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The Blair Witch Project (1999) Review | Found Footage Horror Classic | Half Hour of Horror Podcast
42 Plays7 months ago
The frights you forgot - revisited in half an hour.
In this episode of Half Hour of Horror, the horror film podcast from Love Horror, we revisit The Blair Witch Project (1999), the found footage horror movie that changed the genre forever.
Released in 1999, The Blair Witch Project became a cultural phenomenon thanks to its raw realism, innovative marketing campaign, and deeply unsettling atmosphere. Often credited with popularising the modern found footage horror format, the film terrified audiences around the world and remains one of the most influential horror movies ever made.
More than two decades later, we return to the Black Hills Forest to ask the big question: does The Blair Witch Project still hold up today?
In this horror podcast episode you’ll get:
• A spoiler-filled synopsis of The Blair Witch Project (1999)
• Our honest horror movie review and discussion
• Behind-the-scenes facts about the film’s production and viral marketing campaign
• Connections to sequels, spin-offs and other found footage horror films
• Our final verdict and horror rating out of 5
If you enjoy horror podcasts, cult horror movies and deep dives into genre classics, this episode explores why The Blair Witch Project remains such an important moment in horror cinema.
Half Hour of Horror is a horror movie podcast presented by Love Horror, the UK’s home for horror reviews, interviews and features.
Subscribe for new horror podcast episodes revisiting classic horror films, forgotten gems and cult favourites from across the genre.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Half Hour of Horror'
00:00:01
Speaker
I want to to you Tom and your mum and Josh's mum and Mike's mum I'm sorry to everyone out I was very naive i thought we could do a podcast called Half Hour of Horror because it was my project I insisted on everything insisted we were ready insisted we keep podcasting I insisted we film it everything had to be my way and that's where we've ended up it's because of me we're here now we're hungry
00:00:26
Speaker
Here we go. I love you Tom. I'm so sorry. I'm so scared to do this podcast. And end scene.
00:00:49
Speaker
and and end scene Is that good? Is that good? I wasn't sure whether to... didn't know if should laugh, cry, like Make sound effects. didn't know I should make a weird sort of noise like was in the trees.
00:01:04
Speaker
Yeah, you should have. Well, there you go. I just wiped my tears away. um So welcome. Welcome. ah Welcome to the podcast.
Blair Witch Scene and Fame
00:01:15
Speaker
This ah this is a half hour of horror ah with love horror.
00:01:20
Speaker
um And if you didn't guess already... This week, we're talking about, or this month, or whatever this episode, this episode I should have said, we're talking about the Blair Witch.
00:01:32
Speaker
And I would, do you know, ah that scene with the mucus and the, like the parodies of that are just endless, aren't they? It's pretty, it's pretty anyway. But yeah, sorry.
00:01:45
Speaker
Is that what made the film more famous, do you think? that the the The parodies of it? Maybe. Maybe. You know what? we'll We'll get to that. um I've started off, I started off with that silly gag. I'm sorry. But um like I say, this is the Half Hour of Horror with ah Love Horror. And I'm Alex Humphrey.
00:02:02
Speaker
And over there, there, I
Podcast Format and Tribute Discussion
00:02:05
Speaker
don't know. I'm Tom Atkinson. He's over there. That's Tom Atkinson. Your co-host for this ride into the deep, dark forests of the Appalachian Mountains. Is that right? Is that Appalachian? I think it is Appalachian, yeah. think so. What we did, we didn't say, didn't say, I'm going to talk business here. This is the wrong time to say this, but do we do the tribute bit before I do the rest of the intro? I think we should do the tribute bit.
00:02:29
Speaker
Oh, no, we should do the tribute a bit now. Yeah, let's have a drink. Have a drink, yeah. ah So yeah, what what we didn't mention in our little, if you've heard, our we did a little intro episode, a kind of minus one episode, and we kind of talked about how we do how we're going to do these podcasts. And one thing we didn't mention is each film, we're going to both bring like a tribute, can be anything to the thing. So you want to see my one? I'm going to show you my you should go first.
00:02:56
Speaker
My one is this. this beautiful second sight ah limited edition two disc Blu-ray box set. It is really beautiful. It's lovely. It's thing of beauty. It is a thing of beauty.
00:03:12
Speaker
includes multiple versions of the film. You get some postcards that I've left them in. There's multiple versions of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Different edits. Yeah, there's like the festival edit, the theatrical
Blair Witch Hype and Personal Cinema Experience
00:03:25
Speaker
edit. Oh, nice. You get this. Amazing.
00:03:27
Speaker
super duper book of essay essays essays have you read them all um yeah i've read all all of them no i haven't read um but yeah i yeah it was yeah it's got three yeah it's got it's got yeah three different versions um it's got alternate endings
Internet Marketing and Realism Impact
00:03:45
Speaker
it's got ah lots of like cut bits deleted scenes um yeah all sorts of stuff but yes this is a thing of beauty from second sight i don't think you can get them anymore you might be able to get it second hand but um yeah Is that the version you watched to ah we relive the film?
00:04:01
Speaker
It was. It was. To relive the horror. I did. I watched the theatrical version. So can you remember the first time you watched it? Do you know what? I can. i i remember it coming out. i remember there being a ton of hype about it.
00:04:15
Speaker
um And i'm remember going to cinema to see it. I think I saw it at Greenwich Picturehouse. It wasn't Picturehouse, but it was the council. It was the council-run Greenwich Cinema.
00:04:27
Speaker
Greenwich Council. It's just called Greenwich Cinema, I think. And i remember um i remember watching it. I remember that a lot of people said, all that jerky camera work stuff makes you throw up.
00:04:39
Speaker
So I was thinking, know I'm going to throw up. I didn't throw up. I didn't throw up. I remember really liking it. The person I was with... My girlfriend at the time was not very impressed. She thought it was load rubbish. but Did she throw up?
