Here’s the thing about this movie. It had viral marketing before viral marketing was a thing. It played at film festivals and marketed as being REAL. Remember this was in early days of internet where information wasn’t as readily available as it was now. So it had this crazy word of mouth that you were going to be seeing actual documentary footage. So the hype was huge and it was made for practically nothing and it made hundreds of millions of dollars. So it really is a “you had to be there” movie. It loses a lot without all that context. It also started the “found footage horror” trend which it gets credit/blame for, so like it or hate it it is kind of an important movie.

@mcassidy1976

Жыл бұрын

@@hendrikscheepers4144 I was in the Army when it came out, and grew up two counties over from where this is, I had people coming up to me freaking out asking me, "Is this S#*@ real?" Im like hell no it is not real, trust me, if weird stuff like this was going on, people would be in those woods non-stop trying to "find the witch" and i definitely would have heard about it. Freaky stuff like that would spread fast, like the haunted prison in WV, no one died or went missing there and everybody knows about it lol

@MostlyCloudy

Жыл бұрын

Saw it in an old theater that played independents, really added to the spooky vibe.

@andrewjones575

Жыл бұрын

This film looks like a student project. I'm baffled at its popularity.

@Warlock_UK

Жыл бұрын

The importance of found-footage style movies goes to the many films that did it better first - Cannibal Holocaust for one.

@TwinStripe

Жыл бұрын

@@andrewjones575 It's meant to look like a student project. 'Baffled' is probably your natural state...

I got lost in the woods as a child and this movie took me right back to that day and it scared the hell out of me. The hell.

When Mike tossed the map, pretty much everyone in our theater started actively rooting for the witch.

@hibhibb5429

4 ай бұрын

This made me lmao. What a great statement!!!

When this dropped, the whole fake websites dropped and the internet was in it's infancy so we thought this was absolutely real. Not to mention that this was one of the first found footage films so we never seen anything like this before. I couldn't sleep for a couple weeks after seeing this.

@williamroper5422

Жыл бұрын

I saw this in theaters when it first came out and I never bought into it being real. My reaction was basically the same as her at the time and I never watched it again.

Having watched this movie later in life than most did, I find it more sad than scary. Despite having "bad personalities," it was depressing to watch them lose their minds and all hope just trying to get out of the forest alive.

In 1999, the is-it-real-or-is-it-not was such a big part of it’s success. I’m pretty sure nothing had come out like it before, and we had no way of checking! Today, I don’t find it scary at all, we know it’s fake, we know they’re actors. At 15, I was SEVERELY creeped out, but it was the ‘unknown’ factor that really did that. You have to give them kudos for a fantastic marketing strategy. They spent 60k on this movie and it earned $250 MILLION. Bravo to that alone 👏🏻 Others may disagree but even if you hated it, I feel it’s kind of a right of passage to watch movies that were a cultural phenomenon at the time. I think it helps have a greater understanding of the progression of film making. But you made me yawn now.

@charlie.h.4

Жыл бұрын

You hit the main issue with this movie right on the head. It's hard to watch this movie in 2022 and being the same headspace as 1999. I remember leaving the theater very creeped out, that was because we were all led to believe this was real.

@IH8YH

Жыл бұрын

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST from 1980 (like @Justin Denney-Hall mentioned) was kind of the first doing the "found footage is it real?" approach, and yes director Ruggerio Deodato (Joe D'Amato) had to prove in Court that the footage wasnt real, ESPECIALLY as he had paid the actors in the footage to vanish for almost a year before the movie came out. so no one had seen them or knew where they were, except the director and maybe a very few from the production. he had to get them to appear in court in order to win the case. These days the real shocker of Cannibal Holocaust is the fact that for a) shock value and b) to pretend the rest was real too, they killed a couple animals for the movie and filmed it all, the footage is still in today. when Blair Witch came out in 1999, the filmmakers had a website on the then very young and not very widespread available INTERNET that was all about the "real" Blair Witch and all that hooza. so when you heard about the movie and checked the website, it all looked real. all in all today we all know of course its all fake before hand and then nothing really happens in the movie so its kinda pretty shitty. best example of "didnt age well"

@andrewjones575

Жыл бұрын

I never thought it was real & was baffled at the time that many people did.

@andrewjones575

Жыл бұрын

@@charlie.h.4 What made it believable to many people?

@mcvpn

Жыл бұрын

i was about 12, when it first came out and i was genuinely scared on my way home from the cinema...it doesn't work now obviously, as you said...

The thing about this film is, it's not your typical horror. It's more of the psychological horror. Not knowing what's behind a tree, what could be in that cave etc.. a constant sense of "what the hell is following me" type thing. It's scary in it's own way. Because, you never actually SEE the "witch". You just hear a bunch of crazy things, so you start to question your own sanity at that point, blurring the lines between what's real, and what isn't.

@IceCenders

2 ай бұрын

I agree, it's psychological horror at its finest, but people mostly want and expect screaming warty witches or big slimy monsters when watching it. This movie is about the fear of the unknown, and feelings of helplessness felt vicariously. When I watched it a couple years ago, I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I love that there's no stupid final jumpscare or crappy reveal (like in the 2016 mediocre sequel). I loved the experience of being scared, I loved the amazing acting and the claustrophobia/agoraphobia of the setting. Ashleigh was basically joking throughout, clearly showing emotional distance, and that's fine, you can't control an emotional reaction to a movie (for the most part), but it means she didn't "feel" as much vicariously, and so it's logical that it was a big letdown for her, and many other people who just expect to see something tangible, and didn't enjoy or value the experience of unrelenting tension throughout the movie like I and others did.

I met a girl from Norway one time at camp. We were the last ones to leave an evening event by one of the lakes, so it was dark and the trail wasn't exactly clearly marked. She made a couple comments about it being like the Blair Witch Project. So, yeah, kids knew about this movie in *Norway.*

The part you missed is the story of Rustin Parr who legend said kidnapped children of the town because the Blair Witch forced him. He would make one of the kids stand in the corner while he killed the other.

@donkey3187

Жыл бұрын

um...no,....that wouldnt have made it scarier or better in the slightest way. LOL

@crealkillr

Жыл бұрын

Yea they mentioned it in the movie. She might have missed that part. Nothing in the movie made it seem like that was happening though. The whole time you was expecting a witch, not the murdered children. Except for the part where children were laughing and touching the tent, nothing makes it seem like Rustin Parr was the threat.

