Subgenres
Camera formatsBodycamCamcorderComputer ScreenDocumentaryHead CameraHome VideoLivestreamNews CameraNight VisionSecurity CameraTV Show FootageWebcam
Subgenres
Camera formatsBodycamCamcorderComputer ScreenDocumentaryHead CameraHome VideoLivestreamNews CameraNight VisionSecurity CameraTV Show FootageWebcam
← All listsCurated list · 15 films
Found Footage Inspired by True Events and Real Places
Found footage always pretends to be real - but some films start from something that really happened, or take place somewhere you can actually visit.
For each film we name the real event or place behind it. The stories themselves are fiction, so this is not a list of documentaries. They are listed in release order.
- 01Delphine LaLaurie
The St. Francisville Experiment (2000)
The house is linked to Delphine LaLaurie, a real 19th-century New Orleans socialite with a notorious history.
View film - 03Old Changi Hospital
Haunted Changi (2010)
Set in the abandoned Old Changi Hospital, a real building in Singapore long known for ghost stories.
View film - 04St Mary's Church, Clophill
The Paranormal Diaries: Clophill (2013)
Filmed at the ruined St Mary's Church in Clophill, England, and mixing real interviews with a scripted story.
View film - 05Dyatlov Pass incident
Devil's Pass (2013)
Students retrace the route of the nine hikers who died in the Ural Mountains in 1959.
View film - 06Patterson-Gimlin film
Willow Creek (2013)
Set in Willow Creek, California, near where the famous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film was shot.
View film - 08Brown Mountain lights
Alien Abduction (2014)
Set around Brown Mountain in North Carolina, a region known for its strange lights.
View film - 092013 news story
The Mirror (2014)
Based on a real 2013 news story about a "haunted" mirror sold online.
View film - 10Phoenix Lights
Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
Built around the real Phoenix Lights, seen by thousands of people over Arizona on March 13, 1997.
View film - 11Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)
Set in the real abandoned Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, once called one of the creepiest places on earth.
View film - 14Kenny Veach disappearance
Horror in the High Desert (2021)
Inspired by the real disappearance of hiker Kenny Veach in Nevada.
View film
More lists
15 filmsFound Footage for BeginnersNew to found footage? Start here: 15 essential films, from Ghostwatch and The Blair Witch Project to Host and Incantation, that fans and critics rank highest again and again.
12 filmsBest of the 2020sOur picks for the best found footage films of the 2020s so far, from a séance on a video call to lost tapes in the desert and a talk show gone to hell.
19 filmsAround the WorldFound footage isn't just American: haunted asylums in South Korea, curses in Japan and Taiwan, trolls in Norway and lost tapes from Spain to Chile.
17 filmsBeyond HorrorFound footage isn't only horror. Superpowers, moon landings, wild parties, war dramas and screen thrillers - the best non-horror films told through cameras inside the story.
16 filmsScreenlife MoviesFilms that play out entirely on computer and phone screens: video calls, livestreams, chats and webcams. From The Collingswood Story and Unfriended to Searching and Host.20 filmsThe 20 ScariestThe scariest found footage movies, ranked by how often they appear across 14 critics' and fan rankings - from The Blair Witch Project and Lake Mungo to [REC], Noroi and Host.
17 filmsAlien Found FootageThe best found footage movies about aliens and UFOs: alien abductions, strange lights in the sky, close encounters and missions into space - from The McPherson Tape to Phoenix Forgotten.
18 filmsGhost HuntingFound footage movies about ghost hunters, paranormal TV crews and livestreamers who spend the night in haunted places - from Ghostwatch and Grave Encounters to Gonjiam and Deadstream.
14 filmsMonsters and CryptidsFound footage monster movies: Bigfoot, trolls, cryptids and creatures caught on camera - from Cloverfield and Trollhunter to Willow Creek, Exists and Frogman.
14 filmsLost in the WoodsFound footage horror set in the woods: camping trips, cabins and forests where something is watching - from The Blair Witch Project to Willow Creek, Exists and Crone Wood.