00:04:50
Speaker
She didn't throw up. but No one threw up. I don't know. I think these things about people throwing up is a myth. i don't think they They always try and entice people into horror films by saying people throw up when they see it. Like when we went to Terrify 3 and we got sick bags, didn't we?
00:05:05
Speaker
Yeah, we got sick bags. They didn't, yeah. Yes. Probably would have more thrown up than that. Throwing up's not making me want to go to see a film. Being scared, maybe, or, you know, entertained. Maybe.
00:05:17
Speaker
Yeah, maybe. Maybe. and it's ah It's totally off subject, but um there's a ah my dad always told me this funny story that he went to see The Exorcist And um obviously, it's same very again, very controversial film. People load a load of hype and stuff.
00:05:31
Speaker
And he was with a ah girl and um they both got bored and walked out. And outside were these like very ah religious people who were like, oh, my God, was it did it affect you so much? Do you need us to pray for you?
00:05:43
Speaker
And they just went, no, we just really bored. It was
Blair Witch Synopsis and Character Dynamics
00:05:46
Speaker
rubbish. And then just left. rubbish. Yeah. And they kind of these religious people, they're trying to save people's souls. were probably like, yes, yes. Yeah, we did it. We won. We need more of that.
00:05:56
Speaker
But yeah, so we're not here to about The Exodus. We've gone very off track. um We're here to talk about Blair Witch. And the Blair Witch Project opens with this great bit of text that, if you've never seen the film, pretty pretty much thumbs up.
00:06:09
Speaker
In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later, their footage was found. And that's the opening little bit of text, isn't it? That's it, isn't it? That's the text.
00:06:23
Speaker
It's pretty, it draws you in pretty quickly, doesn't it? That is kind of what want. Have we started talking about yet? Because I need to start the timer. Well, i only had only one more little thing to say my intro.
00:06:35
Speaker
Pre-timer. Pre-timer. Well, actually, sorry, I was very rude. do you remember seeing it the cinema, Tom? What do you remember about seeing it? um I think I saw it in Greenwich Cinema as well, actually, funny enough.
00:06:47
Speaker
So I saw it when it came out. ah think I think I saw the, the there was a documentary, ah fake documentary, which was part of the hype building. I think I saw that first.
00:06:58
Speaker
And I remember seeing in the cinema and Yeah, I really liked it and I thought it was really scary. And even though some of the acting I felt I could see through, I still wasn't quite sure.
00:07:10
Speaker
The marketing of it was, and it was of of that time when found footage was still very, very, in its early early days, or at least hadn't been done to that extent, really. yeah And so for a lot of the film, especially when you're really immersed in it, I was thinking, is it real?
00:07:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:29
Speaker
Well, that's good. You've segued me into what I was going to talk about before we really kind of dive in. I think this counts as not talking about it. But yeah, it was the first kind of film to use a very heavy kind of internet marketing campaign.
00:07:42
Speaker
um There were those fake news reports and stuff wasn't there on the website. And they
Technical Aspects and Found Footage Influence
00:07:46
Speaker
even, the IMDB page listed the three cast members as like missing, which is like pretty mugged up, but it was a pretty clever thing to do.
00:07:54
Speaker
Not that can remember IMDb back in 1999. don't even know if it existed. anyone To anyone out there who is looking up IMDb to see a little detail like that, props to you for being so ahead the time.
00:08:09
Speaker
because i think that was I can't even remember the internet. energy please It's true. It's true. um But saying like you say, saying about it being real is actually how they made the film.
00:08:21
Speaker
it is a bit more real than you think. So i don't know if you know all this. I'm sure you do. But... Wait, are we delving into the film here? Because... Well, I kind of talked about how it was made.
00:08:34
Speaker
ah don't know. i don't know if it's delving into... you want to startate start? Okay, start the timer. No, this will be the facts. No, no, no, it's good. no Okay. But like we we could start the timer and then this could come into the facts. Like I say, i'm not i'm not i'm not I'm not giving an opinion. This is yeah this is factual about making it. so But there is a facts section in the half hour part.
00:08:52
Speaker
Okay. It's after the discussion. There's cool Do you want to do there? breaking rules. I'm already breaking you think? Yeah, right. Leave it for later. It's just I'm scared that otherwise we're going to half an hour and then 15 minutes in we'll be like, oh, we've talked about everything.
00:09:06
Speaker
Oh, my God. Okay. not Either that or the half hour will be outside the half hour. That would be the worst Oh, no, that wouldn't be good. Okay, right. Look, but but start that timer. ah Okay, start the timer. Let's try it.
Realism and DIY Filming Style
00:09:16
Speaker
Let's start the It's all experimentation.
00:09:19
Speaker
um and Oh, I should point out when the timer's up. Yeah. Okay. When we've had our half hour talking about the Blair Witch in but in earnest, right we're going to hear this sound.
00:09:34
Speaker
That's the actual Blair Witch. That's the Blair Witch. She came in for a short recording session. Oh, wait. and wait and Before we go, i haven't even showed you my tribute yet. I just knocked my mic over.
00:09:48
Speaker
I was so shocked. I was so shocked. i knocked we We are very unrehearsed for this. Okay, right. What's your tribute? Oh, I love it. I love it. I love it. It looks great. real prop from... no It's not. You just went out the garden, didn't you?
00:10:04
Speaker
ah It was outside my tent this morning. Was it outside your tent? It was outside my tent. Oh my God. don't know what that means. Did you kick over some cans? Did you kick over some stones? I did. I kicked some stones over. I'll put it there.
00:10:17
Speaker
It's going to be watching us while we well we while we do it. Okay. Well, we've mucked this up because we've already started the time, haven't we? Have you started the time? No, I haven't started yet. but So listen out for the witch.
00:10:30
Speaker
Tributes watching. let's let's Let's jump in. Right. Go. Go. Oh, it's me first. Synopsis. Do you want synopsis? Give us a synopsis. Okay, so it's 1994. Yeah.
00:10:42
Speaker
yeah Three student filmmakers set out into the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland.
