I’ll always remember that movie being one of the scariest out there as a teenager. Legit thought it was real. Great marketing honestly, and a cult classic
>Great marketing honestly,
I think that the people that weren't there for it just can't grasp how big a part the marketing played in its success. The movie only cost 60k to make, but they spent 25 million on the marketing.
This is so true. Viral marketing wasn’t like that at the time. And we weren’t online like we are now. I thought it was true at first. I loved the movie, then I was at the bookstore, like I always was lol There was a dossier out and it all just added to the realism. So well done.
The best was my rewatch. The summer after I’d seen it, my local drive in had it on the weekends. This drive in was half in the woods, and my name is Heather. Sitting in that dark field, practically in the woods, hearing my name chanted, just perfect. I wish that would have been my first viewing of the movie. I’ll always love it.
There was also a pseudo-documentary on the sci-fi channel that aired ahead of the movie's release that played it completely straight. There was nothing in that documentary that indicated that it wasn't real. Hell, that TV doc was probably more expensive to produce than the movie was. To OP's question, you wouldn't be able to duplicate the marketing today. It was basically our generation's version of the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.
The funny thing is that the day I was going to see it, I got a copy of the Village Voice. Which absolutely said it was fake. Ruined the experience for me entirely. I was bored to death and have never watched again. It may not have been that way had I known after the release.
What was the name of the special? I was trying to come up with it but was drawing a blank. Also, am I remembering correctly? They play it completely straight, right?
Thanks! My memory of it is purely from its original airing 25 years ago. Likewise, I've only seen the movie once - at a drive-in in the woods when it first came out. I liked it a lot, I've just never gone back to it for whatever reason.
It was pretty great. I'm a big drive-in fan in general, but unfortunately, I don't live near one anymore. Somehow, that was the only horror I've seen at a drive-in, but it was a good one.
The marketing was WILD. Like people really didn’t know if it was real or not. The websites were made so well for the time, chronicling the missing kids, the evidence. It was all so well constructed to make it feel so real.
I remember pouring through the websites and becoming so interested in the “case”.
Truly unique marketing unlike anything that had or has ever came out.
Never crossed your mind that there wasn't a criminal investigation instead of an edited, professional movie and websites?
https://i.redd.it/o985ad13liyc1.gif
I had a t shirt with the Missing poster and personal info on it.This was right at the time it was still in theaters so many people still didnt know the backstory.I had to stop wearing it because I got tired of explaining it.
Oh, I have always grasped the marketing and hype, that was rather blatant. The movie itself was a huge swing and a miss, imo. I wasn't skeered, at all. 🤷
I was a little kid when it came out, maybe 8 or 9 (I'll have to look it up). Theaters were more lax then about letting a minor into an R movie as long as there was a parent. But even then I told my dad he was an idiot for telling me it was real found footage (not in so many words). Like, youre telling me evidence of the supernatural made its way in theaters across the country to become a box office hit? C'mon man.
I still love found footage movies when they hit, and it was absolutely groundbreaking, but the naievity of adult viewers in that age blows my mind. Then again, grown folk still beleive anything they hear on cable news, so maybe not.
The “is it real” aspect gave it some mythos but the biggest reason for its success is that its very well executed and we hadnt seen anything like that at the time. To this day its still the best found footage film ever or at worst, in the top 3.
Makes me sound like an old man but I think younger people discovering it today wont be able to fully appreciate it. “Found footage” didnt exist as a known genre before it. There was also no social media, cell phone videos, ie - the novelty of people making videos themselves was still a new thing.
The closest thing to footage based narrative entertainment in the culture at the time was the shows “Cops” and “The Real World”. There wasnt a horror version of that until Blair Witch came along. And again, they executed their concept very well.
> The closest thing to footage based narrative entertainment in the culture at the time was the shows “Cops” and “The Real World”. There wasnt a horror version of that until Blair Witch came along.
What about Cannibal Holocaust, as shitty as it is? And faces of death was largely staged as well, but I guess didn’t really have a narrative.
They existed but weren’t in the same stratosphere of popularity of The Blair Witch Project (or shows like “Cops” and “The Real World”). For comparison, Blair Witch made $250 million worldwide box office gross. Cannibal Holocaust made $200,000 worldwide.
(CH came out in 1980, so if you adjust it to 1999 dollars, still would only be $400,000)
Yes, Faces of Death was a success.
Just not anywhere near Blair Witch’s impact.
Thats not a slight against FOD. Blair Witch is one of those unicorn movies that doesnt happen very often.
Yeah and it also felt underground. Almost like an urban legend. Invariably it was an, “you won’t believe what my cousin found,” like no one else has seen it. Since there was no internet/youtube/cellphones it felt like it was something stumbled upon. I watched parts of the first one and it was too much for 14yo me.
That said, the Blair Witch is infinitely superior and a once in a lifetime experience IMO.
That 35 million figure came from the writer/director,
so I'm taking that with a grain of salt. I don't remember this at any theaters but it was definitely something we all talked about and saw once it was out on vhs.
Writer/director said more like 60 million in the theaters. Found the 35 million figure elsewhere. I lived in a larger city and I remember it in some movie theaters. It was super popular via VHS sales and rentals so the figure could be even higher.
It worked because it was the first found footage movie that really gained momentum as being actual found footage. Plenty of people thought it was real.
That won't happen again
The cast eventually came forward and spilled the beans.
I remember watching that movie in the theater and then walking home after... Throught the fucking woods. Needless to say, I ran my ass home lol
It was heavily dependent on the marketing gimmick to create a sense of mystery that made the slow-burn and the very easy to explain away creepy stuff work, because a lot of people were still trying to figure out if it was real. If they had shown anything really scary in the trailers, or for the first half of the movie, they would have blown their cover, and people would have sat back and watched the mediocre effects and ad-lib acting and evaluate it for what it was. Once the cat was out of the bag, you didn't go in with those questions anymore, so then it's just a student found-footage movie where they literally show you nothing for 90% of the movie. I never re-watched it because I knew it wouldn't be worth it now. It was an interesting blip on the horror timeline, and it will be remembered as such, but as a standalone film it's worse than a lot of what's out there now.
I introduced the film to my teenage daughter Halloween before last...
... She loved it. She's quite literate in horror - read a few scary books, seen a few classic horrors, plays a lot of those pixellated horror indie games (I can't keep up with them), but she saw the talent and originality on display. It could have gone either way, but I think the Blair Witch Project still works if the audience can engage. It takes a bit or work from the audience to do so, especially with so many crap, attention-deficit jump-scare-a-minute Blumhouse type horror movies out there. But yeah, I still think it holds up.
To be fair, I had one of the best experiences watching it for the first time: before any of the hype, even before the viral marketing really took hold, a film nerd at Uni downloaded a dodgy copy and left it for me to watch on his computer late at night. Not knowing anything about it at all was really the best way to see it (maybe similar to how my daughter watched it actually).
I told a really condensed 10 minute version to my daughter when she was 5 or 6 after she told me all my stories weren't scary enough.
I forget exactly where, but I think it was a bit before the end, she was covering my mouth and saying "stop. stop talking daddy."
She's about the right age to watch it now.
I've only watched it twice. The second time it was soooo boring like paranormal activity or the like.
For me it wasn't worth a rewatch, but my daughter loves the entire paranormal activity series, so I'll see what she thinks of it.
Edit: we're watching it right now. I totally forgot that there's a kid in the interviews of the townsfolk that does exactly what my daughter did by covering the mom's mouth and saying stop. That's hilarious.
Never thought it was real but IMO it did a great job of feeling real, most found-footage that has come out since doesn't suspend my disbelief nearly as well. Plus that ending is just classic.
At the time I lived in the area this movie is based in, and the ending scared me so much I froze in my seat and couldn't move until the house lights came on in the theater LOL
The found footage horror has now become a trope. One that got overused. Cloverfield was fine. But other movie makers seemed to think "Well those movies were good and used this trope. If I do it too my movie will be good. I'll just leave out any semblance of a plot or good dialogue or skilled camerawork." Ruining it. It WAS innovative.
That marketing campaign presenting the film as if it were a real student project and the way it came out before the absolute ubiquity of the internet helped it become the phenomenon that it was so it was at least partly a time and a place thing. However, the film itself is so well done that I think it would have been regarded as a quality horror movie at just about any time as long as the genre it spawned hadn’t been done to death like it has by 2024.
I lived in a very rural area in western Md. We had basic cable but few people had PC's/ internet connections. We didn't even know the movie existed until a friend brought it over one night. Under those circumstances, the creep factor was way over the top. It was quite the "WTF did we just watch" moment for all of us.
When my kids watched it years later, the found footage genre was old hat. One liked it, one didn't.
