Bad Ben
Tom Riley thought he was getting the deal of a lifetime when he bought a house below market value at a Sheriff's sale. He invested every penny he had with the plan of flipping the home for a profit. Once he owned it, however, he noticed strange happenings, all of which were captured on 21 Surveillance Cameras located throughout the home inside and out. At first, he thought people were breaking in, but he soon realized he was dealing with something Paranormal.
Why it matters
A micro-budget haunted house yarn that turned DIY ingenuity into a cult streaming hit, Bad Ben is found footage stripped to its bare bones — and that’s exactly the point.
- Born in the depths of pandemic-era indie horror’s rise, it’s a masterclass in maximizing limited resources and atmosphere over effects.
- Surveillance cam POV delivers a claustrophobic, voyeuristic tension that recalls Paranormal Activity’s minimalist terror.
- For fans of regional horror and self-made auteurs, Tom Riley’s one-man show embodies scrappy genre spirit in the digital age.
- Not for slick production values or subtle scares — but a raw, earnest dive into haunted house paranoia that rewards patience and fandom for micro-budget grit.
Director
Cast
Horror DNA
Gore
0
Slow Burn
50
Psychological
43
Supernatural
40
Creature
0
Disturbing
0
Fun Factor
83
Cerebral
14
Survival
33
Found Footage