Editing's Role in Storytelling
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah. To make a documentary about local ah legend known as the Blair Witch. Yeah.
00:10:53
Speaker
uh first it seems like an ordinary project interviews with townsfolk um eerie folklore a simple hike through the forest but as the days pass their map produce their map proves useless it's the time pressure it's getting to me i can't i can't see the clock so i don't care No.
00:11:14
Speaker
Oh, God, yeah. It's because I keep staring
Impact on Horror Genre and Legacy
00:11:16
Speaker
at Strange sounds echo through the trees at night and crude stick figures, ah that one like that one, appear outside their tent. Tensions rise, paranoia sets in, and their journey descends into chaos.
00:11:28
Speaker
What begins as a search for the truth becomes a haunting record of fear as the three vanish without trace, leaving only their footage behind. Oh, that's good.
00:11:39
Speaker
Was that a bit a detailed synopsis? That was great. That was a great synopsis. Makes me want to watch it, and I've watched it. That was great.
Controversies and Alternate Endings
00:11:46
Speaker
the film where do we start with the cast do you want to talk about the cast first well i guess yeah i mean i'll dip into what was kind of saying that you said i couldn't say i'll dip back into that but it was shot in eight days which is crazy that shot in eight days yeah but it was actually they did 20 hours of footage and it caught and it took them eight months to then edit that down um but like say the way how they made it was very interesting because
00:12:14
Speaker
They didn't really... They gave everyone, I think it was a 35-page outline of the mythology. So the three cast members had that. um Like you said about the interviews, they didn't know who they were interviewing. They just kind of pointed in the direction of certain people. They didn't know if those people were actors, if they were real people.
00:12:31
Speaker
um All the stuff they filmed was them filming it. um There wasn't cameramen. The directors, um the guys the kinds of the guys that wrote it all, um Daniel Muric and Eduardo Sanchez,
00:12:43
Speaker
they were ah They had a radio and they would kind of radio them to make sure they were kind of staying on track. They'd leave leave little notes for them in 35ml cans and milk crates. It's crazy.
00:12:54
Speaker
Yeah, and they would kind of like... Real
Scariest Scenes and Personal Reactions
00:12:56
Speaker
method acting, really, isn't well, that's the thing. I mean, and that is the thing. And that's where it is actually real because a lot of the stuff that happens, a lot of the real scarier bits...
00:13:06
Speaker
They didn't know that was going to happen. So something like the bit with the tent where they're getting attacked in the tent, they didn't know that would happen at all. So their reactions, they are reacting. It's not acting. It is reacting. Yeah.
00:13:19
Speaker
So it's kind of a funny one to say. face it, when you're in the woods in America, like that's unplanned stuff totally could have happened anyway. Like bears, mountain lions, you know. Oh God, yeah. If we believe the horror films, you know, crazy rednecks just running around. Well, that's what they think it is, isn't it?
00:13:37
Speaker
I mean, I would say that straight off the bat, that is one of the cleverest things about this film is that you never really You're never really sure whether it is just people playing prank on them, if this mythology stuff is real, isn't real.
00:13:52
Speaker
I think it's really clever as well that they don't just have one, it's not
Cultural Impact and Viewing Recommendations
00:13:56
Speaker
one legend. There's not just the legend of the witch. There's also you there's the the story that the the old woman tells about seeing a woman covered in fur and stuff.
00:14:04
Speaker
There's the story of the kind of um Rustin Parr, the guy that kills kids. There's um a story that they just saw something, that the fishermen see something, don't they? there's like There's quite a lot of stuff compounded on top of it, which makes it feel...
00:14:19
Speaker
all that mythology stuff. And just as you say, the way it's put together to have this kind of opening bit where they're kind of getting the getting the gear together and you're kind of seeing the relationships between the main three and then they do the interviews and then it's in the woods and then kind of, that's where it goes off track a bit, which is what's, that's where it gets interesting. Yeah.
00:14:39
Speaker
um Well, it's it's interesting as well because the the general sort of that confusion about what exactly it is, you know, people have lots of different stories. I mean, it's very much something that you see on social media nowadays when people talk about the Appalachian Mountains, which is the sort of area where this was filmed.
00:14:56
Speaker
um People still say weird stuff happens there and it'll be different stories and things. Oh, yeah. Sometimes witches, sometimes shapeshifting creatures and stuff. So oh there probably is some sort of mystic energy. So it could be a combination of all those things. maybe Yeah. I don't know.
00:15:11
Speaker
Yeah. And I think as well, that I mean, i think that you have to give props to all three of them. So it's Heather, Joshua and Mike. um but they're played by Played by Heather, Joshua and Mike. yeah although That's i mean an important
Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
00:15:26
Speaker
thing to note. It's an important thing to Although they said one of their biggest regrets is they used their full real names because it just meant everyone knew exactly who they were.
00:15:34
Speaker
um but i'm Not only that, but that's what caused them problems as well, isn't it? Yeah, I think it did. Or is it too early to talk about that? Maybe it's too early to be talk about that. Should we talk about that on Furtulba?
00:15:45
Speaker
I think the characters, because they are characters, the characters are really interesting because Heather is kind of, she's like obsessed with filming everything and she wants to document everything. And she's the one who's kind of the presenter of the documentaries and she, and then you've got Mike, who's the one that they don't know so well. He's like not really, they're not old friends like her and Josh. ah Yeah. And he's,
00:16:11
Speaker
He's kind of saying a lot of what we're thinking, which is like, what the hell are you doing? Stop filming. Just get out of there. like Although he ends up doing the worst thing pretty much by throwing the map away, doesn't he?
00:16:24
Speaker
Which is like one of the worst things. And then you have... Yeah, sorry. Well, then you have Josh who's kind of like the kind of peacemaker who's kind of in the middle.
00:16:35
Speaker
But what I think watching it this time round, I think what's so clever is they all actually shift roles. So there's parts where like, you know, Josh is the one who's the most angry. Heather's the peacemaker.
