WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
There’s nothing scarier than being hunted by something you can’t even see. Evil lurking everywhere and you don’t know whether to run or fight – that’s if you can do either. Below I have compiled a set of films where that is exactly the case. Things will go bump in the night, you just don’t know what it is…
Paranormal Activity
I love a found-footage film as much as the next person (there’s 3 of them on here so I think that’s obvious) but I was bored until about Night 18. The moment the bedroom door slammed I actually jumped. I’m split on whether you see it or not because on both Night 19 and before Katie is dragged from the room on Night 20, there’s a shadow on the door. To me, that must be whatever is haunting her because that’s the direction her foot is pulled from before going out of the room. I’ll be honest though, and may be this says more about me than the film, but I don’t know why people I knew were so scared by this film when it came out.
Side note: I did not expect the ending.
The Witch
With many ‘ultimate evil’ films, you have some idea what the evil could be. However, with this film I had so many theories. Is the family cursed from the beginning (that being the reason they are exiled from the village in the first place) or is Thomasine the aforementioned witch in the title? Is the woman we see killing a baby and kissing Caleb a witch or is she just part of Thomasine’s dream and a figment of Caleb’s imagination – a hallucination from being in the forest for so long. Could the farm they are living on be the problem or could the goat that the twins so affectionately dub Black Philip be the Devil? My favourite theory, that I came up with about halfway through, is that the ultimate evil could be sin itself. It is mentioned that baby Samuel is a child of sin and even Caleb seems to covet his sister. In the end, it is revealed in a dark final scene that the Devil has been behind it all along but you never see him, only hear is his voice.
Willow Creek
Ding Ding Ding, found-footage film numero dos. OK, you have to hold out a bit with this one as things don’t truly start happening until about 15 minutes from the end. OK, from about 40 minutes in our lead characters start to hear noises (ones that I can actually hear too, unlike Paranormal Activity) but nothing as intense as when whatever it is gets close to their tent, and they are scared by a raccoon, which made me jump too I have to admit. The one thing I will say for this is, that because of the purpose of the video they are making – even as the viewer I was wondering if it was Bigfoot or not. Obviously, that’s not me saying I actually believe in it (or him/her or they) but I’m saying the film makes you question everything you hear.
The last 5 minutes are the most intense. There’s nothing but sound until the camera, and whoever is holding it, are dragged backwards across the ground.
Bird Box
M. Night Shyamalan, take note. This, my friends, is how The Happening should have been. I enjoy the fact that there’s no plausible explanation for why this is happening and at no point does the audience see what the characters are seeing. I’ve read that there was supposed to be a scene where the antagonist is shown but the director felt that it would have ruined the film as a whole – and I think she’s right. Especially as it seems that no two people are seeing the same thing. Also, and I do find this to be quite rare, I actually became emotionally attached to so many of the characters almost straight away. Unfortunately though, that doesn’t include Mallorie. The closest we come to any connection to the invisible evil is a shadow that forms or voices being heard.
Blair Witch Project
Now we come to our final found-footage film. There’s something that I think means that this film has the upper hand over the other two, and that’s the fact that the majority of the documentary they are making is filmed in black and white. Something about that makes it feel that much more real. However, the similarity between this and the other two is that it is just as much of a slow burner. It’s not the best of the three, that’s for sure, but I can’t make up my mind if it’s the worst. I’ll be honest, outside of them arguing 90% of the time, nothing really happens. Yeah, there’s the people made out of twigs that they stumble upon hanging in the trees but to be honest it’s a little too Wicker Man for me. Even what Heather finds at the end, which I assume is supposed to be Josh’s scalp, just doesn’t mess with me because it just doesn’t look recognisable as anything specific. So, the question is – is there really something evil in the forest or are they just finding really old stuff because they got lost?
Side Note: a jump scare at the end, possibly would have made this film 10x better.
Final Destination
Saved the best for last. Is there a more ultimate evil than being hunted by Death itself? That’s actually what makes this set of films one of my favourites (apart from the 4th one but that’s a conversation for another day). I honestly put this up there with Saw when it comes to how clever the concept is – so much so that in my opinion Countdown has tried to do the same thing and just not pulled it off quite as well (especially as you see the evil towards the end). Anyway, I’m rambling but that’s because I don’t want to give too much away. In a weird way, and I’ve never thought about this before now so please don’t judge me, it’s actually commentary on life because in some way or another we are all trying to outrun death. However, when your number’s up your number is up and clearly your card stays marked.