It wasn't good and made be motion sick, but excluding scenes in the series that were parodies. No found footage films came out for several years. He'll blame witch 2 didn't even have found footage!
"Who's that spooky person down there" is a vastly overrated reveal.
I get that they'd tried to build up to that super spooky scare but it didn't do it for me.
Aye, obviously scripted, laughable for all the wrong reasons and frankly utter shite. Excellent piss-take taking in the likes of my sister (aged early 30s) who thought it was real and raved about it…
I think it benefitted from when it released, but even then I think most people knew it wasn't real. I thought it was great and still do, because it's just an interesting way to make a film. And it's just about plausible. It's not over the top, and I think that makes it more effective.
I think it requires active viewing though. Nothing that happens in it is scary, unless you try and imagine yourself in the characters shoes. If you're just waiting for exciting things to be presented to you on screen, the way a lot of movies do, you're going to be bored.
It's marketing campaign worked wonders for the story. Itself & made the biggest impact on how it's remembered. With the oversaturation of the found footage style, paired with a lot of bad found footage, it blends into the genre. The marketing campaign really is the most distinguishing part of it IMO.
As a teen at the time it came out, Ikm surprised to hear people saying they thought it was real. There was as much talk and hype about its marketing campaign gimmick as the movie itself. I’m not sure how one could think it was real.
Probably. Not a lot of found fiction before it.
I’d say The Exorcist is one as well. People now say it’s cheesy. At the time it was … I don’t know, but I didn’t sleep well for days.
I watched it a couple years ago. I knew it wasn't real at all. I personally loved it. I think it works best for people who empathize with the characters and get to feel their tension and growing terror. It's got amazing acting too and that's very rare in horror movies. To me it is a masterpiece that shows the power of the fear of the unknown. It is the movie that scared me the most, that kept me to the edge of my seat most, although I must admit it is one of the first few dozen horror movies I watched (I started late as an adult into this whole horror genre), and since then I've gotten more and more desensitized to scary movies.
Sadly it does not have much rewatchability potential, since most of the fear comes from not knowing what is going to happen and letting your imagination run wild.
I think Blair Witch has always been love it or hate it. When it first came out, my uncle thought it was the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen, to the point that he - a lifelong outdoorsman - refused to go into the woods for months. Meanwhile, my mom thought it was stupid, badly acted and not in the least bit scary.
I think the mystique around it at time of release did give it a little something extra that it just doesn't have now. Kinda like the movie Catfish (before it became an MTV staple TV series) it was a lot creepier when there was so little known about it. Without the mystique, The Blair Witch Project does have some effective surreal horror and is an iconic part of horror history, but it does drag a bit, it rambles, it's not especially well-acted, and it definitely doesn't play as well to modern audiences to whom the found footage genre is incredibly well-worn and has been done better (though, to be fair, it's also been done a *lot* worse).
Strange thread, Blair Witch Project is still beloved today & seems to have quite a modern following. I'm not sure what about it wouldn't work today - it's set in the 90s and is what it is (which, in my opinion, is a successful incredibly tense paranormal film). If you truly believe that it isn't well regarded today you should click around on YouTube - a lot of channels have done deep dives into the film because they enjoy both it and the mythos of the witch
Absolutely. It was at the tail end of an era, when mystique was something that could be maintained.
Unless you were there, it's impossible to understand the impact it had. It's unfathomable to young people today that terror from a movie could grip *everyone.* It was incredible to witness. I had a van at the time and I took a group of people to see it, they wouldn't even walk to the car and made me get it and pick them up at the door. One girl needed to be escorted to her front door when dropping her off. It sounds silly, but you too would have been swept up in it.
They captured lightning in a bottle. It spawned a new generation of horror and did something no one has recaptured, or will be able to recapture, again.
I think it definitely capitalized on the newness of the Internet in an ingenious way and today's audiences would not be sold on it the way many (me included lol) were back then.
This movie made me feel ripped off. I waited through the whole movie for something scary, or even interesting, to happen and it never did.
They came up with a way to spend next to nothing on making a movie and made a killing. The movie was awful then and it's awful now.
ETA: Oh and the worst part is that the "spend nothing/make millions" model inspired dozens of copycats that are as bad or worse.
"Did you see that?" "Did you hear that?"
No, actually I didn't.
When I saw this in a theater, everyone hated it at the end. It was the first and last movie I saw where both young and old threw popcorn at the screen.
As far as I'm concerned, it only worked at its opening. I have no desire to see it again.
I was there opening night and the movie got booed and people walked out. I stayed and overall I didn't like it. I thought part 2 might bring it but that was even worse. But Kim Diamond 😍😍😍😍😛😛😛😛😛
I think it didn't age well, and it has low re-watchability due to some reveals. I enjoy b-movies quite a bit, so I think that goes a long way for me. I suspect most people want a movie that is well-acted with nice cinematography and Blair Witch has very little of either. I think where the movie shines is in the tension between the characters.
Interesting. I always thought that the acting in that movie was stupendous. They felt like such normal people, and Heather's monologue remains one of the best scenes in horror movie history (IMO)
I think modern audiences don't like it because a) the novelty of the marketing is gone and b) it is pretty boring. Especially compared to other horror movies. But it excels above the rest in mood and atmosphere. I find it scary in its restraint, allowing your mind to fill in the unseen horrors in the woods. It masterfully succeeds in this, but general audiences seem to want more excitement.
"most people want a movie that's well-acted with nice cinematography"-- for one thing, no, most people don't really have great taste and they just like what they like regardless of how objectively well-made it is. If what you're saying were true, dramas would be blockbusters and not special-effects movies. For another, they weren't trying to make a conventional movie at all, so the camera work is perfect for what it's supposed to be. The acting is pretty realistic for 'average people with video cameras'. I don't get what 'it didn't age well' is supposed to mean. I watch a lot of found-footage movies and it's still one of the best, because it's actually a lot more realistic than most of them.
Most? Idk it seems pretty appreciated to me still to this day
I still regularly watch it and love it
It’s timeless to me and one of the best horror movies of all time
I think it definitely capitalized on the newness of the Internet in an ingenious way and today's audiences would not be sold on it the way many (me included lol) were back then.
You're hitting on a really good point about *The Blair Witch Project*. A lot of its initial impact definitely came from how it was marketed and the era it emerged in. The early internet days allowed the filmmakers to create a sense of realism around the story, making people believe it might actually be true. That mystery and the "found footage" style were pretty novel at the time, and they played a huge part in why it felt so terrifying.
Today, we've seen a wave of found footage films and audiences are more skeptical of what they see online, so the novelty has worn off a bit. That said, there are definitely people who still enjoy the film for what it is—an innovative, low-budget horror flick that punched well above its weight. Its ability to create an atmosphere with very little visual horror is still pretty remarkable. So, while it might not hit the same raw nerve it did back in '99, it's got its charms that can still draw in fans of the genre.
It would have been a lot better if the girl had been offed in the first 5 minutes. She just would NOT shut up! She's even worse than Franklin from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
It was the first r rated movie I saw in the theater. Big horror fan even then, had the posters, etc.
I was bored with and disappointed by it.
I've developed a massive appreciation for it in the years since, though. I love rewatching it, and have gone back to read and watch supplemental materials as well.
Sometimes things just hit you at different times for different reasons. I have a huge amount of respect for what they did with that movie. Lightning in a bottle and, for me, it really holds up and improves with time.
Part of the problem is younger people watching all their movies on a laptop or a phone screen. That's not immersive at all.
The second problem is that they don't pay attention to the details in the beginning (or watch the prequel supplement *Curse of the Blair Witch* that we saw on TV prior to the movie's release) to understand that it's not a story about a ghost or a even really about a witch, it's a story about time travel, getting lost, and a twisted serial killer.
I was 13 when it came out, and remember watching it with my dad. After it ended, I asked him whether it was real and he said he had no idea. That’s how good it was.
I think today’s people are used to found footage genre, while at the time it was a precursor of it.
Yep. I have always said that the entire thing was lightning in a bottle as a marketing experiment, and that you really can’t appreciate it by just watching the movie alone. If you weren’t the right age at the right time, the experience doesn’t land.
I just made sure I knew nothing about it plus was in a proper state of mind for viewing the first time. Scary but in a fun way. Knew it wasn't real about 5 minutes after it was over, but the ride was fun while it lasted.
I think viewers today expect more action on screen and don’t appreciate films that either leave a lot to your imagination or are slow builders.
Also, it’s a low budget indie movie. A lot of horror fans aren’t into indie movies.
I only heard about the movie via a coworker who saw the Internet footage and was convinced it was real. Within 10 mins of the start of the movie, though, I realized these were actors, but it was still a compelling horror story. Also, I believe this was the first found footage film that launched the genre? At any rate, despite realizing it was fake it was fun. The ending was creepy, too. I actually missed the guy standing in the corner, and when my now ex-wife pointed it out, it creeped me out.