00:16:47
Speaker
Mike's the one who's trying to like, you know, saying to carry on. They all shift roles and the kind of their descent into madness Because they do all go proper mad. I mean, at one point, they all have massive breakdowns.
00:17:02
Speaker
I mean, quite rightly so as well. um I think that's really well done and it's it's very simple, but it it works so well. I think, yeah, that... that ah that you touched on there where they do kind of keep having changes of ah yeah dot the who's who's the angry one who's the calm one who's crying that again does make it really realistic yeah because that's exactly what would happen in that kind of a situation people would freak out each other make up yeah ah Then someone else goes a bit crazy and like needs some support. And you've got everything really from like delirious kind of, there's almost delirium at one point when they're like really hungry and stuff and they're fantasizing about food and they're of giggling.
00:17:47
Speaker
and then like, and other times they're just crying. Other times they're fighting. yeah And um yeah, like it does, it just makes it all, ah yeah, the the emotion is very real.
00:17:59
Speaker
Yeah. And I think as well, it's it's a very short film. It's one those films where when I think about it, it's a lot longer. In my head, it's a lot longer. And also in my head, there's a lot more to it.
00:18:11
Speaker
Like it's a lot more complicated. There's a lot more happens. And also i I was convinced you see things and you don't really see. I mean, this this whole podcast full of spoilers, by the way. So it's bit late to say it. Oh, yeah. If you haven't seen this film already, then I'm sorry. It's going to be spoiled a little bit.
00:18:30
Speaker
But like you you think... they do that They do a great job but with you making you think you've seen something when you probably haven't seen anything.
00:18:41
Speaker
And I think as well, like I say, in my head, there's a lot of them running around. There's a lot of the jerky cameras, a lot of them swearing. What was that? What was that? It's actually that's actually a very short period. It's actually more towards the end when.
00:18:54
Speaker
Josh has been kidnapped and there's horrible bits when he's like calling from the forest and they don't know if they should go out or or not to go and find him. And that's that's all just, I mean, i mean at the bottom the bottom line of what this film does, it taps into pretty much everyone's primal fear of the dark and and the kind of unknown, which is basically the dark as well.
00:19:17
Speaker
So it does that so well. you you You can't help but be freaked out by it. I don't i ah guess, and like you said, this is someone who just doesn't believe it and they just don't get on with the characters. Maybe they find them annoying.
00:19:31
Speaker
ah really think it's it's so effective, like even today and all the, you know, the way it's made and everything, we we people would be doing it on their phones, I guess, now. But it just still works, I thought.
00:19:44
Speaker
I think what's quite funny about it is the bad quality of it. Like yeah there is a lot of like where you can't really see a lot going on. And it's it was surprising to me watching it back, imagining back in 1999, I sat in a cinema.
00:19:59
Speaker
Yeah. And I wasn't just sitting there going, what the hell? I can't see what's going on. I didn't feel like that when I watched it. There's moments where it's just black and you can hear someone talking. Yeah, to have that as a film. It did exactly what it was supposed to do, which put me so in the place of those characters that I didn't even think about the quality of it. It was shot on lot of its camcorder footage and really grainy. I mean, that on a big screen nowadays If you watch the film that shot on an old 90s camcorder on a big screen in a cinema, you'd be like, what the hell Why the hell is someone making me watch this? But you get because you're so immersed, the quality of it doesn't matter.
00:20:38
Speaker
And it's just so real. And they do the really clever thing of having the two cameras. So not only can you have crossover shots where you can see everything, but it's that the the kind of the 35mm or 16mm whatever it is, the the black and white footage is what is the documentary they're making and the camcorder is documenting the documentary. And I think a lot of found footage films...
00:21:00
Speaker
the one of the big no-nos of found footage is when you're just like, why are they filming that? Who would be filming that? It makes no sense that the camera's still on. They'd have turned it off. It's silly. But within this, there were very few moments where I was like, no, actually, why are they filming that? There's there's actually not very many moments where you think,
00:21:20
Speaker
no they wouldn't and even then they get away with it because heather's so obsessed with documenting everything that and she's kind of pushing her agenda of like we have to film everything um and it it just yeah just it just works like it's it's scary as hell it gave me it does it gave me night it gave i watched it late at night and it gave me a nightmare that night and my nightmare and and yeah And my nightmare was way more, like I was loads more to the plot in my nightmare and it wasn't as good because it was loads more to the plot. And that's why this is so good because there's not very much to it.
00:21:55
Speaker
um but yeah Did you just wake up and say, well, that was disappointing. Did you say that but that wasn't as good as the film? No, ah it made me appreciate the film more because i was like, well, I've overcomplicated that. It's good that it's nightmare-inducing. Oh, really was. thought was the last time saw a horror film that gave me a nightmare. i don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
00:22:10
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, going back to the camera, the black and white camera thing. Actually, going back to the the camcorder, there's that ah scene where I think Josh is – or is it Mike grabs the camera and starts filming Heather – Oh, the the kind of bit where he's like, whole and he says what's your motivation? Now know why you like this.
00:22:32
Speaker
but yeah And he sort said, now I know why you like filming all the time because it feels like it's not real or something. yeah yeah and And so, yeah, that's a nice little sort of observation. yeah The black and white, i was just goingnna say, is like, it's not even just normal black and white.
00:22:48
Speaker
apparently and And this is another one those things where, um behind the scenes they were doing lots of clever stuff. They did something called like ah push pushing the push in the film stock or something. I think it was called pushed.
