I know a lot of people don't like the found footage "genre," but I'm a big fan of it when it is done well. To me, it adds a level of immediacy to a movie that wouldn't be possible if it was shot in a standard way. "The Blair Witch Project" got under my skin in a way no other movie has since.

Having said that, what "found footage" movies would you consider to be the best?

IMO the best of these are :

Man Bites Dog
The Blair Witch Project
REC
Diary of the Dead (yeah I know alot of you hate this one but I don't)

I love them. For me:

All three Paranormal Activity movies
REC 2
Artrocious (love it)
Blair Witch
Quarantine
Evil Things

And Inri - It's funny you mention Diary.....HATED it when I first saw it but for some reason I want to see it again.

Blair Witch Project... it doesn't hold up but it was the first really popular one and at the time I thought it was scary as shit. Granted I was 13 but I still have fond memories of it.

(over/under is 8 1/2 posts before we get a "they all suck" post)

Another vote for Atrocious ... super, super effective scary found footage.

Cloverfield
REC

Not keen on any of the rest.

My favorite is probably Cloverfield. That movie is a blast. I agree that Blair Witch should take the nod only because it brought the genre (if you can call it that...) to the masses.

While I don't think it should rank as the best, "Grave Encounters" should totally be up there.

Blair Witch
Cloverfield
Chronicle

Troll Hunter was one I had a lot of fun with.

Cloverfield
Blair Witch Project
Quarantine
Diary of the Dead (and this is coming from someone who doesn't like the other 'Dead' movies)

One no one has mentioned:

Cannibal Holocaust

That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that.

Blair Witch is the only one that really worked for me. Most everything else seems to have just been an excuse to make a cheap(er) film.

That's the first one I thought of.

How about The Last Broadcast?

I hated The Last Broadcast. Not a real fan of the genre tho. I spend most of the time waiting for the inevitable "I need to keep recording this for posterity" line.

Here are the ones that I think used the format well:

Cannibal Holocaust
The Blair Witch Project
Man Bites Dog


I have Diary of the Dead but haven't watched it yet. I'm interested in Paranormal Activity because I've heard good things about it.

Rec & rec 2

Quarantine is garbage, because they ripped off REC.

Blair Witch and Cloverfield.

Don't really care. I enjoyed Quarantine very much regardless of where the idea came from.

Responding to my own thread...

- Loved Blair Witch. Like I said, no other movie has scared me as badly as an adult. (The Exorcist scared me more, but I was 8 at the time.)

- Liked Paranormal Activity but thought Paranormal Activity 3 was better in a lot of ways. Thought the second one wasn't that great.

- I saw Quarantine before I saw Rec. Both were very good, but I actually enjoyed Quarantine more.

- I'm a big fan of Cloverfield.

- Let me be the first one to cast a vote for Lake Mungo. If you haven't seen it and like found footage movies, this one's great for some goosebumps.

- Just watched Atrocius this evening after it was recommended in this thread (it's available via Netflix streaming)... and it's quite good.

- I thought Troll Hunter and The Last Exorcism both had their good moments (especially the former), but neither one were great, IMO.

- Haven't seen Diary of the Dead, Chronicle, or Cannibal Holocaust. Really want to see Chronicle, but I'm not so sure about the other two.

Either Star Spangled to Death or Rose Hobart

REC
REC 2
Cloverfield
Chronicle
Troll Hunter

Fuck Quarantine. Never saw Blair Witch. Hated Project X, the 15 mins or however long it took till the bitches started coming to the party...never even finished the film...walked out and saw John Carter instead..great flick it was.

what the hell movie are u talking about though???