It may be hard to imagine but there was a time when making a horror movie with only hand held or low resolution cameras was an unheard of idea. Today, we see a lot of these "found footage" horror movies that have the story told through the video lenses of one of the movies characters. Movies like the Paranormal Activity franchise, The Gallows and As Above So Below have used this method. And I know that now every time a trailer for one of these movies pops up, there are bound to be groans and comments like "really, another one of these?" a bound. So why o why does Hollywood studios greenlight these kind of movies. Well for one, they are incredibly easy to make and require a small budget so even if the movie fails the company doesn't loose money. Another reason is that Hollywood someday hopes to recapture the magic that was The Blair Witch Project.
The 1999 horror movie about three teens getting lost in the woods while researching the legend of a witch whose spirt haunts the woods blew audiences away with its found footage style. Keep in mind, around this time this was ground breaking cinema. Audiences had never seen something like this before. Now they could see what the characters were going through and even feel like they were part of the movie. But look at today with all the found footage horror movies we have today and you might find nothing special about this technique.
For something being billed as "ahead of its time" it seems very dated today. But I will argue that The Blair Witch Project is one of the better found footage horror movies. For stars, it had a damn good marketing project, so good it got people debating on whether the "footage" was real or not. Keep in mind this was when the web was in its early stages and people actually trusted most information. Crew members would go to film festivals to add fuel to the realism side by handing out fliers and asking viewers to come forward if they had any information about the "missing" kids. Staged interviews and fake police reports were even made about the disappearance of these made up characters and the public ate it up. Because the movie had no major stars it had to put its hardest effort in to get the word out about this movie. It had a bold marketing campaign and it was a bold movie, even by today's standards.
It never relies on the typical jump scares found in the Paranormal Activity series but more on the mood and environment. The legend of the witch early on is built up as this legend everyone in the town takes seriously as many people have gone missing or worse, found dead, from going into the supposed cursed woods. Already the viewer knows the outcome but its that little nudge given by the townsfolk treatment of the legend that gets the viewer.
And these woods are pretty damn creepy. This movie capitalizes on those who fear getting lost in the woods. In fact, its kind of like a messed up version of Hansel and Grettle. Think about it: kids go in woods even though they are warned of the danger in the woods, kids encounter danger and nearly die. The nearly part is not in the movie as (SPOILER ALERT) the fate of the three teens is not revealed though its a good chance they are dead. And the funniest thing about the movie is that even with how much they build up this witch, we NEVER see it. That, in my opinion at least, works for the film as it keeps the audience guessing if the witch is real or if something else is going on. It gives that extra fear of the unknown audiences want.
By the end of 1999, this was one of the biggest hits of that year. For a movie made with a $60,000 budget it made nearly $250 million dollars. The equivalent of a home movie was raking in millions by the day. Naturally, the big suits at Hollywood had an idea that would create a major trend in horror movie and movie making in general. They could make a movie for dirt cheap, release it and watch the cash flow in. But if recent found footage movie profits show, that idea failed due to movies in that genre following a formula: People go to weird/haunted place, someone in the group is filming the whole thing for reasons, weird stuff goes down, people die and the movie ends with something jumping at the camera. After a while audiences got fed up with this trend and moved on to something new.
Which brings us to 2016 where a sequel to the popular movie is set to be released in September. It follows the same story from the first movie as a group of teens go into the woods of the Blair Witch, but this time the group is in search of answers to what happened to one of their friends sister. Glimpsing the synopsis you feel the trends coming back and the dread or meh feeling about the movie. But then you see this movie is directed by Adam Wingard. Go ask any fan of horror movies who Adam Wingard is and best guess is they'll say he's one of the best horror movie directors of the modern era with hit movies like The Guest and You're Next under his belt. The guy knows how to make a good horror movie no doubt, but whether he can have the success of The Blair Witch Project has yet to been seen.
Fame was not kind to those involved with the project as most of the cast has gone on to lack luster film success at best. One would think being in one of the highest grossing movies of the year would get you on the map. But no, the movies' stars and directors (yes this movie had TWO directors) all fell off the map with one failed project after another. Seemed like there was a real curse on anyone involved with the project but hopefully the follow up will give its cast some good fortune going forward.
