The Blair Witch Project isn't about the Blair Witch. Paranormal Activity is about paranormal activity. Something like The Devil Inside is about the Devil inside. There are legitimate theories that like Mike and Josh were psychos who signed up for the film to fuck with Heather for a few days and then kill her. You could take every mention of the Blair Witch out of the film entirely and it would still work. The scary parts are how they play on our most primal fears. The Blair Witch isn't the scary part of this movie. Sure, stuff is suggested, but there's honestly nothing we know for a fact was supernatural. There is nothing overtly supernatural in the movie. Which gets to the larger point of why The Blair Witch Project still holds up over twenty years later compared to other found footage films. Trying to put someone in a suit or prosthetics to be able to show that that on film would look kind of ridiculous, but the mental image of a nude woman covered in horse hair standing in the woods and staring at you is legitimately disturbing. Like that scene at the beginning where the woman was telling them the story about how she encountered the Blair Witch and she was "covered in black horse hair". I think most people would've lost interest seeing a massive stick figure running around. It worked out better to not see it though, most horror movies are undone by the reveal of the "monster" because it often looks stupid or generic. This was probably why they had the actors hear loud thuds and branches being broken etc but it was never used, so again it was just left ambiguous as to what the noises were. I think they also drew up concepts for a massive version of the stick figures that was chasing them through the woods. Unfortunately, she didn't get it on camera so it was just left unseen rather than trying to refilm it with staged reactions. This was going to happen during the scene where Heather runs from the tent screaming "what the fuck is that?" because it was genuine reaction to something she wasn't told about. The idea being that you would see it off in the distance. I remember reading something about the crew setting up a big bright light on a hill and dressed up someone in a costume to stand in front of it. I believe you were supposed to get a glimpse of the witch in one scene. What do you think about The Blair Witch Project? The Blair Witch Project is the gold standard of found footage movies, and it’s so cool! I really love the story of the movie, and I think that the actors did a good job of acting like three people lost in the woods with no hope of survival. Looking back now it seems silly, but to be around in the early stages of the internet and the word of mouth promotion of this movie, it was a crazy experience! I remember my friends and I not knowing if this was real or not, and it was hard to get information about the movie at the time. Back in 1999 before YouTube was started and in the VERY early stages of Google, the hype about this film felt real. The hype surrounding this movie was strange and cool. I think the only found footage movie that is as good as The Blair Witch Project is the first Paranormal Activity. There have been so many found footage movies over the years, but there are only a select few that come close to being as good as The Blair Witch Project. I have to say that this movie is still amazing and holds up well today. I was on a movie binge last night and decided to watch The Blair Witch Project again.
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