It tells the fictional story of three student filmmakers heather donahue, michael c. Heather, youre absolutely sure that to get out of this mess you go south. On its 20th anniversary, we talk to the filmmakers and actors behind the phenomenon that inspired the diy horror genre. Arriving on bluray this week is blair witch, the highlyanticipated second sequel to the blair witch project. Combining hi8 video with blackandwhite 16 mm film, this film presents a raw look at what can happen when college students forego common sense and enter. The blair witch project is one of the most important films when it comes to horror cinema, and the found footage genre specifically. It took 19 years for the blair witch project to drag the foundfootage concept into the light, and though the movie created what is arguably the most virulent backlash in the history of. Is the blair witch project real revisiting one of the. The blair witch project sundance channel afterthought rare behind the scenes special segment.
Heather, josh, and mike were real film students who actually disappeared while. Shocking but true facts about the blair witch project. The rest of the media and various government authorities are working overtime to convince everyone that all this is just hype created to market the film. On this day in 1999, the blair witch project, a lowbudget, independent horror film that will become a massive cult hit, is released in u. The blair witch project simple english wikipedia, the. Undeniably, blair witch shook the foundations of sundance, putting the festival at the center of a worldwide phenomenon. The blair witch project is a 1999 american supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by daniel myrick and eduardo sanchez. When the blair witch project was released in 1999, a good portion of audiences thought it was real. According to the movie s fledgling promotional website, which presented itself as a real investigative project, three film students heather, mike and josh had ventured into the maryland woods. Festival guides made it very clear that the movie, the blair witch project, was, in fact, a work of fiction, but the masquerade made writerdirectors daniel myrick and eduardo sanchez the talk of. The blair witch project was very much an independent movie at the time, but they managed to create a website. The lowbudget movie followed three friends heather, mike, and josh into the woods as they set out in search of the paranormal, with handheld cameras in. Blair witch expands the first films group of three doomed filmmakers to six, including a brother james allen mccune from the walking dead and shameless of. As the ads for the film the blair witch project state.
Viral marketing and a reportedly widespread belief. The blair witch project is the kinda film that completely amazes you your first watch but after that it kinda becomes meh. And in the ensuing decades, countless scary movies from paranormal activity to the fourth kind to the conjuring similarly strove to enhance. After the announcement came that the griggs house was to. These two took the concept marketed the footage as real. How blair witch updated its camera tech to the digital age. But how did this small budget horror flick shot on dinky consumer cameras go on to garner such success. With tons of 2016 horror movies still on the horizon, what better way to get ahead of the scary months to come than with a more traditional form of storytelling. How the blair witch project changed horror with cheap. The blair witch project anyone who has even the slightest trouble with insomnia after seeing a horror movie should stay away from the blair witch projectthis film will creep under your skin and stay there for days.
These ramifications are still being felt at the festival today. The graininess of the footage as it dances between black, white, and color further drives home the surreal atmosphere of this terrifying ordeal. The blair witch project, an extraordinarily effective horror film, knows this and uses it. The 12 best found footage movies ever made indiewire. The three main actors in the film all believed the blair witch legend was. The blair witch was a legendary being in burkittsville, maryland. Nearly 20 years later, its time to find out the truth about the burkittsville, maryland legend. There is no blood, there is no violence, and it explains absolutely nothing. The foundfootage horror film was unique then, a surprise to audiences used to seeing. And the imagination works overtime watching the acuity of these talented filmmakers, and. As blair witch flops, is the foundfootage horror film over.
Horror films today are constantly billed as scarier than any movie before, but one movie. How the blair witch project made people think it was real. The blair witch legend blossomed in burkittsville because of a cemetery. With just days to go until the tardy sequel to the blair witch project, were already putting on our halloween pants and getting excited for the spookiest season of the year. Responsible for a long string of deaths and unexplained disappearances throughout the history of burkittsville, she remains an imposing figure in the towns folklore, maintaining long periods of dormancy only to reemerge and claim the. Several mysterious events over the course of centuries became blamed on an exiled woman named elly kedward, who was said to have practiced witchcraft. Williams, and joshua leonard who hike in the black hills near burkittsville, maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the blair witch. In october of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near burkittsville, maryland while shooting a. The terrifying true story of how the blair witch project was made. Credit for the effectiveness of this mock documentary goes to filmmakers daniel myrick and eduardo sanchez, who armed three. Just 50 minutes from the blair witch project crews germantown, md base. How the blair witch project got audiences to wonder, is. Apparently, some people still think the movie might be real, and even a slick hollywood remake has done little to dispel this notion among diehard believers.
