10 Underrated Recent Found Footage Horror Movies You Should Watch
Welcome to Ranking Horror. We have been bulking out our catalogue of found footage horror movie lists this week. We are sticking with that theme today as we check out 10 Underrated Recent Found Footage Horror Movies You Should Watch.
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Just a few days ago, we took a look at 10 2020’s Found Footage Horror Movies That You Probably Missed. To be perfectly honest, most of those movies were pretty awful. The films in this list, however, are a lot better. In fact, I actually really enjoyed at least half of the titles on this list.
There’s a good chance a few of these films passed you by, as well, as they all came during Found Footage Horror’s recent down period. Most are easy to find on free streaming services but at least one of them is still awaiting a larger scale Western release. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some underrated recent found footage horror.
| Rank | Movie Title (Year) | The Underrated Vibe |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | M.O.M.: Mothers of Monsters (2020) | Gritty, Realistic Domestic Dread |
| 2 | Milk & Serial (2024) | Micro-budget YouTube Brilliance |
| 3 | Phoenix Forgotten (2017) | Atmospheric UFO Mystery |
| 4 | Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital (2024) | Polished Paranormal Remake |
| 5 | The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan (2018) | Authentic, Obscure Investigation |
10. Chateau (2024) – Haunted Influencer Cleaning
- Director: Colton Tran
- Cast: Cathy Marks, Colton Tran
- Runtime: 85 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 4.0/10
Why it Ranked: I actually quite enjoyed this recent found footage horror movie. I thought Cathy Marks was likable as the lead character. She also had some decent chemistry with Colton Tran who you may know as the director of Tubi original Sorry, Charlie (2023). It’s not a particularly well made or scary film but it’s enjoyable and isn’t that what counts? I definitely think Chateau is underrated.
Synopsis: Chateau (2024) follows the story of a social media influencer who takes on a cleaning job in a supposedly haunted French mansion. Planning to document her encounters in the house for her fans, she quickly realises she may get much more than she bargained for.
Where to Watch: Tubi, Amazon (Rent/Buy)
9. Lexi (2022) – Voyeuristic Influencer Terror
- Director: Victoria Vertuga
- Cast: Victoria Vertuga, Thomas Q. Jones
- Runtime: 84 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 4.3/10
Why it Ranked: As a voyeuristic horror, it works really well with fleshed out elements that really lean into the whole “spying on intimate moments” thing. It’s tough not to admire writer, director, and star Victoria Vertuga for how much work she put in, as well. Lexi seems to attract an audience that is expecting something completely different, but if you go in knowing it’s more of a grounded crime thriller than a ghost story, it’s quite gripping.
Synopsis: The story follows social media influencer Laughing Lexi who goes missing in mysterious circumstances. The recovered footage shows that she may have been victim to something truly sinister as her private life was being watched by an unseen predator.
Where to Watch: Tubi, Vudu
8. Life of Belle (2024) – Domestic Surveillance Dread
- Director: Shawn Wright
- Cast: Sybilla Deen, Richard Brancatisano
- Runtime: 74 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 4.7/10
Why it Ranked: Life of Belle is, very much, standard domestic found footage horror fare in the vein of Paranormal Activity. It is nothing that you haven’t seen before but I think it works pretty well. The blending together of the supernatural with domestic struggles works effectively and the story is interesting enough to keep things moving at a nice clip. It’s an ultra low budget film that actually delivers on its premise.
Synopsis: The film consists of recovered footage from a family’s home surveillance system and phones after an incident lead to the death of family members and the disappearance of the family’s daughter.
Where to Watch: Tubi, Amazon (Rent/Buy)
7. The Andy Baker Tape (2021) – A Tense Road Trip
- Director: Bret Lada
- Cast: Bret Lada, Dustin Fontaine
- Runtime: 70 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 5.1/10
Why it Ranked: The Andy Baker Tape is a mix of typical influencer style found footage with some enjoyable road trip vibes. Director and star Bret Lada made the movie during the 2020 lockdown which definitely deserves some praise. The result is a film that feels quite minimalist but also rather interesting and quite tense in parts. It feels far more realistic than your average ghost hunt.
Synopsis: The story follows a food vlogger who takes a break from the grind to meet up with his long lost brother. Deciding to document the meeting for his audience, the trip eventually takes a turn for the worse and the camera is there to catch every moment.
Where to Watch: Tubi, Amazon (Rent/Buy)
6. #MissingCouple (2024) – Cabin in the Clout
- Director: Christian Taylor
- Cast: Janna and Austin (TikTok influencers)
- Runtime: 88 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 5.2/10
Why it Ranked: Influencers are a big theme in recent found footage movies, but very few of them are actual real life influencers which makes the stars of #MissingCouple stand out just a little. This movie really tries to blur the lines between reality and fiction and it works pretty well. It isn’t all that scary but it is atmospheric and I really enjoyed the story.
