![]() The reason The Blair Witch Project hit the zeitgeist so hard was due to timing, form, and marketing more than content. It’s an experimental movie that somehow played as mainstream horror. The performers shot the movie themselves as they slowly went insane and starved, while the filmmakers treated them to a private prank/spook show. The actors had no idea what might happen to them. They took risks grander than the Dogme 95 collective. It’s an art house experiment that worked beyond what Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez ever could have imagined. The aesthetic is 90s grunge, complete with flannel, smokes, dirty facial hair, and production values stitched together with duct tape. The performances are incredibly low key (despite all the screaming). The scares are subtle, mostly situational and psychological. Looking back on the film now, it’s actually weird to think it became such a success in the first place. ![]() Its actors mostly disappeared into obscurity.Ī sequel was rushed out that was promptly loathed by all and the franchise disappeared as quickly as it burst out of Sundance and into box office glory. Its directors never helmed a high profile follow-up. The movie ended up getting Razzie nominations and parodied. The most visceral reaction wasn’t terror, but motion sickness from all the shaky-cam and irritation towards the “whiny” characters. Sure, it made an absurd sum of money and got great reviews, but most viewers claimed that they were underwhelmed by the experience. ![]() The thing is that back in the summer of 1999 when The Blair Witch Project came out, it wasn’t as universally beloved as we remember. Write a list of the greatest or most important horror films ever produced and The Blair Witch Project has to be on there, if only for the pop culture iconography and influence. The Blair Witch Project is one of the most iconic indie horror movies of all time, with a legion of production and marketing backstories that are almost more fondly remembered than the film itself. ![]()
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