It was released by artisan on 30 july 1999 after months of publicity, including a groundbreaking campaign by the studio to use the internet and suggest that the film was a record of real events. Starring in the blair witch project should have been a career high, but even as the franchise gets a reboot the actors are still feeling the impact of the real life curse. The blair witch project released in theaters history. Lets face the facts here, the blair witch project was a groundbreaking film. Mary claims to have seen the blair witch one day near tappy creek in the form of a hairy, halfhuman, halfanimal beast. The blair witch project was hardly the first horror film to try to pass off its action as real. While some viewers were frustrated by the blair witch projects lessismore approach, critics applauded the films authenticity and originality. Academy originals has come out with a retrospective, in which the filmmakers and actors talk about how the film was made, marketed, and why its. Today, blair witch, released 20 years ago this week and streaming now on hulu, remains an inflection point for the movie industry. Now it must sound like i didnt enjoy this film, nope i loved it, it just didnt have the same mystic and grander as the first couple time i watched it.
The website was all they neededespecially with their killer hook. In the early morning heather interviews two fishermen who tell the filmmakers that coffin rock is less than twenty minutes from town and easily accessible by an old logging trail. The blair witch project no doubt goes down as one of the scariest horror films of all time thanks to the topnotch execution and brilliant foundfootage techniques crafted by cowriterdirectors. To add to the effect of being a foundfootage film, many parts of the film were real. The blair witch project was one of the greatest horror hoaxes of the 20th century twenty years ago, a lowbudget film of handheld camerawork terrified early internet audiences who thought it was real. Watch a trailer for the blair witch project these would say things like. The 1999 horror movie the blair witch project was not real, until it was, much to the chagrin of a small christian town.
The blair witch project details three young filmmakers who trek into the woods in search of a mysterious urban legend named the blair witch. Elly kedward is the titular main antagonist in the 1999 psychological horror film the blair witch project, and its mythology. Even today, the blair witch project still holds up as a terrifying experience for firsttime viewers if seen under the right conditions. Learn how the 1999 movie fooled everyone into believing it was real, how people still believe it to this day, and how the legacy of the blair witch project has influenced horror movies forever. The foundfootage horror film was unique then, a surprise to audiences used to seeing traditional. How we made the blair witch project film the guardian. The latest film explores the mythology of the 1999 horror film that brought the. The real killers in the blair witch project revealed. The blair witch project was first shown at the 1999 sundance film festival. The witch is described by one woman as being covered in black fur which is concealed beneath a wool shawl, and by another account having long spindly limbs. In october of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near burkittsville, maryland while shooting a. The blair witch project, a most inventive departure from standard horror fare, is frightening only insofar as its characters panic seems real.
When it came out, the documentarystyle horror movie terrified some audiences who werent so sure it was fiction. The main reason the classic 1999 movie the blair witch project was so effective is because it looked terrible, even then. For example, a cbs news story had the nerve to call the blair witch project a totally. Berlingers film takes place in a world where the events depicted in the blair witch project actually happened. The blair witch project 1999 directed by daniel myrick. In january 1999, a movie premiered at the sundance film festival that no one could quite figure out. Three film students vanish after traveling into a maryland forest to film a documentary on the local blair witch legend, leaving only their footage behind. Starring in the blair witch project should have been a career high, but even as the franchise gets a reboot the actors are still feeling the impact of the reallife curse. It was called the blair witch project and it seemed to be a documentary about a trio of film students who were killed in the maryland woods while making a documentary about a string of killings in those same maryland woods. How the blair witch project fooled everyone in 1999 youtube. The followup film to 1999s the blair witch project is here, giving us even more insight into the legendary entity that haunts the black hills forest near burkittsville.
Twentyfive years earlier, the texas chainsaw massacre opened with narrated text claiming that. Why did people think the blair witch project was real. Twentyfive years earlier, the texas chainsaw massacre opened with narrated text claiming that its ed geininspired events had actually taken place. The blair witch project premiered in 1999, captivating audiences with a unique filmmaking technique known as found footage. The mockumentary went over their lives before the project, the history of the blair witch and even the discovery of the vhs tapes themselves. Never once during the film are we lead to believe that blair witch isnt the real deal. The blair witch project house of horrors the blair. Theyre saying the filmmakers purposely invented an urban legend to stir up interest in blair witch. They created a website, plugged it online, showed interview clips and even created a mockumentary called curse of the blair witch about the students heather, josh and mike. It has no fancy special effects or digital monsters, but its characters get lost in the woods, hear noises in the night and find disturbing stick figures hanging from trees.