When it comes to the sci-fi genre of film, there are all kinds of different movies out there. Some are all about brand new technology that's never been seen before. Sometimes the movies are about a brand new take on a well-worn trope. Other times the science fiction film is aimed at scaring people with what can happen should a disease get out that was never supposed to be around, other times it's something like an alien invasion or a robot takeover. There are also all kinds of different ways to tell this tale but it seems as if found footage films are getting all the more popular when it comes to both sci-fi films and horror films both.
In fact, found-footage horror and science fiction is getting so popular that there are times when it seems as if some movies have been left in the dust. There are plenty of movies that use this particular approach and some are quite good that get left in the dust because there's just so much to watch. There are plenty of underrated science fiction films that are out there using the found footage approach that need to get a second chance.
Quarantine
One of the reasons that Quarantine is such an underrated film is that it's actually an Americanized version of an Italian sci-fi horror flick known as Rec. While the original is probably better, in part because it gave a truly original spin on a zombie flick, the US version is actually pretty good as well.
The film centers on a news crew that goes into an apartment building to investigate something else entirely but gets caught up in what seems like an outbreak of some sort of rabies variant that makes people very, very aggressive. As the reports of this new disease starts spreading, the news crew finds itself shut into the building as calamity ensues. Quarantine has an added bonus of starring Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter just three years after she really introduced herself to horror movie audiences in Exorcism of Emily Rose. This is easily one of the best found footage science-fiction horror films out there and it gets overlooked quite often.
The Bay
The Bay is not only one of the best found-footage sci-fi films around, it's also one of the best eco-horror films to ever be created. In part because this film isn't about some monster that's lurking around the corner or the dead rising from the grave. This time around, the horror is based on a kind of water-borne insect that infects the people one of Maryland town during a summer night.
The creatures are apparently changed a bit thanks to pollution of that water by dumping chicken excrement and other chemicals. The movie is supposed to be different people's home movies, as well as news reports that were all confiscated by the government but were eventually released by someone who got their hands on the tapes. The film is underrated despite the fact that its tale of nature and science turning against the townspeople is done so well that viewers could be excused for thinking this is actually a documentary.
Lunopolis
This 2010 movie might be the weirdest one on the list. Lunopolis is a found-footage movie that works to combine time travel with a colony of people that have apparently been living on the moon for decades. There's also an organization that has been working hard to make sure that no one on earth knows such a colony exists.
The whole film combines into one heck of a topsy turvy story that is quite psychedelic in points. Part of the reason this film has largely gone unnoticed despite being quite the original entry into the science fiction movie genre is because it didn't really include any actors or director that people have heard much about.
Chronicle
Chronicle is one of those found footage sci-fi movies that might be underrated but definitely found an audience at the time that was strong enough that a Chronicle 2 is supposedly still in the works. The movie centers on a trio of high school boys that stumble across a hole in the ground that somehow grants them superpowers. At first, the boys are just having fun with the kind of new powers they develop but eventually, the movie turns into a film that appears to be a supervillain origin story. One of the things that makes this film so good is the fact that the stars are up and comers when this film was released in Dane Dehaan and Michael B. Jordan.
Josh Trank was also the director and while he eventually went on to make the massive bomb Fantastic Four reboot, he's still considered one of the best young directors in the industry today. Other than the fact that a couple of high school kids managed to get superpowers, the film is believable for what it's supposed to be, thanks in large part to Dehaan's turn as the school nerd that everyone picks on who has a terrible situation at home and does indeed turn into a guy that no one would want to cross. One of the things that makes this film work and keep people interested is because it's found-footage so the audience doesn't have to see every development when the kids get their powers. The movie cuts off and then comes back when they've already started figuring out they have new abilities.
Project Almanac
Yet another teen found-footage movie that has a bit of a different take on a well-worn science fiction subject is Project Almanac. This particular take on time travel involves some friends who manage to make a time machine that they then use for fun and profit before they realize that there are some definite drawbacks to having this kind of power.
Like Chronicle, there have been some rumors that Project Almanac will eventually get a sequel, but the fact that the original has now largely been overlooked and is underappreciated for what it is might end up killing any chances of seeing a new installment.