Halloween Horror: Your Guide To Navigating Netflix Watch Instantly This October

Found Footage Horror

We live in a time where found footage has become a pox upon the horror genre, yet that doesn’t mean it should be ignored. A few winning endeavors still slip through the cracks every now and then, proving that if done right, found footage horror can still thrive. The astounding thing is that most of the worthy films I’ve found on Netflix are all newer releases, proving my theory that found footage isn’t dead, but there’s also a must-see classic for all you first-person-camera loving audiences.

The film that arguably kickstarted the found footage genre, The Blair Witch Project, is available for anyone who still hasn’t been spooked by one of the most famous horror movies to escape the 90s. Yes, 1999 – it’s been that long since three film students ventured into a Maryland forest looking for a local legend, leaving behind only their footage. If you’re into found footage, start with this watch, but if gritty, grounded horror movies aren’t your bag, you’ll be one of the many to denounce Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s most famous genre contribution.

Another movie I have to highlight here is Maniac, the Elijah Wood remake of William Lustig’s campy B-movie shocker. Going the route of found footage, we inhabit the mind of a perverse serial killer who does unspeakable acts to woman, creating horror through the realization that we ourselves are Wood’s character. We’re not watching horror unfold on screen, it’s almost as if we’re the ones creating it – a terrible mindf@ck that creates one of the best horror watches I’ve sat through in recent memory.

For some more picks that include a Jonestown copycat, a quirky techno-horror flick and a unique anthology, check out this full list of recommendations:

• The Sacrament
• V/H/S 2
• Maniac
• The Blair Witch Project
• The Den