Synopsis
Grey, a failing horror movie vlogger, is gearing up to attend the premiere of a new found footage horror movie at his local independent theater. After obtaining a mysterious camcorder at a pawn shop, he decides to make his vlog found-footage-style and smuggles the camera in.
But ten minutes into the screening, the cursed camera sucks Grey into the world of the film. He is now a character in…
THE WITCH OF HOPE HOLLOW
In his new reality, Grey is taken in by a documentary crew investigating a terrifying urban legend. After facing off against very real dangers in the form of monsters, liminal spaces, and hostile locals, Grey realizes he must use his knowledge of the found footage subgenre to complete the film…
Or risk being trapped in Hope Hollow forever…
Review
Thank you to BookSirens and Mad Axe Media for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
An absolute love-letter to a genre of horror that always seems to fall in and out of popularity but always has its strident defenders, Joey Powell’s Lost In Found Footage is a relatively short and breezy read that will make even haters of the sub-genre, such as myself, smile and wonder why the films aren’t this good.
We follow Grey Carter, an online vlogger that focuses on horror movies, as he prepares to attend a premiere for the billionth low budget found footage horror flick. But before he gets there, he ends up stopping at a pawn shop and finding a retro mini-DV camcorder which lines up perfectly with how he can record his reactions and reviews. Of course, we all can see where this is going. A chance encounter with the camera’s previous owner and a visit to his sister and nephew later, Grey is taking in the movie with the only other person in the theatre being his long-time rival Rodney, who is the son of the theatre’s owner.
Sure enough, they get sucked into the movie, and Grey has to use all of his knowledge of the horror and found footage genres to not only get to the end of the movie but make it out alive.
The characters are all what they are expected to be, stereotypes of the genre. But Powell makes them all likeable, especially Grey, who any hardcore horror lover could easily see as themselves while reading. The antagonists, in this case not only the film’s titular Witch of Hope Hollow and her minions, but Rodney, are all detestable, while in the case of Rodney there is a certain sadness tied to him that you almost feel sorry for him at points, until he continually shows why you shouldn’t.
You may see this book referred to as ‘The Final Girls’ for found-footage lovers, which is an apt comparison. I’d go even a step further and absolutely give it to Powell that he injects such enthusiasm and love for the subgenre that it could even convert non-found footage lovers like me to go back and re-evaluate the genre. If any of the movies were as good and as much fun as this one, I’d be all in on them.
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