The Blair Witch Project poster & wallpaper

Bob Griffin, Bob Griffith, Heather Donahue

Three film students set out into the Black Hills Forest to make a documentary on the legendary Blair Witch. Armed with a 16mm camera, a Hi8 video camera, and a DAT recorder, every step, word and sound...( read more  read more... ) is captured. After wandering around the Black Hills Forest, Heather, Josh, and Mike are cold, lost and hunted. Finally, one night after the last ray of light had left the forest black, they were never to be seen again. Despite thousands of hours searching the Black Hills area, neither of the filmmakers or any trace of their gear was found, and the search was called off. One year later, a bag full of film cans, DAT tapes, and video tapes were found. The behind the scenes, video footage and the film, are cut together to make a fictional movie which seems more than real.

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47% liked it

367,860 ratings

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85% liked it

127 critics

R, 1 hr. 27 min.

Directed by: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez

Release Date: July 30, 1999

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DVD Release Date: October 26, 1999

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Heather Donahue Joshua Leonard The Stick Figures Heather with Camera Heather Donahue The Blair Witch Project Logo Michal Williams Blair Witch Project The Blair Witch Project The Blair Witch Project The Blair Witch Project
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Flixster Reviews (20,278)

  • mrpopcorn
    November 11, 2009
    mrpopcorn
    "I'm afraid to close my eyes, I'm afraid to open them."

    In October of 1994, three student film makers disappeared in the woods near Burkittesville, Maryland. One year later, their footage was found.

    REVIEW
    ...( read more)nt>
    Highly disturbing shoe-string flick that has three college film students going out in the woods of nearby Burkittesville, Maryland to find an entity only known as the Blair Witch. The three individuals do not take the mumbo-jumbo seriously at first, but as they film their journey the tension builds to a fevered pitch. Strange occurrences and loud nights cause the three to slowly go crazy and their safety becomes a major concern as the clock ticks. Could the myth really be a reality? "The Blair Witch Project" is one of those films that was copied by hacks in the subsequent years that followed, some of them good but a good majority failed. This will all cause many to forget how creative and truly original this film is. The documentary style and the clever advertising campaign led many to believe that this was in fact reality. The craze was on par with that of "The Exorcist" for a short time in 1999. Followed by an interesting but somewhat disappointing sequel, "The Blair Witch Project" makes a real case for best horror film of the 1990s and one of the finest productions ever for the usually trivial genre.
  • SirPant
    September 23, 2009
    SirPant
    It didn't scare me, it?s not a horror it?s a thriller and the ending was a total rip off of Man Bites Dog and the story is a rip off of that other film (Name escapes me, is it the project?). It annoys me how much money these guys made because it?s not a good film, isn?t original ...( read more)and is totally overrated! Just have a look at what Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick have done since!
  • Showrogan
    January 29, 2009
    Showrogan
    It had me caught, but I was bummed when I found out it wasn't real...
  • irisheyes686
    December 28, 2008
    irisheyes686
    So boring! I kept waiting for it to get interesting, and it never did. It made me sick too - the camera movement was too much.
  • PvtCaboose91
    November 20, 2008
    PvtCaboose91
    "I am so scared! I don't know what's out there. We are going to die out here! I am so scared!"


    Major movie studios frequently pour tens of millions of dollars into high-tech horror extravaganzas, and they die at the box office within a matter of days. A few independe

    ...( read more)nt filmmakers venture out into the woods with hand-held cameras and an extraordinarily low-budget to back them up, and they score a much-hyped, highly-acclaimed box office bonanza!
    The Blair Witch Project originated as a deceptively simple, ultra low-budget independent feature. Slowly, this small-time film developed into one of the most chilling, creepy films of its time. It took unsuspecting audiences entirely by surprise, and scared other movie studios whose gigantically budgeted films were running in fear from the tiny movie.