00:23:01
Speaker
and And it's where they sort of underexposed the film stock. So they were filming underexposed. It was like the ISO level on it. They were show shooting using the wrong type of film for that sort of a setup oh and then overexposing it afterwards. and then what that did was create that really kind of jarring where the darks are really dark and the lights ah you can't really see anything and that's what adds to that kind of nightmarish there's this film have you ever watched um the begotten if you have you got nothing it's called it's like a it's like this art house horror film it's like a nightmare it's just if if you watch that you'd have a nightmare it's on youtube and another one it's an old film from the 90s i think or noughties
00:23:44
Speaker
And that is just the same sort of grainy, horrible, nightmarish feel. And I think that was cleverly – don't know if like – yeah, it just it's messes with your psyche basically. But there's a lot of skill in – gillil in making Like, if you when you see a bad film or a badly made film, you you are aware of it.
00:24:10
Speaker
And this isn't a badly made film. This is a well-made film. And it's because, like I said, they shot so much. And, you know, you could say, oh, yeah, but the the director's the guy that wrote it. They didn't really write it improvised. so They didn't really...
00:24:22
Speaker
film it they filmed it but it's actually in that editing they were the story is was in the editing um and that's how they made the film in the edit and that's it's very very well edited it's very very well put together and A lot of found footage films aren't very well put together or aren't very well filmed. And it shows and it shows how that you really need to be. Although found footage is great genre because it ah it's cheap and it opens it up to everyone and anyone can make this type of film.
00:24:53
Speaker
You still need to have the ideas and have the talent to be able to put something together. If you don't have the talent or the ideas, it just doesn't work. And there's a heck of a lot of bad found footage films. Totally. Well, I mean, this was the problem, wasn't it? Off the back of this, lots of people then thought, great, because this was famous for being a film that had ah type a micro budget and it made tons of money. Everyone just thought.
00:25:15
Speaker
and And let's be honest, it is the easiest way to make a film because you you can do everything first person. You can use natural light. It's super easy to quickly do a film. And a lot of people are even still doing it now to...
00:25:27
Speaker
make quick and dirty horror films. But yeah um this does prove that when done right, you can make a film that's micro budget just as effective as scaring people as the big blockbuster stuff.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And just like I say, scaring people but without really no big effects or big like real big scares really. It's scaring people without really scaring them or scaring them without them knowing they're scared, I think in a way. Totally. Yeah.
00:25:56
Speaker
So, i mean, performances, let's talk about the acting in it. Who did you was everyone good? Did you believe everyone? I think they're all in good. places I think they're all good, but I do, I do, i would, I would agree with you that there are maybe two or three moments where,
00:26:11
Speaker
that feel more scripted or more engineered. I think it's that bit when there is a bit when he's, I think it is Josh filming Heather and he's like, what's your motivation? Like you're alone, you're in the woods, you're scared. Like what's your motivation? which And it's, it's quite a cool, it's quite a cool moment. It's got some cool lines, but it feels, that feels scripted. That feels like something they were fed.
00:26:33
Speaker
Like he was given that little speech and he did that speech and she just reacted to that speech. I think that moment feels a bit over the top. um You know, like said, the bit I did at the beginning, i actually think that is actually very well done. And that is a monologue. yeah that's I think that's actually very well done. It does feel very real.
00:26:50
Speaker
And the fact that she's like the snot and her eyes ah streaming and it does, like I say, was it's been parodied used so many times, but I think it is very effective.
00:27:01
Speaker
um Yeah, I mean, props to those guys. like they were This was early in their acting careers. All of them now are still involved in some capacity in um you know um TV or film.
00:27:12
Speaker
But I mean, yeah, like considering how early on this was, like some of the performances... ah really good. I mean, I think Heather does have one or two slightly wobbly moments where she's a little bit... Yeah, I think she has to do the I think she's got the heavy lifting of the whole film.
00:27:29
Speaker
I think she has the most pronounced character. She's got to be almost... not the villain really, but you could call her the villain in a way because she's the one who's making, know, a lot of it's, there's a lot of blame on her for what they're made to do. They kind blame her and that's for right or wrong. So I think she has the most to do. funny though, isn't it? Cause I don't, I mean, I know the guys, all the people involved with this did do other stuff. They didn't do that much though.
00:27:57
Speaker
It didn't become, they didn't become as big as other people of who don't think as famous as this, they they didn't all kind of transcend, did they? didn't It didn't really... The weird thing is, I mean, I have been in... I've had a message exchange with Heather um previously and ah obviously wanted to try and get an interview with her while things were still a bit rocky with them and Lionsgate because of all the whole... ah They couldn't use their names and they didn't really get paid an awful lot of money for how successful the film was, et cetera.
00:28:30
Speaker
yeah And ah yeah, she didn't she didn't want to talk about it. And you do get a bit of a sense that all three of them felt maybe a bit burnt from this like yeah early... i mean, it so it's always hard, isn't it, when you're in like one of the biggest horror films ever.
00:28:44
Speaker
ah think it's like the 38th highest grossing horror film ever made. Well, it's got it's got Guinness. Well, I've got here from IMDb that has a Guinness World Record for the top budget box office ratio.
00:28:56
Speaker
So it cost $60,000 and it made $248 million. of $1 to every $10,931 made. So that's insane. mean, that is insane. And made so that's insane i mean that is just insane and how much were they initially paid Well, this is the thing. So I don't think, so yeah, I've read a little bit, but they weren't really paid very much. They were given probably like a student.
00:29:19
Speaker
They were paid $1,000 off each. $1,000 for the filming. And it was only years later, I think 2004 when they kicked off, that they got $300,000 each. And you think how big it was. Even $300,000. You know, there were video games, sequels, books. all sorts of stuff. It spawned a massive, oh yeah, that's bit crazy, isn't it? And because they'd used their real names, then the Lionsgate or whoever it was who at the time was distributing and then making sequels and stuff had the right to reuse their names as much as they wanted without any kind of compensation. I think that was another.
00:29:57
Speaker
So, yeah, it's crazy. but Strangely enough, I did notice that the guy who played Josh has been in another film not too long ago where his character was called Josh again. but So he didn't learn first time. No, he didn't learn anything.
00:30:10
Speaker
Yeah. Or he's got some, you know, some kind of nice bit of legal maybe stuff in there to cover himself. Maybe he just has to be called Josh in every film he's in. I don't know. Yeah, maybe.
