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I’ve had cryptids on the brain lately. Summer is their season, after all, plus I recently rewatched Frogman. There is something about spending time with our amphibian friend (and watching that third act of cults and chaos) that feels magical this time of year. This rewatch led me down a wild path of movies like Abominable, Creature from Black Lake, The Barrens, and so many more titles in an attempt to scratch that wicked cryptid itch. All I learned from this marathon is that found footage films do it better.
This is why I am here with five recommendations selected for your streaming discomfort. Some are funny, some are surprisingly unsettling, and all give you a front-row seat to the shenanigans. Let us make today a cryptid found footage film Friday and take this weird energy into the weekend! Grab your camera and meet me at the suspicious cave in the woods. We have cryptids to see!
Where You Can Watch: Philo, Plex, The Roku Channel, and Tubi
A disgraced journalist takes a film crew into the mouth of danger when he decides to look into a hunter’s claims that he has a dead sasquatch. Bigfoot is one of the most infamous cryptids in the business. So, it is not surprising that he would be the reason for all of this chaos. This movie took a second to grab my attention, but when it went off the rails, I was all in. There are a couple of really well-crafted chills, a thick coating of mayhem, and a side of WTF that makes this film a fun little snack. I know the mileage for this movie will vary for many people. However, I think we can all agree that it is one of the better Sasquatch titles streaming for free.
Digging Up the Marrow (dir. Adam Green)
Where You Can Watch: AMC+, Philo, Plex, and Tubi
A documentary crew is contacted by an odd man who claims he has proof that monsters are real. This movie is a slight cheat because there is no famous cryptid to be found. However, there are creatures with big cryptid energy, and Ray Wise plays a man with secrets. Digging Up the Marrow spends much of its runtime making us wonder if it is a hoax or not. However, Green keeps it creepy while toying with us, which is all that I ask of any movie. Even when a joke lands, there is this weird layer of anxiety creeping into every scene. However you feel about Dekker (Wise) at the end of this movie is up to you. Personally, I love to see an agent of chaos who knows where to find the monsters.
Exists (dir. Eduardo Sánchez)
Where You Can Watch: Fandango at Home, Plex, Prime Video, Sling TV, and Tubi
Friends looking to party in the Texas woods run into Bigfoot. I didn’t expect this movie to be as fun as it is. I was also pleasantly surprised that our most famous cryptid had a very valid reason for terrorizing these people. Exists gives the name brand Sasquatch an entire arc that left me rooting for these bipedal beasts. Exists is a fascinating revenge story as the creature flips vehicles and drags its prey around the woods. As a person motivated by spite, I really leaned in for this and think it is one of the better cryptid found footage films I have seen so far. While many of the other titles on this guide have jokes, this movie chose violence. I can’t be mad at that approach to this very niche subgenre at all.
Incident at Loch Ness (dir. Zak Penn)
Where You Can Watch: Plex and Tubi
A documentary team tags along on Werner Herzog’s new film, where he sets out to prove that the Loch Ness is not real. However, both film crews are shocked when they witness something unexplainable. This mockumentary film-within-a-film horror comedy is definitely different from the others on this list. It’s a delightful little palate cleanser that leaves you wondering what is real and what is not. It also has some ridiculously quotable lines like, “They say show me the evidence. I say, ‘show me the non-evidence.’” So, there is plenty of fun here aside from Herzog playing an exaggerated version of himself. Incident at Loch Ness feels like the crew from The Office left the paper company to make documentaries. It is a silly and fun ride that I cannot wait to take again.
Trollhunter (dir. André Øvredal)
Where You Can Watch: Philo, Pluto TV, Prime Video, and Tubi
Students investigate a series of bear killings but stumble upon a much scarier threat than they could have ever imagined. They soon partner with a mysterious troll hunter who teaches them the ropes to stopping these large mythical creatures. I avoided this movie for the longest time until my friends pointed out it was written and directed by André Øvredal. His film, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, is one of my favorite comfort movies. So, I made time to check it out and braced myself for some troll business. What I found was a fun PG-13 adventure with a sense of humor. This might be my favorite movie on this list, and I even love the ending. I would have spent hours watching this team turn trolls into stone while making me cackle.
Are you also in your cryptid horror era? Then we can compare movies over on Bluesky. After all, we have to find something to do until Frogman Returns. So, why not see other cryptids until we reunite with the one who fucks?
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