The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American psychological horror film, written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. What makes this entire film unique is that it was pieced together from amateur video footage as it relates the story of three student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) who disappeared while hiking in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994. Their aim was to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch.

The viewers are led to believe the three were never seen of, or heard from again, although their home video recorder and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) was discovered a year later. It is this presumed “recovered footage” that is presented in the film for the viewer to witness. (This media, ironically, was very inexpensive, offered realism that was believable, and set precedence for other movies that have now used the same medium (home video equipment) to film, including the every popular, “Paranormal Activity.”  

(Editor’s note: The phenomenon of this film is amazing, but not in a good way, as yet the entire staff of The Dimension Zone dismissed the original film of Paranormal Activity as pure unadulterated tripe…with each subsequent film sharing the same title even more so…totally diluting the truth to the term of ‘paranormal activity’ that have degraded and undermined the paranormal research as a serious science; to which many researchers have devoted their lifetimes to document and study, in an effort to discover the truth. As these films have filled the heads of the viewing audiences with countless misnomer’s or all-out fabrications regarding true nature and origin of the term ‘paranormal activity’ and the  phenomenon in general.)

A studio production film based on the theme of The Blair Witch Project was later released on October 27, 2000 entitled “The Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.” With still another sequel planned for the following year, but never materialized. On September 2, 2009, it was announced that co-directors Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick were pitching the third film, who later released a trilogy of video games based on the film that were released in 2000.

Development

The Blair Witch Project was developed in 1994[5] by the filmmakers. The script began with a 68-page outline, with the dialogue to be improvised. Accordingly, the directors advertised in Back Stage magazine for actors with strong improvisational abilities.[6] There was a very informal improvisational audition process to narrow the pool of 2,000 actors. In developing the mythology behind the movie, the filmmakers used many inspirations. Several character names are near-anagrams; Elly Kedward (The Blair Witch) is Edward Kelley, a 16th century mystic. Rustin Parr, the fictional 1940s child-murderer, began as an anagram for Rasputin. In talks with investors, they presented an eight-minute documentary along with newspapers and news footage. This documentary, originally called The Blair Witch Project: The Story of Black Hills Disappearances was produced by Haxan Films.

Filming

Filming began in October 1998 and lasted eight days. Most of the movie was filmed in tiny Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County, Maryland, although a few scenes were filmed in the real town of Burkittsville. Some of the townspeople interviewed in the film were not actors, and some were planted actors, unknown to the main cast. Donahue had never operated a camera before, and spent two days in a “crash course”. Donahue said she modeled her character after a director she once worked with, citing the character’s assuredness when everything went as planned, and confusion during crisis.

During filming, the actors were given clues as to their next location through messages given in milk crates found with Global Positioning Satellite systems. They were given individual instructions that they would use to create an improvised action for the day. Teeth were obtained from a Maryland dentist for use as human remains in the film. Influenced by producer Gregg Hale’s memories of his military training, in which “enemy soldiers” would hunt a trainee through wild terrain for three days, the directors moved the characters far during the day, harassing them by night and depriving them of food.

Almost 19 hours of usable footage was recorded which had to be edited down to 90 minutes. The editing in post production took more than eight months. Originally it was hoped that the movie would make it on to cable television, and the filmmakers did not anticipate wide release. The initial investment by the three University of Central Florida filmmakers was about US$35,000. Artisan acquired the film for US$1.1 million but spent US$25 million to market it. The actors signed a “small” agreement to receive some of the profits from the film’s release.

Motion Sickness

Because the filming was done by an inexperienced operator using hand-held shots, much of the footage is shaky, especially the final sequence in which the camera operator is running down a set of stairs with the camera. Some audience members experienced motion sickness and even vomiting as a result

The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American psychological horror film, written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. What makes this entire film unique is that it was pieced together from amateur video footage as it relates the story of three student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) who disappeared while hiking in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994. Their goal, to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch.