00:30:21
Speaker
and I was going to say Mike's, there's this one bit I don't like in it. Maybe the only bit in it that I don't like, and it's where Mike laughs and tells them he got rid of the map.
00:30:31
Speaker
Oh, you don't like that? I feel he doesn't, he's not very convincing. He's sort of doing a bit of a deranged laugh. And this is coming from someone who finds it very hard to do fake laughs. So I feel his pain. Do a fake laugh right now.
00:30:49
Speaker
It's the worst fake laugh ever. Sorry, Mike, are, you're way better than me. not doing a fake laugh. That was a terrible fake laugh. It was a Sandy Warlock and asthma attack. um but But he's just kind of, he goes marching off and he's just, ha!
00:31:03
Speaker
ah Yeah, now I know what you mean. no And they were like, oh, why are you laughing? And then he's just like, oh, I got rid of the map. Yeah. Yeah, and I think... And you're what? The reaction's good to it. Yeah, and i but I think it is important, as I've said, that this film...
00:31:20
Speaker
very much is that kind of, um you know, it's kind of like the, ah it's you you don't really know. It's good that he gets rid of the map because then there's an actual real world reason why they're so lost. And it's not that supernaturally the map got taken or anything like that. Like i think some things do need, it's good when they have explanation for certain things because then when other things happen later that don't really have explanations, then you're more willing to kind of go,
00:31:50
Speaker
Oh God, it's a suspension of not really knowing if it's just, yeah, just the locals mucking around with them or a psychopath that lives in the woods or, yeah, or just like crazy hillbillies that are going to eat them or something supernatural. You don't really know.
00:32:06
Speaker
And I think... the ending is so powerful because it's so simple. And in fact, i I mean, they did do... Happens so quickly as well, doesn't it? Yeah. Well, as I say, they did alternate endings um to the film.
00:32:23
Speaker
So, i at well, number one, when they filmed the ending, um Heather was hyperventilating. She was so scared that they had to do the whole thing again because she was so freaked out by what what happened at the end.
00:32:36
Speaker
But... um yeah they What I read was that they they tested the ending with audiences, how it was, and people liked it, but they found it confusing. They didn't understand what that was.
00:32:47
Speaker
So they made several other endings. So there's an ending there's an ending where he's surrounded by a hanging stick man. There's one where he's hanging from it where he's hanging from a noose. There's one where he's levitating.
00:33:01
Speaker
Stick man, yeah. There's one where levitating. So a lot more bit like more obvious endings. But in the end... they were actually pretty happy with the original. So what they did and how they made it work was that whole Rustin Parr interview wasn't ever there. They filmed that afterwards so that understood... Ah, the one where it said about... About the turning, yeah. So you understood clearly... The children being told stand facing the wall or whatever it was, yeah. Yeah, so you understood a bit more clearly...
00:33:28
Speaker
So that interview is the only interview that the the three didn't actually do. And the studio actually, you know, much as they obviously mucked the actors around afterwards, they did in fact honour that that was the ending of the film. um i also, I mean, also initially, the plan for initially was to have it bookended with um interviews with their parents and police stuff.
00:33:50
Speaker
and then So then this would be the middle of the film and you would have a kind of beginning, a pre in and an after, which was the investigation. And obviously a lot of that footage made up all the online stuff, which heightened the reality.
00:34:02
Speaker
But I actually think it's a more powerful film just to just... to know that you're just watching what was recorded, like, you know, and it's not in sequence, obviously it is edited, but to know that you're just watching it like that, I think that feels better rather than having this kind of like someone popping up and saying, well, we searched that area and we didn't like, that would have felt more fake. And again, that really would, if the acting was no good in that, if you had one dodgy person, it would have ruined the whole thing.
00:34:28
Speaker
so Yeah, this this is exactly how it would have been, you know, if it truly was found footage and they were like, this is all the footage we had with yeah roughly cut it together to try and get a picture of what happened and when.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah. and This is how it would look. So that's the the the the way it is, that ah sequential yeah thing that we get to watch with the film is perfect as far as I'm concerned.
00:34:53
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, ah two things I've got to say. Best acting for me was the little kid. Oh, that's amazing that bit. That bit's so horrible, isn't So creepy. She's telling the story and he's like, no, mummy. First he picks his nose, which is method, as method as you get. yeah And then he sort puts his hand over her mouth and she starts saying what it is.
00:35:13
Speaker
And that sort adds to even, you know, I'm sure, you know. Yeah, I don't know how they did that, but I mean, that's just maybe that's just fortuitous that just happened that way. But that yeah, that bit is really freaky. I don't like that bit. And then um the freakiest bit for me, actually, if we're talking about freaky, I don't like the little kids' hands prints on the wall the house.
00:35:32
Speaker
The black hand prints. When you see that when they're going around, that's like, oh. is that free what What's your freakiest bit? Which is the worst part for you? The teeth in the thing is pretty horrible.
00:35:45
Speaker
Just when she opens it up and there's just like, the you can't really even know what it is. And then you see the teeth are in there. That's really horrible. I think just, there's just bits when they're in the woods and you, they're just like screaming and running around the woods. And like I could say, when Josh is calling to them, I think they're just, it's so evocative. Like it just, it feels, you feel cold and you feel like you're like in it. you Like you say, you're just so engrossed in it. You feel like you're in it.
00:36:12
Speaker
You know, that you know the bit when she's running, And she's like, what the fuck is that? Like that. And when they're running in the woods, yeah there was supposed to be, you were supposed to see the witch at that point.
00:36:24
Speaker
Oh. Yeah. So basically the yeah cameraman was supposed to pan left and you would see what was was a woman wearing a white gown. But it was actually, it was actually the art director in white long johns, white stockings and white pantyhose pulled over his head running next to them.
