Found Footage 3D is a Found Footage Horror Comedy film released in 2016, written and directed by Steven DeGennaro and produced by Kim Henkel (the writer of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)).
It is about a group of filmmakers heading out to a remote part of Texas to film Spectre of Death 3D, the first ever 3D Found Footage movie, hence the name. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?? Unfortunately, a lot, as they find themselves battling for their lives as the evil entity from their film begins to show up in their behind-the-scenes footage.
Found Footage 3D contains the following tropes:
- Apocalyptic Log: Referred to as the first rule of found footage, chiefly as the justification for the "found" part — nobody was left alive to bring it back, and it was only recovered later by the search party. And sure enough, the film itself turns out to be this.
- As Himself: Scott Weinberg of the horror website FEARnet shows up to interview the cast and crew towards the end.
- Demonic Possession: Amy is possessed when the demon scratches her at night, and murders Derek, Scott, and Mark.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: Spectre of Death 3D plays this straight, at least in the original script, though the fact that Derek is trying to rewrite the script so that his character lives in the end is a sign of his growing diva behavior. The film itself plays it straight too, with a possessed Amy referring to "the first rule of found footage" just before killing Mark.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Found Footage 3D is a found footage film... in 3D.
- Film Within a Film: Spectre of Death 3D.
- Found Footage Films: In-Universe, and IN 3-D! The characters, being filmmakers working on one, talk about the various tropes and plot devices, like why wouldn't the main character drop their camera and leave?
- Harbinger of Impending Doom: Spoofed with the locals who the production hires to play these guys. They first deliver the warning in-character as part of the film, then they find out where the movie's being filmed, at which point they tell the crew not to go there for real.
- Hostility on the Set: Derek and Amy's crumbling relationship is one of the first serious problems the production encounters.
- Jump Scare: Discussed.
- Meta Guy: Andrew and Derek, as people making a found footage movie, frequently remark on the genre's tropes and cliches in the process.
- Mood Whiplash: The trailer starts out with the cast exchanging quips both behind-the-scenes and in interviews. One character swearing up like a storm, lambasting the production of the entire movie. Then, without warning, one of the actresses started beating the producer to death with a hammer, much to the shock of the rest of the crew.
- The Prima Donna: Both Derek and Amy to varying degrees.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The sound guy Carl abandons the film once he realizes the house is haunted. We find out later that this didn't do him much good, as Mark and Lily discover his corpse in the woods.
- Troubled Production: Even before it became clear that the house was haunted, the clashing egos involved in the production were already sending it Off the Rails.
- Wag the Director: Derek, the co-writer and male lead of Spectre of Death 3D, essentially takes over the production from Andrew as it goes on.
- Who Makes This Crap?!: Not everyone's pleased with the idea behind making the first ever 3D found footage movie, as they wondered how it would make sense story-wise.
