Cannibal Holocaust is one of the earlier films that fits that mold (and one of the best in my opinion.) If you are looking for some really convincing gore from the 70s this is one of the best. It was so convincing when it was first released the Director of the film was arrested for killing actors.
What’s the recent low-budget horror…Paranormal Activity or something of the like?
Also, Man Bites Dog, which is a difficult film for me to think about…It’s a darkly (and Jesus do I mean DARKLY) comedic satire on the participatory role of news/documentary media. My qualms lie with my inability to decide whether or not the film is unnecessarily hyperbolic in that regard—it goes to places that transcend discomfort and provocation and become simply graphic and shocking. (A more tasteful and realistic yet still unforgiving address of such issues, though some might disagree with ‘tasteful,’ can be found in Watkins’ “Punishment Park.”) But given its goals the documentary aspect of the footage is certainly thematically important.
I’ve seen bits of Man Bites Dog, which I found utterly fascinating. Really effective use of this narrative style. Cannibal Holocaust sounds like a good one too. But it seems that this particular form is used mainly in films that concern really visceral sorts of subject matter. Nearly every example is some sort of horror movie. Trash Humpers is the only one that stands apart from the group.
I’m interested in the dramatic potential that this formal approach might afford a more serious, character driven sort of film. If we’re talking mockumentary, Von Trier’s The Idiots is a good example of such a film. But I’m more interested in films that aren’t framed as a documentary, but rather as footage recorded by one of the active participants in the narrative, as in the examples I mentioned in the initial post. I’m hard-pressed to think of any films that have done this sort of thing though.
I’m interested in this argument, too; i’ve been trying to draft a list here, you can find it as came-scope (or camera-scope, as critics conventionally call this found-footage simulated genre).
Jonathan Jayasinghe
What other films do you know of that use the narrative approach of being “found footage”? Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project are the most notable recent examples I can think of, but what else? Names of films and thoughts on the films themselves or on the overall narrative approach would be much appreciated.