00:36:41
Speaker
But obviously that's why she reacts like that because there is something running next to her. and again but even that even the fact that the shot didn't they didn't work they didn't get that shot and then they couldn't do it again but even the fact that you like i say it's it's one of those films where i swear you see stuff that isn't there but that's because your brain is seeing things or you're you're so into it that you you feel like you've seen it when you haven't i think that works so well you can't really make out what you're looking at you can't really make out even what you're hearing when you hear noises in the woods so you're just sort of like yeah is that a kid is that a man is it an animal like what hell it's such good ending went three minutes we've got three minutes three minutes before time runs out okay it's such I think it's such a powerful ending it's so scary that ending is horrible that building is horrible we've all seen buildings like that those kind of derelict buildings of the graffiti on that it's yeah it is just horrible thankfully I've never been in one
00:37:35
Speaker
No, but god not that anyway don't go in there. And then if in anything, it definitely made me never want to go into one of those as well. um It's a cautionary tale. Don't go in the woods.
00:37:47
Speaker
Don't go in those buildings. Don't do it. Don't kick a map in the river. If you're listening at home, listen to this. It's a lesson. Watch this film and follow the rules. And was there any other facts you wanted to drop? Any more fact bombs my only other facts I had?
00:38:04
Speaker
My only other fact was ah that the um the person that plays Mary Brown... So you know when she does the story about the furry, that's Patricia Deku.
00:38:16
Speaker
Deku? Deku. I'm going to say her name right. But ah she was the only person when they were looking for um the the production put out flyers to get an intern and she signed up to be their intern.
00:38:28
Speaker
amazing. Yeah, so she's a college student. But that scene is actually at her house and that is her makeshift wooden gate. Wait, this is the religious looking woman who's kind of quite...
00:38:40
Speaker
yeah yeah the old woman who's in quite scary yeah yeah she's just that she's just a yeah she's a college student the world's oldest college student um that's they refer to in the commentary but yeah that gate that wooden gate that is just a gate like that is just her house yeah it's kind of weird isn't it but that's a really good like performance because yeah totally buy that she's just some kind of crazy old woman that they found in the in in the village or something like That gate had to be inspiration for the figures, surely, because it looks like the Blair Witch made the gate throughout. Yeah, I mean, that's another really good bit, actually, the bit with all that. mean, that's an iconic, they managed to come up with something iconic in that little, just that little figure is an iconic kind of image, isn't it? They've done very well with getting that, I think, as well.
00:39:27
Speaker
Definitely. Yeah. I wonder if she did anything else then. The oldest student. in Kept on studying. kept on Maybe she finally bought herself a gate. Hard at it. Maybe she's still there. Maybe she's still ah maybe she's still studying now. Maybe.
00:39:41
Speaker
Gate making. And studying lots different things. Links. Love Horror Links. So I've got a couple of suggestions. Go on then. Shall give you a couple of, well, first of all, obviously you've got Book of Shadows, Blair Witch 2.
00:39:52
Speaker
Yeah. I've not watched it. I think i've seen bits of No, haven't seen it either. This is a terrible thing to say, but I was not interested. No. it It wasn't fan footage.
00:40:03
Speaker
No. I heard bad things, and I thought it would ruin yeah and everything for me. No, it's not. There is a sequel in the 2016 Blair Witch. Yeah. um Again, I haven't watched that.
00:40:16
Speaker
No, I haven't seen either. So, um again, i think the original guys, directors, were involved in the production of both. Oh, okay. Still a bit writing. Yeah. I think i think they were both producers, um but didn't direct. not really involved.
00:40:32
Speaker
No. Another good one from that time, actually. Oh, my God. Hold on.
00:40:41
Speaker
happened. The Blair Witch. She's the Blair Witch. She's trying to tell us. She's calling time on that. So we'll just very quickly up. We did pretty good. was just going say one more. Paranormal Activity as well. that's a one. Similar in the found footage stuff a while later, 2007.
00:40:58
Speaker
But again, it was another one of those ones. They originally said that only cost $15,000 to make and that made $194 million. So sort of similar in some ways. And if you haven't seen that, you should see that. Yeah. or I mean, you on love horror my ah my ones, I've got a couple.
00:41:13
Speaker
ah Cartoon Network did a TV special called The Scooby-Doo Project. So it was I think it was an i think they it was a night of showing Scooby-Doo, and then there were these little like maybe two-minute bits where the Scooby-Doo gang basically do Blair Witch, and it's actually really good.
00:41:29
Speaker
And it's, so yeah, it's worth watching. It's all on. Wait, so was it broken up into small bits? I think it was. Is it available? Yeah. ah together yes you can find it on youtube all there's one thing but um when you're watching it it's like two little two minute or little sections but it's actually very well done it's kind of real world but with the cartoon characters in the real world so yeah so that's worth checking out um also i mean hey go on love horror and look at our top 10 found footage horror films there's some great ones on there um some brilliant ones i would say
00:42:01
Speaker
I forgot we had a list, but yeah, we should check that as well. because Well, it needs to be updated because there was one on there that I didn't agree with. um But the only thing I will say is obviously a lot of people were saying like, oh, Blair Witch invented found footage. It's like, oh, it was the first.
00:42:16
Speaker
Cannibal Holocaust, 1980. That is a film. If you're into this kind of thing, you need to watch it. I will say, and so don't normally say this kind of thing, it has got some quite bad animal cruelty in it, so...
00:42:28
Speaker
You know, we all love horror here. That doesn't mean that you might you might like animal cruelty. and it is some I mean, yeah talk about real. They do do some pretty mucked up stuff, real stuff to animals. So maybe be aware of that when you watch it I think you can watch an edited version without that. But that is a brilliant film. And it kind of, i mean, there's no way that Blair Witch wasn't inspired by that film. It definitely was. No. Yeah.
00:42:50
Speaker
Definitely. I heard another weird... I was going to say my only other weird link that I didn't know existed was that there was a series young adult books called The Blair Witch Files that centre on Cade Merrill, a fictional cousin of Heather Donoghue who investigates phenomena related to The Blair Witch.
