In today’s world, The Blair Witch Project would be considered viral based on this publicity ploy, and it definitely boosted the flick’s “must see” factor.ĭespite its huge success, the movie was polarizing. The Sci-Fi Channel even aired a mockumentary called The Curse of the Blair Witch, and people completely believed this was a true story. Flyers were distributed at Sundance, asking people to come forward if they had any information about the “missing students.” The Blair Witch Project – Heather Donahue – Courtesy Haxan Films The actors’ bios on IMDb listed them as “deceased”, and they were not allowed to attend the Cannes premiere. It’s a powerful moment, and a shot from the scene was used as the film’s poster.īefore TBWP opened at Sundance, Myrick and Sanchez made a brilliant marketing move by building a website that featured made-up police reports, fake interviews, and a completely fictional legend. They had simply told her that her motivation was to not scare Mike, and to go someplace alone to say goodbye to her loved ones. Heather’s iconic final monologue scene was shot with no one else around, and the directors didn’t even see it until they were reviewing footage later. At night, the crew would do unexpected things, such as suddenly shaking the tent, playing the sound of children laughing, placing little rock piles outside the tent, and hanging those creepy stick figures in the trees. The actors were free to make character-driven decisions, with the directors intervening only when they deemed it necessary. Don’t take no for an answer.” The Blair Witch Project – Michael C. These notes included instructions such as “Heather, you’re sure that to get out of this mess, you go south. The three were taken to the woods in Maryland for the eight-day shoot and were left notes to guide them through their improvised dialogue. Williams and Joshua Leonard, who claims he was hired mostly due to his ability to use a camera. Her answer: “I probably shouldn’t be.”Ĭompleting the cast were Michael C. Heather was instructed that she was a prisoner who had been convicted of killing her baby, and asked why she should be released. According to Myrick, the cast originally consisted of three men, but actress Heather Donahue made such an impact during her improvisational audition that one of the characters became a woman. The Blair Witch Project began as a 35-page screenplay written by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, calling for mostly improvised dialogue. It wasn’t the first found footage movie by any means, with 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust and 1998’s The Last Broadcast preceding it…but it was, by far, the most successful. Twenty years later, The Blair Witch Project is still remembered for breaking new ground in the horror movie world and for making “found footage” popular. It was shot mostly by the actors themselves on a reported budget of about $60,000, and was almost immediately snapped up by Artisan Entertainment for $1.1 million. We're a little too old to fall for this shtick.By Carla Davis 4 years ago On January 25, 1999, a small, independent horror movie premiered at Sundance. Certainly not people who saw the original in 1999 like me. I'm stumped as to who this was even made for. This isn't a spiritual successor to The Blair Witch Project, it's a found footage jump scare film for millennials who loved VHS and Paranormal Activity. It's funny that even with the new expanses in technology they still couldn't make this thing more interesting than something that was filmed with 1999 equipment. And don't expect to have the experience enhanced by any of these. This is literally a rehash of the original story with more characters and a flying drone with updated cameras. The worst part is Wingard and his crew don't even attempt to bring any original story elements to the table. The first segment of VHS and the religious cult segment of part 2 are both scarier than the entirety of this film. Did you see VHS? Did you handle it well? Congrats, you'll have zero problems sitting through Blair Witch. They replaced subtlety and dread with loud sound effects, jump scares, and video game glimpses of cliché figures. This completely failed to capture anything that made the original such a disturbing experience. It uses the exact same scare tactics that made those films so successful, bringing nothing but a completely derivative experience to the table. You want scary? You won't find it here unless you've never seen one of the Insiduous/Paranormal Activity/Conjuring clones to come out in the past 5 years. So much for months of hype starting with The Woods trailer months ago which was eventually revealed to be this film.
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