@grife3000

Жыл бұрын

I think you're right, she must have missed that bit. It does the creepy abandoned house that you go in as a kid vibe perfectly. Instead of CGI monsters scaring you with 100 dB music trills, it just oozes with the "oooo, I've been scared like this in real life". When Josh was standing there forced to stare at the wall without having any control of his body, it's a great scare. Sadly the film just doesn't work overall because it's too boring for too long, and Heather was an awful character played by a mediocre actress. Plus you get motion sickness, making you hate it even more.

@controlZchannel

Жыл бұрын

Yeah... adding that detail doesn't redeem the film.

@porflepopnecker4376

Жыл бұрын

@@donkey3187 Of course it would. :)

"I scared myself, farting in my sleep more than this movie" I think that just topped my favorite line from you over the forest gump reaction. talking about jenny living her best life and getting stuff that ajax won't wash off

16:22 If I'm not mistaken that's the scene with the story... the production crew actually sent someone into the forest in a costume without the actors knowing and then they missed to record it, but the woman who played Heather saw it and started genuinely screaming. If it's not a hoax then that's really her original reaction.

@ReD_Masaru

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, they wanted someone in long john underwear to run around them, that's her real reaction. It also didn't look good on her camera, so they left it out

I think the scariest thing about this movie was when it came out in 1999 people thought it was real. Heather's mom received sympathy cards, people searched the woods near Burkettsville for remains, and people pretty much lost their damn minds.

@kanukki84

4 ай бұрын

People are stupid if they thought this was real, I saw this the year it came out and I was something like 15 years old and I understood that it wasn't a documentary, it was a movie. I know they went so far that the actors stayed hidden.

Ash I love that you don't pretend to like every movie you watch like a lot of movie reactors do. It adds authenticity.

@njt2347

Жыл бұрын

Yep. That's a feature not a bug!

@ll7868

Жыл бұрын

Reactors that a t like every movie is the greatest thing they ever saw have got to be fakes. Not only that but I highly doubt that thousands upon thousands of reactors have all never seen the same movies, the most watched movies in cinema, Back to the Future, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, and they all watch the same movies in almost the same order, like they have zero independent thought, just letting the same Patrons control every channel.

@DrTim0thyLeary

Жыл бұрын

I dunno, man. I have a hard time respecting the "If I don't like it, it sucks" perspective this chick seems to have. Granted, I've only seen a couple of her reactions, so maybe she's not always like that.

@treyjohnson4035

Жыл бұрын

@@njt2347 watch out for telegram...it's a scam

@njt2347

Жыл бұрын

@@treyjohnson4035 Thanks. I figured as much. Plus I'm old. I when I hear "telegram" I'm thinking I need to brush up on my Morse Code before responding.

The Blair Witch Project is a tough case study in cinema. I remember working at a movie theater in 1999 and witnessing this movie sell out, full capacity, 10+ showings a day. I would go and stand in the back of the auditorium and listen to people scream and shriek and call out audibly. It was definitely effective. However, I think it benefited from being the first of its kind; being this “found footage” documentary style horror film that blurred the line between reality and fiction. Since then, so many copy cats and wannabes have come along and made the whole concept a joke. A prime example of “you had to be there to get it”. But even die hard fans would concede that it doesn’t stand the test of time or hold up to repeat viewings. There’s absolutely no reason to watch this movie more than once. I think I voted for it on the Patreon poll because I feel like all movie buffs need to experience it to some degree. But outside of that, it’s just a quirky thing that happened in the 90’s. Like Beanie Babies or the Macarena. *shrug*

@kevinramsey417

Жыл бұрын

You can call The Blair Witch Project many things but do not call it original. There's a movie called The Last Broadcast that came out a year earlier about a film crew that goes into the forest looking for the Jersey Devil. Blair Witch heavily rips that movie off.

@Peejay1966

Жыл бұрын

How about 1980 movie Cannibal Holocaust?

@hellsunicorn

Жыл бұрын

@@Peejay1966 Yep, this right here. Found Footage films go back at least to this film, which was released nearly 20 years before The Blair Witch Project, and I’ve heard about there being other movies in this style dating back further. The Blair Witch Project was the first successful example of viral marketing, and it was a cultural phenomenon, but it definitely was not an original film in any stylistic sense, it revived and popularized an obscure sub-genre of horror, it didn’t invent one.

@sexysadie2901

Жыл бұрын

@Acererak That's not true, Cannibal Holocaust is a well known movie everywhere, and a huge success in the 80s thanks to VHS.

@synaesthesia2010

Жыл бұрын

it wasn't the first 'found footage' film, it was the first to be hugely successful. Cannibal Holocaust beat it to be the first by 19 years

I rewatch this movie occasionally just to hear Mike say he kicked the map in the creek. I dunno why but it cracks me up everytime

About Blaire Witch: I saw it in a theater where we were pretty much quiet the whole time and sitting still and absorbing everything they throw at you. It’s pretty intense when there are no commentaries or thoughts being said out loud, so it’s a different tone. Then when the end happened, it was strange. It ends abruptly and we were like “okay…I guess.” Now, that thing with Mike standing in the corner reminded me of a nightmare I once had, the confusion and then horror. It was spooky but I was like “whatever.” Then we went to see the Sixth Sense right after (with Bruce Willis). I mention this because even though we though the end of Blaire Witch was just kinda there, it’s all I could think about during the Sixth Sense was that twisted ending! And then the fear of not knowing what is in the woods and who is there. It ruined the Sixth Sense for me. I got home that night and every time I looked out the window, I wondered “is somebody out there?” The next day I was washing the dishes at night and there was an open window in front of me and I looked into the dark and got creeped out and thought “sunuvabich! That movie planted a creep on me about the black out doors!” And I think that is why Blaire Witch scared a bunch of people. Now, someone as adorable as you making a commentary every few seconds takes away from the intensity the movie has, as opposed to you just watching it in a theater all quiet and being a prisoner to it. So that is why the movie was scary. Plus it was 1999. So many camera point of view movies have come out since. Anyway, thank you for your videos. You rock!