    The Blair Witch Project is distinguished for various reasons. First of all, it is incredibly eerie, atmospheric, and unpredictably exasperating. Secondly, compared to most other horror films of the time, it is innovative and clever. Blair Witch did spawn its own sub-genre as a result. These guys wrote the rulebook for the "found footage" genre, and filmmakers have adhered to it ever since (Cloverfield, anyone?). Thirdly, it was made on a shoestring budget and returned a mint in box office profits. Fourth, it used the internet to fabulous promotional effect. Fifth, after all these years it has become more of a phenomenon than a conventional viewing experience. And lastly, it instils a sense of "less is more", leaving a lot more to the imagination than most other fright flicks.

    By now all and sundry should be aware of the movie's gimmick. "In October of 1994," reads the prologue, "three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary... A year later their footage was found." The "documentary" being filmed by the students was a college project about a local legendary figure known as the Blair Witch. Allegedly, the three youthful filmmakers died under mysterious circumstances in the woods while trying to complete the documentary, and their bodies never turned up.

    Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard (retaining their real names for heightened realism) take a video camera and a 16mm film camera as they hike through the Black Hills Forest in search of evidence in relation to the existence of the Blair Witch who has supposedly haunted the forest since the 18th century and is credited for scores of heinous murders. They interview local townspeople before embarking on a hike into the forest. They are soon inexplicably lost and morale rapidly deteriorates. The filmmakers are tired, hungry, angry, and hopelessly lost. As tension mounts they realise they're also being haunted and probably stalked by some unknown presence...and there is no way out.

    "I'm afraid to close my eyes, I'm afraid to open them."



    Heather captures virtually everything with her video camera with the intention of assembling a behind-the-scenes look at how her documentary was made. Heather's camera is on practically all the time - to the point that her companions continually tell her to turn off the camera. As the unseen evil hunts them, they realise they're not filming a legend but a descent into unimaginable terror.

    Naturally, every word of Blair Witch is fiction... The movie is a complete forgery, but it was made and promoted so cunningly that countless people worldwide thought it was real. Prior to the film's theatrical release, a site for The Blair Witch Project was launched. As of the film's tenth anniversary, this website is still online. It offers insight into the (completely false) myth of the Blair Witch. Although the film is 100% fiction, naïve movie-goers witnessed screenings at their local cinema believing everything to be true.

    "It's not the same on film is it? I mean, you know it's real, but it's like looking through the lens gives you some sort of protection from what's on the other side."



    Blair Witch is a film where ignorance is bliss - or, to be more accurate in this case, utter terror. Ostensibly the final testament of a film crew who disappeared off the face of the planet, the movie bears a resemblance to an authentic documentary which makes This Is Spinal Tap seem like a David Lean epic.
    Ahead of its theatrical release, the film fooled many American college students who were shown the film - the ruse in this case was abetted by a surplus of apparently legitimate "Missing" posters seeking information concerning the whereabouts of the apparently lost youngsters. Such screenings helped spawn the positive word-of-mouth that directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez knew would be unquestionably vital if their little film was to be a success. Its air of mystery was definitely the film's strongest selling point - featuring little in the way of stars, special effects or even competent cinematography. The directors could hardly claim much of a notable cinematic track record either. But the pair shared an adoration of 70s horror flicks and decided to pool their meagre income for a feature that would endeavour to evoke the visceral terror they felt upon initially viewing William Friedkin's The Exorcist.

    "Because this is America! We've exhausted all of our natural resources!"



    Co-director Sanchez recalls the experience: "We were after complete realism. We knew that if we did it with a crew it wouldn't work. From the beginning we wanted to do Blair Witch as an improvised film. We were basically going to leave the actors for certain amounts of time on their own, tell them what was happening and let them shoot it for a couple of hours at a time. Then we'd come back, review the footage and go on to the next scene." But it was the input of Gregg Hale - a onetime Special Forces sergeant - that ensured the film a place on the horror hall of fame. He reportedly said: "When I was in Special Forces training they put us through this POW camp scenario. And after about two or three days of being in that camp surrounded by these guys hitting you, and yelling at you in Russian, and not letting you sleep, and hosing you down with water, you start to believe that it's really happening. You know, we could do this to the actors!" Myrick and Sanchez were delighted at the idea.

