Filtered Reality: The Progenitors and Evolution of Found Footage Horror

Filtered Reality: The Progenitors and Evolution of Found Footage Horror is a collection of sixteen essays from leading academics and writers exploring the genesis and development of the contemporary found footage horror film. Featuring a foreword from Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch) and an introduction from Aislínn Clarke (The Devil’s Doorway), the book delves into the formal, stylistic, and technological influences that have shaped and revitalized this unsettling subgenre before charting its continuing evolution in our increasingly digital age. Divided into two sections — Progenitors and Evolution — its sixteen chapters trace the genesis of the contemporary found footage horror film through multiple lenses, including: —epistolary Victorian horror novels (Dracula) to Italian Grand-Guignol and giallo films (Torso); —anthropology in the mondo film (Cannibal Holocaust) to the history of hoaxes (The McPherson Tapes); —and digital folklore (The Blair Witch Project) to post-cinematic horror (Host) — and what lies beyond…