Mockumentary is a style of filmmaking that uses fictional characters and events but presents them in a documentary format as if they were real — often sarcastic or satirical in nature. Mockumentaries have a unique charm to them, and below I’ve gathered some picks as an introduction to one of my favourite genres.
- Best in Show
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The fictional Mayflower Dog Show is the most glamorous, high-stakes, and ruthless dog show in America, hosting some of the greatest canines from across the country.
The “documentary film crew” follows a diverse group of contestants, both human and animal, as they compete against one another. The film’s quirky characters and behind-the-scenes style make for a very charming take on the eccentricities behind a dog show, and it’s one of the most critically popular films of the mockumentary genre.
- Project X
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Project X uses a found footage style of filmmaking, documenting several high schoolers throwing a party that quickly grows too big for them to handle. What starts as word-of-mouth invitations to a birthday party quickly turns into something too big for one suburban neighbourhood to manage.
With alcohol, fires, middle-school security guards and ecstasy out of a gnome, Project X is the quintessential high-school party film but also a great exemplifier of the mockumentary genre.
- What We Do In The Shadows
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When four ancient vampire roommates live together in a modern New Zealand suburb, there are bound to be struggles with the complexities of 21st-century living.
A documentary film crew follows the four as they take the bus, lure people back to their house for “dinner,” and evade vampire hunters who are seemingly more common than you might think. Despite the rather grim synopsis, What We Do In The Shadows is a playful comedy that doesn’t take any of the misguided, 800-year-old characters seriously, and is bound to make you laugh at some of the sympathetic humiliations they undergo.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous
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This mockumentary about the fictional Sarah Rose Cosmetic’s American Teen Princess Pageant in Minnesota starts innocently enough, but quickly takes a turn for the worst when the contestants start turning up dead in odd and gruesome ways.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is a satirical dark comedy starring a slew of cult stars, and the small-town quirky characters who are seemingly unaware of the curse of the beauty pageant give the film a charming vibe despite the underlying circumstances.
- Zero Day
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Differing from the lighthearted films above, Zero Day is a dark, troubling found footage movie about two teenage boys who plan an assault on their high school. Leading up to the day of the assault, we see the two showing their plans, ideology, and the legacy they want to leave behind.
Intermixed with all the dark subject matter, we also see birthday parties, dentist appointments, and other normal life events making the tone of the film all the more disturbing.
Said to be inspired by real-life events of the same nature, Zero Day is a borderline psychological thriller and one of the best found footage style mockumentary films in the genre