Seven of the very best found footage horror films ranked

#3: Butterfly Kisses

If you enjoy found footage horror at all, you have probably at least heard of Butterfly Kisses, which has received extremely positive reviews from fans of the genre.  It’s a small independent film, written and directed by Erik Kristopher Myers, who also plays a small part in the film.

A wannabe filmmaker named Gavin comes across a box of tapes that were recorded by film students Sophia and Feldman as they explored the local legend of Peeping Tom / Blink Man. As the story goes, PT is a “Flimmern Geist” that can be seen to anyone able to look down the Ilchester Tunnel at midnight. The person would have to stand there for one hour without blinking, at which time Blink Man would appear.

There’s a catch though…once he is seen, he gets closer to the viewer every time they blink. Eventually he gets close enough to touch you with his abnormally long eyelashes, and you die from the fright.

Sophia and Feldman have a theory that if they aim a camera down the tunnel, it will fulfill the same purpose as unblinking eyes, so, in theory, they can “look” down the tunnel for a full hour without risking dry eye. It works a little too well for them.

Gavin becomes obsessed with proving the film students (and possibly Peeping Tom himself) actually exist, and he almost literally loses everything because of that obsession. What makes Butterfly Kisses so compelling is the excellent photography, the inventive storyline, and the fact that the main character of Gavin is basically not very likeable, and we question whether he set up all of this to get attention and fame.

Many people actually believed the legend of Peeping Tom was a real thing, but it was actually not. The Ilchester Tunnel does really exist however, and I’m sure fans of the film take every opportunity for photo ops there. The film is so popular that Myers was actually working on a sequel before his untimely death in September of 2021.

Butterfly Kisses is available on Tubi.