THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: My All Time Favorite Horror Film

Happy Halloween!
Is there anything better on Halloween than a good horror movie? My hubby and I decided to watch the 1999 horror film The Blair Witch Project. I know not everyone will agree, but this is the scariest movie I watched. This controversial "documentary-type" film was presented in an extra mile production----- from the Blair Witch website, to the "make-believe" documentary film prior to the movie, to the movie theatrical release itself. This movie made the viewers think that everything on it were real. No ghosts or anything scary can be seen, it will be up to the viewers to think and imagine, which makes everything more "apparitional". Scary doesn’t have to come with special effects and expensive costumes, and The Blair Witch Project shocked the world with it’s Dramamine necessary camerawork, and realism used to emphasize a common fear, being lost in the woods. Budget of the film is $25000, but went on to gross over US$248 million worldwide, making it the most successful independent horror film of all time.



The faux raw footage-movie was done with the whole package, and in an experimental way. First, they have set up a website that was launched in 1998 which presented mockumentary of "what happened" to the 3 missing film students during the making of their thesis project. The website generated thousands of hits. A good marketing strategy (and no one ever thought this was just an advertisement), the Web became the central medium or the primary text for the film's narrative and its reception.
Second, they created a documentary film prior to the major theatrical release, that served as promotional prelude. Lastly, they made the actors agreed that they should not be seen in public until such time after the movie release.



During the filming, the actors were given instructions but no script at all. Dialogues are to be improvised and their only way of communication to the crew was thru GPS. The directors moved the characters far during the day, harassing them by night and depriving them of food. They even planted unannounced actors along the way, to show genuine fear of the actors while filming.

Nothing ever scared the absolute fuck out of me, until this one, which led me sleepless for days.
And it made me sick (and mad) when I saw Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams attended the 2000 MTV Movie Awards! I felt so fooled and cheated!

But I can't deny the fact that this is one of my all time favorite horror movie, along with SAW, Psycho and The Mist.