The Ad campaign for this film leading up to it’s initial release, was done in a way to make people believe that this was genuinely a true story. And that this was real “Found Footage” of these people who really died in the process of filming it. This movie was absolutely terrifying for those of us who saw it at the Theater on it’s opening weekend, right up to the final shot. And as soon as the credits started, the completely sold out theater did the loudest collective “Wait,….WTF?!?!!?” When we all realized that we, as you often say, had “got Got”.

People are very hard to please with horror movies. That's why even the greatest horror movies often have low ratings. I honestly things it comes down to different people like different "brands" of horror. It's impossible to make one that will please all of them. I've never met a horror movie where I didn't meet people on both sides of that fence lol edt: btw, though other people had done "found footage" style films before this, this is the one that shot it's popularity through the roof and a lot of mainstream horror films started to use it :)

I love this movie more each time I watch it. One of my favorite fall movies.

I saw it when it opened at the Anjelika Theater in New York City. In the lobby you had to wind thru in line and it was all the old diaries and "evidence" and drawings and stick figures on display. The websites and internet presence were all totally mysterious at that time so I gotta say, this movie was terrifying. I had to walk through the Village in NY to get home, not a sparse area, and yet I was completely freaked out. Once it all go exposed it was much less scary.

Keep in mind: a LOT of people thought this movie was real. The authenticity was what drew people into the movie in the first place. And the fact that all three actors had to improvise their lines just adds into it. Nowadays, yeah, we only see this as "just a movie", but knowing the impact it had on the horror genre couldn't be understated. The movie had a $60,000 budget, and made over $240 million at the box office. It won a Razzie for "Worst Actress" for Heather Donahue (which I don't think is fair, because she was fantastic. As an actor, it's really hard to cry on cue (at least for me)). Your reaction is very understandable.

Oh my gosh, I watched this in the theater with my mom. When we left it was dark outside and I could not stop looking behind me because I felt like someone was watching me. First time I ever felt like that after a movie. I agree with the people saying you had be be there for this one. They even had all the actors staying out of site before the movie aired to make it as real as possible.

I was literally going to say: "If you are lost just follow the river" but Ashleigh had it covered.

@HauntFreak13

Жыл бұрын

Wouldn’t have done them any good. The witch manipulated the forest to have them walking in circles. Heather even says they walked south all day and still ended up in the same spot.

It would be hard to recapture the feeling of this movie now versus when it came out. I saw this in the movie theater with my boyfriend at the time and it was actually pretty creepy. I imagine it's like when people watched The Exorcist for the first time back in the day. I don't find that movie to be scary but when it came out that movie Scared people silly

This is the movie that made me want to get my degree in film. When I first watched it, I thought it was boring and not worth anything because it was in the middle of the success of Paranormal Activity when I watched it. After learning about the way the movie was made, which was literally just tossing the actors in the woods with some cameras and some plot points, I became really intrigued. Everything was improvised. This movie is the only one that genuinely scares me because I just put myself in their shoes and the comment about how they don’t know if what is following them is something supernatural, human or anything just makes me uneasy. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it. It’s definitely a groundbreaking film for the genre for the time and its ability to convince people that it was real since it was the beginning of the internet.

@iniuppa

Жыл бұрын

This movie deserves so much credit for achieving what it did with so little.

@TDoughter23

Жыл бұрын

The movie is definitely a 1/10, but the mythos around the movie is definitely 10/10. If I remember right, at the locations where there were going to be staying overnight they would find a milk jug, cut so that it could hold three envelopes and protect them from the weather. Each envelope contained their specific instructions for the next day. Things like "lose the map" or "sneak off in the middle of the night".

@IvannaBeSpanked

Жыл бұрын

they fucked with those actors so much while they were out in the woods

@pamelapetrosino4437

4 ай бұрын

I completely agree with everything you said. I loved this film when I first saw it in the theater, and I found it legitimately terrifying. I bought the video tape afterwards, and watched it multiple times. Yes, I was obsessed with it. This, along with The Exorcist, remain as my favorite horror films. It is truly a psychological horror. The fact that you don’t actually see the witch, allows your imagination to go wild. The night scenes were horrifying! Mike in the corner, gets me every time. I really don’t care if most others trash this film. I will stand on my ground. I will, however, not watch this alone anymore.

I saw this at the theater. It wasn't the scariest movie I had ever seen, but I enjoyed it. I was creeped out by the ending. The guy standing in the corner and then her going to the floor. The "incomplete ending" is also part of the creepiness, because it mirrors real life in that some people die without any witnesses around and your left with how meaningless existence seems to be. I've never watched it since, but I'm sure it wouldn't be the same experience.

@sharonolveradesign3403

Жыл бұрын

Very existential.

@cameronrobinson3933

Жыл бұрын

Same here LOL. I watched the movie, and I enjoyed it for what it was when it came out, and I've never watched it again. I totally understand somebody not like in the movie especially now

@fynnthefox9078

Жыл бұрын

I wish more people would appreciate ambiguity. Nowadays, people just want to know everything about everything. I think it's better when it's ambiguous, otherwise the real answer may be disappointing.

I remember my mom watching this when it came out on VHS while getting me ready in the morning for elementary school lol. Then me and some neighborhood friends watched all of it while my parents were out one day and as a kid this literally traumatized me for a good couple months. We had a lot of club houses built out in the woods/cow field and I would be on edge all the time out there even with friends. When this came out they pushed the found footage HEAVILY do my young self believed it was true. I always like the tension tho when it starts to get dark and then the relief you feel as a viewer at daybreak

The basement scene got me. Mike standing in the corner, Josh nowhere to be found, and Heather getting whipped around and completely speechless. What the hell did the witch do to them??? That was my biggest question.

@crazyhorsecavdoc4916

Жыл бұрын

I always assumed it was a Scooby doo situation where someone was actively trying to keep people out and they just didn’t listen until it was too late

@cottonysensation3723

Жыл бұрын

No witch, the two dudes murdered her. Watch the movie again from that perspective and it makes more sense.

@barbarachieppo9603

Жыл бұрын

Mike standing in that corner got me too.

@ericjanssen394

Жыл бұрын

I GOT that ending, and had to listen to six months of angry hyped-up fanboys who didn't and blamed the movie for it. (People, it's called an "attention span".)

@fynnthefox9078

Жыл бұрын

What also scares me is the ambiguity of it. Was there really a witch? Was it the two guys the whole time? Something else? We may never know...

