Found Footage Fever

October seems as good a time as any to smash a bottle on a new segment here at The Horror Section. I, like many in the last decade or two, have really gotten into found footage horror. It has risen in the ranks to now be one of my favourite subgenres of horror. I was thinking about this the other day and had a realization that it has basically become the new “slasher”, or rather bread and butter, of the genre. Think of it like this - in the 80s, the slasher genre was paramount. It was an entry point into filmmaking, as they were super easy to make. The slasher genre birthed hundreds (perhaps thousands) of titles over the course of a few decades. Then, post 2000, we saw technology through a wrench into the machine. It became more difficult to isolate characters and script writers had to dedicate more and more time to explaining away easilly resolvable conflict. I won't go over the heavily tread origins of found footage, but post Blair Witch Project, as tech evolved, so did this genre whose very essence was steeped in technology. All you needed was a camera, a location, and a hook. Fast forward to 2026, and there are hundreds of them, available on every platform, which leads to me a recent discovery called Found TV. 

It's basically a Tubi for found footage movies, which is free with ads, and also has cheap plans as low as five bucks a month. So to christen (is christen the right word? What's the inverse, debaptize?) this feature, I thought I'd mention a trio of memorable titles I “found” on there.

BUM (2025) Dir: Anthony Leroy

I came across FoundTV, while trying to track down this short feature film. I had missed it at one of the 24-hour movie marathon my friend Justin organizes, but it just so happened this is where it lives online. This movie involving a wannabe news crew attempting to interview a deformed vagrant that apparently resides in their area is raw, chaotic and boasts some pretty gnarly effects. 

LIFE OF BELLE (2024) Dir: Shawn Robinson

This was the second title I watched on FoundTV and it made an impression. Framed as videos filmed by a young girl named Belle (Syrenne Robinson) for her YouTube channel, it serves as a casual witness to the mental breakdown of her mother (Sarah Mae Robinson). Like the Adams family (Hellbender, Where the Devil Roams), the foursome behind this piece are just a family that took a crack at filmmaking. I thought the performances of the two children were, for the most part, pretty naturalistic, especially considering what was asked of them. A solid piece of found footage imo.

SAVAGELAND (2015) Dir: Phil Guidry, Simon Hebert, David Whelan

This one is also available on YouTube. I love this movie, and it has a fantastic hook. All the people in a small desert town go missing, and the lone survivor ain't talking, but he had one roll of black & white film. Over the course of this faux documentary, each photo is revealed to tell a grisly story. Some of these photos are legit chilling. This movie is perfect “lights-off-watch-before-bed” viewing.

The last one I just wanted to mention that is currently playing the festival circuit, is Anthony Cousins' Frogman Returns. If you liked the first one, I think you'll like where this one goes. I love the world building of this, where cryptids are just kind of an accepted thing and the lore of their existence is really interesting. It starts out slow, but escalates ten-fold in the final act, much like its predecessor. If you live in the Toronto Area, it is playing Toronto After Dark this weekend.

Okay, that's it for the first post of this new feature. Hopefully, between this and VHS Fridays, I can keep them going at least bi-weekly, or at least that is the goal.