Over the Found-Footage Fad?

The hand-held camera genre is upon us again with yet another instalment of Paranormal Activity. That’s right folks, we’re up to chapter four in the supernatural saga. With horror being the prototype of found footage filmmaking, are we getting sick of the faked home video cliché or are we more scared than ever?

The discovered video frenzy has circulated our screens since the early eighties, but it wasn’t until The Blair Witch Project, a nineties cult classic and an amateur footage first, that the genre manifested into a psychological mind-fuck.

Supernatural scares in Paranormal Activity.
Source kurt-less via Flickr

A requirement of the genre is the apparent need for all characters to end up missing or dead, yet thankfully camera equipment is always in pristine condition no matter the multitude of variables that could affect image or sound quality.

Regardless of this major implication, when films get it right, the found footage technique is sure to be a screamer.

While supernatural themes are ancient concepts in cinema, what the genre typically achieves is an unattainable level of scare using the force of suspense. With most films in this category, what makes it so freakin’ scary is the element of the unknown. Rarely do we ever see what is causing the characters to flip out and/or become mentally unsound, rather we are witnesses to shaky camera work and blood-curdling screams.

Entertainment editor of The Week, Scott Meslow claims, “The Blair Witch Project was believable without being grisly, frightening without being repulsive, intriguing without providing all the answers. It was a snuff film with a safety net”.

Don't watch alone. Source HBOIndia via Flickr

This ‘based-on-a-true-story’ concept seems to be Hollywood’s new love affair, with Paranormal Activity succeeding in paying homage to the Blair Witch’s landmark cinema triumph.

But the problem with this fad overkill is that while these horror films have in my book succeeded in causing many sleepless nights and the investment of night-lights, some films (let’s say The Devil Inside) don’t hack it.

What can sometimes be a victory in contemporary cinema can unfortunately also be an utter disappointment.

Horror film phenomena’s work when footage is both possible and powerful. They work when the audience cannot determine true from false and go home Google-ing it, sleeping with one eye open.

I’m still shaken by the ol’ first hand footage but if it can’t be mastered, please Hollywood, leave it alone.