Best – Paranormal Activity
No found footage list would be complete without this 2007 fright fest, which sparked a major resurgence in the subgenre. Though [REC] came first, it was the disturbing fates of young couple Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherston) that both transfixed and terrified America. Shot entirely on a camera purchased by Micah in order to document freaky happenings around their house, Paranormal Activity is a compact, utterly spine-chilling horror movie, and one of the finest examples of how grimly effective the found footage format can be.
The genius of Oren Peli’s barely-there direction is how every still moment takes on a sinister, foreboding edge. The devil is in the details with Paranormal Activity, because the scariest part about watching the film is waiting and observing, scanning every inch of the frame for signs of something scary… and then finally freaking out when something horrifying shows up in Micah and Katie’s bedroom. The documentary feel puts the audience right there with the couple, and so their terror becomes ours, perhaps more impactfully in Paranormal Activity than in any other found footage film to date.
