‘The Blair Witch Project’ // a 1999 film retrospective

With this, their seventh episode in a series, J. McVay, Jacqueline Soller, and Charles Hinshaw continue to look back on movies released in 1999, discussing how they stand up 20 years on...

Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, ‘The Blair Witch Project’ presents itself as a documentary pieced together from video, 16mm film, and audio discovered in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, one year after three film students disappeared there while attempting to make a film about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, who supposedly haunts the area. The film, as presented, follows Heather, Josh and Mike as they first speak to citizens of the town about the legend, then trek into the woods to find evidence of the legend. Each night, they’re confronted with increasingly bizarre occurrences outside their campsite, while each day they become more and more unsure of their path forward. Eventually, this cycle leaves them both completely lost and at odds with each other.

The film premiered at Sundance in January of 1999 before being released commercially on July 14th, later that year. In advance of the opening, the filmmakers mounted a marketing campaign that called into question whether the events and circumstances depicted in the movie were actually real or contrived. This campaign, in conjunction with the film’s website, were largely credited for the cultural and financial success it earned at the time, resulting in a movie with a budget of only $60,000 ultimately earning more than $248 million at the box office.

The critical response was largely positive, though not unanimous, with most of the negative responses seeming to hinge largely on considering the premise of the film some version of gimmicky. In terms of awards, the film garnered what I would call a strange or interesting mix of nominations or wins from groups focused on either independent or popular films, which perhaps speaks to its crossover status. And, of course, the film is pretty generally considered to have popularized the concept of the “found footage” film, which has been done in various ways since then.

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Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Jacqueline Soller, Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Originally released as part of a previous podcast on 9/27/19

Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media