Shudder Review: Found Footage 3D (2017)

"A breath of fresh, different air."

The Horror world is filled with endless amounts of cheap, non-sensical Found Footage flicks where people inexplicably film horrific events so that someone can come along later and find the footage, and try to figure out what happened to them.

That usually involves a lot of shaky, grainy, blurred action that really sucks to sit through, and it's gotten pretty old.

Every now and then though, the tired sub-genre gives us a movie that transcends it shitty norm and delivers a smart, funny, and interesting story that makes us smile.

This is one such movie.

Derek and his small cast and crew are making a Found Footage flick called Spectre of Death. This one is going to stand out from the pack by being the first ever 3D Found Footage flick, even though that makes absolutely no sense. But it kinda does, given that this movie is meta like that.

The struggles of Indie filmmaking are front and center here, but the real fun begins when an evil shadow starts showing up in the footage, and begin messing with Amy, stalking her while she sleeps and clawing her arm.

THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER TAKE OFF INTO THE WOODS WITH A GUY YOU JUST MET AT A PARTY.

The producers of this movie know exactly how frustrating the average FF flick can be, and so it's a tiny stroke of genius that they went the meta route with Found Footage 3D, and did their best to decry their peers at every turn. Characters are constantly commenting on how stupid certain elements of their film are, or how things make no sense, and it made for a fun and humorous watch.

Of course, the movie ends up doing all of the things that it makes fun of other FF flicks for doing, but what can you do, it's a FF flick after all. It knows that the whole conceit is silly, but it still has to go there, because that's what it's made to do. 

Things actually get more Horror-oriented towards the end, where the vibe switches from fun to shocking, as the entity makes its move, and tears through the cast and crew. Aside from the part where the idiot driving the getaway van refused to watch the road while he was driving at breakneck speed, the third act was pretty cool. 

CREEPY PLACE, TOO BAD WE CAN'T STAY.

Things get bloody towards the end.

RUN, LIKE THAT WILL HELP.

There's a sex scene, but nothing too graphic.

THERE'S NOTHING QUITE LIKE A BLOODY TANK TOP, IS THERE?

At the very least, Found Footage 3D acknowledges the sub-genre's faults, and manages to entertain on a humorously meta level, while delivering some good old fashioned Horror at the same time. I have to give it credit for going a different route and making itself relevant in its own special way.

If you have Shudder, there's no reason for you not to give this one a go.

B

The 2D version of Found Footage 3D is streaming now, exclusively on Shudder. The 3D version hits the streaming service on October 26th.

The girls of Found Footage 3D.