On this episode of Sitting in the Dark, host Tommy Metz III is joined by Pete Wright and Andy Nelson for an exploration of found footage and epistolary films. As Tommy explains, the goal is to examine how certain horror movies have upheld the literary epistolary tradition on screen through the use of found footage techniques.
The episode provides an analysis of found footage pioneer The Blair Witch Project, examining how its use of multiple cameras and time jumps strips away the usual cinematic artifice to create heightened suspense. They then delve into Unfriended, dissecting how its adherence to the rules of screenlife cinema immerses the viewer in the fear of a socialscape driven by technology. Host builds tension in a similar way despite its lower energy, with the horror manifesting in the characters' homes as captured by their webcams during a séance.
Oh how there be questions here: how the epistolary tradition translates effectively to film, the unreliability of each limited viewpoint, and how modern interfaces and tech glitches can maximize unease. They discuss the restrictions naturally imposed by found footage that heighten the suspense and the use of familiar technologies we constantly engage with that breaks down the separation between fiction and reality.
For an incisive look at how modern horror films immerse audiences by cleverly adhering to the epistolary style, this episode of Sitting in the Dark is essential listening. Tommy and crew pare an expansive topic down to its essence, analyzing pioneering films that maximize unease through their ingenious use of limited camera angles and familiar technologies. This is a conversation on how modern greats manipulate horror to blur the line between reality and nightmare.
- (00:00) - Welcome to Sitting in the Dark
- (02:05) - What is The Epistilary Tradition?
- (09:48) - The Blair Witch Project
- (24:12) - Unfriended
- (40:54) - Host
- (53:16) - Deadstream
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What is Sitting in the Dark?
Sitting in the Dark is a podcast about horror, but not the kind that hides in a single shadow. Each month, hosts Tommy Metz III, Kynan Dias, and Pete Wright pick a theme — an idea, a trope, a nightmare that keeps winding back — and explore it through three films that share its DNA. Sometimes the connections are obvious, sometimes they’re unexpected, and sometimes they lead you deeper into the maze than you expected to go.
One month might bring The Drac Pack, three wildly different takes on cinema’s most famous vampire. Another, a journey through The Bride, the Boy, and the Firetruck, unpacking coded queer horror across decades. We’ve explored maternal terror in Mommy Acts This Way Because She Loves You, broken into the home-invasion subgenre, tiptoed through haunted houses, and stared down both classic monsters and blockbuster franchises.
What ties it all together is a love of horror as a labyrinth — a twisting path where every turn reveals something new about our fears, desires, and cultural obsessions. With smart conversation, dark humor, and a willingness to look behind the curtain (or under the bed), Sitting in the Dark invites you to settle in, turn down the lights, and find out what connects the nightmares.