Found footage horror has a unique way of pulling audiences into the story, making every scare feel raw and real. From haunted asylums to cursed tapes, this subgenre has produced some of the most chilling experiences in modern horror. This list isn’t ranked by which film is the best, but rather a collection of some of the most memorable and impactful found footage horror films. Each one brings something unique to the genre, so instead of ranking, I’m presenting them as a selection worth watching.
A television reporter and her cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and quickly become trapped inside with something terrifying spreading within.
Picking up minutes after the original, a SWAT team and a medical officer are sent into the quarantined building to control the situation, only to uncover an even more horrifying truth.
At a wedding celebration, the infection breaks out among guests, turning a joyous occasion into a brutal fight for survival as the virus spreads through the attendees.
Survivor Ángela is taken onto a ship for quarantine, but the nightmare reignites when the infection finds its way aboard and containment proves impossible.
A ghost-hunting reality TV crew locks themselves inside an abandoned psychiatric hospital for a night of filming, only to discover the building itself becomes a living, malevolent maze intent on trapping them.
A group of film students obsessed with the first movie investigate the asylum to learn the truth, but their curiosity leads them into the same nightmarish realm where the horrors are all too real.
Investigators from the Vatican are sent to examine reports of supernatural events at a remote church in the English countryside, where terrifying and otherworldly phenomena are documented on their cameras.
A crew of YouTubers streams a live investigation inside a notorious abandoned asylum in South Korea; what begins as staged scares turns into real terror as malevolent forces reveal themselves during the broadcast.
A team of explorers ventures into the Paris catacombs searching for a legendary artifact, only to descend into a nightmarish journey that mirrors their darkest sins and blurs the line between reality and hell.
Two American tourists visiting Jerusalem find themselves trapped in an apocalyptic event as biblical demons and winged creatures overtake the city, captured through wearable cameras and phones.
A documentary-style investigation revisits the tragic opening night of a Halloween haunted house attraction where multiple visitors died; recovered footage reveals the chilling events that unfolded inside.
Investigators return to the infamous Abaddon Hotel to uncover the truth behind the original tragedy, only to become entangled in the same sinister forces that refuse to let them go.
Years after the original incidents, a new production brings fresh victims into the Abaddon Hotel, where dark secrets and violent supernatural occurrences continue to surface.
A prequel investigation explores the Carmichael Manor and uncovers chilling connections between the manor's history and the larger Hell House mythology.
A paranormal researcher compiles documentary footage investigating a series of mysterious events, uncovering a terrifying centuries-old curse linked to a demon known as Kagutaba.
During a going-away party in Manhattan, a massive creature attacks the city; handheld footage follows a small group of friends as they try to survive the catastrophic destruction.
After a car accident, a woman wakes up in an underground bunker with two men who insist the outside world is no longer safe—paranoia and distrust build as she questions what’s true.
A modern found-footage franchise that follows families terrorized by a demonic presence; nightly disturbances captured on home cameras escalate into a sprawling mythology of possession and ritual.