Unlike other horror films that featured bloody scenes and special effects, The Blair Witch Project scared moviegoers through implied terror and violence.Įduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick, who met as film students at the University of Central Florida, wrote and directed The Blair Witch Project. The trio never returned to civilization, but their film equipment was supposedly found and the footage they shot became The Blair Witch Project. The filmmakers got lost and experienced a series of scary events and unexplained phenomena, such as strange noises and piles of stones being inexplicably re-arranged. The Blair Witch Project followed the young filmmakers as they went into the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, to make a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch. Fake or not, it didn’t matter at the box office: The Blair Witch Project grossed some $250 million worldwide and was featured on the covers of Newsweek and Time magazines. With the help of a Web-based viral marketing strategy-a relatively new concept at the time- The Blair Witch Project generated huge buzz over the question of whether or not it was based on a true story. Shot with shaky, handheld cameras, the documentary-style movie told the story of three student filmmakers who disappeared into the woods and were never heard from again, although their footage was later discovered. Not a bad film by any stretch but doesn't offer enough new material to warrant its existence.On July 30, 1999, The Blair Witch Project, a low-budget, independent horror film that will become a massive cult hit, is released in U.S. It's not that you'll be disappointed as it does a lot well, but it does a lot well because it practically mirrors the first. I've never seen anything like it! In summation, if you've seen the original, there's really no need to see 'Blair Witch'. It was as if everyone was waiting for the lights to come on first, which would suggest maybe others were more unnerved. My partner and I watched the entirety of the credits and were still two of the first out. Finally, although I personally found myself relatively unmoved by the whole thing, the cinema itself barely moved when the credits rolled. Then, somewhat in homage to the original, it brings in elements of new camera-work which add to the tension and genuinely seem to present some alternative ways of filming (GPS cameras connected to the ear, looking through the reverse screen of a video camera, drone cameras etc) and all are integrated into the story seamlessly rather than being thrown in for the sake of it. At least with the BW series, you can actually empathise with the characters as they act in a similar manner to that, any of us would in the same situation. When you think at that stage you'd set up camp for the night rather than wandering round in the dark – they set up camp for the night So often in horror films we have to put up with idiotic characters making idiotic, wholly unrealistic decisions and suffering the consequences as a result. When you find yourself thinking you'd definitely leave at that stage - the characters attempt to leave. For a start, the characters make genuinely, believable choices (minus maybe the idea of going into the woods in the first place). Despite the above however, Blair Witch does so much of what 'Project' did well. Without all that, and with people being so accustomed to 'hand-held horror films' now, this film doesn't really deliver anywhere near the terror or frights that its namesake did 17 years ago. Tie that in with all the paraphernalia that went with it – mockumentaries, interviews with relatives, the actors in hiding for months, and it meant people were genuinely terrified before they'd even set foot in the cinema. Part of what made the original so genre-defining and so ruthlessly scary (at the time) was the fact that nothing had been seen like it before. As a result, there isn't really much need for its existence other than to make more money for the film studio. It's effectively a modern remake of the original film with some minor tweaks. If you've seen the original there's really no need to see this one. This rating feels really harsh as this was a genuinely good movie and an excellent homage to the original.However the issues here are two-fold: 1.
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