12 Ways The Blair Witch Project Has Affected Pop Culture1

By Rebecca Leib, Sep 29, 2010 in Forests Of Mystery, Pop Culture, Show News

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12 Ways The Blair Witch Project Has Affected Pop Culture

The Blair Witch Project, directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, changed the landscape of the horror genre forever. Released in 1999, the film propagated the myth that three young filmmakers had been lost in the woods while following the “Blair Witch” legend. The only evidence left behind was a collection of videotapes, mysteriously recovered. The film used shaky camerawork, unknown actors and an elaborate marketing scheme to pose as the truth, making it all the more shocking and horrific. The Blair Witch Project, with its innovative marketing technique and storytelling style, proved an inspiration to many filmmakers that followed and has become a classic within the genre – not to mention a financial success story.

KoldCast TV’s own mystery thriller, Forests of Mystery, uses the Blair Witch technique as it follows undergraduate forest research students Dewey Lansing and Jeff Collins as they try to piece together the strange and unusual anomalies that have been happening near the Cascade Forest Research Center, located inside the deep woods of the Oregon Coast Range. For all the ways the film has left an imprint on us, here are 12 ways the Blair Witch project has affected pop culture.

Forests of Mystery, Episode 1

1. Bootstrap Filmmaking

The Blair Witch Project grossed $248,639,099 worldwide. The film’s final budget ranged between $500,000 and $750,000. The Blair Witch Project’s success showed people – especially young Hollywood filmmakers – that they could make a low budget film a hit on a massive scale. This, combined with expanded distribution outlets, has made filmmaking accessible and profitable. Paranormal Activity, anyone?

2. Apology Nightmares

In one of the film’s quintessential scenes, Donahue apologizes to the camera after her two colleagues are taken by the forest. In this act of unforgettable terror, the viewer is brought to new levels of fear, based on something that doesn’t initially seem that scary. This humanity and vulnerability is something that many horror films try to tap into, and is antithetical to classic horror filmmaking.

3. Good and Bad

The Blair Witch Project was given a Global Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay and won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. It was also nominated for a Razzie award for worst picture. The multiple interpretations of the film make it both a crowd pleaser but arguably something that seems like a gimmick. The success of the film opened the door to different – and perhaps riskier – styles of filmmaking. You never know!

4. DIY Shakeycam

While the shaky camerawork makes you dizzy, it also added to the film’s sense of authenticity, something that was not often seen in multiplexes around the country. This DIY aesthetic (which might be in part to Donahue’s unfamiliarity with the camera, which she manned herself) was something novel and caused a DIY sensation.

5. A Marketing Frenzy

The marketing of The Blair Witch Project fed off the myth that the film was, in fact, true. The non-disclosure of the ads contributed to the gossip and controversy surrounding its release. This style has been used in many ad campaigns since and has contributed to how films are marketed today.

6. The Power of Improv

The three principal actors were given no more than a 35-page outline of the mythology behind the plot before shooting began. All lines were improvised and nearly all the events in the film were unknown to the three actors beforehand – and were often on-camera surprises to them all. The power of improvisation after The Blair Witch Project proved improvisation a viable art form, and can be seen in films and television that are both dramatic and comedic.

7. The F Factor

The Blair Witch Project uses the word “F*ck” over 150 times making the word a bit more acceptable especially in horror films.

8. Hunt Not

The 1999-2000 hunting season suffered badly due to this film. The movie was so popular that fans all over the country were hiking into the wilderness to shoot their own Blair Witch-style documentaries or just hang out there. As a result, the wildlife was scarce.

9. The Supernatural Became Hot Again

Sure, supernatural horror movies and the intrigue surrounding the supernatural have always been present, but this film reignited the fear in ghosts and the undead. Twilight and Ghost Hunters should say thank you.

10. IMDBe Fooled!

Before the film was released, the three main actors were listed as “missing, presumed dead” on the IMDb. That IMDb, a respected website, could be altered was yet another example of the internet being malleable, inaccurate and untrustworthy… but a hell of a marketing tool.

11. An Unseen Enemy

Unlike traditional horror films that feature a tangible villain, the villian in Blair Witch was wholly unseen. This suspenseful decision, which paid homage to suspense thrillers of the past a la The Twilight Zone, however, took it to new heights.

12. Going Viral

Although the film is over 10 years old, it used forums, emails and websites in a way that modern films like Paranormal Activity have been able to recreate. For using the Internet so expertly in its adolescent phase, you have to tip your hat to the filmmakers as well as recognize how the medium can make or break you. Even in a pre-YouTube time they still achieved “virality.”

Forests of Mystery, Episode 2

Forests of Mystery, Episode 3

There’s something strange going on in the deep woods.

Watch more episodes of Forests of Mystery

Rebecca Leib received her BFA in Fine Art and MFA in writing and hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is a Los Angeles based comedian and writer. Her work can be seen in the pages of many print and online publications, including Beautiful/Decay, Artillery Magazine, Blackbook, Tvgasm, Metrowize and Dailyfill. She has performed at the Second City Studio Theatre, UCB-LA, IOWest and the improv, and can often be seen brooding at sidewalk cafes.