Found Footage is sacred ’round these parts. It’s no surprise how much I love FoundTV (subscribe, before you die!) for its immense selection of the old and new. You’ll find landmark titles like The Blair Witch Project and Cannibal Holocaust nestled among some pretty rad new cuts that rival their predecessors in fear factor.
You’re probably like me, and you always hear bees buzzing in your skull when it comes to what to watch next. Don’t worry! I’ve got you totally covered. Streaming Essentials is here to alleviate those worried minds and offer up guaranteed ways to frighten you on those dark, lonely nights.
Check out a list of 10 found footage films to stream right now!
The Ceremony is About to Begin
Charm and menace collide in Chad Westbrook Hinds’ performance as Anubis. There’s a tinge of Mark Duplass’ derangement from the Creep films and TV series, but Hinds brings a more evil, more insidious, and more disarming magic to the role. Anubis could be genuine or just downright cruel. It’s a gamble. Writer/director Sean Nichols Lynch yanks you into a world of cult delusion, and you stay around because you just never know what Chad Westbrook Hinds will do to you if you don’t. (For the record, the sequel, This House is Totally Haunted, is a banger, too)
Invited
If you told me I’d still be having nightmares about Navin Ramaswaran’s screenlife film, Invited, over a year ago, I’d scream, “Fake news!” But here we are. A Zoom elopement turns deadly, and there’s just so much about this best experienced with little prior knowledge. It’s always hit or miss when it comes to cult/ritualistic found footage, but Invited does everything right. It reveals only what it needs to reveal and keeps all the cards up its sleeve. It’s a real treat.
Don’t Peek
Kyle Tague’s Don’t Peek remains one of the best of the genre, full stop. As a YouTube-ing couple stumbles upon videos of a previous tenant, who happened to be a serial killer, reality and fantasy blur together to create one of horror’s most frightful films. Tague plays with perception and delivers some truly ghoulish images. It feels almost too real, in a very Blair Witch kind of way. It’s best experienced in the dark and turned all the way up.
Black Daruma
We all need a little bit of luck from time to time. In Fionn and Toby Watts’ Black Daruma, a young man buys a Japanese “luck doll” to turn around his bad streak, but he gets far more than he ever bargained for. His life blows up in surprisingly brutal ways. Filmed entirely through the doll, it’s an inventive and tragically overlooked piece of found footage that’s, quite frankly, pretty remarkable.
Jabberjaw
Writer/director Luke Genton has compiled quite a horror resume over the last few years. The Bone Box, Chateau, and Sorry, Charlie are among his best career moments. He’s demonstrated to be a masterful storyteller both on the page and behind the camera. Now, he returns with a brand new found-footage film, titled Jabberjaw, which drops on Found TV tomorrow (October 17). With the release, he plots a surprisingly terrifying story about two friends with a camera and nothing but the wide open wilderness. It’s not reinventing anything, but it does what it sets out to do: entertain. Sometimes, that’s all you need. [Full Review]
Fey
There are few found footage films that feel as real and raw as writer/director Madeline Doherty’s Fey. The indie feature, clocking in at just 53 minutes, wastes no time getting to the good stuff. The world-building and character development happen in tandem with the chilling scares. You don’t have to wait to be creeped out; Doherty pens a taut, frightening script that immediately begins seeping out of the screen. Who said found footage was dead? The filmmaker proves that there is still plenty to tell in this format and delivers a film that will make you sleep with all the lights on. [Full Review]
Deadware
Feeling nostalgic for late-90s computer games? Isaac Rodriguez sends you through a time machine in Deadware. Jay (Ali Alkhafaji) stumbles upon a mysterious browser game that leads him down a dark, winding path to death. While on a webcam chat with a good friend, the game pulls them both into a diabolical plan. And it’ll never end well. Deadware mixes expectation with the unexpected in truly thrilling ways.
For Sale by Exorcist
Looking for campy satire? Melissa LaMartina’s For Sale by Exorcist should scratch that itch. Borrowing tricks from the exorcist lexicon, the sometimes silly film goes for punch-in-the-gut laughs and doesn’t let up until the end credits. Emily Classen plays Susan Price, a real estate agent with a knack for closing deals… and closing portals to the underworld. Susan invites you along on the search for a home and maybe a few ghosts. The film would absolutely not work without Classen’s razor-sharp comedic timing and her ability to captivate the camera. It’s not trying to make a bold statement about anything, and sometimes, all we need is a good time with a bucket of popcorn.
Anacoreta
Found footage is like a box of (expired) chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get (maggots, probably). Writer-director Jeremy Schuetze gives you everything you could possibly want in a found footage film, unapologetically leaning into genre traps and conventions, with Anacoreta. He celebrates the craft, relishing in the shaky camera, the blurry images caught in darkness, and the tight runtime. Along with co-writer Matt Visser, Schuetze opts for expectation—until the very last moment, when he yanks the rug from under your feet. You won’t see it coming. [Full Review]
Chateau
Writer/director Luke Genton (!!!) winds the audience up with terrifying, bone-chilling jumpscares and background terror that will wiggle under the skin. Chateau, which makes its world premiere at this summer’s Popcorn Frights, rattles you awake when you least expect it. While adhering to trusty conventions and cliches, Genton’s genre excursion makes damn sure to yank the rug from underneath your feet. You might attempt to stand still, but Genton won’t let you. He hammers fear into your backbone at every single turn. When you finally settle back into your seat, he throws another curveball straight for the skull. [Full Review]
sink. your. teeth.
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