Summary
TheFrogmanmovie is a 2023 found footage horror film, and it’s convinced me that the subgenre isn’t over. As a whole, horror is a genre that is never going to die. Don’t get me wrong,there are plenty of awful horror movies, and while these films are often dismissed, and even looked down on in some cinephile circles, they tend to be at the forefront of innovative and thought-provoking storytelling. Just look at the embarrassment of riches that isA24’s horror movie catalog. But the problem with the genre is that when one movie does well, copycats often follow.
So when a favorite subgenre of mine,found footage horror movies, started tanking after a glut of mediocre entries, I was worried. Were the heydays ofBlair WitchandParanormal Activityover? Thankfully, 2023’sFrogmancame along, and I knew found footage horror was back on the upswing.Frogmanfollows a group of three YouTubers who are searching for the legendary Loveland Frogman and discover the monster is more real than they could have imagined. It’s a standard found footage setup, butFrogmannails it with the execution.
10 Horror Movies That Innovated The Found Footage Trope
With the advancement of technology, there are a bunch of new inventive ideas being brought to found footage horror movies.
The Frogman Movie Leans Into Its Low Budget Campiness — Which Is How Found Footage Horror Should Be
Frogman Doesn’t Cheat In How It’s Filmed
Found footage works best when it leans into its conceit. My favorites of the genre make an effort to only use cameras that the characters could reasonably get their hands on.Paranormal ActivityandHell House LLCuse handheld cameras in cleverly mounted places to create ominous shots that can then be populated with frightening images and jump scares.
Unless there’s a clear reason how the camera got there, then that shot shouldn’t exist.
Sometimes, found footage horror movies want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to pretend the movie is being filmed by amateurs, but they also want to use expensive cameras and shots that no layperson would ever be able to get on their own. It’s cheating, and it takes you out of the movie. Unless there’s a clear explanation for how the camera got there, then that shot shouldn’t exist. Just make it a normal horror movie and take out the whole found footage part.
Frogman’s tagline is “The Croaks Are No Hoax!”
I’m going to say it again, sorry, butThe Last Exorcismhas camera shots in the strangest places, as if the main characters are being filmed by someone else, so why is it found footage? Even amateurs can get their hands on good cameras these days, butfound footage movies shouldn’t be glossy like an MCU film.The Visitby M. Knight Shyamalan is found footage, except the person who took the videos is an Academy Award-nominated director, so it looks too professional.
Sherrif Rhodes
Michael Paul Levin
Frogmankeeps its filmmaking amateur. You are always certain you and the characters are experiencing the same things at the same time and the grainy footage ensures you’re never taken out of the film. It’s restrictive for sure, which makes it more difficult to pull off, but when something likeFrogmandoes, the results speak for themselves.
How The Frogman Compares To Other Found Footage Monsters
Frogman Appears In All His Glory Towards The End Of The Movie
Because of the low budgets of most found footage horror movies, you rarely actually get to see the monsters, or when you do, it’s for a single frame, and they’re shrouded in darkness. EvenThe Blair Witchdid not reveal its monster until the 2014 entry in the franchise.
The Frogman does make an impressively grotesque and long-lasting appearance at the end. So many found footage movies fizzle towards the finale.Frogmansucceeds because the wait is worth it for the monster that eventually appears on-screen in all his slimy B-movie glory, and the film ties itself into a satisfying bow. Raise your camcorders in honor of found footage being back.
Frogman
Cast
Frogman follows three friends as they embark on a quest to find the Loveland Frogman, discovering that the creature is more than just a local legend.
