PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Most of our readers know by now that I really don’t care much for found footage films, with the exception of Wekufe: Origin of Evil and Room For Rent (you can read my reviews of the films here and here). I feel like the genre is full of potential to tell a compelling story, but most films fail in character development and climactic pay off. When I found the Blu-ray for Found Footage 3D the other day, it intrigued me, sounding like a send up of genre tropes and a found footage film all in one. Did Found Footage 3D fall into the same category as typical found footage films, or did it deliver the goods?
Found Footage 3D is the feature length directorial debut of Writer/Director Steve DeGennaro (First Date 2011). The film stars Carter Roy (Refuge 2013), Alena Von Stroheim (The Activist 2014), Chris O’Brien (Not A Plan TV series), Tom Saporito (Spermicide 2014), Scott Allen Perry (Santa Jaws 2018), and Jessica Perrin (A Song For Danny 2015).
The film’s synopsis:
A group of filmmakers set out to make the first 3D found footage horror movie, but find themselves in a found footage horror movie when the evil entity from their film escapes into their behind-the-scenes footage.
Found Footage 3D excels in character development. You have a small group of characters who are working on a movie together, most of whom already know each other and have history, which rears its ugly head more than once. The characters include: Derek, the producer/writer/star who wants to call all the shots; Amy, the writer/star and Derek’s ex-wife who struggles to receive credit for her contributions; documentarian Mark, Derek’s brother, who also happens to be in love with Amy; Andrew, the director of the film who has to fight with Derek to make his ideas heard; Carl, the soundman who owes a debt to Derek and is forced out of a good gig to make good on that debt; and Lily, the horror-loving PA who is a source of jealousy and tension between Derek and Amy. Between all of this and Derek making changes left and right, tensions are already high, and that’s before the crew finds out that the house they are filming in has a history of murder and mayhem.
The cast has wonderful chemistry and play off each other well, making it easy to get invested in their drama, which led to me being engrossed long before the weird shit started happening. As things begin to take a sinister turn, tempers flare, people get hurt and others go missing, and it all converges in a final act appearance by journalist Scott Weinberg… the sign that the proverbial shit has hit the fan, and all hell breaks loose. This is where the film truly shines. The last half hour shifts into full blown supernatural horror, complete with some graphic kills, while still playing with the tropes of the found footage genre it has been poking fun at for the duration of the film’s running time.
Final Thoughts
Found Footage 3D is a found footage film that delivers the goods, all while simultaneously lampooning and subverting the subgenre it’s playing on. It is a meta horror film that should appeal to fans of found footage as well as horror fans like me who usually don’t care for it. Highly recommended. Get it HERE