You gotta understand, when this came out it was marketed like it was real. They picked a bunch of actors no one had heard of. It wasn't easy to find things out online. This was terrifying when we saw it as teenagers. I have a book somewhere that came out about the same time as the movie, and the whole book was written as if this was a real thing that happened lol

@thereturningshadow

Жыл бұрын

Yeah. I don't google was even a thing then either. Plus in 1999 (1998 when filmed) the internet, comparatively, was an infant.

@danadickerson91

Жыл бұрын

Yes! My brother, a friend of mine and I went to see this when it first came to a handful of theaters. The closest theater to us was an hour away. It was packed, but no one made a sound for the majority of the film, except the girl who started to cry. This was marketed as true events and many people believed it. Those of us who saw it at the very beginning, liked it. We didn't need to see the Witch. Sometimes the unknown is much scarier, much like watching someone's decent into hopelessness, or just watching someone slowly crack. Then, all of us went and told everyone else how awesome it was and hyped it up so much that it couldn't live up. I liked it in the initial viewing, but it's not one I can watch over and over. The Christmas after this came out, my brother made a little stick figure for the Christmas tree, lol.

@thereturningshadow

Жыл бұрын

@@danadickerson91 Speaking of stick figures, A co-worker of mine, at the time, had seen this movie and not long after he jokingly made a stick figure out of thin branches like the ones in this movie and nailed it to a large tree trunk near his house. Not a day later a car ran directly into that tree. He took the figure down and destroy it immediately.

@NostalgiNorden

Жыл бұрын

You gotta understand, it still sucks.

@3DJapan

Жыл бұрын

@@thereturningshadow Google was founded in 1998 but I think people were using Alta Vista or Yahoo Search for a while before it caught on.

'No redneck is this creative.' Ashleigh: I'm offended. Same LOL

@anthonyzarate9807

Жыл бұрын

Don't get offended please. I've been beaten, tortured, robbed, assaulted, and kidnapped for being MEXICAN!!!!!!! This is was by the Oak Creek police department (suburb of Milwaukee WI). Had I been able to afford a lawyer, I may have sued. All they did is stole my property that I worked hard for (besides the concussion and injuries!). This was in the 1990's, and all I did was save some Caucasian girls form getting jumped by a female Latina gang. Anyways, I laugh at what people think is offensive. Trust me, you don't know what offensive is until racist pieces of shit rob, assault, and torture your loved ones (little kids at the time!)!

@oduinn7948

Жыл бұрын

As if Redneck Ingenuity isn't a thing. The amount of homemade firearms and riding mowers going 60MPH in the South? Shiiiiit.

@davelister2961

Жыл бұрын

@@oduinn7948 That's way too articulate, brother. No way you is* southern. *are you southern. Couldn't do it. Damn it. I suck at this sheeite. *shite. Bollocks! 👀

@oduinn7948

Жыл бұрын

@@davelister2961 Oh you should hear me verbally speak, there's a massive dissonance between my written -or typed in this instance- word and spoken word. Force of habit when I'm behind a keyboard or pencil to conduct myself in a more "professional pose".

This movie is a product of its time, back in the day this was terrifying and it still send chills down my spine when i remember when i watched it in theaters. The worst thing that could've happened to this movie is the word of mouth and its popularity/parodying/referencing because it either builds it up so much to the point that it cannot live up to that much hype or it just diluted its impact. Awesome reaction!

@sethnmarshall

Жыл бұрын

I remember when this came out. Everyone I know walked out of the theater wanting their money back. It was garbage.

Had some friends who were convinced it was real, felt so bad when I told them about the actresses new movie!

I lived right in between the park and the town this was filmed back in 1997. When this movie came out they had to print in the local newspaper that it was not based on real events. It was a crazy time for certain.

Blair Witch involved an initial outlay of $35,000 - but that was just for the shoot; once postproduction was completed, the real budget was over $200,000 (and may have been as much as $500,000), including a sound remix and a transfer to 35mm. Artisan Entertainment’s Bill Block bought the picture for just over $1 million and (after a hefty marketing spend of $6 million to $8 million domestically alone) it earned $249 million globally.

@Believer1980

Жыл бұрын

The "contact me for your reward " is a scam.

@KRAFTWERK2K6

Жыл бұрын

@@Believer1980 I know... i keep getting stalked by these scammer accounts >_>

@Believer1980

Жыл бұрын

@@KRAFTWERK2K6 same here, twice on one video for me. Reported the first for misinfomation, as YT does not have one for scamming £$%^%$%, and then the next day, if not the same day, another on the same video, same comment.

@garethbattersby

Жыл бұрын

And started a whole genre of poorly made crap found footage movies that would stink up movie theatres for a decade

@Believer1980

Жыл бұрын

@@garethbattersby Yep, I hated this when I watched it in the cinema , was bored out my mind. However the people with me were scared shitless . Ofc back then there was no internet as we know it today and so there was more mystery and build to it, but it did open the flood gates of crap "found footage" movies. People thought, "Rented camra + group of dumb ass teens in a setting = $$$$$$$$".

This movie is a product of its time and it’s almost incomplete without the accompanying mockumentary “Curse of the Blair Witch”. You get a better feel of why they’re “lost”; it’s the witch rearranging the woods, or as they say “the witch had the elements and the trees at her bidding”. She turns them against each other constantly to weaken their unit. Again, a product of its time and the marketing had people freaked out. Some people in the theatre when I saw it opening night were in shock because they thought it was real. At the time, so many people thought it was real it was hard to convince them it wasn’t.

This entire movie was improvised. The directors knew what they wanted, but had nothing written down. They took the actors out in the woods with camping equipment and cameras, and left them there. They would leave notes for the actors around to give them direction, which often set the actors against each other. When the story starts getting horrible is where the directors were basically terrorizing them from the shadows - coming around at night and making noises, throwing things against the tent and generally driving them crazy. So even though they knew they were making a movie, all of that terror was very, very easy for them to feel.

@dizzy-izzy

Жыл бұрын

No way! That's actually fucked up!

@dereknolin5986

Жыл бұрын

This just shows you can never understate the importance of a good screenplay!

@Serai3

Жыл бұрын

@@dizzy-izzy Oh, they knew what would happen. It's just that hearing about it beforehand and actually experiencing it are two different things.

@spirit1600

Жыл бұрын

that's kinda similar to how Kubrick treated Duvall in the Shining.

