I disagree, because I believe it's quite difficult to write in that uncanny valley of particularly creepy texts, without showing any matching creepy imagery.

If you think it looks so easy, I urge you to start writing it! It's one of my favorite genres of fiction and I think that effective horror can be harder to write than it might seem.

If by lowest hanging fruit, you mean in the original sense of: Equally as tasty as higher hanging fruit, but easy to pick because it hasn't been relentlessly exploited yet.

Then yeah, I agree.

I don't think you're wrong, and I got the same feeling while watching the 'found footage' style of horror movie ; Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield, etc.

It feels like weak writing to fall back into a narrative first-person account for the entirety, but I can't place my finger on why.

Maybe it just seems like it's the easiest 'fiction' to write because it is so predicated on the fantasy being narrated by a perspective that is entrenched and anchored in a normal reality while witnessing something extraordinary?

Cloverfield is essentially constructed by the acting prompt : "Pretend you're a bystander seeing not-Godzilla, react for the camera!".

I dunno. I have memories of my grandma trading around huge plastic bags full of romance paperbacks with her old lady friends. The sheer volume makes me wonder how they could all be unique books!