The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American found footage psychological folk horror film written, directed, and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. One of the most successful independent films of all time, it is a "found footage" pseudo-documentary in which three young students (Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard) hike into the Appalachian Mountains near Burkittsville, Maryland, to shoot a documentary about a local myth known as the Blair Witch. The film purports to be footage found in their discarded cameras a year after they had gone missing.

Myrick and Sánchez conceived of a fictional legend of the Blair Witch in 1993. They developed a 35-page screenplay with the dialogue to be improvised. A casting call advertisement on Backstage magazine was prepared by the directors; Donahue, Williams, and Leonard were cast. The film entered production in October 1997, with the principal photography lasting eight days. Most of the filming was done on the Greenway Trail along Seneca Creek in Montgomery County, Maryland. About 20 hours of footage was shot, which was edited down to 82 minutes. Shot on an original budget of $35,000–$60,000, the film had a final cost of $200,000–$750,000 after post-production and marketing.

When The Blair Witch Project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at midnight on January 23, 1999, its promotional marketing campaign listed the actors as either "missing" or "deceased". Due to its successful Sundance run, Artisan Entertainment bought the film's distribution rights for $1.1 million. The film had a limited release on July 14 of the same year, before expanding to a wider release starting on July 30. While the film received critical acclaim, audience reception was polarized.

The Blair Witch Project was a sleeper hit that grossed nearly $250 million worldwide. It is consistently listed as one of the scariest movies of all time, and was ranked the best found footage movie of all time by editors from both IndieWire and Entertainment Weekly. Despite the success, the three main actors had reportedly lived in poverty. In 2000, they sued Artisan Entertainment claiming unfair compensation, eventually reaching a $300,000 settlement. The Blair Witch Project launched a media franchise, which includes two sequels (Book of Shadows and Blair Witch), novels, comic books, and video games. It revived the found-footage technique and influenced similarly successful horror films such as Paranormal Activity (2007), REC (2007) and Cloverfield (2008).

Plot

In October 1994, film students Heather, Mike, and Josh set out to produce a documentary about the mythical Blair Witch. They travel to Burkittsville, Maryland, and interview residents about the myth. Locals tell them of Rustin Parr, a hermit who lived deep in the forest and abducted seven children in 1941; he murdered them all in his basement, killing them in pairs while having one stand in a corner, facing the wall. The students explore the forest in north Burkittsville to research the myth. They meet two fishermen, one of whom warns them that the forest is cursed. He tells them of a young child named Robin Weaver, who went missing in 1888; when she returned three days later, she talked about an old woman whose feet never touched the ground. The students hike to Coffin Rock, where five men were found ritualistically slaughtered in the 19th century; their corpses later disappeared.

They camp for the night and, the next day, find an old graveyard with seven small cairns, one of which Josh accidentally knocks over. That night, they hear the sound of sticks snapping. The following day, they try to hike back to the car but cannot find it before dark and make camp. They again hear sticks snapping. In the morning, they find three cairns built beside their tent. Heather learns her map is missing; Mike reveals he kicked it into a creek out of frustration, which provokes a fight between the trio as they realize they are lost. They head south, using Heather's compass, and discover stick figures hanging from trees. They again hear mysterious sounds that night, including children laughing. After an unknown force shakes the tent, they run outside and hide in the forest until dawn.

Upon returning to their tent, they find their possessions have been rifled, and Josh's equipment is covered with slime. They come across the same river they crossed earlier and realize they have been walking in circles. Josh vanishes the next morning, and Heather and Mike fail to find him. That night, they hear Josh's agonized cries but are unable to locate him; they theorize that his yells are a fabrication by the Blair Witch to draw them out of their camp.

Heather discovers a bundle of twigs tied with fabric from Josh's shirt the next day. Upon opening the bundle, she finds a blood-soaked scrap of his shirt containing bloodied teeth and hair. Although distraught, she does not tell Mike. That night, she records herself tearfully apologizing to her, Mike's, and Josh's mothers, taking responsibility for their predicament. She admits that something evil is haunting them and will ultimately take them.

Later, they hear Josh's voice again calling for help. They follow his voice to the abandoned ruins of a house, featuring children's bloody handprints on some of the walls. Trying to find Josh, they rush to the attic but do not find him. Mike rushes downstairs, leaving Heather behind. As he enters the basement, an unseen force strikes Mike; he drops his camera and falls silent. A hysterical Heather enters the basement, to see Mike standing in a corner facing the wall, unresponsive to her screaming his name. The unseen force strikes Heather, causing her to drop her camera and fall silent as well; the camera then cuts to black.

Cast

• Heather Donahue as a fictionalized version of Herself
• Joshua Leonard as a fictionalized version of Himself
• Michael C. Williams as a fictionalized version of Himself
• Bob Griffin as Short Fisherman
• Jim King as Burkittsville Resident Interviewee
• Sandra Sánchez as Waitress (as Sandra Sanchez)
• Ed Swanson as Fisherman with Glasses
• Patricia DeCou as Mary Brown
• Mark Mason as Man in Yellow Hat
• Susie Gooch as Interviewee with Child (as Jackie Hallex)

Production

Development

Development of The Blair Witch Project began in 1993. While film students at the University of Central Florida, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez were inspired to make the film after realizing that they found documentaries on paranormal phenomena scarier than traditional horror films. The two decided to create a film that combined the styles of both. In order to produce the project, they, along with Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie and Michael Monello, started Haxan Films. The namesake for the production company is Benjamin Christensen's 1922 silent documentary horror film Häxan (English: Witchcraft Through the Ages).

Myrick and Sánchez developed a 35-page screenplay for their fictional film, intending dialogue to be improvised. The directors placed a casting call advertisement in Backstage in June 1996, asking for actors with strong improvisational abilities. The informal improvisational audition process narrowed the pool of 2,000 actors.

According to Heather Donahue, auditions for the film were held at Musical Theater Works in New York City. The advertisement said a "completely improvised feature film" would be shot in a "wooded location". Donahue said that during the audition, Myrick and Sánchez posed her the question: "You've served seven years of a nine-year sentence. Why should we let you out on parole?" to which she had to respond. Joshua Leonard said he was cast due to his knowledge of how to run a camera, as no omniscient camera was used to film the scenes.

Pre-production began on October 5, 1997, and Michael Monello became a co-producer. In developing the mythology behind the film, the creators used many inspirations. For instance, several character names are near-anagrams: Elly Kedward (The Blair Witch) is Edward Kelley, a 16th-century mystic, and Rustin Parr, the fictional 1940s child-murderer, began as an anagram for Rasputin. The Blair Witch is said to be, according to legend, the ghost of Elly Kedward, a woman banished from the Blair Township (latter-day Burkittsville) for witchcraft in 1785.

The directors incorporated that part of the legend, along with allusions to the Salem witch trials and Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible, to play on the themes of injustice done to those who were classified as witches.

The directors also cited influences such as the television series In Search of..., and horror documentary films Chariots of the Gods and The Legend of Boggy Creek. Other influences included commercially successful horror films such as The Shining, Alien, The Omen, and Jaws—the latter film being their major influence, as the film hides the witch from the viewer for its entirety, increasing the suspense of the unknown.

In talks with investors, the directors presented an eight-minute documentary, along with newspapers and news footage. The documentary was aired on the television series Split Screen hosted by John Pierson on August 6, 1998.