The Blair Witch Project (1999)

In this article, we will be looking at 2019’s book “1001 Movies to See Before You Die” and going through each film in a random order that I have chosen. We will be looking at what constitutes this film to be on the list and whether I think this film deserves to be here at all. I want to make perfectly clear that I won’t be revealing details from this book such as analyses by film reporters who have written about the film in question, so if you want the book itself you’ll have to buy it. But I will be covering the book’s suggestions on which films should be your top priority. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that everyone reading this article has probably watched many of these movies anyway. But we are just here to have a bit of fun. We’re going to not just look at whether it should be on this list but we’re also going to look at why the film has such a legacy at all. Remember, this is the 2019 version of the book and so, films like “Joker” will not be featured in this book and any film that came out in 2020 (and if we get there, in 2021). So strap in and if you have your own suggestions then don’t hesitate to email me using the address in my bio. Let’s get on with it then.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) dir. by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

One of the most game-changing events in all of horror cinema history was when the found footage film "The Blair Witch Project" came out. Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on the 23rd of January, 1999 and then released at the Angelika Film Centre in New York City on July the 14th of that year, "The Blair Witch Project" and its trailer really say it all about what you get when you watch a found-footage movie.

With a budget of about half a million dollars, it went on to make almost two hundred and fifty million dollars as a result.

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a generally favourable consensus with the review from the critics reading:

"Full of creepy campfire scares, mock-doc The Blair Witch Project keeps audiences in the dark about its titular villain, proving once more that imagination can be as scary as anything onscreen."

Roger Ebert weighed in on the film for the Chicago-Sun Times and stated of its production quality that:

"At a time when digital techniques can show us almost anything, The Blair Witch Project is a reminder that what really scares us is the stuff we can't see. The noise in the dark is almost always scarier than what makes the noise in the dark."

"The Blair Witch Project" may have not gotten universal acclaim straight away but it definitely did leave a legacy of an entire sub-genre in its wake. Found footage films are almost everywhere in horror now with some of the most popular being that of the "Paranormal Activity" series, the "Cloverfield" films, "V/H/S", "REC" and even "The Last Exorcism" series.

To be perfectly honest with you, "The Blair Witch Project" was not even the first movie to use found footage technique, it was just the most watchable. The first film to use the technique was actually "Cannibal Holocaust", which as you can imagine was actively avoided by many people because of its quirky power of inducing vomit.

I personally love this film. “The Blair Witch Project” is one of my favourite movies to watch on a dark, rainy day or when I’m baking at home by myself. It’s just one of those films that you can have on whilst you’re doing something and be simultaneously interested in both things. I think that the more you watch this movie though, the more you get the feeling that it is actually less about a ghost chasing a group of students and more about another metaphor that has been heavily commented on. The American dislike and often fear of difference has been sighted as one of the many extended metaphors of this film and, though I do not know the complete odds and ends of it, give the film a watch and try to see for yourself. What do you think it is all about?