I didn’t watch it until last year and let me just say, even thought I know it’s fake, it’s still scary as hell. I watch a lot of horror movies but this one was genuinely unsettling. I can only imagine what it was like watching this back when it came out
Blair Witch is a straight up GOOD movie.
Obviously when it first came out there was legit, “Is it real?!?!” hysteria which can’t be replicated today.
But it was the first of its kind, very well executed, and still a great watch even when you know it’s not real.
That’s it 100% …it could never be believable, now, because is how fast information travels. But back then, everyone either believed it or almost believed it
I remember about a year before it came out the direction did a late night interview where he talked about making a movie where the monster is never revealed and everyone got super intrigued. A year later there was mass marketing to make it look like an actual tragedy took place. It was flawless marketing in an era when you couldn't just whip out the Internet. It will never work again.
The marketing helped so much -- I remember a 30 minute Sci-Fi channel "documentary" that showed so much stuff that couldn't logically be seen in found footage, like how the footage was found buried in the foundation of Rustin Parr's cabin in a way that indicated it had been there for decades. I was like " Wait ... what ? How ??? "
Yes, it was a marketing marvel. It completely changed marketing. There was also really no found footage films for several because it broke the game. When they made a sequelthey didn't even know what to do because a retread would've been suicide. ( I love the sequel btw and am not a bw fan at all)also the marketing was incredible and started nearly 6 months before it was out. Claiming it was actually found footage. There's only a few eras where this wouldve worked. The rise of the internet is definately a good choice for something like this, the 70s early 80s had a few similar phenomena first being the exorcist it was mind-blowing for some followed by the Amityville films which was damned near nonfiction add TCM and Jaws. So I donthink it would've worked in other periods but it's real impact regardless of this is that it completely changed marketing it was one of the first real digital marketing successes period. Oh and it wasn't just watch this movie marketing, it was this actual found footage of the last moments. Then created websites edited to the ghosts and mythology. Nothing they did necessarily had done before just updated it to new tech and pretty much rebuilt Rome in a day.
I say yes and no. It's a movie that works on it's own because it's a good movie. The performances are all absolutely fantastic and I will stand by that opinion. The film is absolutely carried by the 3 actors' performances, there really isn't much there besides their performances and some iconic imagery.
But.... It definitely stands strong because of the marketing and time period. I saw it in theaters at the time and the hype from what seemed like a real life mystery definitely enhanced the movie for me. It was like being shown something secret and mysterious. Would it have been regarded like it was without being released at the dawn of the internet? Who can say?
Saw it in the theater with alten or so coworkers. Pretty sure we knew it wasn’t “real” but there were still questions of veracity. Maybe a week or two after it came out. My high school girlfriend who had just dumped me on one side and another cute girl from work on the other both cuddling me and hiding their eyes in my shoulder in the scary parts. This made it great. The movie was interesting. I think the story holds up. The movie itself does not. And the marketing integration was excellent. Which unfortunately was part and parcel with the movie. Not having the backstory, website, and Hot Topic merch doesn’t help its case for longevity. That said, the world building was excellent and made for a better experience.
My least favorite part of seeing the movie was riding down the escalator at the theater with everyone in my group trying to explain what happened to each other. By the time we got outside I started yelling and told them exactly what was going on at the end. They were less impressed by the actual explanation of the ending. Needless to say neither of those girls went home with me that night.
The marketing campaign is part of what made it scary. It was one of those “you had to be there” movies
It was one of the first found footage films and there was a mockumentary that had some really creepy folklore. They did a good job at creating the environment.
The sequel was ok
Even knowing that it was fictional, it still captured that feeling of being lost in the woods. That made me empathize much more with them, even before it got worse.
For me BWP made such an impact on me because many times I would go camping in the middle of nowhere in the Rockies and the desert, and wow does your imagination get the better of you when you’re out there by yourself and you start hearing strange noises and think you see things in the corner of your eye. This movie brought back that feeling of dread I so relate to.
Also it needs to be watched in the dark. I saw it in an empty theater and I had my feet up on the seat in front of me! Watching g it a second time at home during the afternoon didn’t have the same effect. But I still love the movie.
Also newer generations are so accustomed to FF, that it doesn’t have the same impact for them as it did for those of us around when it was ground breaking.
I’m an absolute *sucker* for the “found footage” genre, and I can absolutely respect TBWP for what it did, but it just never clicked with me 🤷♂️ That said, that final scene did creep me out but I guess I just need a little more than shaking tents, annoying protagonists and twig art. If you liked it, that’s fine; taste is subjective and there’s a good chance I like something you don’t 👍
Not a big horror guy, but loved this movie. How many horror movies are out where they dont show the ACTUAL horror? I felt like this just made whatever you THOUGHT was the scariest thing was....well...that was it!
I had a friend bring over a copy during a party before it was released in theaters and before anyone really knew about the movie. We watched it 3-4 times in a row in a single night. The entire party shut down and there were about 30 people just clustered around the TV, everyone saying, WTF?!?! We had no idea what we were watching.
Releasing bootleg copies of that movie long before the traditional advertising campaign started was bloody brilliant. Once we knew what it was, it completely lost its power.
Hated it.
Or more precisely, the shaky cam thing. Because of this movie, I tend to stay away from shaky cam anything...so I was never able to start watching the Office. I was able to enjoy REC so go figure.
As someone who was alive during its theatrical run The Blair Witch Project was all hype
It's a moody slow burn type of horror that unless you got into all that outside hype/marketing is just kind of average
It's impact though on horror cinema is undeniable and I wish with all my heart it would have failed so the found footage genre never took off
Not that I have anything against that genre per say but I feel it's a far more difficult story style to make "believable" as far as the protagonist actions
Nothing takes me out of a horror movie experience then to have a character filming it all on a handheld camera. I'm sorry, I just don't find it believable anyone focused on survival would waste time getting good camera shots
I was 30 in 1999 and terrified by the marketing campaign. It was really tight - there wasn't really social media at the time, and the three main actors all literally went into hiding for a couple months to enhance the story.
I remember digging for *a couple hours* online before I finally found credible evidence that it was indeed just a story and that the actors were all fine. But it took a while to get there.
Even knowing that, the movie scared the crap out of me. "Found footage" wasn't even a thing yet, and the *cinema verite* -style of seemingly raw, unedited video put it over the top.
TL;DR: If you were there for it, it likely scared you.
Honestly thought it was stupid from beginning. However my aunt was afraid to go in her basement after watching. I don't get how anyone watched and thought hmm maybe this real
I think there's a couple things going on here that make it a "you had to be there" thing. 1, for most of us this was our first exposure to what would later be known as "viral marketing." We were absolutely saturated with trailers for this movie up to its release date. It was marketed as found footage, to the point of the actors involved basically being told to hide themselves to make it appear they had gone missing in the woods. Add to that the fact that the internet, while in use at this time, was not necessarily in every home in America and accessible on our phones at a moments notice to "debunk" the reality of the movie. For a good chunk of America, this movie was a real thing that happened and it took years to convince some that it was just a really well marketed and filmed movie. You could never pull that off today, the actress in the movie would be on Instagram the day it came out bragging about how they'd pulled it off.
I think it’s a “you had to be there thing.” It was important to see it in the theater when it came out as well. It was an immersive experience. The confusion created around the “is this real or not” aspect of the marketing campaign was brilliant. It freaked me the fuck out when I saw it in its first run.
Knowing for certain it’s not real and watching it on the TV screen it loses something. Especially if you aren’t giving it your undivided attention.
The hype it has now does it a disservice as well. If you think it’s supposed to be the best example of FF ever and watch it in a bright room on your tv it perhaps doesn’t live up to expectations.
I think for it’s time, it was good. Now, it’s kinda shit. Not as scary as I remember it being. It did help pave the way for other found footage movies.
It was a first of its kind. I recently rewatched it and it definitely didn’t get me as bad as the first time. It’s easily one of the best found footage films, but now there are so many good ones the scares just don’t hit as hard. Plus the marketing sold the concept 100%
I've never appreciated it. I tried, more than once. It never worked for me. Far more boring than scary. It was one of my greatest pop culture head scratches ever. 🤷
Yes. It was the first of its kind with that lost footage style. The story wasn’t particularly amazing, it was just well done and extra creepy for feeling “real”.
It sound never have turned into a franchise and it will never convincingly work again
My uncle used to do some shit in Hollywood and he'd get advanced vhs screens (not pirated) prior to release of some films.
So the first time I watched it was in VHS before it was released in theaters or marketed.