00:43:12
Speaker
So kind of like Goosebumps type, but Blair Witch. That might be where Blair Witch... That sounds a bit like the synopsis of Blair Witch 2016. So we should check that out. It might be that the that film was based on that those book, maybe. be There's loads of them. From what i saw.
00:43:31
Speaker
They've got terrible names. I'm sure someone who's listening will be able to tell us that. They've got really weird names like The Night Shifters and Blood Nightmare and... the drowning ghost at some of the names.
00:43:44
Speaker
Yeah. Much as I appreciate the Blair Witch Project and um think it was worthy of, you know, yeah franchise. At the same time, I just love the straight up simplicity of it all.
00:43:56
Speaker
And yeah for me, I'm happy just to just see the original. Don't need the rest. For that to be it. No, I agree. No, I agree. I agree with that. So to summarise, did you like it the second time round? I still love it. I still think it's a brilliant film. I think it's it i think it's it works so well. It's in ma amazingly evocative and effective. And like you say, it just draws you straight in and you're just there. And it is scary.
00:44:22
Speaker
And it does so much with so small. I think it was so inspirational to so many, like, People and for better or worse, i mean, you did get a load of kind of some good films out of this, like Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield, Wreck. There's some really good ones out there.
00:44:39
Speaker
There's a load, a load of bad films that came from this, but that's not Blair Witch's fault. It's not Blair Witch's fault. No, and I kind of think that in a way... the legacy Blair, which kind of carries on because although you might not make a film like that anymore, but then as, as cam, as you know, camcorders changed or people using their phones or webcams or stuff like that, you know, something like Rob Savage's host and dash cam, they're both brilliant found footage esque type films using more modern technology.
00:45:09
Speaker
And so I think, you still have films like Blair Witch, but just advancing with the kind of technology that's available. So like, you know, whatever comes next, I'm sure someone will do a kind of found footage style thing with whatever that technique, whether it was Google Glass or something, you know, wearable tech or something like that, it will come.
00:45:27
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, for for for the fact of its its legacy, um but just for the fact that it is just still scary, it just really is. And it's just still a really brilliant film. So like, What are you scoring it?
00:45:40
Speaker
Well, what do you think first? Give me your summary. How many stars? Oh, I would give it a five. Yeah. and Oh, it's a five star. Five for me. Yeah, I mean. I second all the stuff you say. i think it's interesting watching it. I don't think I actually watched that many times. I think sometimes when there's a film like this that I see in the cinema, it has a big impact on me. I've definitely seen it since.
00:46:01
Speaker
Yeah. But um I tried to sort of leave it alone and that that experience was the way i wanted it to be remembered. Oh, yeah definitely. Yeah. um But obviously re-watching. And then doing a bit of like looking into how it was made and stuff and looking at all these facts.
00:46:15
Speaker
I've got even more of an appreciation of it. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, watching it recently and like how how they were better acting than I remembered because I think I went in with a more cynical mindset.
00:46:29
Speaker
yeah And ah yeah, just the appreciation of how the directors got that real performance out of it. and the kind of torture that the cast went through. yeah ah Like but during the filming.
00:46:40
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Yeah. the fact That wasn't me talking about the ah stuff afterwards. so um But yeah. um So yeah. it like And yeah, I would have always had it down as a five star horror, but um knowing even more and appreciating even more, it's five gold stars now. whoa five Five gold stars. We don't do that. Not that that exists. We don't do that. We don't do that.
00:47:02
Speaker
Wow. There you go. Five stars. five and Five from both of us, which means it gets five. i mean, was there a doubt? I mean, and yeah. That's the Blair Witch Project for you.
00:47:12
Speaker
um What is our next episode about, Tom? Well, so should should we let should we let people know? Yes, we should. I kind of feel like we should tell people what the next episode is.
00:47:26
Speaker
Okay, so next one we're going to be looking at is um one that is great at certain times of the year in particular. um it's That's a good clue. It's a sequel.
00:47:39
Speaker
It's a sequel that has a lot of love and hate, and particularly when it first came out. and is part of one of the biggest franchises in all of horror it is like this halloween three season of the witch oh i knew it was that but i'm still shocked i'll be the audience i'm really excited oh my god i'm really excited about it i mean yeah like i say see this is one of those podcasts where it's not like going to be a mystery whether we like these films or not we obviously like these films and we've obviously seen these films as well so yes that's what you're getting you're getting halloween 3 season of the witch in time for halloween let's hope should if you if you like it come come listen if you don't like it and you want us to talk you around come listen and if you uh haven't even seen it yet as well we'll try not to spoil it too much and maybe it will entice you to think we're gonna spoil it i think it's too hard this is the hard thing with these is that you get to a point you say something and you're half said it now so like you know Watch it first and then come back. There will spoilers.
00:48:40
Speaker
Or listen to the – I mean, you did a really nice synopsis there. Maybe they could listen up to the synopsis and then go, pause. I'm going to go watch that and come back. Yeah, that will work. Yeah, do that. Watch along. Watch along with us, guys. Watch along.
00:48:53
Speaker
Could do. Well, thank you for joining us. This was Half Hour of Horror with Love Horror. It was our first run at this, so I think we i think we did pretty good. we're bit it was We mucked around a bit, but we were good.
00:49:06
Speaker
We're good. I think we're good. We'll get better. We've still got it. We've still got it. We haven't lost it. We never lost it. as As we said on our um little intro episode, get in touch.
00:49:18
Speaker
Tell us what you think of the podcast. Send us some suggestions of what you might want us to watch. um Did you agree? Did you disagree? Just tell us. We'd like to hear from you. um Anything else to add?
00:49:32
Speaker
See you next time. See you next time. We need a catchphrase. Stay spooky. No, that's terrible. The Blair Witch. so Do your fake laugh again. That's
00:49:49
Speaker
Like that? It's better that time. Yeah, that was good. Thanks, guys. Bye.