@vanyadolly

Жыл бұрын

So basically another case of asshole directors harassing and torturing people for "art".

I think this movie is a “you had to be there” kind of thing. There had been found footage movies before, but this was the first huge one. Everything from the marketing to the word of mouth made it FEEL real. The performances are very naturalistic (especially when compared to Heather’s ‘documentary’ acting) which help ground it in reality. And seeing this in a dark, packed theater was something else. It’s not about jump scares, but the increasing feeling of dread as they first turn on each other and then realizing something supernatural is happening. Seeing Mike standing in the corner at the end will always be one of my top horror movies images.

@SupremeJudge

Жыл бұрын

I think when she was talking when the lady was telling the story about one person facing the corner so she didn't understand the ending.

@rickmoreno7166

Жыл бұрын

Heck, in some parts of the movie, the three are definitely NOT acting! The producers didn't tell them what was going to happen and surprised them in the middle of the night!

@donkey3187

Жыл бұрын

Nonsense. I saw this movie a couple years after its release and it wasnt the slightest bit scary...and in the end it was just really, really really bad. LoL...mabye we just won't take scary movie recommendations from you from here on out. ROFL

@brianyazzie4538

Жыл бұрын

@@donkey3187 "a couple of years after" ??? No wonder. Should have seen it on opening day.

@brianyazzie4538

Жыл бұрын

True...

Setting up a website with missing person posters and then leaking the movie online a couple of months before release was genius.

This is in top 5 horror films of all time for me. This might be one of those films where "you had to be there" kinda thing implies.

Seeing audience reactions in the theater as this movie played was fascinating. Just like you were told, people loved it or they hated it. No grey area. I saw it twice in the theater just to hear audience reaction. The first time, teenagers in the row in front of me were mad and complaining that it wasn’t scary. An older couple behind me were both crying, the woman sobbing into his shoulder with terror. Similar reactions the second time, with young people ridiculing it while older people thought it was really terrifying. I loved it because I read how most of it was just ad lib. The three actors made it up as they went, with genetic basic instructions placed in three separate coolers they found each morning.

I think the "fun" part of this movie is knowing that there wasn't much of a script, the actors had no idea about the sounds they were hearing periodically and the whole slapping of the tent scene, those were real reactions cause they didn't know what was coming. LOL You made me yawn 😴🤣💜💜💜

Little Shop of Horrors; the practical effects in that movie are just phenomenal!!

@donkey3187

Жыл бұрын

meh

@troyfortsch4440

Жыл бұрын

@@donkey3187 meh?? You’re breaking my heart! (Lol) I think Audrey II still is better than a lot of CGI

@lordhirudo5311

Жыл бұрын

Depends on which version you watch. I’m assuming OP means the remake.

Video cameras back then had interchangable batteries, no internal permanent one, you could record as long as you had fresh ones, they last between 6-10 hours.

Binge watching the videos I have missed from you....... I live about an hour from the place where they filmed this for the beginning of the movie. That little town had a cool sign which was located across from where Heather was doing her report. Its been stolen twice. But its a really cute historical town. The rest of the movie was filmed in Seneca Creek State Park a little further down into MD around Silver Spring. Coincidental thing is that before you get to the town, Burkettsville, driving down the highway, you will cross over a bridge that goes over Black Rock Road. I get motion sickness. I had to look away so many times when watching this on the big screen. But it was a great experience when I went back to the theater the second time and watched everyone else's reactions. What a crazy time when this movie came out. Every time I go into the woods, this movie immediately pops into my head and I always hope I don't get lost.

What's so creepy about this movie is the sheer isolation. As someone who likes to go camping in remote areas, it's something you can't help wondering about sometimes. (Not a witch, but you know.)

@donkey3187

Жыл бұрын

it was poorly done

@fynnthefox9078

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, getting lost in the woods is honestly a scary thought, especially when you have a limited amount of supplies.

@vanyadolly

Жыл бұрын

I find those elements more annoying than creepy in this movie. It's hard to be sympathetic when they're getting lost due to their own stupidity. And okay, maybe mystical forces were fucking with the compass or something, but they could still have followed the stream to stop walking in circles.

@jmcb00

Жыл бұрын

@@vanyadollyliterally part of the legends is getting “lost” and either disappearing or showing up randomly weeks later. We can deduce the witch was fucking with them pushing them further towards the house at the end. Dude throws the map in the river not because they can’t figure it out and it’s useless that way but because he’s starting to realize something weird is happening. And then they don’t change direction all day and end up in the same spot in the side the originally crossed over. Not saying this movie hits the mark or anything but it sounds like you missed some context clues in regards to that plot point. The fear aspect has always been being trapped in the woods not lost perse.

I remember it being kind of divisive even when it was new. It has no big payoff at the end. It still had a massive cultural impact at the time. Apparently the filmmakers had another ending in mind where you saw a giant stick man chasing them through the woods. I'm really glad they went with the ending they did. xD

One of my favorite movies! SO excited to see your reaction!

I watched this on a VHS tape that was passed around high schools months before it came out in theaters. This is pre-internet (as we know it). It was way different when you're 16 at a friend's house in the woods watching this at 2 AM in the Fall of '98.

I remember going to see this with my dad - I was a teenager, we got to the end, my dad looked at me and says “ that was stupid waste of time, when does the movie start?!” I then spent the next week trying to convince my dad that really was the movie. Really. Truly.

@wheelmanstan

Жыл бұрын

My dad took me to a movie ONCE, a scary movie. Turns out it was SCARY MOVIE, the first one....he was furious. haha.

@michele36618

Жыл бұрын

I was fully enthralled in the hype this movie had. For 2 weeks I did research and read all the articles about this “supposed found footage”. I took all my friends to see it. It scared the sh** out of us!! Because we thought it was real ! Then I took my mom….immediately at the credits my mom looked at me and said, loudly, “I don’t get it” And like you, I spent a week explaining it to her. Then we saw the kids on Letterman and I felt soooooo stupid!! 😂😂🤦🏼‍♀️once you know this isn’t real, the movie loses all the appeal and then it’s just a dumb movie that people just don’t understand 😂 but for a small amount of time, it was amazing !!

