If you’ve ever heard me tell my story about my scariest horror movie viewing experience, it was a late-night showing of “The Blair Witch Project” when it was released in 1999. When you go into a movie like that, thinking the whole thing was real, it’s a totally different viewing experience. Needless to say, the film has always held a special place in my horror-loving heart, so when I got wind of Max Tzannes’ “Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project,” and watched its trailer, I was intrigued.
The mockumentary tells of a budding filmmaker and his attempt to produce his first feature, a found footage movie about Bigfoot. Through the eyes of a French documentary crew, the story follows the cast and crew as they struggle to keep the production afloat on a short timeline and even shorter budget. To make things worse, mysterious and sinister occurrences begin to unfold behind the scenes, making shooting days longer and scarier.
When all is said and done, we’re presented with a film that is one part love letter to indie filmmaking, one part “The Blair Witch Project” and one part “Evil Dead,” that makes for an entertaining 90 minutes of film, though the first half will probably be more appreciated by film enthusiasts and filmmakers than most.
The first half of the film really focuses on the blood, sweat, and tears that we often forget go into filmmaking, especially indie films on a shoestring budget. As the story unfolds, we watch as the film’s overly ambitious director, Chase (Brennan Keel Cook; “The Pale Blue Eye”), tries to keep the project moving forward despite a shady producer, a questionable casting director, creative differences, and more. While this helps establish some of the core characters like Chase’s girlfriend and Assistant Director Natalie (Erika Vetter; “Somebody I Used to Know”), and his friend and longtime collaborator Mitchell (Chen Tang; “Warrior”) this section of the film is clearly meant to poke fun at microbudget filmmaking and probably won’t land the same for the average viewer.
Things finally get moving in the second half of the film, once the crew is on location at a timeshare in the woods that belongs to Natalie’s parents. As the crew moves in, they “disturb the oubliette,” setting in motion something otherworldly that will make the crew’s seven-day shoot longer and more terrifying than they ever expected. Here, the film has the most fun as an obsessive Chase looks to finish his film despite the real-life horror unfolding around him.
For a mockumentary, I was hoping for more laughs out of “Found Footage.” It’s not without its funny moments, but the majority of the comedic elements were amusing at best. Interestingly, some of the more comical moments are born of the horror elements in the film, swapping out scares in many scenes for laughs.
While not without flaws, “Found Footage” has enough substance to keep those who enjoy mockumentaries or genre spoofs entertained for its nearly 90-minute runtime. While some of the jokes fall flat and the horror is lacking, it’s worth considering if you enjoy this type of film, or like found footage movies and don’t mind checking out something that pokes a little fun at its tropes.
One other thing worth pointing out is like “The Blair Witch Project” before it, “Found Footage” has built an online destination to help fuel the lore of the film. Those curious can visit ThePattersonProject.org, a blog dedicated to uncovering the truth of what really happened on the set of Chase Bradner’s film. For some added fun, you can also call The Patterson Project’s missing persons hotline at 1-(844)-PAT-PROJ.
“Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project” will get a limited theatrical release on June 20, 2025, and will be available on demand beginning June 24 in North America.
