In this age of fake news and life-altering events, the mockumentary genre has taken a hit. How do you apply absurdity as a comic device when the ordinary life around you is increasingly absurd? But filmmakers keep trying. From This is Spinal Tap to TV’s The Office and What We Do in the Shadows, the irony comes from the point of view of a well-meaning film crew.
A few recent mocks have deserved attention, and one is Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project. The premise is fun: novice movie makers set out into the woods to make a horror film about Bigfoot and get more than they bargained for. While there are some hilarious bits, that conceit ends up taking a backseat to more conventional scares.
The story concerns Chase Bradner (Brennan Keel Cook), a film nerd who has several shorts to his credit, with titles like “Tongue Tied” and “Locked in the Closet.” Chase collects film memorabilia (like the plastic bag from American Beauty and items thrown by Bullseye in Daredevil) and is now ready to realize a more expansive vision. Mr. Clark’s sharp features, precise comic timing, and Irish setter shock of red hair make Chase an appealing protagonist.
Chase’s first feature will be called The Patterson Project, after the photographer who first captured the blurry image of the creature known as Bigfoot. The filming will be recorded by a French documentarian, Rochelle Dupont (Marie Paquim), for Le Musée d’Orange (all of them made-up names treated with deadpan austerity). Chase’s project is a complicated one. While he’s being filmed, he will film a story being filmed by the lead actor. So Found Footage is a movie about a movie about a movie. You can’t get much more meta than that.
Chase’s crew includes his bubbly girlfriend Natalie (Erika Vetter), who offers her parents’ timeshare cabin as a location, his earnest best friend Mitch (Chen Tang), and his nervous financier Frank (Dean Cameron), for whose furniture outlet stores Chase has shot commercials. Some funny confusion is milked about Chase thinking he’s signed Daniel Radcliffe to star and Alan Rickman being cast to appease an elderly investor, despite his being deceased. We follow the creation of the Bigfoot suit, but it’s replaced by a character whose face is covered in mo-cap (motion capture) dots for reasons that would ruin the joke if I described them here.
If it isn’t obvious, Found Footage’s humor is pretty esoteric, but for those who get the in-jokes, it’s fun. The plot tangentially involves the Bigfoot quest, but becomes morbid in a Blair Witch Project sort of way. The issue is the creepy cabin, a sealed room, and a book of satanic incantations that lead us in a new direction. Evil Dead 2 fans will be on familiar ground, but the publicity and poster aren’t necessarily aimed at them. The generalized title and film stills of Chase in the Bigfoot suit might leave some viewers feeling baited and switched. It’s a little like ordering salad and getting goulash.
Found Footage is directed by Max Tzannes, who, like Chase, is a maker of shorts, and whose previous feature Et Tu (2023) is similarly about observing observers. He works from a script co-written with David San Miguel, who also supplies the music.
For the most part, Found Footage works. The setups are well-conceived and get solid laughs. The characters are endearing and poignant as we get to know them. All the ensemble is worth noting, but standouts include Rachel Alig (Daniella), Del Alan Murphy (Pete), Christian T. Chan (Alan), and Chelsea Gilson (Sarah Susan). They are so endearing as characters that some might find their fate disturbing.
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Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project. Directed by Max Tzannes. 2025. From Radio Silence Productions. Runtime 100 minutes.