3 of the Best vs 3 of the Worst is exactly what it sounds like – 3 of the best examples of either an actor, film series, genre, etc. versus 3 of the worst. It’s also an opportunity for you to have your say on my choices and whether you would have placed something ahead of my best or my worst. This week… Found Footage Films.

Having reviewed Chronicle this week, it got me thinking about the other found footage movies I’ve seen. It’s actually a genre I really like and if done properly can be used to great effect. Not just in scary movies, where it’s obviously used to best effect, but in some more creative ways, like Chronicle or even Project X. Horror is where it finds itself most comfortable but unfortunately, at its laziest too. So lets not jibba-jabba about it any longer…

3 of the Best

3 – Cloverfield

One of the most inventive uses of the found footage formula and one of the best examples. Its used to terrify, build characters and bring you in amongst the terror of a city under attack. It’s also one of the few films where it doesn’t suffer too much from the “drop the camera” syndrome that most other found footage movies do. The party at the beginning builds the characters brilliantly and the scenes in the sewers are just as scary as anything in the other two films that have made my “best” list.

2 – Paranormal Activity

Forget Jason, Freddie or even Jigaw from Saw; ghosts will always freak me out more. Paranormal Activity used this to great effect and again, it made sense to film and capture it on camera. It has a great use of the “slow-build” kind of horror that is over-used and done to death today. The idea that you can be terrified of very little happening made the huge events at the end of the movie much more freaky. I still get chills when I think of her looking into the camera, changing and lunging herself at the screen… and that’s before I saw the other two, equally as freaky endings that weren’t used.

1 – Blair Witch Project

The first mainstream example of found footage and the film that started it all. I still remember the first time I saw this film, coincidentally the first time I ever spent a night alone in my house, and being scared beyond belief. I still get freaked out by the final scene in the movie and love the callback to earlier interviews to set it up. You forget how great the performances are in this movie and how simple but effective the camera use in this film is.

3 of the Worst

3 – Paranormal Activity 2

One of the worst things you can do with a sequel is just repeat the first movie. Worst than that is rip the tension and heart of the film that was dripping with it originally. It makes sense to add some elements to Paranormal Activity 2 but more cameras, more characters and less action didn’t work. It lacked the shock and punch of the original movie and relied too much on the “bang – jump” formula that became very tired quickly. PA3 manages to solve some of these issues (I’m yet to see 4) but after I loved PA1 so much, this was a huge disappointment.

2 – Quarantine

I seem to be in the minority but I actually thought Spanish found footage film REC was generic and slightly dull. It didn’t do anything extreme or exciting and certainly nothing new with the genre. (REC 2 was fantastic though). It baffled me why they decided to make an English language version and change nothing! They had chance to alter some aspects, improve on anything that felt below par but instead created the exact same film. I watched it hoping for improvement and got an inferior version of already inferior film.

1 – The Last Exorcism

This seems slightly unfair because there is a lot to like about The Last Exorcism but it just messes with the main staples of a found footage movie. It has multiple cameras which add that “convenient” feel. It films aspects that you’d never put on camera and still films when you would clearly have dropped the camera! Worst of all, it forgets that it’s a found footage film and feels the need to add a soundtrack to increase tension. If the found footage film is good enough, it won’t need a soundtrack. There is no music over Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity. Whats worst is that what could have been a much cleverer, “is she/isn’t she” feel to the film ends up with a generic, less than shocking end. The potential and the failure to capitalise on that makes this my worst.

Overall, the best easily outdo the worst. I’m finding that for every Quarantine, there is a Blair Witch, and that’s without mentioning REC 2 or Apollo 18 which are both solid entries in the genre. It does, like any other style of movie, lend itself to lazy or rushed versions of the more successful films, but when it’s used well, the movie can end up being fantastic.