Synopsis: A van-life influencer couple swap the big road for a rural cabin in the woods. Things start off well as they document their new lives, but things quickly begin to seem amiss as they uncover more truths about the cabin and the town it is located in.
Where to Watch: Tubi, Amazon (Rent/Buy)
5. The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan (2018) – Cold Case Investigation
- Director: Burt Grinstead
- Cast: Anna Stromberg, Burt Grinstead
- Runtime: 83 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 5.0/10
Why it Ranked: Stromberg is likable in the lead role and she has good chemistry with most of the other characters in the film. There are a few standout moments and, while it won’t blow you away, the story is interesting enough. I appreciated that there wasn’t an overabundance of editing which gave the whole “found footage” concept a little extra credence.
Synopsis: The story focuses on the recovered university project of a woman investigating a cold case murder that, apparently, wasn’t as dead and buried as it initially seemed to be.
Where to Watch: Amazon (Rent/Buy), Vudu
4. Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital (2024) – An International Remake
- Director: Kerwin Go
- Cast: Enrique Gil, Jane De Leon
- Runtime: 105 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 5.2/10
Why it Ranked: Remaking South Korea’s excellent Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is a tall order, but this Philippines-made version has been pretty well regarded out of its home country. It’s rare to see a found footage remake of this scale, and for fans of the original, seeing how they translate those scares to Taiwan’s Xinglin Hospital is a fascinating prospect.
Synopsis: A group of celebrities are filming in Taiwan’s infamous Xinglin Hospital, one of the most haunted locations in Asia, when everything suddenly takes a horrifying turn as they find themselves unable to escape the building.
Where to Watch: Asian Film Festivals, Import Only
3. Phoenix Forgotten (2017) – UFO Mockumentary
- Director: Justin Barber
- Cast: Florence Hartigan, Luke Spencer Roberts
- Runtime: 87 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 5.4/10
Why it Ranked: I thought Phoenix Forgotten was a pretty effective mockumentary style film that works really well, particularly for fans of all things UFO related. It tackles the real life Phoenix lights incident of 1997 with an interesting fictional twist. It captures that late-90s amateur video look perfectly and builds a genuine sense of curiosity before the final payoff.
Synopsis: The film presents the recovered footage of three children who went missing a couple of decades before after mysterious lights appeared above Phoenix, Arizona.
Where to Watch: Hulu, Amazon (Rent/Buy)
2. Milk & Serial (2024) – Micro-Budget Brilliance
- Director: Curry Barker
- Cast: Curry Barker, Cooper Tomlinson
- Runtime: 62 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 6.8/10
Why it Ranked: Believe it or not, this film was made on a budget of only $800 – that’s pretty incredible considering how effective and unsettling it is. It is one of those rare movies that demonstrates how well some YouTubers manage to transition to filmmaking. Milk & Serial works really well and is quite surprising, avoiding the usual “amateurish” traps of micro-budget horror.
Synopsis: Written and directed by, as well as starring, Curry Barker from the comedy YouTube channel “that’s a bad idea”, Milk & Serial follows a birthday prank that goes horribly wrong.
Where to Watch: YouTube (Free)
1. M.O.M.: Mothers of Monsters (2020) – Gritty Realism
- Director: Tuzla Tuz
- Cast: Melinda Page Hamilton, Bailey Edwards
- Runtime: 93 minutes
- IMDb User Score: 5.6/10
Why it Ranked: I’m a big fan of these types of movies and found footage is the perfect medium for them. It offers a grittiness and realism that other formats can’t really manage. M.O.M.: Mothers of Monsters is seriously underrated and really goes under people’s radars which is a shame. It is tremendously effective and captivating almost throughout. It feels like a punch to the gut by the time the credits roll.
Synopsis: The story follows a mother who, after suspecting her teenage son is planning a mass shooting but not being taken seriously by anyone else, decides to take matters into her own hands by recording his every movement.
Where to Watch: Tubi, Amazon (Rent/Buy)
Finding Gold in the Found Footage Bin
There we have it – 10 films that prove the found footage genre still has a few tricks up its sleeve. Whether it’s the micro-budget ingenuity of Milk & Serial or the disturbing domestic reality of M.O.M., these movies deserve far more attention than their low IMDB scores or obscure releases suggest.
Found footage works best when it feels like something we aren’t supposed to be seeing, and these underrated gems deliver that feeling in spades. Hopefully, this list has given you a few new reasons to keep exploring the niche corners of horror cinema. I’ll be back soon with more deep-dives into the movies you might have missed. Stay spooky.
📹 Quick Picks: Underrated Found Footage
- 🏆 The Essential Watch: M.O.M.: Mothers of Monsters (2020)
- 🎬 Best YouTube Creation: Milk & Serial (2024)
- 🛸 Best UFO Mystery: Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
- 🏯 Best International Remake: Strange Frequencies (2024)
- 🔦 Best Investigation: The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan (2018)
