movie on a very low budget.

Other FF movies have made a mark in the couple decades since ( as well as previously, ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ for example). Underground terror ‘As Above, So Below’ found an audience, as well as over seas hits such as ‘Rec’ (and its later decent American remake ‘Quarantine’).

Not all FF movies make such a splash. If you’re not a FF enthusiast like myself, you can probably reel off around 10 off the top of your head. Yet there are a bountiful abundance just waiting below the surface of commercial horror. Movies such as…

Savageland

Savageland runs as a mockumentary type crime story about a town that has met a grim demise. Told both through reports and the increasingly sinister Polaroids taken at the time.

Telling you too much would spoil the plot, and who wants that? It may seem mundane to begin, but the rewards come as the film progresses. Ignoring the needless (and seemingly tagged on) ending, Savageland is very very worth viewing.

Zero Day

Not what you’d class as a typical horror movie, but it’s no less terrifying. Zero Day let’s us view the last few months of Cal and Andre as they plan, on Zero Day, to walk into their school… and gun it down.

Obviously this story sounds very familiar, this would be because it is. Many parts of this film are based upon Columbine shooters, twelfth grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The subject matter may leave a bad taste, but this film doesn’t glorify. What it DOES have is superb performances from the young actors.

Both leads parents are played by their real life family to keep the relationships feeling free and natural. Thus making the twisted view of the leads feel even more disjointed. If you can stomach the premise, Zero Day is a must see.

The Monster Project

After the first couple of movies on the list, this is much more easy viewing. A drug addiction in recovery takes a seemingly simple job with a documentary team.

The job? Interview three people that claim to be real life monsters. Obviously that’s ridiculous as monsters aren’t real…

Are they?

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Be My Cat: A Film For Anne

Adrian is a Romanian film maker obsessed with actress Anne Hathaway. Thus, he is driven to create scenes to prove that he is worthy of being her director.

Adrian is also a loon.

Portrayed by Writer/Director Adrian Tofei, we watch the character move from seemingly just delusional to being an out right blood thirsty nightmare. I often wonder if Anne Hathaway knows this movie exists, and if so, installed extra home security.

Frankenstein’s Army

From the sinister to the silly. If you want something nuts, fun and visually superb, this is your go to movie.

A troop Russian soldiers in the dying embers of WWII react to a distress call from fellow soldiers who are under seige. Upon travelling to the coordinates, they discover Slaughtered Nuns and extremely unusual bodies.

This is where things get a little crazy. They become ambushed by all manner of experimental monstrosities, created in a secret underground lab by twisted genius Victor Frankenstein. Luckily, as the troop were being filmed for a documentary, we get to see this all play out.

As the movie is totally POV (Point Of View) AND the creativeness of the undead, this has the effect of feeling like you’re playing a video game for various set pieces. This can be enjoyable or annoying, depending on your perogative. For the mad mad monsters alone, this is worthwhile viewing in either respect.

The Tunnel

I never tire of recommending The Tunnel. Its much better than the impression the cover art gives. Natasha is investigating a government cover up that she insists is happening beneath the streets of urban Sydney.

So, being the nosey Parker she is, she ropes in a couple of co workers and sets off in search of evidence in the abandoned underground and sewerage system.

This, is obviously a mistake of behemoth proportions.

The story they’re hunting pales in comparison to the subterranean stalker that is hunting them. Brown trousers all round.

Hangman

I’ll start by saying I’ve seen some scathing reviews of Hangman. I’m not sure what those viewers expected of it. Staring Kate (Shaun of the Dead) Ashfield, Hangman is a competent enough creepy horror/thriller

The Miller family return from a break away to find they have become a victim of burglary. This a disturbing situation of course. Yet, it can get worse.

What if they never left? What if the perpetrator was still inside AND had installed cameras in your absence? That’s pretty the entire plot of Hangman. Obviously this a FF movie, so you know you’re in for a grisly climax.

Heidi

Not the mountain dwelling elk botherer of the same name, but a plastic little nightmare. What’s a horror list without a naughty doll? Two friends working on a house stumble across Heidi tucked away in the attic.

Of course Heidi isn’t exactly Rainbow Brite (apologies to anyone under 40), and strange events begin to unfold. Cards on the table, I nearly turned it off 20 mins in as the acting is less convincing than a lying toddler, but, if you stick with it, it DOES get better.

Checking reviews of this, it’s obviously widely subjective to viewers. It’s a bad dolly, a bit ghost and B movie acting. If all that sounds like your bag, jump in. If not…I probably can’t blame you.

Borderlands/Final Prayer

Possibly the most widely available movie on this list. The Borderlands, as its known here in blighty (other countries ARE available) manages to take all the ingredients you’ve sampled before and make something that feels a little different.

A smarter than average script and good performances by Gordon Kennedy and Co, help to pull this above most others in the same category.  In a nutshell, Vatican investigators are sent to debunk supernatural claims and unusual events surrounding and old church.

With body cams and also set cameras, the story is seen from various angles. Plus, if you tell anyone you saw THAT ending coming, I’m more than willing to call you a liar.

The Den/Hacked

A year before the much hyped ‘Unfriended’ hit our screens, this creepy little number had already put down the ground work.

A cautionary tale into well worth having a little cyber paranoia. Elizabeth Benton is studying the habits of web cam chatters as her thesis. Obviously there’s catfish and trolls out there, but nothing more sinister right?

If only that were true. After bearing witness to a grisly event, Elizabeth finds herself quickly enveloped into a veil of evil that not only threatens her, but also the lives of people she loves.

The Den/Hacked is a great film to get you out of your computer chair and out of the house. It’s simply THAT sinister. Remember, on the Internet, you’re never alone, there’s always someone watching.

So there you go folks! Am I saying these are the best out there? Noooo BUT for everman viewers these have probably slipped your radar.

Until next time, stay creepy fellow fiends.