The Paranormal Activity movies have made a ton of cash by pretending that they're just found footage cobbled together from the scene of a heinous crime, but they didn't invent that little trick. No, movies have been faking recovered footage for years. In honor of Paranormal Activity 3, here's a guide to some of the flicks that did it best—or worst. Most of them are horror movies, because they usually have high body count, but there are some other surprises in the found footage film history.
Found Footage Film History
The found footage gambit is a popular one in movies—by pretending that what you are about to see is real, filmmakers get a little extra bang for their buck. Read on for our found footage film history.
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By K. Thor Jensen October 21, 2011 |
| 1 | Apollo 18 |
Most found footage films are shot by everyday Joes, to further drive home the message that what you're seeing is real. But in Apollo 18, the footage is actually recovered from NASA archives—or at least that's what they want you to think. For the non-spaceheads out there, the Apollo 18 mission was cancelled due to budget problems, but this 2011 film speculates that it actually took off in secret - and never returned. Like Blair Witch in space, the horror mounts as our astronauts discover that maybe the Moon isn't such a barren, desolate place after all.
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