Love it or hate it, to deny that THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT made a monumental impact on horror films, indie films, and pop culture as a whole in the ’90s and beyond, would just be someone blowing a big fat bag of hot air into a bullshit fantasy cloud of delusion; and I think that’s me being rather gentle on the subject. Up until that fateful Summer of 1999, the “found footage” genre specter of the horror films sector was rather slim, only boasting a handful of films. One of the most famous ones being, of course, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980) and the sleeper video store hit THE McPHERSON TAPE (1989). Technically, if you want to count in PEEPING TOM (1960), which has some elements of found footage, then you could call it the first in its class. So while Blair Witch wasn’t the first to break the mold, they were the first to be wildly successful with it, and that brought along a string of found footage horror films to follow in an attempt to replicate the insane amount of fascination and ultimately, studio success, that Haxan Films gave the world in the Summer of 1999. Movies like REC, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, and CLOVERFIELD all have their place at the table. But the throne belongs to Elly Kedward- The Blair Witch, and this is her story.
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was the brainchild of writers and directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez and followed three filmmaking students Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard into the Black Hills of Burkittsville, Maryland, to make a documentary about the local legend of the Blair Witch. However, that local “legend” turned out to be all too real for them, and what ensued throughout the movie was nothing but pure anxiety and terror as we watched these college students slowly slip into a bottomless pit of pure fear. You could FEEL their emotions, and let’s face it: Heather’s “snotty” performance is memorable as hell. Even if you’ve never watched the film, (what the hell is wrong with you) when you see this picture, you know exactly what it’s from.
However, it was the hype leading up to this movie that really got us all to go see it. Before social media, word of mouth was the way to get the word out and a whisper campaign began of this secret website that had more information about this curious “documentary-style film” that was coming in the Summer of 1999. These innovators concocted a site dedicated to the lore of the Blair Witch and the missing students along with what we know as now, faux news footage, interviews, and a timeline of events leading up to their disappearance along with the discovery of their footage. Full stop, I spent hours on this thing going over details before AND after seeing the movie. For those curious, yes the website is still active thanks to the Internet archive!
The website packed us with information about the mysterious vanishings of these college kids along with an entire backstory on the haunting events of the area over the last hundred years. With the core of the legend is the story of Elly Kedward, a Blair resident accused of witchcraft in 1785 and sentenced to death in the woods by exposure to harsh conditions. The following year, all those who accused her and half the town’s children vanished without a trace, making way for the curse and the legend of the Blair Witch, with the townspeople leaving Blair and vowing to never mention Kedward’s name again.
The town was rediscovered in 1824 and renamed Burkittsville, and the following year, a ten-year-old girl named Eileen Treacle drowned in the shallow water of Tappy East Creek, with eleven eyewitnesses claiming that a ghostly white hand reached out of the water and pulled her in. Eileen’s body was never recovered.
In 1886, Eight-year-old Robin Weaver is reported missing, and the townspeople gather in a search for her. Although Weaver returns, one of the search parties does not. The young girl babbled about seeing “an old woman whose feet never touched the ground.” The men from the search party were found weeks later at Coffin Rock, tied together at the arms and legs and completely disemboweled.
Between November 1940 and May 1941 were the last of the haunting events for the next 50 years in Burketsville when during that time, seven children were abducted from the township and were found in the cellar of one, Rustin Parr. Parr, an old hermit, confessed to luring the kids into a cellar of an old house in the woods on the orders of an “old woman ghost”, and disemboweling them. He was then hung for the murders.
I just love all the goddamn dedication and little details that have been made throughout the years to keep this legend going.
Made with a budget of only $60,000, the film premiered at Sundance in 1999. Just hours after the midnight screening, the two young directors sold the film to Artisan Entertainment for $1.1 million. However, the “project” itself was actually years in the making. Sanchez and Myrick first came up for the concept as film students in 1991, and it wasn’t until 1996 that they had the means to actually begin realizing their vision. A call was sent out to find actors who not only fit the roles but could also be quick to improvise, as most of the dialogue was to be that way.
After almost a year of casting calls and auditions, the three were finally chosen and filming began in late October 1997; with the actors manning the cameras themselves for believable effect. The shoot took eight days and was a 24/7 operation. Using a GPS, the actors were directed to locations marked with flags or milk crates, where they’d leave their footage and pick up food and directing notes. According to an interview Myrick did with The Guardian about the notes:
“These would say things like: “Heather, you’re absolutely sure that to get out of this mess you go south. Don’t take no for an answer.” Or: “Josh, somewhere along the way today, you’ve had it with this bullshit.” They had the freedom to decide how to play it: we only intervened if we felt they needed to tone things down. Then there were the “gags” we’d pull at night that they had to react to – like hearing the children’s voices, or feeling the tent being shaken.“
To be frank, that tent scene with the kids’ voices in the background is, to this day, one of the most downright creepiest things in any horror movie. BRAVO because I almost peed my pants here upon my first time viewing it in a dark theater.
Myself and seven other close friends went opening weekend to a little hole-in-the-wall movie theater. I was seventeen at the time and what we witnessed was something otherwordly- especially my buddy Corey who couldn’t handle the camera shakes and ended up puking in his popcorn bucket. When we left the theater, we talked about the movie for at least two days. Did what we see really happen? Also, listen: It was 1999. The World Wide Web was barely six years old. Google wasn’t even a year old yet. You couldn’t just go online and discern anything about this movie or the actors with a ten-minute search. We were pretty sure we hadn’t just watched a snuff film, but information moved a lot slower and the studio was fantastic at keeping the actors hidden and unknown. If you saw it in the first week or so, there was no way to be absolutely sure. It was the first we’d seen of its kind and was a total mindfuck.
It wasn’t until the three actors appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards a few months later that I realized we were actually conned because these bastards showed up as presenters. I felt so damn betrayed, and angry, yet so enthralled that a movie had gone to such lengths to blur the lines between real and diction for horror fans. Not since CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, or after this, has a film shown that much dedication to the art of mystery.
I mean, unless you’re presenting an award to the Backstreet Boys, am I right? Looking back, if my angsty teenage self paid more attention to things like Access Hollywood and Jay Leno rather than Headbanger’s Ball, I probably would have known sooner.
Me, feeling sheepish.
For me, what makes The Blair Witch exceptional is the improvised acting. Because there was no script really, the conversations were natural and real. The actors themselves seemed like “normal, everyday people.” The character tropes of the douchebag, the slut, and the girl next door were never there. They all had their charms, their quirks, and their flaws with no apologies. Well, except for Mikey kicking that damn map in the river; that was kind of a douchebag move. Because of the internet and social media, nothing will probably happen like the Blair Witch Project ever again. They had almost everyone fooled it was real. On top of that, they made a fantastic horror film with a few people and a $700 camera.
So here’s to 25 years of one of the greatest horror flicks to come out of the 90s, and an impactful film you’ll never soon forget. And if you do, go stare at a brick wall in a basement until you remember.