My parents came home after seeing this terrified out of their minds. My dad was comforting my mom saying it couldn’t have been real but they weren’t sure. This was terrifying and effective cinema for it’s time. We’ve been ruined for it since lol

@CMinorOp67

Жыл бұрын

There is no way your parents went into this movie thinking it was real. And definitely no way they left the theatres still convinced it was real. No way. I saw this at the theatre, as well. I had seen all the online stuff beforehand, too. My friends and I thought all the online/special stuff was cool…but I knew of no one who literally thought this was a documentary and real found footage. And for all the hype that the movie built in it’s pre-release, it turned out to be such a lame and shite movie. So disappointing.

@hakancarlsson2881

Жыл бұрын

@@CMinorOp67 When I saw it in the theater, when it was over I could hear several groups of people saying that they had to look into it because they thought it was real.... 🤷

@thehighseer23

Жыл бұрын

@@CMinorOp67 I'm 42 now, and at the time I knew several people who thought it was real. Some others I knew were pretty sure it wasn't real but had the conviction of people who also needed to believe it wasn't real, not because they actually knew it wasn't real...

@jacobskinner3522

Жыл бұрын

I’d argue it’s terrifying and effective for anytime. The trouble is when people expect a film to scare them rather than just allowing themselves to be scared by it.

@cottonysensation3723

Жыл бұрын

I saw this and was bored as hell, when the movie ended I only heard people being disappointed. I have a low threshold for horror films so that’s saying something. Movie is double A+ for giving headaches though with all that crappy shaky camera bs

Saw this movie the weekend it came out and right after, my friends & I went camping. There was a barrage of people yelling "Josh" throughout the campground all weekend.🤣

The marketing on this film was what made it work. It was released as being REAL found footage with one of the first viral campaigns in internet history. You asked how much it cost to make? Total production cost was around $60,000. The film took $140.5 MILLION in box office receipts.

I was 12 when this movie came out. I grew up in a small town in which maybe ten people had internet access, and few had cable. That was the case in a lot of towns at the time (late 90s), and the marketing team behind this movie knew that. They were able to convince so many people (especially kids my age) that this movie could have actually been real. This movie is very much a product of its time, and we'll probably see nothing of its like again. I've always had mixed feelings about it. I think there's a case to be made for the sense of dread the movie slowly builds, but again, it's so much more effective in its proper time and place. I'm not at all surprised you didn't like it. I wouldn't expect you or anyone who didn't get sucked into the hype back then to. I remember seeing it as a kid, being so excited to see what was in store, and walking out of the theater feeling cheated.

As others have stated, the pre-release hype for this movie is a big part of the nostalgia. Everyone was talking about it and how it was REAL footage that had been recovered from a camera belonging to missing persons. By the time I saw the movie I knew it was fake, but the final scene still creeps me out.

@Tchika

Жыл бұрын

right, I think they promoted it like that at all times, not like regular trailers that people were used to. Just actual footage, and that was the big deal.

I will echo what has been said here. When this came out in 1999, it was the first of its kind in terms of internet marketing and Sci-Fi Channel tie ins. Those tie ins were "documentaries" featuring the family of the "missing" students as well as local anchors talking about the case, all set forth as though they were fact (search for "Curse Of The Blair Witch"). Then there was the website which gave you a "timeline" of evens from when the town was called Blair up until the footage of the students. All of the actors had signed contracts that they were not to appear in public before or for certain time after the films release to perpetuate that you were watching actual found footage. Missing posters were up in movie theatres featuring Heather, Michael, and Josh. It definitely is a "you had to be there" type of film, as many others have already said.

I remember when this movie came out, they had a very good media campaign. They kept the actors under wraps & blitzed this as actual found footage. They even had a "documentary" on SyFy. This would be considered disinformation or misinformation today, but back then it worked.

@bethcushway458

Жыл бұрын

I loved the documentary. It all added so much to the fear factor of the film. I don't find the film scary at all now but when it came out, because of the campaign, I was utterly convinced it was real and it terrified me!

I remember being underwhelmed by this movie when I saw it around 2004 after years of hearing how scary it was (except the ending, I thought that was genuinely creepy) but when I rewatched it years later I really appreciated how good the actors' performances were. Even knowing it wasn't real, it felt like the actors really believed it was. I completely get why you hated it, though.

@fynnthefox9078

Жыл бұрын

@J Hoop It helps that a lot of their reactions were very much genuine. Like finding out the map was gone and seeing how angry they got.

It's like when they re-released Exorcist in the theaters and everyone laughed, sometimes the efficacy of a horror movie is rooted in the times when it was released.

@deadinthebed963

Жыл бұрын

Yeah , this filmnisnt REMOTELY in The Exorcists league

Omg Ashley you are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORs. I can’t wait to see your reaction!

I'm sure someone mentioned it but the ending goes back to what one of the town folks tale of the witch putting someone in the corner and killing the other. That's why Heather's camera fell and ended on the note it did.

I watched it in 2018 knowing it was fake. But it was at night alone. I thought it was one of the most viscerally scary films I’ve ever seen. The fact that you don’t see anything the entire time but you’re given just enough disturbing information about the witch/entity before they head to the woods, that when everything does turn south it makes your imagination run wild with images and ideas of what it _could_ be. The power of imagination and suggestion coupled with the disturbing events made it powerfully frightening for me.

@Morris1581

Жыл бұрын

Absolutly right. I saw it 1998 in Cinema and felt the same like you.

@billbill3915

Жыл бұрын

Same here. Along with that underlying and dread of sheer isolation.

@CMinorOp67

Жыл бұрын

I saw it at the theatre in 99 wishing I could get my money back. It was so boring and lame.

@DeathToTheDictators

Жыл бұрын

I saw it around 2008, and i thought it was plenty scary....usually seeing the 'monster' makes films less scary (prime recent example being Stranger Things, when i saw the Gorgon and thought it looked fake and stupid....the show stopped being scary from that moment on, and kind of ruined it for me)....less can often be more, in horror.

@godmagnus

Жыл бұрын

Maybe you're just a wuss 😁

I hadn't heard of this movie when my friends picked me up and said we were going to see it. I totally fell for it being real (I was dumb in high school). When I got home I nearly stayed up all night since I lived in my parents basement and was too scared to go down there.

This was a super smash hit when it came out. There weren't really any films like it in the theaters before. Now this handheld camera style is used all the time in movies and tv shows.

First time watching. I love you. So much fun. I live in Maryland and when they did the promos for this there was a mockumentary we all thought was real. It was pretty cool back then.

