A shot-on-video (SOV) film,^[1][2] also known as a shot-on-VHS film^[3][4] or a camcorder film,^[2] is a film shot using camcorders and consumer-grade equipment, as opposed to film stock or high-end digital movie cameras.

Shot-on-video films emerged in the wake of the release of Sony's professional-grade Betacam and consumer-grade Betamovie camcorders in 1983.^[5][6] Many shot-on-video films were low-budget^[7] and belong to the horror genre. Filmmaker siblings the Polonia brothers were known for their shot-on-video horror films, such as Splatter Farm (1987) and Feeders (1996).^[2][6]

The scenes in Bill Gunn's 1980 film Personal Problems were shot using a videocassette recorder which was a new technology at the time (as most previous films were shot using film stock).^[8]

The 1994 documentary film Hoop Dreams^[9] was one of the first shot-on-video documentaries to receive a wide theatrical release.^[10] The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project was shot on both 16 mm film and the consumer-grade Hi8 video format, which was transferred to film for its national theatrical release.^[10] An international example is Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's minimalist film The Idiots (1998; aka Dogme #2).^[6]

• 200 Motels (1971)^[11]
• Mayday Raw 1971 (1971)^[12]
• Adland (1974)^[13]
• Lord of the Universe (1974)^[14]
• The Police Tapes (1977)^[15]
• Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979)^[16]
• The Reflecting Pool (1979)^[17]
• Possibly in Michigan (1981)^[18]
• Boardinghouse (1982)^[19][20]
• Sledgehammer (1983)^[1][2][21]
• The Emmy Award-winning Special Bulletin (1983)^[22]
• Suffer Little Children (1983)^[23]
• Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1984)^[24]
• Blood Cult (1985)^[2][19][20]
• The Ripper (1985)^[25][26]
• Cards of Death (1986)^[27][20]
• Tales from the QuadeaD Zone (1987)^[28][1]
• Video Violence (1987)^{[1][2][29][19]}
• 555 (1988)^[1][2]
• Rob Nilsson's Sundance-winning Heat and Sunlight (1988)^[30][31]
• Tongues Untied (1988)^[32]
• Woodchipper Massacre (1988)^[1][2]
• Citizen Tania (1989)^[33][34]
• The McPherson Tape (1989)^[2][35]
• Sir Drone (1989)^[36]
• Things (1989)^[37][6]
• Bossy Burger (1991)^[38][39]
• The controversial 1992 BBC One TV movie Ghostwatch^[35]
• Heidi, Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Zone (1992)^[40][41]
• Ozone (1993)^[42]
• Conrad Brooks vs. the Werewolf (1994)^[1]
• Without Warning (1994)^[43]
• Polymorph (1996)^[42]
• Bloodletting (1997)^[42][44]
• Ernest Borgnine on the Bus (1997)^[45]
• Premutos (1997)^[21]
• Rollergator (1997)^[46]
• Jan-Gel: The Beast from the East (1999)^[1]
• The Academy Award nominated Genghis Blues (1999)^[47]
• August Underground (2001)^[35]
• Gozu (2003)^[20]
• The Columbine-inspired video diary Zero Day (2003)^[35]
• Each Time I Kill (2007)^[1]
• Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers (2009)^[1][6]

Both Tongues Untied and Hoop Dreams are inducted into the National Film Registry.^[48]

Possibly in Michigan first gained notoriety on social media in 2015, and has gained popularity among Gen Z teens.^[49][50]

Some SOV films like Feeders, Things (later to be known as one of the worst movies of all time) and Rollergator were spoofed by RiffTrax, consisting of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumni Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett and Michael J. Nelson.^[51][52]

• 480i, the video mode used for standard-definition digital video
• Analog horror
• Found footage (film technique)
• Cinéma vérité
• Snuff film
• Mockumentary
• Postmodernist film and television
• Video art
• Vulgar auteurism
• Video essay

• Albright, Brian (2012). Regional Horror Films, 1958–1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0786472277.

• Coleman, Robin R. Means (2022). Horror Noire: A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s to Present (Second ed.). Routledge. p. 226. ISBN 978-0367704407.
• Mogg, Richard (2018). Analog Nightmares: The Shot On Video Horror Films of 1982–1995. RickMoe Publishing. ISBN 978-1999481704.