One of the best feelings in the world is when you find a movie that you feels like was made for you. Combining Best in Show, American Movie, and Bigfoot is a surefire way to earn my love.
Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project
Year: 2025Directed by: Max Tzannes
Written by: David San Miguel, Max Tzannes
Starring: Brennan Keel Cook, Chen Tang, Erika Vetter, Dean Cameron, Del Alan Murphy
Runtime: 89 minutes
There is something so magical to me about movies that are about making movies. Ed Wood, Dolemite is my Name, and American Movie capture the passion, dedication, and madness it takes to cobble together a low budget movie with nothing but a couple of friends and some loans you know you won't be able to pay back.
Every movie is a miracle. That is an idea that has stuck with me ever since I started taking film seriously. The worst piece of garbage you've ever seen is an astonishing feat that was born from a refusal to let a dream go unrealized. Every production needs a leader to hold steady and keep the cast and crew together when things go wrong over and over and over again. Someone with equal parts passion and delusion. Found Footage is a mockumentary that follows amateur filmmaker Chase Bradner. Credit where credit is due, that is a hilarious Dumb Guy Name. Chase Bradner absolutely sucks ass, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Please allow me this brief detour to paint the picture of our hero. I promise it will make sense when I'm done.
A thing I talk about (too much, one might say) is that one of the biggest limitations of found footage is being limited to what is happening in frame at that exact moment. That is a feature and a bug. It's a feature in the sense that you can completely immerse yourself. It's a bug because there's no way to use flashbacks to flesh out characters without taking you out of the movie. That immersion is everything, so what you're left with is either some form or archival footage, or the dreaded 20 Minute Yap Sesh. The first 20 minutes of so, so, so many of these films are nothing but two characters standing off to the side and talking about something from the past in elaborate detail that you, the audience, don't get to see, but it was very important.
These limitations force a director to get creative in how they give insight into how someone thinks. In Found Footage, the documentarian covering the making of Chase's movie (and the disaster that follows) goes to his home to interview him. Chase proudly shows off several props he has from Hollywood films to give himself some cred, and to prove to those watching that he's passionate about filmmaking. As he is talking, the camera reveals:
This reveal happens 5 minutes into the movie
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and with this one image I know everything I've ever needed to know about Chase. You could fill out a Wookiepedia page worth of lore based on that.
Much like all charismatic leaders, Chase is surrounded by dozens....by six or seven devotees. It's not a big crew by any means, but by God these people get it. I love when a crew of die hard, well-meaning friends know the odds are against them, but they are going to persevere and create movie magic. They are fully bought in because the dream is bigger than one man. Everybody plays a part. One team. One Vision. One heart. Left side, strong side. When they're having a pre-production meeting, Chase stands up in front of the table and says, and I quote:
"This is not some prehistoric creature that may or may not exist. this is about a group of prehistoric creatures...that like to call themselves human beings."
You, I, and most other people would tell him to go fuck himself. It would be the end of both the conversation and the collaboration. But not for them. Chase isn't making a movie about teens getting killed by Bigfoot. He's making a movie about teens getting killed by a psycho in the woods dressed as Bigfoot. And more importantly, he's making a movie about the human experience. And there is nothing in the world more important right now than going to Chase's girlfriend's parents' time share cabin in the woods for the weekend and making it happen.
Everything is in motion. The movie is going to get made. Chase and friends arrive at the cabin and begin unpacking. They head down to the basement and notice a sign hanging above the door, written in a language they don't recognize. Whatever, multiple people rent this cabin out, who knows who was there last. They start assembling their command center and rearranging the room. As they're dragging furniture around, they disrupt a salt circle on the ground.
I was already bought in with the Daredevil bit earlier, but this was when I leaned forward. I, like most of you, assumed this would be a movie where they go to the woods to film a fake movie about Sasquatch and then get attacked by real Sasquatch. This is not a cryptid movie-don't close the tab. Stay with me. Do I wish this was a Squatch movie? Of course I do. Would it be better if there was a Surprise Squatch Attack? Probably, but I would also say that for literally every movie ever made. I watch It's A Wonderful Life every Christmas, but it would be even better if it ended with Bigfoot throwing George Bailey over that bridge.
Things begin to go wrong after they disrupt the circle. Small things at first. Losing power briefly, food spoiling. Nothing crazy. But it keeps escalating, gradually chipping away at them physically, mentally, and spiritually. But great art is made in the face of adversity and Chase will not back down. That's why I love Found Footage. Chase is shown an ancient book written about demons that not only describes everything that has happened to them since they arrived, but alludes to a finale called "The Grand Jubilee" that nobody has ever survived. He takes this into consideration, but that book doesn't account for one very important detail: they only have the cabin for the weekend, so they have to hurry up and finish shooting.
One of the most difficult things to accomplish in a movie is successfully paying off jokes and scares. It's incredibly rewarding to get both in Found Footage. Even though Chase sucks ass (again, complimentary), you want him and his crew to succeed. You want them to find a way to break whatever curse they've unwittingly unleashed upon themselves so they can make their passion project. You don't get mad at him for ignoring everything going wrong, because there is no such thing as a red flag when you're chasing your dream. Does it help that every glimpse of the movie they're making sucks total and complete dog ass? Absolutely. Making a "bad movie" on purpose is so much harder than it looks. If you don't believe me, I double dog dare you to try to sit through Birdemic 2, Samurai Cop 2, or anything Tommy Wiseau has made since The Room become infamous.
The combination of humor and horror is the secret sauce that makes me love Found Footage as much as I do. On one hand you have escalating supernatural horror and a third act that goes completely off the rails. That is juxtaposed by a scene in which the lead actor reveals that he doesn't know what found footage is, nor can he hold the camera steady while reading his lines. The solution to this is for Chase to wrap himself around the actor like a cobra so he can work the camera from behind him.
I love movies more than I love most people. I love horror movies where I keep the kitchen light on for the rest of the night. You know, just in case. I love martial arts movies that make me think that maybe 35 isn't too old to start practicing Taekwondo. But there is nothing better than a movie that makes me want to go into the woods with friends and film something. Found Footage ended and all I wanted to was spend a weekend with a bunch of fellow idiots. A ragtag crew of us who don't know what we're doing, only that we have to do it.
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