The viewers are led to believe the three were never seen of, or heard from again, although their video and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) was discovered a year later. It is this presumed “recovered footage” that is presented in the film for the viewer to witness.

A studio production film based on the theme of The Blair Witch Project was later released on October 27, 2000 entitled “The Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.” With still another sequel planned for the following year, but never materialized. On September 2, 2009, it was announced that co-directors Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick were pitching the third film, who later released a trilogy of video games based on the film that were released in 2000.

Budget

A list of production budget figures have circulated over the years, appearing as low as $20,000. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sánchez revealed that when principal photography first wrapped, approximately $20,000 to $25,000 had been spent. Other figures list a final budget ranging between $500,000 and $750,000.

Reaction to the Film

The film, oddly enough, received critical acclaim, with even Rotten Tomatoes providing links to 133 reviews for the film, 85% of which being favorable. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film four out of four stars, calling it “an extraordinarily effective horror film.” It was listed on Filmcritic.com as the 50th best movie ending of all time. Critics praised Donahue’s apology to the camera near the end of the movie, saying it would cause “nightmares for years to come;” Roger Ebert compared this sequence to Robert Scott’s final journal entries as he froze to death in the Antarctic. Donahue has stated that there was a considerable backlash against her because of her association with the film, which she claims led to her having threatening encounters and difficulty obtaining employment.

The Blair Witch Project is thought to be the first widely released film marketed primarily on the internet. The film’s official website featured fake police reports and ‘newsreel-style’ interviews. Due to this, audiences and critics initially thought it was an actual documentary about the ‘missing’ teenagers. These augmented the film’s convincing found footage style to spark heated debates across the internet over whether the film was a real-life documentary or a work of fiction. A sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, was released in the autumn of 2000, but was poorly received by most critics. A third installment announced that same year did not materialize.

The Blair Witch Project was given a Global Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay and won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. Conversely, the film was nominated for the 1999 Razzie Award for Worst Picture, along with Heather Donahue winning for Worst Actress. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named The Blair Witch Project was surprisingly one of “the 100 best films from 1983 to 2008,” ranking it at #99. In 2006, Chicago Film Critics Association listed it as one of the “Top 100 Scariest Movies.” ranking it #12.

Film information provided by Wikipedia.

 

The REAL Story Behind the Legend of the Blair Witch

In the winter of 1785, Elly Kedward was banished from the town of Blair after several local children accuse her of performing witchcraft. She was presumed dead from exposure, but the next year, all of her accusers have vanished. The residents of Blair fear she’s cursed the area and abandon the town, vowing never to utter the name “Elly Kedward” again. 

In 1825, a year after the town was rediscovered and founded as Burkittsville, the villagers held the first annual Wheat Harvest Picnic. During the picnic, ten-year-old Eileen Treacle wandered off towards Tappy East Creek and drowned. Eleven eye-witnesses claimed to have seen a ghostly white hand reach up and pull her into the shallow water. Her body was never found, and for thirteen days afterward, the creek became contaminated with oily bundles of sticks, rendering the water useless. 

Townspeople noted the possible supernatural characteristics of the Treacle disappearance and were quick to blame the death on the Blair Witch.
In 1886, eight-year-old Robin Weaver allegedly followed a woman whose feet didn’t touch the ground into a house the woods. She took Robin into a house, where the woman locked her in basement and said she’d return later. Distressed, Robin escaped through a small window. A search party was dispatched, but while Robin later returned, the search party didn’t. A second search party found the group disemboweled at Coffin Rock. When they returned to the site with help, the bodies had vanished without a trace. 

In late 1940, a hermit named Rustin Parr began abducting children from Burkittsville. He kidnapped eight children total and brutally murdered seven of them, letting Kyle Brody go. Parr confessed to the crimes in May of 1941, claiming he was doing what an old lady ghost told him. Parr was convicted and hanged later that year.