The lesser explored concept of non-supernatural stalking is brought into frighteningly sharp focus in Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice’s two-hander, Creep. The Houses October Built is an effectively thrilling and at times downright chilling take on the subgenre. The buildup is slow, but allows for character development and a sense of progression, and once things get going, the action leads to a number of surprisingly creative set-pieces.
The cast has great chemistry together, and over the course of the story, they become noticeably more worn down by their grueling ordeal. With no fewer than seven cameras going, a nicely rounded perspective is built, with sequences of the haunts themselves suiting the disorienting nature of found footage well. Five friends embark on an RV trip through the southern states to find the best extreme haunts, only to find themselves subject to a horrifying experience that isn’t contained within the walls of an attraction.
Quietly tense and finishing on one hell of a cool scene, Area 51 deserves a watch.Ī horror set in extreme haunted house attractions makes for a great premise: Characters and audience alike enjoy a false sense of security with the assurance that there is no real danger, while the villains have their pick of unsuspecting victims. The sense of being watched is inescapable, and when the crew finally come face to face with what they have been looking for, it becomes hauntingly clear how naive their pursuit was. The premise of being somewhere off-limits creates massive tension: It always feels as though the characters are seconds from being caught by something, be that armed guards or aliens. In Peli’s trademark style, malevolent forces go unseen, with the final minutes delivering the knockout punch and sealing the characters’ fates. They team up to infiltrate Area 51 and soon realize they have made a grave error. As the title suggests, it is the story of three young men who are determined to discover what’s being hidden at the infamous military base and a young woman whose late father had intimate knowledge of the goings-on. Thankfully there are many creators that prove to have a knack for the pervasive and intimate horror that comes from the first-person perspective, filmmakers who also use the genre to tell their own unique narratives.After the monumental success of Paranormal Activity, Oren Peli set about exploring found footage in different ways, and one of his more interesting efforts was Area 51. Consequently, there have been numerous films made in the genre every year, many of them not so great. While Host has seen its fair share of accolades, the genre of found footage has still been a staple of the horror genre since it gained mainstream popularity with the release of The Blair Witch Project. Undeniably, the format holds appeal to budding filmmakers, allowing them to work on a budget within a style that already has an audience. RELATED: 10 Underrated Found Footage Horror Movies You Can Stream Today on Amazon Prime Dealing with the horror of being stuck inside, director Rob Savage managed to turn feelings of uncertainty into something demonic and frightening with his micro-budget, found-footage horror film Host. Recorded largely over the chat platform Zoom, the film gave an intimate view of a night gone horribly wrong by the accidental summoning of a malevolent spirit.