The Blair Witch Project
(Contain "you really should know" Spoilers)
Found footage. I bet you are sick of it. Every other horror movie these days try to dig their claws into “found footage.” It has been shoved down our throats. Paranormal Activity are beating us to death with their saga. Cloverfield tried to make it revolutionary. And Cannibal Holocaust started it all. But it was The Blair Witch Project that made it big and it was the “oh hey there, this is real” campaign that made us wag our tongues at school.
The Blair Witch Project was presented as footage that was found (you know, found footage,) in 1994 by police after the disappearance of media students Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard. The footage tells the tale of the wannabe filmmakers setting off into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland. They are investigating the legend of the Blair Witch and (rather stupidly) camping out there to gain some kind of supernatural footage. And obviously, things go terribly, terribly wrong.
("We have no phone signal, didn't tell anyone where we are going and entering an forrest with an ancient murderous witch....
Honestly, nothings going to go wrong!)
The Blair Witch Project is again one of the most successful independent movies of all time. It grossed over $248 million worldwide and was made on $500 thousand budget. With no major studio backing, The Blair Witch Project raked in millions for film makers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez (who by the way, with money have gone on to remake The Exorcist and The Blair Witch 2 so please someone take their money away.) The “word of mouth” movie gained momentum due to their infamy. With many movie goers “leaving” believing that it was real, I remember being terrified in a school believing that these people had actually disappeared. Obviously, it isn’t real, much like Bang Bus doesn’t pick up real street people to have sex.
So take away the rumours and the false advertising campaign and do you have a good movie? In a word, yes. And it’s not just the found footage aspect that gets us quivery at ever Larch we see..
(ARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!)
.. that builds up to the ultimate terrifying end. The choice not to show the “Blair Witch” is outstanding. Instead, they have the characters plagued by invisible laughing children, unexplained twig figures and bloody teeth packages is more chilling than an axe murder at every turn. When characters start to unexplainably disappear, the hairs instantly raise on the back of the neck. The choice not to show the protagonist aka the Blair Witch at all makes the movie unexplainable and a movie that cannot be explained, is the most terrifying of all.
The acting is great and realistic and the story has a pulse that increase with each momentum scene. After all, how iconic still is the image of Heather crying into the camera abandoned in the woods they though would be safe. The finale with Michael stood creepily in the corner, not moving and without explanation, still haunts our minds today.
(Ok, I just wet myself inserting this picture)
Movies with scenes that are unsolvable scare us because our brains have no answer. Much like a murder whom kills without a backstory, these movies stick in our memory because the unsolvable is haunting. Sure, we can roll our shoulders and say “it’s all fake” but The Blair Witch Project seems so real. It gets under our skin is a frightening way.
Critically acclaimed and hailed as a milestone by many, The Blair Witch Project is the epitome of found footage media. Today , it is still as terrifying and accomplished much at it’s era. Of course, found footage has now been whored out beyond boredom with only few that stand alone. But there was time where The Blair Witch Project was scary and changed the face of cinema.
It also earned a bucket load of money. And that helps.
TTFN
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