5 Friday Fright Night Recs: Found Footage Edition [Friday Sept …

We are back once again for another edition of Friday Fright Night Recommendations. This week we will be focusing on one of my favorite subgenres, Found Footage. We’re going to bypass the most well-known of these films, you don’t need me to tell you to watch The Blair Witch Project, and instead see if we can give you some new fright to enjoy this weekend.

The Bay Rent/Buy Options as of 9/7/2023

The Bay Movie Poster

As someone who is afraid of both parasites and large bodies of water, The Bay was a terrifying experience. The found footage theme in this film is centered around a rookie reporter covering a small-town festival when an ecological disaster strikes the town.

The small-town setting offers a bit of charm to the film that its competitors do not have. Most found footage films focus on a few characters to tell the story. The Bay gives us a living breathing environment to interact with. This addition makes the stakes feel much higher in this terrifying flick.

Butterfly Kisses Streaming Options As Of 9/7/2023

Butterfly Kisses Movie Poster

This lesser-known indie flick should be on every horror fan’s watch list. What starts as a pretty standard horror plot, college kids messing with things they shouldn’t be, turns into something much bigger by the end of its runtime.

This found footage flick asks us what happens when we mix capitalism with the supernatural. And ultimately, what are the ethics of actually finding a found footage horror film? If you like a little ethics thrown in with your horror, go watch Butterfly Kisses.

WNUF Streaming Options as of 9/7/2023WNUF Halloween Special Movie Poster

There are only a handful of movies that make me crave the way Halloween felt when I was a child. WNUF Halloween Special is one of those films. This found footage flick presents itself as a VHS recording of a local news Halloween special from the 80s.

This thing feels like a time capsule from a lost era. It even includes commercials that feel like they were ripped right out of 1987. If you want a found footage film that will take you back in time, go watch WNUF Halloween Special.

Superhost Streaming Options As Of 9/7/2023Superhost Movie Poster

We have talked about the new streamer sub-genre a few times in the past. Between films like Deadstream and The Influencer, this genre of found footage is really starting to stand out in the horror world. And Superhost sits at the top of the list of what these films can achieve.

Gracie Gillam (Fright Night) is the glue that holds this project together. Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries), and Osric Chau (Blood and Water) play their part as insufferable vloggers extremely well. But Gracie Gillam brings a chaotic energy to the film that can’t be topped. If you want to be filled with anxiety on your next vacation, go watch Superhost.

Dashcam Streaming Options As Of 9/7/2023Dashcam Movie Poster

This film provides us with something that is rare in the horror world. The film follows a protagonist who is despised by the majority of viewers. Sure, many of the characters in horror films are less than likable, this makes it easier for us to laugh when they die. But I have never seen a character more hated than Annie Hardy.

Whether this was a marketing ploy, or some kind of statement about the world during the COVID pandemic, I can’t be sure. What I can say is that it worked. This found footage film is a brilliant, original type of film that doesn’t come around very often. If you a looking for a film that really goes off the rails, check out Dashcam.

Perpatrator – Photo Credit: Shudder

THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER – Photo Credit: Jim Mcguire/RLJE Films/Shudder/ALLBlk