Stream and scream: 9 found-footage horror movies you can (and should) watch right now

The Devil’s Doorway (2018)

In The Devil’s Doorway (now playing in select theaters and on VOD), two priests investigate one of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene asylums, trying to verify reports of religious statues weeping blood around the institution. Crafted by first-time filmmaker Aislinn Clarke to resemble a 16mm cinema verite documentary, it’s a disquieting gem of a horror movie, built from the bones of the Catholic Church’s long-hidden skeletons. In honor of its release, here are eight more terrifying found-footage movies you can (and should) watch this summer.

Lake Mungo (2008)

A decade ahead before Hereditary, this unsettling Aussie import dove deep and dark into the grief that follows unfathomable loss. Lake Mungo is introduced as a documentary about a family unit deteriorating after the accidental drowning of their teenage daughter, ratcheting up the tension and terror as it reveals itself to actually be that rarest of ghost stories: one that understands how, in confronting the paradoxes of memory and mystery, we can often begin to haunt ourselves.

Available on: TubiTV, Amazon Prime Video

Creep (2014)

Found-footage by way of the mumblecore movement, this oddball, darkly funny pic tells the story of a videographer (Patrick Brice) who responds to an ad posted by a seemingly harmless weirdo named Josef (Mark Duplass), seeking a daylong video shoot. Once they’ve met, Josef reveals the ostensible reason behind his request: He has cancer and wants to make a video diary for his unborn son. Or so he says — Creep revels in the ambiguity, right up until a twist at the movie’s midpoint that elevates it into a truly unnerving nail-biter.

Available on: Netflix

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

In the mood to give yourself nightmares for the next few years? This 1980 exploitation classic should do the trick. Possibly the most controversial horror movie of all time, it teases out the fate of a documentary film crew that goes missing in the Amazon while on a mission to film indigenous cannibal tribes. With savage, stomach-churning social commentary about the evils of so-called “civilized” man that paved the way for every other movie in this gallery, Cannibal Holocaust is avant-garde cinema as corrosive agent, searing itself onto the retinas of all those daring enough to see it.

Available on: Kanopy, Shudder, Amazon Prime Video

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The one that started it all. This mockumentary about three student filmmakers chasing tales of a local legend into the Black Hills woods, only to wind up hopelessly lost, is the definitive found-footage chiller. Almost two decades later, it’s still one of the most psychologically scarring, deeply upsetting horror movies ever made, a conceptual groundbreaker that unearthed the very foundation of fear itself: namely, the unknown, always lurking in the dark and invisible save for the long shadow it casts over our captive imaginations.

Available on: Amazon Prime Video

The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)

Atmospheric, sturdily acted, and resplendent with blood-curdling moments, The Taking of Deborah Logan doubles as the genre’s most thoughtful exploration of the real-life horrors that accompany Alzheimer’s. Director Adam Robitel (later snapped up to make the fourth Insidious movie) stages some terrific scares in near-total darkness, with occasional flashes of light springing all kinds of nightmarish visuals on wary watchers. This one gets bonus points for directly tangling with one of the subgenre’s most enduring problems: that, with all kinds of spooky shenanigans unfolding, most reasonably self-sustaining individuals might start weighing their passion for amateur filmmaking against apparent threats to their lives.

Available on: Google Play

REC (2007)

An unhinged rollercoaster ride through a zombie-infested haunted house, REC deserves a spot on this list for managing to relentlessly up the scare quotient as it goes with startling, shiver-inducing success. What starts as merely an eventful evening for two reporters on the night shift becomes a nasty, nerve-jangling nightmare once they’re trapped inside a gone-to-hell apartment building with its infected, flesh-craving tenants.

Available on: Amazon Prime Video

Grave Encounters (2011)

If you’re ever inclined to investigate a legendarily haunted mental institution, allow this uneasy, underrated fright fest to talk you out of that no good, very bad idea. Fun, thrilling, and very scary, Grave Encounters is just an all-around strong and slyly ambitious entry in the found-footage genre, with more up its sleeve than it initially appears.

Available on: Shudder, Amazon Prime Video

VHS 2 (2013)

The first VHS was a spooky-enough proof-of-concept that suffered from scattershot execution across its uneven spread of segments. This much-improved sequel only has four scary stories to spin but sticks the landing on all of them, delivering a quartet of diabolically clever, gleefully gruesome shorts that riff on the found-footage format in ways both eerie and inventive.

Available on: Netflix