In case you didn't know, the "found footage" style was pioneered in the 60s but the first time it was used in the horror genre it was in a 1980 Italian movie called Cannibal Holocaust. Also like The Blair Witch Project, it was marketed as being a real documentary. Unlike TBWP, though, which doesn't show anything, CH became infamous for being a very graphic exploitation film. TBWP did popularize the genre, though, mainly due to the fact that in was incredibly cheap to make (less than half a million dollars) and it made almost 250 million at the box office so, as you can imagine, all the studio executives were salivating and had dollar signs on their eyes.

@MrVvulf

Жыл бұрын

The 1922 silent film "Häxan" was in many ways the precursor of found-footage films. The BBC just did a write-up of the film and made that exact point. The basis for the film was a 15th century guide for inquisitors, and the movie is shot like a documentary from that perspective - investigating witchcraft. The BBC article is entitled "Why documentary horror Häxan still terrifies, a century on", in case you're interested.

@MST3Killa

Жыл бұрын

I've seen people try to react to Cannibal, and honestly, I recommend it to no one. It's a lousy film predicated basically on torture shock. Nothing of substance there and yet people think of it as some kind of cinephile holy grail. Hell, I remember getting pissed off when they tried to portray it that way in the video game Life is Strange. Might as well spend your time watching the local psycho gut rodents and remove limbs from roadkill for an hour and a half, same effect.

@matthewganong1730

Жыл бұрын

There was another film released a year or two earlier than Blair Witch called “The Last Broadcast” which was very similar and mostly found footage.

@tattoofun31548

Жыл бұрын

I wont shit on Cannibal Holocaust for the same reason I wont shit on TBWP. Are either of them great pieces of art? Of course not. But they both pushed boundaries in their own way. Yes CH is just a ton of gore for shock but that has it's place just as much as anything. Ask Clive Barker who has been doing that in the written form for decades. Hell Raiser is just a story about demons causing pain in creative and gory ways but it's one of my favorite films just because there really isn't anything quite like it. Actually the only problem I dislike about the newest version on Hulu is that there isn't enough gore. The gore is part of why it hits home. Same with CH and the hype at the time that TBWP miiiight just be real, was the same for it.

@joyofcookies

Жыл бұрын

Ahhh yes, the movie execs eternal attempts to bottle lightning and consistently completely missing the mark.

Speaking of the Bell Witch (I grew up in TN and read a book about her in 4th grade and was forever traumatized LOL), there’s a movie with Sissy Spacek based loosely on the Bell Witch called An American Haunting. I recommend checking it out sometime.

What's going on behind the scenes is what makes this movie amazing. They were actually sleeping in tents in the woods, being woke up randomly by the crew, barely eating, and most of the lines are ad-libbed

I watched Curse of the Blair Witch before watching this movie, and I feel like it was absolutely necessary for the enjoyment of this movie. It also made it wayyyy scarier.

I remember the tv spots for this movie and the promos. It was really a phenomenon of it’s time. I didn’t see it til later in my life though as I very nearly lived in the woods myself 😅 middle of nowhere Texas. When I did see it I was very bored and had the same reaction as you. I expected there to be more. I can appreciate it as the cult hit of the time as all my classmates were talking about it and everyone was spooked. I feel it is scarier from a perspective of “what is man capable of in the wild” kinda deal. We drive ourselves crazy and turn on each other. Turn into scared animals and suddenly even tight friendships become strained or broken. You become a different beast when you are tired, hungry, and scared. That is a better take away from the movie, imo.

I’ve never been one who payed attention to the marketing, but this one got me. Saw it in the theater when I was in college and it scared the piss out of everyone there, myself included.

Fun fact about me. 😂 When this movie came out I literally lived on the outskirts of a small town, so an adjacent small town, if you will. The house I lived in was in a heavily wood area and was 2 story. After I saw this movie, I didn't sleep upstairs for 3 weeks. 😂 I was CONVINCED this was a legit story. 😂 I think I was 21 or 22 when it came out. ❤

26:03 😆😆😆😂😂🤣🤣🤣 Haven't laughed that hard at a reaction in awhile, Ashleigh! I'm SO stealing that line, btw.

The backstory for the Blair Witch is largely inspired by the story of the Bell Witch. So I think Ashleigh is probably recalling something she heard about that connection when she thought the movie was set in Tennessee.

My parents live about 10 miles from Burkittsville. My kids were between 8-11 when this came out, and they were scared to visit my folks for a couple years. I hadn't let them see the movie (too young) but just hearing the rumors at school put them off rural Maryland for a good while.

There was no script, btw. The actors were just given background on their characters, cameras, hiking supplies, and told to hike to places, and record and improv along the way. It was a few day's hike, just like in the movie, and every day they would find a page with some basic instructions/outline (go here, talk about this topic, something like that). The director with some minimum crew were following from the distance, making noises and stuff, possibly even some of the "sets" were a surprise for the actors, so basically the fear and emotions you see are... if not real, then very close to it. Also, the moment when they panic and run is kinda real, they actually did see a strange figure on the hill, and actually panicked. The director said that when they reviewed the footage later, they were very sad and disappointed that the actors, in the panic, failed to capture that figure, because the design of the creature was pretty cool, and making it was the most expensive part of the movie =D

I was in the Army on CQ (24 hour duty) when I saw this movie. During the night we were allowed to watch movies to give us something to do to stay awake. If we started falling asleep, we did pushups. Watching this movie, I did a lot of pushups.

I remember this movie came out when I was five and heard how it was “real” and that the three kids were never found. Of course this was back when the internet was early and it was successful due to how it was marketed. Very important film honestly, even if many aren’t fond of it these days. I think it’s a fine film, especially in a genre I’m not the biggest fan. It’s nice to see you react to this film Ashleigh. Take care!

I remember this being released when I was a teen and honestly not knowing if it was for real or not, like are we actually watching these people's final moments. then I saw the lead actress on The Tonight Show and I was like "oh she's fine"

Gurl, I loved this. Your commentary is hilarious!!!

I feel you my friend loved this and I was walking out of the theater beside him saying did we just watch the same movie

Love your content and style, thank you for the joy you bring to every episode. Shine On!

@salubriousscratch3540

Жыл бұрын

You’re a bad bot.

