With the releases of found-footage horror subgenre could be in for a new wave of popularity. V/H/S/94 made its streaming debut on Shudder on October 6, with Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin hitting Paramount+ on October 29. Viewers in the mood for some scares have plenty to sink their teeth into with both — and together, the two titles suggest that a major horror trend may be in the midst of a revival.
Found footage was popularized by The Blair Witch Project's debut in 1999, and the format hit its peak when Paranormal Activity hit theaters ten years later. On top of the Paranormal Activity series becoming the new theatrical tradition every Halloween for subsequent years, found footage exploded in popularity from that point on, with the V/H/S found-footage series arrived, which combined found footage with horror anthology for its own unique brands of scares.
Found-footage movies never petered out altogether, but the subgenre's popularity began to noticeably decline around Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, at the time the end of the series. V/H/S had also ended a year prior with V/H/S: Viral, with neither movie being very well-received. What's noteworthy about both the V/H/S and Paranormal Activity series is that the two were the only found footage horror hits to really blossom into full-blown franchises (Blair Witch also received sequels but with much less success), which suggests that the two series each had their fingers on the pulse of what made found footage popular with horror audiences. Now that both are making a comeback with soft reboots, their time out of the spotlight and the new elements each is bringing could inspire renewed popularity for not just both series but found-footage horror movies in general.
V/H/S/94 has already gotten a head start on that with possibly the best reviews of the whole franchise, and both it and Next of Kin also represent substantial reinventions of both series. V/H/S/94 brings a distinctly early '90s VHS grain to its almost news-report-like cinematography, its first segment, "Storm Drain," even being exactly that. With Next of Kin also taking Paranormal Activity out of the mostly domestic setting the series had largely stayed put in before and into an Amish community as part of a documentary a la The Blair Witch Project, the series is now dipping its toes into new waters. In both cases, V/H/S/94 and Next of Kin are bringing something new to both franchises, and the fact that they're both installments in a series is also a key point.
V/H/S and Paranormal Activity being the only found footage movies to truly grow into franchises makes a comeback from both a big deal for found-footage fans. Add in the reinvention of both series that V/H/S/94 and Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin represent, and it could mean that more could be on the way — not just further entries in established found-footage franchise, but also new, original, horror titles. If both are streaming hits, they could also spark another wave of popularity for a reinvigorated and continually changing found-footage subgenre.
