The Devil in the Details

The Conspiracy is a mockumentary/found-footage horror film from 2012, a direct result of the big boom of such films following on from Paranormal Activity, at about the point when the sub-genre was being driven into the dirt by awful sequels and copycats. It's fairly obscure at the moment, seemingly existing only as a Shudder streaming exclusive, having only ever seen a long out-of-print DVD release over a decade ago and various foreign Blu-ray releases in the years since. But hey: the same is true for Noroi: The Curse, and that was one of the best found-footage films I'd ever seen, before or since. Could The Conspiracy ever hope to measure up to those lofty expectations?  Well no, you idiot, but I'm not going in with those expectations. I just want grounded horror with a shallow depth of field. I want mystery, ambiguity, more of what The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast offered up, and the premise for this film seemed promising as such: two documentary filmmak

Alright, so despite my best judgment, I've been on something of a found footage kick recently, inspired by the recent re-release of cult film The Last Broadcast and its wild twist ending. It's got me thinking back on great found footage horror films I've stumbled across before, and searching for new ones to add to the pile. The Poughkeepsie Tapes was one that immediately sounded interesting, given that I have enjoyed my fair share of true crime books and serial killer documentaries over the years. Its shadowy release history certainly stood out as well, with it having been pulled from the release schedule just before it was supposed to make its debut. The Shout! Factory Blu-ray that I watched is actually the first time the film has gotten a wider release, and it comes almost exactly ten years after the day it was originally supposed to arrive. Sounds interesting, right? Was MGM trying to keep the lid on this thing for any specific reason? Or could this be something far mo

Finally! After all these years, there now exists an all-region Blu-ray of the cult horror flick The Last Broadcast, a film which is generally considered one the very earliest found footage horror films. Coming out just before The Blair Witch Project would hit the silver screen and wow audiences worldwide,  The Last Broadcast is more of a mockumentary than a found footage film, but is notable for technically beating its far more popular contemporary to the punch... iiif you just pretend Cannibal Holocaust doesn't exist, that is.  Anyway, this film follows the exploits of a couple of goofballs shooting a public access show, hungry for attention. After an anonymous internet user suggests they do a show on the mythical Jersey Devil, our two leads hire a few more tagalongs to help them produce a live broadcast on location from the Jersey Pine Barrens in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the beast.  Here what we know: the group made it to their destination, and they successfully manag

The Blair Witch Project is a once-beloved film that has had its reputation put through the wringer over the decades since its release. Often seen by modern horror viewers (aka teenagers) as slow, boring, and gimmicky, it's a wonderful film that seems to be forever haunted by its infamous marketing that claimed it to be real footage, pissing off regular people who felt duped and those that obviously knew it couldn't be a real snuff film. Its original reception only made the situation worse, as reviews of it tended to call it one of the scariest films ever, which many seem to interpret as a challenge. In my humble opinion however, then and perhaps even moreso in these scorched-earth days of cheap horror exercises for easy box office returns, The Blair Witch Project stands as nothing short of a triumph of the found footage genre. The film follows a crew of three young adults who aim to make a documentary discussing and investigating folklore surrounding the town of Burkittsville