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Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality
As the horror subgenre du jour, found footage horror's amateur filmmaking look has made it available to a range of budgets. Surviving by adapting to technological and cultural shifts and popular trends, found footage horror is a successful and surprisingly complex experiment in blurring the lines between quotidian reality and horror's dark and tantalizing fantasies.
Found Footage Horror Films explores the subgenre's stylistic, historical and thematic development. It examines the diverse prehistory beyond Man Bites Dog (1992) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980), paying attention to the safety films of the 1960s, the snuff-fictions of the 1970s, and to television reality horror hoaxes and mockumentaries during the 1980s and 1990s in particular. It underscores the importance of The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2007), and considers YouTube's popular rise in sparking the subgenre's recent renaissance.
Found Footage Horror Films explores the subgenre's stylistic, historical and thematic development. It examines the diverse prehistory beyond Man Bites Dog (1992) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980), paying attention to the safety films of the 1960s, the snuff-fictions of the 1970s, and to television reality horror hoaxes and mockumentaries during the 1980s and 1990s in particular. It underscores the importance of The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2007), and considers YouTube's popular rise in sparking the subgenre's recent renaissance.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 7, 2013
12 people are currently reading
378 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
28 books47 followersAlexandra Heller-Nicholas is a film critic, research academic and the author of seven books on cult, horror, and exploitation cinema with an emphasis on gender politics. She has recently co-edited the book ReFocus: The Films of Elaine May for Edinburgh University Press, and her forthcoming book 1000 Women in Horror has been optioned for a documentary series. Alexandra is also a programming consultant for Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, the largest genre film festival in the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 26, 2021
As a co-founder of the Unnamed Footage Festival (an exclusively found footage horror / mockumentary / POV cinema film fest) I'm not sure where I would be without Alexandra's beautiful testament to FFH.
Even-handed, serious, artistic, and thought provoking are not the typical terms I would use to describe one speaking about in-world-camera cinema, yet Alexandra Heller-Nicholas has provided an academic foundation for us fans confused by our love of such an outwardly rejected product.
"Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality" isn't just a favorite book of mine, it's my bible.
Even-handed, serious, artistic, and thought provoking are not the typical terms I would use to describe one speaking about in-world-camera cinema, yet Alexandra Heller-Nicholas has provided an academic foundation for us fans confused by our love of such an outwardly rejected product.
"Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality" isn't just a favorite book of mine, it's my bible.
January 29, 2018
A great in depth overview in general, but the analyses of the gender politics in Blair Witch and the Paranormal Activity series are the real highlights. Heller-Nicholas is easily one of if not my favorite film studies writer.
June 5, 2021
Good, but written too early as the genre was still very popular at the time it was published and because of this it missed out on including several titles and gimmicks that possibly contributed to the diminishing popularity of the genre
November 4, 2022
A great place to start that organises the history of the genre appropriately. From inside the home to outside the home. Not just Yankee fears but multiple national fears. A through line from faux documentary to Blair Witch to Post-YouTube. Not enough time on Japanese chief Shiraishi for my liking but the writer acknowledges you need a whole book dedicated to that. Goes a little in to the waning success of torture porn that allowed found footage to sneak in and the prank origins of Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast. Television even gets delved in to with Ghostwatch.
What would you say comes next? Are we still in a found footage obsession or are all eyes on that A24 stuff these days? is the latter over too with unintentional parodies like Men? Talking men, this book is actually great for the feminist theory. I'll admit fully that's a side to my game I don't focus on. It certainly opens up the floor to areas I haven't considered that should be obvious with Blair Witch. I know my interest in it is purely for Gonzo and Godardian reasons but fuck I never gave that side enough attention. That film just gets better and better. This book even goes in to how the directors call their style on it 'method directing', which was incredible to read about. I knew some of their techniques used but hadn't seen it linked back to theory like that.
If the found footage craze ends or has ended. Let it be known I don't think it was because it was overdone. Well not that the ideas were overdone, they were actually underexplored. It was overdone in terms of volume but I genuinely do believe we haven't killed all its possibilities. The amateurish aesthetics opened up the floor for amateurs and studios to exploit and people should have accepted that. Plus with technology improving, becoming more handheld and accessible it was inevitable. For me the issue is in the fact, the genre became lazy. We became hooked on the fantasy of the real rather than the replication of the real. Essentially, as an audience we became lazy too because we started accepting too much as film logic and stopped playing the game. I'm talking about actors names and characters differing. End credits. The opening set up of how the footage is recorded. Added post-production elements without any explanation. All of which result in zero justification for the footages existence. Just went from found footage to hand held footage. This genre works best when its disciplined and plays with modes of media. Instead of playing with the medium and concepts, it just became an excuse to lower budgets. Once you start to accept broken rules, it's game over.
