The self-proclaimed mockumentaryFound Footage: The Making of the Patterson Projectprobably would have landed better had its filmmakers not name-checkedThis is Spinal Tapas a key inspiration. That’s a high bar to clear for this mildly amusing genre shape-shifter, and whileFound Footagehas a certain scruffy charm — as well as a deep knowledge of (and affection for) low-budget filmmaking — it generates mere chuckles as it catalogs everything that could possibly go wrong as a novice director attempts to shoot a found-footage horror movie about Bigfoot.
Director and co-writer Max Tzannes sure knows the territory, and his take on a loyal crew following a young, inexperienced director off a filmmaking cliff will feel familiar to anyone who’s spent even one day on a low-budget film set. What’s not so familiar is how Tzannes turns the narrative in an unexpected direction as the production begins experiencing truly horrific events. It’s a slow-evolving bait and switch, and Tzannes navigates it as shrewdly as can be expected given presumed budgetary and production limitations. But ultimatelyFound Footageis neither funny enough nor scary enough to be memorable, playing more like a diverting curio than an accomplished film.
There’s Nothing Funny About The Terrific Cast
Found Footage: The Making of The Patterson Project
Tzannes may not have the comedic chops to rival his touchstone influences, but he knows how to assemble a terrific cast, which is crucial given that their characters remain one-dimensional. Everyone here shows a relaxed authenticity as their characters attempt to stay calm amidst the frustrations of low-budget on-location filmmaking, an increasingly hopeless effort that’s being captured by a French documentary crew. The director of this wannabe found-footage masterpiece,The Patterson Project, is Chase (Brennan Keel Cook), whose haughty ambitions run counter to his amateurish films that only play at low-rent festivals like The Exploding Girl Festival. Half ofThe Patterson Project’s $20,000 budget has been fronted by Frank (Dean Cameron), a middle-aged furniture salesman who previously hired Chase to direct bargain-basement TV commercials. The other half comes from Betsy (Suzanne Ford), an eccentric angel investor who’s bankrolling the project because the conniving Frank told her the film would star her idol Alan Rickman — who died in 2016.
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Even thoughFound Footagelacks real laughs, it’s still impressive how effortlessly Tzannes finds a place for all the major aspects of the low-budget experience. To play the female lead, the film’s bubbly casting director proudly offers “Leonardo DiCaprio’s fling before his last fling,” while the film’s costume designer produces a Bigfoot outfit so well done that it reminds us of the little victories that make the hardships of filmmaking easier to endure. The film’s crew also includes First AD Natalie (Erika Vetter), who notices how the remote timeshare cabin she secured as the film’s only location is falling apart. When the cabin’s owners arrive unannounced and demand the crew vacate immediately, a confrontation that’s initially played for laughs is actually planting the seed for an unexpected finish.
Indeed, Tzannes doesn’t abandon the comedy when he begins weaving mysterious black feathers, creepy sounds and the nocturnal howling of the film’s associate producer Mitchell (Chen Tang) intoFound Footage.Instead,he blends everything together until the horror subsumes the laughs. This process really takes off when Betsy arrives at the cabin expecting to meet the very deceased Alan Rickman; Chase’s comedic solution devolves into a horrific moment where a desiccated Betsy screams like a beast from hell.
One could argue thatFound Footageavoids pitching its comedy too high in order to make its descent into horror more realistic. But the horror also stays at a low temperature throughout, and the result is a movie that plays curiously tame all around. Making the transition work is such a priority for Tzannes and editor Jacob Souza (who also doubles as the film’s DP) that the film lacks an internal drive.
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This problem is not inevitable for movies that shift genres or moods. In Drew Goddard’s cleverThe Cabin in the Woods— of whichFound Footagecan be generously read as a reversal — horror movie tropes give way to horror movie satire. And both Robert Rodriguez’s exhilaratingFrom Dusk Till Dawnand Ryan Coogler’s masterfulSinnersbegin as something else before becoming full-throttle vampire movies.Found Footage, co-executive produced by theScream VIandReady or Notfilmmaking collective Radio Silence, tries a similar trick, to moderate success. It gets more mileage from its affection for — and sympathy towards — aspiring filmmakers than it does from its shift into genuine horror.
The conceit doesn’t require much in the way of budget or visual polish, but although it’s a genuinely admirable attempt, this genre-bender never quite succeeds.
Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Projectwill be released in theaters on June 20 and will stream On Demand beginning June 24.