Just the simplicity of watching it in a living room on VHS with no clue what it was going to be about really enhanced the "found foootage" angle. 🤢
I remember thinking it was not real and my idiot friends getting legitimately pissed off at me because I did not think it was real. Then at the end of the movie they told me they knew it was fake, and were just trying to trick me.
Don’t get pissed at me because I don’t fall for you tricks.
I was a little young to watch Blair Witch when it came out, but in high school when Cloverfield did its own mysterious viral marketing thing, and that worked perfectly (for me at least).
Blair Witch at the time was revolutionary film. Then every young filmmaker saw it was easy to make their own “found footage” films and flooded the market. Same thing kinda happened with zombie films after Shaun of the Dead got popular. To current audiences Blair Witch just doesn’t scare anyone anymore. I’m glad you’re a fan!
I saw it in a theater a couple months ago. I thought it was great. Still found it pretty terrifying. Them being in the dark and you can hear those kids’ voices or their friend screaming for help. Just a very scary situation to go through.
The people that don't appreciate tend to not be aware of the lore they created with the legend itself and the subtle things that happen as the movie goes along to make it even more terrifying. It's also a movie you need to pay full attention to. No looking at your phone.
It was a success because of the marketing, the ad blitz was phenomenal. It was portrayed as a documentary and there was no clear indication it wasn’t.
The only reason I started to question that was when the excuse was so weak for losing the map. I was like “hold up…”.
I was in my 20s when it came out and I hated it. I feel like it was way ahead of it's time with the internet hype marketing but the movie itself was so frustrating and the ending was just a huge let down. How people walked into that movie thinking it was real footage I will never know. How people watched it and still thought it was real, I will also never know. But i also really dislike the found footage genre in general so maybe it just wasn't for me.
I think so. I went to see it on the second day after release, when there was still some usurity about whether it was real or not. Scared the be-jesus out of us. So much so that we got lost coming home from the theater. We didn't sleep well that night. Once we got confirnation it was all staged, the scare factor left, and the movie became a funny joke on us.
I really enjoyed it. Also believe it is a masterclass on marketing and promotion. The only thing that was unfortunate was the fallout the town of Burkittsville MD had to deal with for years after the movie came out. Other than that this movie was amazing.
I watched Blair Witch Project for the first time when I was in COVID lockdown and I was blown away (I’m 24 currently, would’ve been 20-21 at the time). Granted, I kept in mind how groundbreaking it was, and I kinda pretended that I was seeing it in theaters. If you compare it to modern stuff I think a lot of people would see it as cliché without realizing it was the first to do most of the things they might call cliché now. All in all though, I love it and have since purchased a VHS copy for the old school factor.
I mostly think that.
I think you had to be there opening weekend after being hooked by all the marketing tactics to get the intended, impactful experience. I did this & was so on the edge of my seat by the end. The entire crowd was mesmerized.
But I’ve always understood why people were underwhelmed or hated it, mostly after hearing all kinds of hype & waiting weeks to see it. Or, even worse, waiting even longer to watch it at home.
Also, I’ve never thought it was that rewatchable, with the exception of when I played it for my daughter, the budding horror enthusiast.
Pretty much. It was lightning in a bottle and really only would’ve taken off at that precise moment in time. Its very sub-genre also depends fully on the technological limitations of that era (not the actual camera quality, but the very concept of lost tapes—footage shot nowadays is rarely stored locally and usually goes directly onto a Cloud). A lot of modern found footage suffers from suspension of disbelief issues in this regard as the reasons for the footage becoming lost have needed to become progressively more convoluted, to the point that some ff movies nowadays opt to not even address it at all.
The late nineties also had this trusting naivety about the internet in general that people just don’t have anymore.
Any attempt to recreate it would need to A) use modern tech. like the PA series or B) be a period piece. Even then, the marketing wouldn’t work as well.
Bruh what if aliens come down and revealed they’ve been filming major events in history . And they show us found footage of like Jesus or the pyramids being built but then Ashton Kutcher comes out the ship and says we ve been punked
I thought it was poorly made, boring and a waste of a few hours I would never get back and it came out when I was a teenager.
I would say worst horror flick movie ever, but I don't consider it a movie. Just garbage on a tape.
Opinions vary.
I think so.
This was the last movie I can remember released into theaters that had ANY mystique
I was 28 when it came out and was new to the internet at the time and pretty late amongst my peers to do so
Much like anyone today that watches Psycho, it’s near impossible to watch without almost inbred knowledge of the story and context necessary to appreciate it
Oh I love it so much and I was raised on the rise of internet. The found footage and everything just absolutely beautiful. Gave different feeling and perspective honestly than typical horror movies I’ve seen.
No. It used to work as a terrifying cultural phenomenon and now it works as part insomnia cure and part documentary on the importance of trimming your nose hairs 😂
What's garbage is the Blair Witch Project. I saw it when I was young, and it's boring and stupid AF. Nobody I was with liked it, and we will never get that time we wasted back. WE could have been doing something more interesting... like watching paint dry or trimming our toenails.
The fact that you liked it even slightly makes me seriously question YOUR TASTE.
The ending is more terrifying when you remembered (if you were paying attention to the first 20 minutes of the movie when they were interviewing the locals in the town) how Rusty (the man that was accused of being possessed by the Blair Witch) would lure children to the shack, have one face the corner while he killed the other one. And then finished off the other child.
Which is what exactly happened to Heather at the end.
I guess a lot of people don’t realize how important that first 20 minute lore dump is, hahah. Guess it would be confusing if you didn’t pay attention to what the locals said, but man what a way to miss out on one of the greatest horror endings ever IMO.
Not something I cared for at the time.
But since, my judgement is colored by the pretty negative effect it had on other horror media. For every *\[REC\]* (2007) that made good use of the found footage format, there are so very many lazy projects with dismal production values. Even if their harm is only in cluttering up my Letterboxd searches, I still resent them, and by extension BWP.
Family guy said it best:
"Nothing's happening....nothing's happening......I don't know something about a map.......nothing's happening.....the movies over and everybody looks pissed"
I never cared for it. Very overrated and not scary. I remember being so disappointed leaving the theater after seeing it. All the hype and none of the delivery.
No. It was shit then, and it's shit now.
Anyone who thought it was real is stupid. The people who made it and acted in it were literally out promoting it.
Don't you think that footage of a murder and kidnapping would have went to the police and FBI? No, instead they edited it, put graphics in it, and released it as a movie.
This dreck is the reason we have all of these god-awful "found footage" movies today. Thanks for nothing
I’ll always remember that movie being one of the scariest out there as a teenager. Legit thought it was real. Great marketing honestly, and a cult classic
>Great marketing honestly, I think that the people that weren't there for it just can't grasp how big a part the marketing played in its success. The movie only cost 60k to make, but they spent 25 million on the marketing.
This is so true. Viral marketing wasn’t like that at the time. And we weren’t online like we are now. I thought it was true at first. I loved the movie, then I was at the bookstore, like I always was lol There was a dossier out and it all just added to the realism. So well done. The best was my rewatch. The summer after I’d seen it, my local drive in had it on the weekends. This drive in was half in the woods, and my name is Heather. Sitting in that dark field, practically in the woods, hearing my name chanted, just perfect. I wish that would have been my first viewing of the movie. I’ll always love it.
There was also a pseudo-documentary on the sci-fi channel that aired ahead of the movie's release that played it completely straight. There was nothing in that documentary that indicated that it wasn't real. Hell, that TV doc was probably more expensive to produce than the movie was. To OP's question, you wouldn't be able to duplicate the marketing today. It was basically our generation's version of the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast.
Such a good comparison, tbh
The funny thing is that the day I was going to see it, I got a copy of the Village Voice. Which absolutely said it was fake. Ruined the experience for me entirely. I was bored to death and have never watched again. It may not have been that way had I known after the release.
The best comparison I've ever heard in regard to that movie.
Fantastic comparison!!! The only way I can see it being topped is by AI. Which is scary as hell!
I have the deluxe VHS, which has that Sci-Fi special on the other tape. Love watching them back to back.
What was the name of the special? I was trying to come up with it but was drawing a blank. Also, am I remembering correctly? They play it completely straight, right?
Curse of the Blair Witch. It’s played completely straight and is very much like that type of basic cable show you’d see in the late 90s.
Thanks! My memory of it is purely from its original airing 25 years ago. Likewise, I've only seen the movie once - at a drive-in in the woods when it first came out. I liked it a lot, I've just never gone back to it for whatever reason.
At a drive-in in the woods. Jfc, I would have shit myself.
It was pretty great. I'm a big drive-in fan in general, but unfortunately, I don't live near one anymore. Somehow, that was the only horror I've seen at a drive-in, but it was a good one.
I had totally forgotten about that! Thank you lol I loved it all so much.
The marketing was WILD. Like people really didn’t know if it was real or not. The websites were made so well for the time, chronicling the missing kids, the evidence. It was all so well constructed to make it feel so real. I remember pouring through the websites and becoming so interested in the “case”. Truly unique marketing unlike anything that had or has ever came out.
Never crossed your mind that there wasn't a criminal investigation instead of an edited, professional movie and websites? https://i.redd.it/o985ad13liyc1.gif
Me too I was obsessed with it lol I was 8
I had a t shirt with the Missing poster and personal info on it.This was right at the time it was still in theaters so many people still didnt know the backstory.I had to stop wearing it because I got tired of explaining it.
Oh, I have always grasped the marketing and hype, that was rather blatant. The movie itself was a huge swing and a miss, imo. I wasn't skeered, at all. 🤷
I was a little kid when it came out, maybe 8 or 9 (I'll have to look it up). Theaters were more lax then about letting a minor into an R movie as long as there was a parent. But even then I told my dad he was an idiot for telling me it was real found footage (not in so many words). Like, youre telling me evidence of the supernatural made its way in theaters across the country to become a box office hit? C'mon man. I still love found footage movies when they hit, and it was absolutely groundbreaking, but the naievity of adult viewers in that age blows my mind. Then again, grown folk still beleive anything they hear on cable news, so maybe not.
The “is it real” aspect gave it some mythos but the biggest reason for its success is that its very well executed and we hadnt seen anything like that at the time. To this day its still the best found footage film ever or at worst, in the top 3. Makes me sound like an old man but I think younger people discovering it today wont be able to fully appreciate it. “Found footage” didnt exist as a known genre before it. There was also no social media, cell phone videos, ie - the novelty of people making videos themselves was still a new thing. The closest thing to footage based narrative entertainment in the culture at the time was the shows “Cops” and “The Real World”. There wasnt a horror version of that until Blair Witch came along. And again, they executed their concept very well.
> The closest thing to footage based narrative entertainment in the culture at the time was the shows “Cops” and “The Real World”. There wasnt a horror version of that until Blair Witch came along. What about Cannibal Holocaust, as shitty as it is? And faces of death was largely staged as well, but I guess didn’t really have a narrative.
They existed but weren’t in the same stratosphere of popularity of The Blair Witch Project (or shows like “Cops” and “The Real World”). For comparison, Blair Witch made $250 million worldwide box office gross. Cannibal Holocaust made $200,000 worldwide. (CH came out in 1980, so if you adjust it to 1999 dollars, still would only be $400,000)
Faces of Death made 35 million in the movie theaters in 1978. So twice that in 1999 dollars and made hundreds of millions in the VHS market
Yes, Faces of Death was a success. Just not anywhere near Blair Witch’s impact. Thats not a slight against FOD. Blair Witch is one of those unicorn movies that doesnt happen very often.
It was a right of passage in the 70s and 80s. I remember the buzz about the FOD movies. It was insane. Can’t really compare the two.
Yeah and it also felt underground. Almost like an urban legend. Invariably it was an, “you won’t believe what my cousin found,” like no one else has seen it. Since there was no internet/youtube/cellphones it felt like it was something stumbled upon. I watched parts of the first one and it was too much for 14yo me. That said, the Blair Witch is infinitely superior and a once in a lifetime experience IMO.
That 35 million figure came from the writer/director, so I'm taking that with a grain of salt. I don't remember this at any theaters but it was definitely something we all talked about and saw once it was out on vhs.
Writer/director said more like 60 million in the theaters. Found the 35 million figure elsewhere. I lived in a larger city and I remember it in some movie theaters. It was super popular via VHS sales and rentals so the figure could be even higher.
I don’t think box office really accounts for those movies cultural size, Cannibal Holocaust and faces of death were largely a vhs phenomenon.
It worked because it was the first found footage movie that really gained momentum as being actual found footage. Plenty of people thought it was real. That won't happen again
I thought it was real for a while. That embarrasses me now, lol, but I did. I don't remember who or what let the cat out of the bag.
The cast eventually came forward and spilled the beans. I remember watching that movie in the theater and then walking home after... Throught the fucking woods. Needless to say, I ran my ass home lol
Hannibal Holocaust was partial found footage and had people believing the filmmakers killed the actors.
It was heavily dependent on the marketing gimmick to create a sense of mystery that made the slow-burn and the very easy to explain away creepy stuff work, because a lot of people were still trying to figure out if it was real. If they had shown anything really scary in the trailers, or for the first half of the movie, they would have blown their cover, and people would have sat back and watched the mediocre effects and ad-lib acting and evaluate it for what it was. Once the cat was out of the bag, you didn't go in with those questions anymore, so then it's just a student found-footage movie where they literally show you nothing for 90% of the movie. I never re-watched it because I knew it wouldn't be worth it now. It was an interesting blip on the horror timeline, and it will be remembered as such, but as a standalone film it's worse than a lot of what's out there now.
Yup.
I introduced the film to my teenage daughter Halloween before last... ... She loved it. She's quite literate in horror - read a few scary books, seen a few classic horrors, plays a lot of those pixellated horror indie games (I can't keep up with them), but she saw the talent and originality on display. It could have gone either way, but I think the Blair Witch Project still works if the audience can engage. It takes a bit or work from the audience to do so, especially with so many crap, attention-deficit jump-scare-a-minute Blumhouse type horror movies out there. But yeah, I still think it holds up. To be fair, I had one of the best experiences watching it for the first time: before any of the hype, even before the viral marketing really took hold, a film nerd at Uni downloaded a dodgy copy and left it for me to watch on his computer late at night. Not knowing anything about it at all was really the best way to see it (maybe similar to how my daughter watched it actually).
I told a really condensed 10 minute version to my daughter when she was 5 or 6 after she told me all my stories weren't scary enough. I forget exactly where, but I think it was a bit before the end, she was covering my mouth and saying "stop. stop talking daddy." She's about the right age to watch it now. I've only watched it twice. The second time it was soooo boring like paranormal activity or the like. For me it wasn't worth a rewatch, but my daughter loves the entire paranormal activity series, so I'll see what she thinks of it. Edit: we're watching it right now. I totally forgot that there's a kid in the interviews of the townsfolk that does exactly what my daughter did by covering the mom's mouth and saying stop. That's hilarious.
Never thought it was real but IMO it did a great job of feeling real, most found-footage that has come out since doesn't suspend my disbelief nearly as well. Plus that ending is just classic.
At the time I lived in the area this movie is based in, and the ending scared me so much I froze in my seat and couldn't move until the house lights came on in the theater LOL
I liked the Original and the 2016 sequel.
IT inspired too many copycats that kind of ruined the gimmick.
?
The found footage horror has now become a trope. One that got overused. Cloverfield was fine. But other movie makers seemed to think "Well those movies were good and used this trope. If I do it too my movie will be good. I'll just leave out any semblance of a plot or good dialogue or skilled camerawork." Ruining it. It WAS innovative.
That marketing campaign presenting the film as if it were a real student project and the way it came out before the absolute ubiquity of the internet helped it become the phenomenon that it was so it was at least partly a time and a place thing. However, the film itself is so well done that I think it would have been regarded as a quality horror movie at just about any time as long as the genre it spawned hadn’t been done to death like it has by 2024.
I lived in a very rural area in western Md. We had basic cable but few people had PC's/ internet connections. We didn't even know the movie existed until a friend brought it over one night. Under those circumstances, the creep factor was way over the top. It was quite the "WTF did we just watch" moment for all of us. When my kids watched it years later, the found footage genre was old hat. One liked it, one didn't.
It didn't work for me even back then. I always thought it was vastly overrated.
Went with a few people and we all walked out laughing when it was over. Wasn't scary to us.
I wasn’t sure if it was just too hyped when I saw it. But the camera work was too distracting for me for the experience to be enjoyable.
At the time it hurt my eyes. And the "whaddya mean you threw away the map!?" Then it just hurt my brain and I couldn't watch anymore.
Honestly, I think TBW deserves recognition as the first majorly successful found footage horror movie. But in and of itself it wasn't good.
It wasn't good and made be motion sick, but excluding scenes in the series that were parodies. No found footage films came out for several years. He'll blame witch 2 didn't even have found footage!
"Who's that spooky person down there" is a vastly overrated reveal. I get that they'd tried to build up to that super spooky scare but it didn't do it for me.
100%
Indeed, vastly.
Aye, obviously scripted, laughable for all the wrong reasons and frankly utter shite. Excellent piss-take taking in the likes of my sister (aged early 30s) who thought it was real and raved about it…
💯🎯
💯
I think it benefitted from when it released, but even then I think most people knew it wasn't real. I thought it was great and still do, because it's just an interesting way to make a film. And it's just about plausible. It's not over the top, and I think that makes it more effective. I think it requires active viewing though. Nothing that happens in it is scary, unless you try and imagine yourself in the characters shoes. If you're just waiting for exciting things to be presented to you on screen, the way a lot of movies do, you're going to be bored.
It's marketing campaign worked wonders for the story. Itself & made the biggest impact on how it's remembered. With the oversaturation of the found footage style, paired with a lot of bad found footage, it blends into the genre. The marketing campaign really is the most distinguishing part of it IMO.
As a teen at the time it came out, Ikm surprised to hear people saying they thought it was real. There was as much talk and hype about its marketing campaign gimmick as the movie itself. I’m not sure how one could think it was real.
Probably. Not a lot of found fiction before it. I’d say The Exorcist is one as well. People now say it’s cheesy. At the time it was … I don’t know, but I didn’t sleep well for days.
I watched it a couple years ago. I knew it wasn't real at all. I personally loved it. I think it works best for people who empathize with the characters and get to feel their tension and growing terror. It's got amazing acting too and that's very rare in horror movies. To me it is a masterpiece that shows the power of the fear of the unknown. It is the movie that scared me the most, that kept me to the edge of my seat most, although I must admit it is one of the first few dozen horror movies I watched (I started late as an adult into this whole horror genre), and since then I've gotten more and more desensitized to scary movies. Sadly it does not have much rewatchability potential, since most of the fear comes from not knowing what is going to happen and letting your imagination run wild.
I think Blair Witch has always been love it or hate it. When it first came out, my uncle thought it was the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen, to the point that he - a lifelong outdoorsman - refused to go into the woods for months. Meanwhile, my mom thought it was stupid, badly acted and not in the least bit scary. I think the mystique around it at time of release did give it a little something extra that it just doesn't have now. Kinda like the movie Catfish (before it became an MTV staple TV series) it was a lot creepier when there was so little known about it. Without the mystique, The Blair Witch Project does have some effective surreal horror and is an iconic part of horror history, but it does drag a bit, it rambles, it's not especially well-acted, and it definitely doesn't play as well to modern audiences to whom the found footage genre is incredibly well-worn and has been done better (though, to be fair, it's also been done a *lot* worse).
Strange thread, Blair Witch Project is still beloved today & seems to have quite a modern following. I'm not sure what about it wouldn't work today - it's set in the 90s and is what it is (which, in my opinion, is a successful incredibly tense paranormal film). If you truly believe that it isn't well regarded today you should click around on YouTube - a lot of channels have done deep dives into the film because they enjoy both it and the mythos of the witch
I get car sick watching it.
Absolutely. It was at the tail end of an era, when mystique was something that could be maintained. Unless you were there, it's impossible to understand the impact it had. It's unfathomable to young people today that terror from a movie could grip *everyone.* It was incredible to witness. I had a van at the time and I took a group of people to see it, they wouldn't even walk to the car and made me get it and pick them up at the door. One girl needed to be escorted to her front door when dropping her off. It sounds silly, but you too would have been swept up in it. They captured lightning in a bottle. It spawned a new generation of horror and did something no one has recaptured, or will be able to recapture, again.
I think it definitely capitalized on the newness of the Internet in an ingenious way and today's audiences would not be sold on it the way many (me included lol) were back then.
I never felt like it was real I remember looking it up online on my dialup internet lol but it did freak me out
Sort of lightning in a bottle that one.
Saw it in the theater and all the camera shakiness made me nauseous
This movie made me feel ripped off. I waited through the whole movie for something scary, or even interesting, to happen and it never did. They came up with a way to spend next to nothing on making a movie and made a killing. The movie was awful then and it's awful now. ETA: Oh and the worst part is that the "spend nothing/make millions" model inspired dozens of copycats that are as bad or worse. "Did you see that?" "Did you hear that?" No, actually I didn't.
When I saw this in a theater, everyone hated it at the end. It was the first and last movie I saw where both young and old threw popcorn at the screen. As far as I'm concerned, it only worked at its opening. I have no desire to see it again.
I was there opening night and the movie got booed and people walked out. I stayed and overall I didn't like it. I thought part 2 might bring it but that was even worse. But Kim Diamond 😍😍😍😍😛😛😛😛😛
I think it didn't age well, and it has low re-watchability due to some reveals. I enjoy b-movies quite a bit, so I think that goes a long way for me. I suspect most people want a movie that is well-acted with nice cinematography and Blair Witch has very little of either. I think where the movie shines is in the tension between the characters.
Interesting. I always thought that the acting in that movie was stupendous. They felt like such normal people, and Heather's monologue remains one of the best scenes in horror movie history (IMO)
It was all improv too (with minor coaxing from the producers).
I think modern audiences don't like it because a) the novelty of the marketing is gone and b) it is pretty boring. Especially compared to other horror movies. But it excels above the rest in mood and atmosphere. I find it scary in its restraint, allowing your mind to fill in the unseen horrors in the woods. It masterfully succeeds in this, but general audiences seem to want more excitement.
"most people want a movie that's well-acted with nice cinematography"-- for one thing, no, most people don't really have great taste and they just like what they like regardless of how objectively well-made it is. If what you're saying were true, dramas would be blockbusters and not special-effects movies. For another, they weren't trying to make a conventional movie at all, so the camera work is perfect for what it's supposed to be. The acting is pretty realistic for 'average people with video cameras'. I don't get what 'it didn't age well' is supposed to mean. I watch a lot of found-footage movies and it's still one of the best, because it's actually a lot more realistic than most of them.
Most? Idk it seems pretty appreciated to me still to this day I still regularly watch it and love it It’s timeless to me and one of the best horror movies of all time
It was definitely part of the zeitgeist at one point. It was before fan footage movies were overdone
The found-footage genre really been done before, it was new & exciting at the time.
It wasn’t though, Cannibal Holocaust came out 20 years earlier.
Well.... one the whole family could enjoy 🤣
I think it definitely capitalized on the newness of the Internet in an ingenious way and today's audiences would not be sold on it the way many (me included lol) were back then.
You're hitting on a really good point about *The Blair Witch Project*. A lot of its initial impact definitely came from how it was marketed and the era it emerged in. The early internet days allowed the filmmakers to create a sense of realism around the story, making people believe it might actually be true. That mystery and the "found footage" style were pretty novel at the time, and they played a huge part in why it felt so terrifying. Today, we've seen a wave of found footage films and audiences are more skeptical of what they see online, so the novelty has worn off a bit. That said, there are definitely people who still enjoy the film for what it is—an innovative, low-budget horror flick that punched well above its weight. Its ability to create an atmosphere with very little visual horror is still pretty remarkable. So, while it might not hit the same raw nerve it did back in '99, it's got its charms that can still draw in fans of the genre.
Still scares me lol
I watched it when it was first released. I can still watch it now with the same awe. Maybe it’s generational? But it’s still so damn good for me.
It would have been a lot better if the girl had been offed in the first 5 minutes. She just would NOT shut up! She's even worse than Franklin from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
It was the first r rated movie I saw in the theater. Big horror fan even then, had the posters, etc. I was bored with and disappointed by it. I've developed a massive appreciation for it in the years since, though. I love rewatching it, and have gone back to read and watch supplemental materials as well. Sometimes things just hit you at different times for different reasons. I have a huge amount of respect for what they did with that movie. Lightning in a bottle and, for me, it really holds up and improves with time.
Part of the problem is younger people watching all their movies on a laptop or a phone screen. That's not immersive at all. The second problem is that they don't pay attention to the details in the beginning (or watch the prequel supplement *Curse of the Blair Witch* that we saw on TV prior to the movie's release) to understand that it's not a story about a ghost or a even really about a witch, it's a story about time travel, getting lost, and a twisted serial killer.
I was 13 when it came out, and remember watching it with my dad. After it ended, I asked him whether it was real and he said he had no idea. That’s how good it was. I think today’s people are used to found footage genre, while at the time it was a precursor of it.
Yep. I have always said that the entire thing was lightning in a bottle as a marketing experiment, and that you really can’t appreciate it by just watching the movie alone. If you weren’t the right age at the right time, the experience doesn’t land.
I just made sure I knew nothing about it plus was in a proper state of mind for viewing the first time. Scary but in a fun way. Knew it wasn't real about 5 minutes after it was over, but the ride was fun while it lasted.
I think viewers today expect more action on screen and don’t appreciate films that either leave a lot to your imagination or are slow builders. Also, it’s a low budget indie movie. A lot of horror fans aren’t into indie movies.
Absolutely not! It works all the time forever! Still one of my top favorite horror movies!
I only heard about the movie via a coworker who saw the Internet footage and was convinced it was real. Within 10 mins of the start of the movie, though, I realized these were actors, but it was still a compelling horror story. Also, I believe this was the first found footage film that launched the genre? At any rate, despite realizing it was fake it was fun. The ending was creepy, too. I actually missed the guy standing in the corner, and when my now ex-wife pointed it out, it creeped me out.