What would you say comes next? Are we still in a found footage obsession or are all eyes on that A24 stuff these days? is the latter over too with unintentional parodies like Men? Talking men, this book is actually great for the feminist theory. I'll admit fully that's a side to my game I don't focus on. It certainly opens up the floor to areas I haven't considered that should be obvious with Blair Witch. I know my interest in it is purely for Gonzo and Godardian reasons but fuck I never gave that side enough attention. That film just gets better and better. This book even goes in to how the directors call their style on it 'method directing', which was incredible to read about. I knew some of their techniques used but hadn't seen it linked back to theory like that.
If the found footage craze ends or has ended. Let it be known I don't think it was because it was overdone. Well not that the ideas were overdone, they were actually underexplored. It was overdone in terms of volume but I genuinely do believe we haven't killed all its possibilities. The amateurish aesthetics opened up the floor for amateurs and studios to exploit and people should have accepted that. Plus with technology improving, becoming more handheld and accessible it was inevitable. For me the issue is in the fact, the genre became lazy. We became hooked on the fantasy of the real rather than the replication of the real. Essentially, as an audience we became lazy too because we started accepting too much as film logic and stopped playing the game. I'm talking about actors names and characters differing. End credits. The opening set up of how the footage is recorded. Added post-production elements without any explanation. All of which result in zero justification for the footages existence. Just went from found footage to hand held footage. This genre works best when its disciplined and plays with modes of media. Instead of playing with the medium and concepts, it just became an excuse to lower budgets. Once you start to accept broken rules, it's game over.
March 26, 2017
A very good coverage of the found footage genre. It covers all of the genre. The primary focus is on horror because it's a genre that seems to fit the found footage style well.
They also have a great index of all of the movies that are mentioned. Some are good, others are great. I particularly recommend BBC's GhostWatch. Their chapter on the show also brings up some very good points on the media and it's responsibility to it's consumers.
They also make a very valid point on commenting that found footage is like 'safe snuff'. You get the illusion of watching death without the reality of it.
All in all, if you're interested in the found footage sub-genre or even just horror in general, it's a very good read.
They also have a great index of all of the movies that are mentioned. Some are good, others are great. I particularly recommend BBC's GhostWatch. Their chapter on the show also brings up some very good points on the media and it's responsibility to it's consumers.
They also make a very valid point on commenting that found footage is like 'safe snuff'. You get the illusion of watching death without the reality of it.
All in all, if you're interested in the found footage sub-genre or even just horror in general, it's a very good read.
March 8, 2022
Not entirely convinced by some of the author's arguments and it can, like many other academic texts, be repetitive nonetheless it is a fine & enjoyable read. I appreciated reading about the larger historical context found footage belongs to as well as the vast amount of sources listed in the book. It reads well and moves along, mostly, at a good informative pace.
As a fan of horror films and found footage this had a natural appeal; if you enjoy film and genre analysis then you might enjoy this too.
As a fan of horror films and found footage this had a natural appeal; if you enjoy film and genre analysis then you might enjoy this too.
May 6, 2015
Spot on - a great concise introduction to the sub-genre. I particularly liked the discussion on gender politics with regards to the first Paranormal Activity, and the 'McMansions' aspect of the notion of the new fear found in the Home. No mention of The Borderlands though, the British found footage film, though that may be because it hadn't been released at the time of writing.
October 25, 2023
Rather academic, and now somewhat outdated since it came out over a decade ago. But this is a thorough and very well researched overview of found footage horror, its effects, style, history, and origins. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot from it.
August 24, 2014
A thorough and thoughtful examination of the sub-genre's historical roots and underlying gender politics. Wisely leaves room for more debate.
December 10, 2019
Nicely done, with sharp readings of many of your favorite found footage horror films, especially The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, and the Paranormal Activities.
January 30, 2020
Almost perfect. Very insightful!
May 6, 2023
I flew through this book of short stories. Each one was unique, intricate and thought provoking. I couldn’t turn the page fast enough. I highly recommend this to any fan of found footage.
May 18, 2023
This was a very condensed non fiction book full of information and facts. The author shines a bright light on the evolution of the genre. From Blair Witch to paranormal activity, pseudo-doc, the cannibal sub genre, Orson Welles War of the World that set the whole genre in motion, safety films, missing children/child molester motifs, exploitation/education, snuff fiction, TV Mockumentary, Les Documents Interdits, found footage horror, the vanishing of the real and exorcism films. You got the whole range covered here with a good conclusion on the specter of commercialism. Very scientific but the ultimate book on the topic. Highly recommended when you want to know more about that kind of movies like the Blair Witch Project.
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August 13, 2023Fun read! I think that Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is a wonderful media analyst i actually saw her in the Ringu blu ray i have as well... Fun book and i liked reading about found footage and stuff. Some lovely gender theory... Very good!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews