Blair Witch

[Sidious-66]

Love the original and one of the best cinema experiences of the 90's. I still try to view the movie at least once a year on DVD/Blu Ray. Never had much love for the sequels but this one does look good thus far.

 

[YoNoSe]

Saw this tonight. Characters are barely sketched and never generates the ominous tone you expect (or I did) but the second half is fun and it adds a few little wrinkles to the mythology.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I'll try to see it this weekend.

 

[crows]

 

[karamazov80]

They definitely created a new sub genre with found footage, and were geniuses when it came to utilizing the Internet in a way it had never been harnessed to market the movie. The movie (for me) was fine for one viewing, but I tried to watch it again a year or so ago, and found it very tedious.

I think it mostly worked effectively for those who were around at the time, and saw it at the theaters when there was this mystery around the movie, and even those who knew better suspended disbelief pretty well for the purpose of going to see this film. I was in that category. And if you knew nothing about the film and could watch it now, cold, at the theaters, in that environment where you don't feel the safety of home and whatnot, it could probably still have that effect. But of course, the cat is now out of the bag, and that's not a possibility for most. But the film felt real, because the actors acted like real people, and the found footage actually felt like real, amateur, hand-held footage (something you never see nowadays).

For that reason, it did work at the time, but couldn't hold up to multiple viewings, particularly after it was revealed publicly to be totally fake. And it wasn't like it established some really interesting new mythology. It was standard, spooky woods stuff, that worked because of the methodology. So, no surprise a conventional sequel didn't work. But a remake or sequel or whatever now makes sense to capitalize on some nostalgia. Some old fogeys like me think fondly about it, I'm sure. And folks who were kids at the time probably held it in the same mythical category that many of my age group held the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

 

[rushmore223]

I think it mostly worked effectively for those who were around at the time, and saw it at the theaters when there was this mystery around the movie, and even those who knew better suspended disbelief pretty well for the purpose of going to see this film. I was in that category. And if you knew nothing about the film and could watch it now, cold, at the theaters, in that environment where you don't feel the safety of home and whatnot, it could probably still have that effect. But of course, the cat is now out of the bag, and that's not a possibility for most. But the film felt real, because the actors acted like real people, and the found footage actually felt like real, amateur, hand-held footage (something you never see nowadays).

For that reason, it did work at the time, but couldn't hold up to multiple viewings, particularly after it was revealed publicly to be totally fake. And it wasn't like it established some really interesting new mythology. It was standard, spooky woods stuff, that worked because of the methodology. So, no surprise a conventional sequel didn't work. But a remake or sequel or whatever now makes sense to capitalize on some nostalgia. Some old fogeys like me think fondly about it, I'm sure. And folks who were kids at the time probably held it in the same mythical category that many of my age group held the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

I remember the "Blair Witch Craze" well, I'm guessing I'm probably around the same age as you. I saw it in theaters, but I wasn't ever in the category of those that thought it might be real, but yes, I remember plenty who did.

I even remember my friends and I, all half in the bag, making a midnight trek through our own local haunted woods (Dudley Town, to those interested in reading up on it...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudleytown,_Connecticut) so it did have an effect.

The found footage thing was pretty original back then, and it worked pretty well to make the tension feel genuine, but it's sort of a one trick pony, as it could only really be used effectively once, instead of creating its own sub-genre.

 

[crows]

I thought it was real, part of me still does...

 

[rushmore223]

I thought it was real, part of me still does...

When the subject of it being fiction vs fact came up back then with friends and aquaintances, I usually just had to ask them if they really thought discovered footage implicating possible violent outcome for those who would now be considered missing persons would be able to be shown to audiences at large (for money, no less) instead of being secreted away as evidence in whatever investigation authorities would undoubtedly be conducting. Something like that would almost be as illegal as making/showing snuff films.

 

[crows]

When the subject of it being fiction vs fact came up back then with friends and aquaintances, I usually just had to ask them if they really thought discovered footage implicating possible violent outcome for those who would now be considered missing persons would be able to be shown to audiences at large (for money, no less) instead of being secreted away as evidence in whatever investigation authorities would undoubtedly be conducting. Something like that would almost be as illegal as making/showing snuff films.

Well this was before the internet, people were a little bit more naive

 

[pixletwin]

I remember The Blair Witch Project for two things:


Pioneering viral marketing
Pionerring found footage movies

I went to see it back in1999 and thought it was pretty creepy. This new development has piqued my interest.

Exactly what I think. Good post. I remember the day I saw it. My car was having a new stereo installed and to kill the time I went to a matinee showing. I was alone in the theater and it freaked me out. I still get creeped out going to the woods near where I live at dusk. Especially if I'm all alone.

 

[rushmore223]

Well this was before the internet, people were a little bit more naive

Were you living in a village in the rainforest back then? Internet was pretty prevalent in 1999.

 

[crows]

Were you living in a village in the rainforest back then? Internet was pretty prevalent in 1999.

No social media bud. No youtube. Only used the internet for homework and hentai.

 

[rushmore223]

No social media bud. No youtube. Only used the internet for homework and hentai.

My view might be a little skewed as I was LOLing and BRBing back in 1989, before the Internet when it was just BBS's, Q-Link and Compuserve, and that used to cost me $.08 a minute with my 300 baud modem and my Commodore.

 

[crows]

It sounds ridiculous now that real footage of a group of lost people in the woods would be shown in theaters but this was also before reality tv where u know everything is fake and u know reality tv is made up.
I did think it was real footage that the family agreed to be shown
I guess it felt like when theres a shooting or a burning building or a terrorist attack and news outlets would show footage. I mean, there are times when tragic things are shown on tv.
And the news channel profits from it. It didnt feel that far fetched

 

[YoNoSe]

It sounded ridiculous in 99, too. I think the only people who bought into it were the ones who got sucked into the online stuff. But it was exciting that they were using that spproach.

I wasn't active online back then. My first time hearing about BW was a review in my local paper the week before it came out. I'll never forget seeing it in the theater - the square frame on the huge screen made it feel like everyone was leaning forward to watch. It didn't look like a movie.

I still love it and revisit it every couple of years.

Fun reading about everyone's experiences with it.

 

[rushmore223]

It sounded ridiculous in 99, too. I think the only people who bought into it were the ones who got sucked into the online stuff. But it was exciting that they were using that spproach.

I wasn't active online back then. My first time hearing about BW was a review in my local paper the week before it came out. I'll never forget seeing it in the theater - the square frame on the huge screen made it feel like everyone was leaning forward to watch. It didn't look like a movie.

I still love it and revisit it every couple of years.

Fun reading about everyone's experiences with it.

It was groundbreaking in its own right, just not something that can ever be repeated in other films to achieve the same reality blurring lines. The genuiness of the actors and the modesty of their approach to filmmaking definitely sucked the Audience in.

The filmmakers/promoters of the film had a stroke of brilliance in the way they marketed it to the masses. Unprecedented at the time, a model many have tried and failed to repeat.

crows, you werent alone in believing it was real, so don't feel too bad about it, even if I do give you a hard time.

 

[crows]

is not that i feel bad but the reason Im explaining is just because of the mindset of the time. I dont feel embarrassed or anything
Im just thinking of the time when this came out and I am remembering how it felt back then. I really dont feel bad, I guess I was just explaining what I was thinking at the time.

It took me seeing the actress in a subway commercial some months later to be completely sure it wasn't real People were saying it wasn't real after it came out but once I saw her I finally understood.

But Like I said, theres a little part of me that still feels like if it was real. it definitely left an impression. I dont watch the movie often because its not like it is scary or anything but it brings a feeling of stress more than anything.

 

[YoNoSe]

It was groundbreaking in its own right, just not something that can ever be repeated in other films to achieve the same reality blurring lines. The genuiness of the actors and the modesty of their approach to filmmaking definitely sucked the Audience in.

The filmmakers/promoters of the film had a stroke of brilliance in the way they marketed it to the masses. Unprecedented at the time, a model many have tried and failed to repeat.

crows, you werent alone in believing it was real, so don't feel too bad about it, even if I do give you a hard time.

Yup - a perfect example of how limitations breed creativity. My main gripe with the new one - which I did really enjoy as a companion piece - is the mediocrity of the acting/script. Not that the original crew was three Pacinos (Three Amigos sequel? note to self...) but they were naturalistic as hell. Also the much higher quality of modern video makes it visually indistinguishable from any other film.

The more I think about one particular idea in the new one, the more I want to see it again. There's one obvious payoff but I'm wondering if a repeat viewing may reveal more.

 

[rushmore223]

Yup - a perfect example of how limitations breed creativity. My main gripe with the new one - which I did really enjoy as a companion piece - is the mediocrity of the acting/script. Not that the original crew was three Pacinos (Three Amigos sequel? note to self...) but they were naturalistic as hell. Also the much higher quality of modern video makes it visually indistinguishable from any other film.

The more I think about one particular idea in the new one, the more I want to see it again. There's one obvious payoff but I'm wondering if a repeat viewing may reveal more.

Three Pacinos, Sounds endlessly entertaining! Might I suggest Scarface Pacino, Scent of a Woman Pacino, and Dog Day Afternoon Pacino. Godfather Pacino might be too much of a downer compared to the others.

I'd watch it.

Edit - I see it now, the 3 Pacino's form a tenuous alliance to take down Godfather Pacino, or maybe swap and the bad guy could be Scarface Pacino. I look forward to the inevitable car chase with Scent Pacino driving the Ferrari after the bad guy. This would write itself. I'm in!

 

[bboy]

Loved this movie!!, but it wasn't great, almost a bit dissapointing

the negatives
- the acting (god damn, were the three in the original great actors or what?)
- it was missing the utterly anxiety filled first hour of the original. The emotions and subtlety in the original were very relatable
- too many characters, the beginning all felt rushed before you know it they were lost.

the good
- loved those last 20 mins
- loved the additions to the blair witch mythos
- it followed the sequel rule of bigger and badder (only downside like I said is it traded out slow build up and character building of the first)

overall loved it because of my bias. great companion piece to the first.