    So it was that a trio of unknown actors found themselves pretending to compose a film concerning the fictitious ancient woods-dwelling witch while being truly petrified as the film crew deposited ominous-looking stick men in their path or played tapes of children crying in the middle of the night. "We were the Blair Witch," Myrick reminiscences. "We had to get up at three in the morning and run around their tent. We had to hike through the woods to drop off directing notes. Then we'd review Heather's video tapes at the end of the day to see how it was reading on camera."

    "Flames are licking you like the devil there, Josh."



    The element that makes The Blair Witch Project unusually gripping is the atypical presentation. Every scene is a point-of-view shot, shown exactly as one might expect from someone carrying around a video camera. The transitions are unexpected and often jarring - what we'd expect if the camera was turned off at one point, then turned back on later. The most chilling sequences transpire at night when the darkness foils the video. There are instances when the screen is entirely black and all we hear is the audio - the panicked voices of the protagonists in the foreground with strange, macabre noises in the background. At other times the action depicted is chaotic, often because the person doing the filming would be running or unsure what to capture. These segments rely on the imagination of a viewer to fill in the gaps. What our minds conjure up is always more horrifying than anything the filmmakers can put on screen. Also, this seemingly haphazard and unprofessional technique gives the audience a "you are there" feeling that draws them into the experience. Everything that transpires is hence more shocking and immediate than it would seem in a conventional format.

    The trio of actors are uniformly excellent. For amplified realism, the filmmakers had to genuinely scare the actors...and they did. There are a few traces of artifice, though, usually when characters are having a conversation on-camera. But due to the improvisational style of acting, it's easy to get engaged in the problems of these characters. When Heather offers a tearful apology towards the end, it's utterly heartbreaking.

    There are things to nitpick, though. For starters it's preposterous that the camera is on for so long. Once one is in danger, why bother filming anymore? I doubt anyone would keep filming under these circumstances. However the key fault is the occasional lack of realism. For example, the trio all have mentioned loved ones who would be aware of their expedition. Any parent whose offspring doesn't show up merely hours after they are due home would call the police and launch a search. The filmmakers endue for days...without a search party in sight. Surely the police would have also been informed of the proposed camping trip as well, and would've launched a search when they didn't return home. There's also the flaw of character stupidity. One character reportedly gets rid the map because it's "useless" - not good enough! And they're surrounded by tall trees, why not climb up to the top and see where you are? Why not find higher ground in order to spot a way out? The film also seems undercut at a bit under 80 minutes. In the faux interviews on the official site they mention about 20 hours of recovered footage, so it's obvious we're missing out on a lot of stuff. But the most lethal setback is simple: once you realise it isn't real the film is not scary at all. It isn't competent enough to truly convince a viewer it is real. Overuse of profanity and the aforementioned character stupidity occasionally kill the illusion. However it is pretty chilling with the grating screams of Heather or the eerie sounds coming from pitch black.

    It's fairly riveting, though it depends on how you view it. If one watches it in a dark room at night with no interruptions and you're paying 100% attention it may work better. If it's light and you're not paying much attention, you'll hate it.

    "You gonna write us a happy ending, Heather?"



    The Blair Witch Project is notoriously inventive - both in its creation and marketing - but it's a victim of its own hype. Once you discover it isn't real you'll no longer find it scary. Yet it's an innovative, non-traditional horror movie that ushered in a new genre (titles like Diary of the Dead, Cloverfield and [Rec] drew inspiration from this film). The ending is very creepy and irritatingly ambiguous, especially if you want to believe the film's universe and faux mythology available on the official website. The Blair Witch Project has lost much of its original impact. Be that as it may, the combination of cinema verité and fake documentary filming occasionally generates some hair-raising horror scenes.