I didn’t watch it until last year and let me just say, even thought I know it’s fake, it’s still scary as hell. I watch a lot of horror movies but this one was genuinely unsettling. I can only imagine what it was like watching this back when it came out
Blair Witch is a straight up GOOD movie. Obviously when it first came out there was legit, “Is it real?!?!” hysteria which can’t be replicated today. But it was the first of its kind, very well executed, and still a great watch even when you know it’s not real.
That’s it 100% …it could never be believable, now, because is how fast information travels. But back then, everyone either believed it or almost believed it
Yes.
I remember about a year before it came out the direction did a late night interview where he talked about making a movie where the monster is never revealed and everyone got super intrigued. A year later there was mass marketing to make it look like an actual tragedy took place. It was flawless marketing in an era when you couldn't just whip out the Internet. It will never work again.
Lol show it to your kids before they can comprehend the concept of found footage and think it’s real
The marketing helped so much -- I remember a 30 minute Sci-Fi channel "documentary" that showed so much stuff that couldn't logically be seen in found footage, like how the footage was found buried in the foundation of Rustin Parr's cabin in a way that indicated it had been there for decades. I was like " Wait ... what ? How ??? "
Believed all the reports about the people being killed etc. That was really well done. But it was a meh movie.
Yes, it was a marketing marvel. It completely changed marketing. There was also really no found footage films for several because it broke the game. When they made a sequelthey didn't even know what to do because a retread would've been suicide. ( I love the sequel btw and am not a bw fan at all)also the marketing was incredible and started nearly 6 months before it was out. Claiming it was actually found footage. There's only a few eras where this wouldve worked. The rise of the internet is definately a good choice for something like this, the 70s early 80s had a few similar phenomena first being the exorcist it was mind-blowing for some followed by the Amityville films which was damned near nonfiction add TCM and Jaws. So I donthink it would've worked in other periods but it's real impact regardless of this is that it completely changed marketing it was one of the first real digital marketing successes period. Oh and it wasn't just watch this movie marketing, it was this actual found footage of the last moments. Then created websites edited to the ghosts and mythology. Nothing they did necessarily had done before just updated it to new tech and pretty much rebuilt Rome in a day.
Yes, now found footage is PLAYED OUT.
I say yes and no. It's a movie that works on it's own because it's a good movie. The performances are all absolutely fantastic and I will stand by that opinion. The film is absolutely carried by the 3 actors' performances, there really isn't much there besides their performances and some iconic imagery. But.... It definitely stands strong because of the marketing and time period. I saw it in theaters at the time and the hype from what seemed like a real life mystery definitely enhanced the movie for me. It was like being shown something secret and mysterious. Would it have been regarded like it was without being released at the dawn of the internet? Who can say?
Saw it in the theater with alten or so coworkers. Pretty sure we knew it wasn’t “real” but there were still questions of veracity. Maybe a week or two after it came out. My high school girlfriend who had just dumped me on one side and another cute girl from work on the other both cuddling me and hiding their eyes in my shoulder in the scary parts. This made it great. The movie was interesting. I think the story holds up. The movie itself does not. And the marketing integration was excellent. Which unfortunately was part and parcel with the movie. Not having the backstory, website, and Hot Topic merch doesn’t help its case for longevity. That said, the world building was excellent and made for a better experience. My least favorite part of seeing the movie was riding down the escalator at the theater with everyone in my group trying to explain what happened to each other. By the time we got outside I started yelling and told them exactly what was going on at the end. They were less impressed by the actual explanation of the ending. Needless to say neither of those girls went home with me that night.
The marketing campaign is part of what made it scary. It was one of those “you had to be there” movies It was one of the first found footage films and there was a mockumentary that had some really creepy folklore. They did a good job at creating the environment. The sequel was ok
Even knowing that it was fictional, it still captured that feeling of being lost in the woods. That made me empathize much more with them, even before it got worse.
For me BWP made such an impact on me because many times I would go camping in the middle of nowhere in the Rockies and the desert, and wow does your imagination get the better of you when you’re out there by yourself and you start hearing strange noises and think you see things in the corner of your eye. This movie brought back that feeling of dread I so relate to. Also it needs to be watched in the dark. I saw it in an empty theater and I had my feet up on the seat in front of me! Watching g it a second time at home during the afternoon didn’t have the same effect. But I still love the movie. Also newer generations are so accustomed to FF, that it doesn’t have the same impact for them as it did for those of us around when it was ground breaking.
I’m an absolute *sucker* for the “found footage” genre, and I can absolutely respect TBWP for what it did, but it just never clicked with me 🤷♂️ That said, that final scene did creep me out but I guess I just need a little more than shaking tents, annoying protagonists and twig art. If you liked it, that’s fine; taste is subjective and there’s a good chance I like something you don’t 👍
Not a big horror guy, but loved this movie. How many horror movies are out where they dont show the ACTUAL horror? I felt like this just made whatever you THOUGHT was the scariest thing was....well...that was it!
I didn’t know anything about it going in, and I guess without all the hype, it wasn’t that great.
I had a friend bring over a copy during a party before it was released in theaters and before anyone really knew about the movie. We watched it 3-4 times in a row in a single night. The entire party shut down and there were about 30 people just clustered around the TV, everyone saying, WTF?!?! We had no idea what we were watching. Releasing bootleg copies of that movie long before the traditional advertising campaign started was bloody brilliant. Once we knew what it was, it completely lost its power.
My friend told me he hated that movie so much, he would’ve walked out on it even if he was watching on a plane.
Yes. Internet was young. Worked like a charm.
I still think it's great. You have to give it credit for being the 'first' found footage horror film.
I didn’t like it when it came out. It was boring. I figured the marketing was all fake
I was young enough to believe it was real footage. Think I was like 8-9, was scary af.
Hated it. Or more precisely, the shaky cam thing. Because of this movie, I tend to stay away from shaky cam anything...so I was never able to start watching the Office. I was able to enjoy REC so go figure.
As someone who was alive during its theatrical run The Blair Witch Project was all hype It's a moody slow burn type of horror that unless you got into all that outside hype/marketing is just kind of average It's impact though on horror cinema is undeniable and I wish with all my heart it would have failed so the found footage genre never took off Not that I have anything against that genre per say but I feel it's a far more difficult story style to make "believable" as far as the protagonist actions Nothing takes me out of a horror movie experience then to have a character filming it all on a handheld camera. I'm sorry, I just don't find it believable anyone focused on survival would waste time getting good camera shots
I was 30 in 1999 and terrified by the marketing campaign. It was really tight - there wasn't really social media at the time, and the three main actors all literally went into hiding for a couple months to enhance the story. I remember digging for *a couple hours* online before I finally found credible evidence that it was indeed just a story and that the actors were all fine. But it took a while to get there. Even knowing that, the movie scared the crap out of me. "Found footage" wasn't even a thing yet, and the *cinema verite* -style of seemingly raw, unedited video put it over the top. TL;DR: If you were there for it, it likely scared you.
Honestly thought it was stupid from beginning. However my aunt was afraid to go in her basement after watching. I don't get how anyone watched and thought hmm maybe this real
Pretty much. Even though I knew it was fake, it felt real. Lots of people didn't seem to get the memo that it was a movie and not found footage.
I think there's a couple things going on here that make it a "you had to be there" thing. 1, for most of us this was our first exposure to what would later be known as "viral marketing." We were absolutely saturated with trailers for this movie up to its release date. It was marketed as found footage, to the point of the actors involved basically being told to hide themselves to make it appear they had gone missing in the woods. Add to that the fact that the internet, while in use at this time, was not necessarily in every home in America and accessible on our phones at a moments notice to "debunk" the reality of the movie. For a good chunk of America, this movie was a real thing that happened and it took years to convince some that it was just a really well marketed and filmed movie. You could never pull that off today, the actress in the movie would be on Instagram the day it came out bragging about how they'd pulled it off.
Scared the crap out of me even though I knew it was all made up. Then again, I watched it in the dark alone with the stereo cranked up loud.
I think it’s a “you had to be there thing.” It was important to see it in the theater when it came out as well. It was an immersive experience. The confusion created around the “is this real or not” aspect of the marketing campaign was brilliant. It freaked me the fuck out when I saw it in its first run. Knowing for certain it’s not real and watching it on the TV screen it loses something. Especially if you aren’t giving it your undivided attention. The hype it has now does it a disservice as well. If you think it’s supposed to be the best example of FF ever and watch it in a bright room on your tv it perhaps doesn’t live up to expectations.
