Since 1999, there are numerous of films released and claimed to be the "found footage" from some mysterious and unexplained criminal cases. The victims were never been found, and people - means "the police and relatives" - were still looking for them. The documentary film - that been made by one or several of the deceased - was found at the site of the crime. While we watched the movie, people - again, means "the police and the relatives" - hope someone from the audience can understand the situation and can help to solve the mystery.The "found footage" film were made use regular handycam and recorded by a very amateur movie maker (it shakes, sometimes blur, too radical close-up, ... just like a very regular home-made documentary film).
Question : Are those films real? I mean, do you believe - or should we believe - the movie is actually a true incident?
Well... if you believe those films are taken from true incidents, then I should congratulate you, because you just being punk'd.
The movies that you saw - with additional lines, such as "found footage" - were actually fake. All of them were truly an entertaining movie that been made in purpose to make people feel deeply about the things that they saw on the screen. "Found footage" has become one of the most favorable genre of movie making (mostly horror). Filming mostly done by the actor themselves as they recite their lines. Shaky or blur camera work is often employed for realism.This genre was introduced in 1980, when Cannibal Holocaust was released. Directed by Ruggero Deadato and starring Carl Gabriel Yorke, Robert Kerman, and Francesca Ciardi, this Italian film tells the story of a missing documentary film crew who had gone to the Amazon to film cannibal tribes. The crew never been found and presumed dead. Only their film was found and later an American television station wishes to broadcast.
This film has influenced another "found footage" horror film called The Blair Witch Project (1999), and later become the "found footage" genre's landmark in horror film history. Since then, more "found footage" film appeared in theaters. At least there are 7 - 10 movies been released in United States and about 20 - 30 movies in the world each year.
Today, there are more than hundreds of "found footage" films that been made, and some of them have become cult movies. Most notable "found footage" films are the trilogy of August Underground (2001 - 2004), Cloverfield (2008), the series of Paranormal Activity (2009 - present), The Last Exorcism (2010), Apollo 18 (2011), and Chronicle (2012).
Besides United States, other countries also adapted and produced "found footage" genre movies. Most notable country that also produced this kind of genre is Japan. Koji Shiraishi - Japanese director - has been know as one of the well-known director whose made The Curse (Noroi, 2005), one of the most controversial and the longest play "found footage" genre movie (usually "found footage" film only 75-90 minutes play-length. The Curse has 120 minutes play-length). He also made Occult (2009) and Shirome (2010) in which both are also box office "found footage" genre films in Japan.Other countries that also made "found footage" documentary films are :
- Australia (Lake Mungo; 2008)
- Singapore (Changi Haunted; 2011)
- Indonesia (Terekam; 2010)
- Spanish (Atrocious and the trilogy of REC; 2007 - 2012)
- Canada (Diary of the Dead; 2007)
- India (Ragini MMS and Love Sex Aur Dhokha; 2011)
- Norway (Trollhunter; 2010)
- Poland (Nawiedzona Polska; 2011)