    "OK, here's your motivation. You're lost, you're angry in the woods, and no one is here to help you. There's a witch and she keeps leaving shit outside your door. There's no one here to help you! She left little trinkets, you took one of them, she ran after us. There's no one here to help you! We walked for 15 hours today, we ended up in the same place! There's no one here to help you, THAT'S your motivation! THAT'S YOUR MOTIVATION!"
  • ilovemiguel12
    November 20, 2009
    ilovemiguel12
    BEST HORROR MOVIE EVER!!!!!
  • xPadacklesx
    November 20, 2009
    xPadacklesx
    A classic but very slow at the beginning. When it picked up it was good but some things were not clear such as the ending and what was in the wrapped up piece of clothing.
  • Ladiva4
    November 19, 2009
    Ladiva4
    I was the only one laughing in the theater and I got flack for it, but it was still exciting. I thought it was real, like most suckers
  • ythelastman89
    November 18, 2009
    ythelastman89
    It's really well done for what it is, even though it's an accidental rip-off of Cannibal Holocaust. The acting was kinda corny, not to say that it wasn't realistic for moronic film students who wanted to film a documentary about a witch. The main reason it works is because of tha...( read more)t fear of the unknown, but when you don't deliver at all it tends to get annoying.
  • CocoCoopah
    November 17, 2009
    CocoCoopah
    waste of my time watching this.

View All The Blair Witch Project Reviews

Critic Reviews

September 24, 2007
David Edelstein, Slate

I could tell you the story -- give away every detail -- and The Blair Witch Project would still freeze your blood. full review

April 25, 2003
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

What can anyone say about The Blair Witch Project that hasn't been trumpeted from a thousand Web sites already? full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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 scarie... full review

View more The Blair Witch Project reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • blizzpirate
    February 19, 2009
    blizzpirate
    firstly i wish people would just cut the bullshyt saying oh its a scary movie.. you just got to put yourself in there shoes and all this.
    i need to see something ok?!?! it doesnt have to be gore or anything no!

    this is a terrible movie my ma told me it was scary and my sister did too...
    i give it a 2 1/2 even though its pretty danm bad... the
    acting is not that great, how is this scary when you know that it didnt really happen? , and even when they said it did its a scam and i think that should now be classified as illegal! , this was just amateur video it could of been made my a couple of 10 yr olds. what was the budget of this $10k???

    and to the person who said its the scariest movie ever made .. can't believe that casper the friendly is even scarier then this.
  • jenthebest2
    January 25, 2009
    jenthebest2
    this is a good film but i was VERY dissapointed with the end, i was waiting for something reallyy good and scary but it just finished without really explaining anything
  • HorrorMaster
    June 7, 2008
    HorrorMaster
    The scariest movie ever made. I'm one of it's biggest fans. Never really understood what happened to Josh though...
  • GREENBOY94
    April 2, 2008
    GREENBOY94
    i wonder if they found the bodies of these campers
  • samkovalyak
    November 26, 2007
    samkovalyak
    Oh my god!!!! this is the scariest i mean SCARIEST movie EVER!!!! ha ha. def. one of my favorites!!. what really creeps me out the most though is that they like taped it themselfs and that this whole thing actually happened!!!. ha ha its true. watch the specil features!!!
  • Waldheri
    August 22, 2007
    Waldheri
    I guess it's either the scariest movie you've ever seen or the stupidest cult hit you've ever made the mistake of watching. For me it was the former. If you want real horror, don't make the mistake of watching it with friends. Lock yourself in a dark room and dare watch it. It will thoroughly freak you out.
  • tene79
    August 1, 2007
    tene79
    I must say I liked this one. It was one of those films where you needed to believe what you was seeing was real and not a film. I kept asking myself what was going to happen when the sun goes down and I was frozen in my chair at the end.

    Just want to add that my wife knew nothing of this film and before watching it I told her it was all real... she bought it and at the end she was crying in my arms. Bless ;D
  • treylx
    June 27, 2007
    treylx
    THE WORST MOVIE EVER MADE. I'VE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD IN MY LIFE.
  • braxton1992
    June 21, 2007
    braxton1992
    I just got done watching the movie like an hour ago since my friend hates it and gave it to me. When I get back to my moms house I am going to shoot it with a BB Gun, lol.
  • MovieDude1221
    June 21, 2007
    MovieDude1221
    Less is way more! But the lame Internet parodies suck
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The Blair Witch Project Trivia

  • In what state did the three hikers get lost in The Blair Witch Project?  Answer »
  • In the Blair Witch project, During the night, When they hear children about, What do the children and the blair witch then do?  Answer »
  • What horror film caused some theatres to suggest that patrons prone to motion sickness sit in the aisle seats?   Answer »
  • *****Heather, Joshua and Michael were the Three Main Characters in which 1999 Film*****  Answer »
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