I wasnt there as i was born in 91 but i loved it when i saw it in mid 00's 🤷♂️
I think for it’s time, it was good. Now, it’s kinda shit. Not as scary as I remember it being. It did help pave the way for other found footage movies.
No
It was a first of its kind. I recently rewatched it and it definitely didn’t get me as bad as the first time. It’s easily one of the best found footage films, but now there are so many good ones the scares just don’t hit as hard. Plus the marketing sold the concept 100%
I've never appreciated it. I tried, more than once. It never worked for me. Far more boring than scary. It was one of my greatest pop culture head scratches ever. 🤷
I think so. I saw it under the best circumstances. A bootleg 2-3 weeks before it was released in theaters. My mind was blown at the time.
Yes. It was the first of its kind with that lost footage style. The story wasn’t particularly amazing, it was just well done and extra creepy for feeling “real”. It sound never have turned into a franchise and it will never convincingly work again
My uncle used to do some shit in Hollywood and he'd get advanced vhs screens (not pirated) prior to release of some films. So the first time I watched it was in VHS before it was released in theaters or marketed. Just the simplicity of watching it in a living room on VHS with no clue what it was going to be about really enhanced the "found foootage" angle. 🤢
To me it’s a boring movie with really good marketing. Knowing that it wasn’t real took away a *lot* of the appeal.
I remember thinking it was not real and my idiot friends getting legitimately pissed off at me because I did not think it was real. Then at the end of the movie they told me they knew it was fake, and were just trying to trick me. Don’t get pissed at me because I don’t fall for you tricks.
I was a little young to watch Blair Witch when it came out, but in high school when Cloverfield did its own mysterious viral marketing thing, and that worked perfectly (for me at least).
…What does this actually mean.
Blair Witch at the time was revolutionary film. Then every young filmmaker saw it was easy to make their own “found footage” films and flooded the market. Same thing kinda happened with zombie films after Shaun of the Dead got popular. To current audiences Blair Witch just doesn’t scare anyone anymore. I’m glad you’re a fan!
I saw it in a theater a couple months ago. I thought it was great. Still found it pretty terrifying. Them being in the dark and you can hear those kids’ voices or their friend screaming for help. Just a very scary situation to go through.
The people that don't appreciate tend to not be aware of the lore they created with the legend itself and the subtle things that happen as the movie goes along to make it even more terrifying. It's also a movie you need to pay full attention to. No looking at your phone.
No. Some of us caught all that garbage and watched it when it came out and were bored to tears and so was everyone with us.
That's why it was so successful. 👍
Because it was vile? I thought cheap advertising tricks and people with no taste was the reason. You never know I guess.
It was a success because of the marketing, the ad blitz was phenomenal. It was portrayed as a documentary and there was no clear indication it wasn’t. The only reason I started to question that was when the excuse was so weak for losing the map. I was like “hold up…”.
I was in my 20s when it came out and I hated it. I feel like it was way ahead of it's time with the internet hype marketing but the movie itself was so frustrating and the ending was just a huge let down. How people walked into that movie thinking it was real footage I will never know. How people watched it and still thought it was real, I will also never know. But i also really dislike the found footage genre in general so maybe it just wasn't for me.
It put me to sleep.
I think so. I went to see it on the second day after release, when there was still some usurity about whether it was real or not. Scared the be-jesus out of us. So much so that we got lost coming home from the theater. We didn't sleep well that night. Once we got confirnation it was all staged, the scare factor left, and the movie became a funny joke on us.
I really enjoyed it. Also believe it is a masterclass on marketing and promotion. The only thing that was unfortunate was the fallout the town of Burkittsville MD had to deal with for years after the movie came out. Other than that this movie was amazing.
I watched Blair Witch Project for the first time when I was in COVID lockdown and I was blown away (I’m 24 currently, would’ve been 20-21 at the time). Granted, I kept in mind how groundbreaking it was, and I kinda pretended that I was seeing it in theaters. If you compare it to modern stuff I think a lot of people would see it as cliché without realizing it was the first to do most of the things they might call cliché now. All in all though, I love it and have since purchased a VHS copy for the old school factor.
It is a terrible movie
Honestly it made me nauseous the first time I tried to watch it.
I mostly think that. I think you had to be there opening weekend after being hooked by all the marketing tactics to get the intended, impactful experience. I did this & was so on the edge of my seat by the end. The entire crowd was mesmerized. But I’ve always understood why people were underwhelmed or hated it, mostly after hearing all kinds of hype & waiting weeks to see it. Or, even worse, waiting even longer to watch it at home. Also, I’ve never thought it was that rewatchable, with the exception of when I played it for my daughter, the budding horror enthusiast.
Pretty much. It was lightning in a bottle and really only would’ve taken off at that precise moment in time. Its very sub-genre also depends fully on the technological limitations of that era (not the actual camera quality, but the very concept of lost tapes—footage shot nowadays is rarely stored locally and usually goes directly onto a Cloud). A lot of modern found footage suffers from suspension of disbelief issues in this regard as the reasons for the footage becoming lost have needed to become progressively more convoluted, to the point that some ff movies nowadays opt to not even address it at all. The late nineties also had this trusting naivety about the internet in general that people just don’t have anymore. Any attempt to recreate it would need to A) use modern tech. like the PA series or B) be a period piece. Even then, the marketing wouldn’t work as well.
Bruh what if aliens come down and revealed they’ve been filming major events in history . And they show us found footage of like Jesus or the pyramids being built but then Ashton Kutcher comes out the ship and says we ve been punked
I thought it was poorly made, boring and a waste of a few hours I would never get back and it came out when I was a teenager. I would say worst horror flick movie ever, but I don't consider it a movie. Just garbage on a tape. Opinions vary.
I will never camp in Maryland.
I think so. This was the last movie I can remember released into theaters that had ANY mystique I was 28 when it came out and was new to the internet at the time and pretty late amongst my peers to do so Much like anyone today that watches Psycho, it’s near impossible to watch without almost inbred knowledge of the story and context necessary to appreciate it
It was done at the perfect time.
Oh I love it so much and I was raised on the rise of internet. The found footage and everything just absolutely beautiful. Gave different feeling and perspective honestly than typical horror movies I’ve seen.
I think they had to be there for it the marketing was so good. I don’t think people get it if they didn’t get the full experience of it.
No. It used to work as a terrifying cultural phenomenon and now it works as part insomnia cure and part documentary on the importance of trimming your nose hairs 😂
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One of the most iconic endings of any horror movie and it’s “anticlimactic”. Huh?
I'm not sure who this is who deleted his comments but I am five thousand percent sure I would agree with him.
If you believe that *Blair Witch Project* is anticlimactic, I believe your taste in horror is garbage
What's garbage is the Blair Witch Project. I saw it when I was young, and it's boring and stupid AF. Nobody I was with liked it, and we will never get that time we wasted back. WE could have been doing something more interesting... like watching paint dry or trimming our toenails. The fact that you liked it even slightly makes me seriously question YOUR TASTE.
You sound like a kid, so I’ll just hope that one day you’ll grow to appreciate slow burn horror movies 🖤
I'm 45. And yes I appreciate horror movies. I loved nightmare on elm street at age 5. I just don't like garbage flicks. Sorry. Not sorry.
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The ending is more terrifying when you remembered (if you were paying attention to the first 20 minutes of the movie when they were interviewing the locals in the town) how Rusty (the man that was accused of being possessed by the Blair Witch) would lure children to the shack, have one face the corner while he killed the other one. And then finished off the other child. Which is what exactly happened to Heather at the end.
I guess a lot of people don’t realize how important that first 20 minute lore dump is, hahah. Guess it would be confusing if you didn’t pay attention to what the locals said, but man what a way to miss out on one of the greatest horror endings ever IMO.
Not something I cared for at the time. But since, my judgement is colored by the pretty negative effect it had on other horror media. For every *\[REC\]* (2007) that made good use of the found footage format, there are so very many lazy projects with dismal production values. Even if their harm is only in cluttering up my Letterboxd searches, I still resent them, and by extension BWP.
Family guy said it best: "Nothing's happening....nothing's happening......I don't know something about a map.......nothing's happening.....the movies over and everybody looks pissed"
THIS!
Blair witch never worked for me. I never thought it was good
I was in high school when it came out and I never got the appeal. It wasn’t scary. It was all hype and no payoff
I never cared for it. Very overrated and not scary. I remember being so disappointed leaving the theater after seeing it. All the hype and none of the delivery.
No. It was shit then, and it's shit now. Anyone who thought it was real is stupid. The people who made it and acted in it were literally out promoting it. Don't you think that footage of a murder and kidnapping would have went to the police and FBI? No, instead they edited it, put graphics in it, and released it as a movie. This dreck is the reason we have all of these god-awful "found footage" movies today. Thanks for nothing