I do not care what anyone says. It is very easy to ridicule this movie today because we have all seen the premise a million times now, but when it first came out this movie was horrifying, especially if you have ever spent any time in the woods at night.

@ZachCornett

Жыл бұрын

I can’t go camping without thinking about this movie. It’s the only movie that makes me feel uneasy.

@sweetkiss119

Жыл бұрын

This movie is awful and not even remotely scary. Worse movie ever

@88wildcat

Жыл бұрын

I saw it when it first came out and I found it very easy to ridicule back then

@fiveoctaves

Жыл бұрын

@@88wildcat And many of us did.

@pamelapetrosino4437

4 ай бұрын

I used to go hiking on day trips, and there were times we had gotten lost. I definitely could relate to the isolation of the woods. This movie completely terrified me. I loved it!

Imagine watching this movie thinking it was real. The way it was marketed was amazing. There are people in their 40s right now that thought this was literally found footage from a documentary trio.

@donkey3187

Жыл бұрын

Why would you think a movie, in the theater , was real? That doesn't even make any sense. If such a thing was real, it would be in the hands of the police, not in a movie theaters nation wide. lol...You led a very sheltered life, didnt you?

During Cannes, there were posters of the actors as Missing persons. Just loved the way this movie was advertised.

This movie was marketing brilliance. The internet wasn't what it is today and the found footage genre wasn't as common as it is today. People thought this was real

This was so original and definitely used the infancy of the internet to make the viral content seem so real. They used unknown actors with hardly any script and let them improvise with only notes given to each actor by the directors. They were given GPS coordinates to pick their notes up and leave the footage they had shot already. The crew would mess with them at night, so all those reactions are real. Should've been nominated for an Oscar imo.

This is a Classic Found Footage I saw it in the Theater Enjoying SpookyBeans

Family Guy got this right: Brian Griffin as a "seeing eyedog": "Nothings happening, nothings happening, something about a map, its over, a lot people look pissed."

I remember Halloween 2001, I was home from college and decided to watch this movie by myself.. Honestly it's still in my top 10 horror movies of all time. The slow suspenseful build up, trying to figure out what's going on. I think it helped that back in those days we hadn't really seen many 'found footage' movies and they really did a great job with viral marketing in an attempt to make viewers think it was real XD.

It's really one of those movies that is a lot more interesting to watch once you know all the history and the behind the scenes details. It won't make it any scarier, but it is kind of a pivotal point in cinema wrt marketing and the found footage genre

I can remember sitting in my Dad's living room, my sister and I were both back from college, and in those days of the 90's, you'd go out and see movies with friends, and it was a huge deal. The internet was young, online news and what was real and what wasn't was muddled, it was like the Wild West online, we didn't know if it was real or not, but the idea that it was or could be was really creepy, and so we were just vibing on the whole scenario that it was found footage. I totally remember talking at length with my sister on this movie - and we went to go see it - and we lived in Oregon, woods are everywhere, so it hit home, going camping, and you'd hear horror stories of campers being lost, never being heard from again, so yeah, it felt very real. This movie also made a killing - it gave a lot of perspective filmmakers hope that they could pirate their way in with audiences if the premise of their film was good, and you shot it well, you could deliver in a market that was very old, old boy. Loved the experience of seeing it in the theater, it was a huge success and is still being talked about today as the trendsetting film it was, for better and for worse, it broke ground. Biggest laugh I had seeing it that night was me and my sister both saying, "just follow the river", you learn that one early, but we knew they wouldn't follow the river, no fun!

I remember when this first came out. Everyone was freaking out because they thought it was real! I thought it was at first and was like wow wtf!!! It was a lot of fun back then for what it was, I think they even made a part 2? Any who, creepy fun watching with you. :)

Before there was social media many people thought this was an actual real incident that happened. There was a debate back and forth when it first came out if I remember

the creepy part of this movie is living though the promotional and advertising time before the movie came out. Found footage didn't really exist yet and the internet wasn't around like now so it was promoted like it was a real thing that happened, i think they even made a short documentary/news segment kind of thing like it was real. And you went in going "this isn't actually real. was it real? it can't be real...right?" you made me yawn

@7autumn5

Жыл бұрын

I agree! The movie isn't good. The promotion of the movie was something of it's time. No one can ever get that experience again.

@andrewjones575

Жыл бұрын

@@7autumn5 But why did many people believe it was real?

@ElisaH_DarklyiShine

Жыл бұрын

@@andrewjones575 because they did everything possible to promote it as real. And the found footage genre didn't exist yet so the concept of someone making a fictional movie in This style wasn't something to consider. Plus the internet was still in it's infancy a lot of people didn't even have it and there was no social media so you couldn't check online or anything.

@88wildcat

Жыл бұрын

It was internet trolling before internet trolling existed.

@andrewjones575

Жыл бұрын

@@ElisaH_DarklyiShine I immediately disbelieved it because I knew the media would know if it were true & I was familiar with filmmakers falsely claiming their films were based on real events.

The thing I appreciate about you is that YOU are entertaining, even when the movie sucks. I saw this movie at some all-night scary movie thing when I was 15. I watched The Exorcist for the first time the same night. I wondered if it was just overshadowed by a clearly superior movie and that's why I hated it, but later it turned out that nearly everyone I knew felt pranked after watching it. I think it's success is owed to hype and only to hype.

Dude, I remember like it was yesterday when I watched this movie at the cinema here in my city, when the movie ended and the credits rolled, someone in the audience screamed "I WANT MY MONEY BACK"! It was very funny 😅

Recently showed my bf this movie. It never really scared me but I knew how big and new of a film it was so I always appreciated it. Bf however did get a bit nervous. He loves camping, and and only gets scared by movies that have cryptids. Not ghosts or slashers. Personally. What makes the movie more scary is pocturing whats going on that we cant see.

I was taking a bite of a muffin right when “does that sign say ‘wet nuts?” and laughed/sprayed muffin all over the floor! Lol

YOU MADE ME YAWN 🥱 good evaluation of this movie 😆

Sorry I was late to the party, but I DID end up paying for my lateness... because I had to watch this TWICE... just to find that secret phrase of yours. ~ BTW... KUDOS on your trickiness! Oh yes... You Made Me Yawn ... which is something that I rarely do while watching your reviews. I'm usually laughing too much, because "YOU"... Are A Hoot! ~ Take Care... and Have A Good One! :)