The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.

Directors:

Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez (as Eduardo Sanchez)

Writers:

Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez (as Eduardo Sanchez)

Stars:

Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard

18 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Heather Donahue	...	Heather Donahue
Joshua Leonard	...	Joshua 'Josh' Leonard
Michael C. Williams	...	Michael 'Mike' Williams (as Michael Williams)
Bob Griffin	...	Short Fisherman
Jim King	...	Interviewee
Sandra Sánchez	...	Waitress (as Sandra Sanchez)
Ed Swanson	...	Fisherman With Glasses
Patricia DeCou	...	Mary Brown
Mark Mason	...	Man in Yellow Hat
Susie Gooch	...	Interviewee with Child (as Jackie Hallex)

Storyline

In search of a local legend, three bold amateur documentarians--director, Heather; cameraman, Josh; sound recorder, Mike--hike into Burkittsville's gloomy Black Hills Forest to find a shadow: the fabled Blair Witch. Now, one long year later--after that fateful October of 1994--there's still no sign of the student filmmakers, apart from the raw footage they left behind. Who knows what truly happened during their creepy five-day journey into the mouth of madness? Was there, indeed, an intangible supernatural presence in the dark woods that led to the team's disappearance? Either way, the missing trio must have seen something. Could the nightmarish myth be real?

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Plot Keywords:

found footage | lost in the woods | supernatural horror | ghost story | maryland | 

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Taglines:

Before Cloverfield... There was... The Blair Witch Project.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Blair Witch Project

Filming Locations:

Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,512,054, 18 July 1999

Gross USA:

$140,539,099

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$248,639,099

Company Credits

Production Co:

Haxan Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min 88 min (Special Edition)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sanchez and Myrick wanted Heather to have a sort of Captain Ahab quality (obsessively documenting everything). Heather Donahue had that. Mike's function in the film is to say the things the audience is probably thinking. And Josh (for a time) is the team peacemaker.

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Goofs

In Mike's reference to "The Wizard of Oz" in which he asks "Wicked Witch of the West, Wicked Witch of the East, which one was bad?" And Heather answers "Wicked Witch of the West was the bad one." Actually both Witches were bad. The Witch of the North was the good one.

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Quotes

Heather Donahue: Mike, relax.
Michael Williams: Don't fuckin' tell me to relax!

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Crazy Credits

The beginning and end credits are designed in the style of a documentary, e.g. jumping slightly, static instead of rolling credits.

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Alternate Versions

The film's CD soundtrack includes an enhanced CD-ROM portion which includes a scene not shown in the film, more of the three arguing about which direction to go, in which Heather and Mike nearly leave Josh behind.

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Connections

Referenced in Demonicus (2001)

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Soundtracks

America The Beautiful
Lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates (as Katherine Lee Bates)
Music by Samuel A. Ward
Sung a cappella by Joshua Leonard

User Reviews

Sorry we couldn't supply the eye candy most of you are so used to.....

I think I know why Blair Witch has generated as much negative as positive responses. It FORCES YOU TO BECOME INVOLVED IN THE MOVIE GOING EXPERIENCE!

Wow. What a concept. Instead of sitting there like the passive sponges most of us become when going to the movies we are actually expected be become involved. Take a leap of faith/belief or whatever and delve into this movie. Without the overpowering F/X and music score most movies rely on to 'scare' you, if you still have an imagination left what is implied becomes a hundred times scarier than anything offered up by Hollywood in the last 30 years. The hardest thing in movies is to scare you. Not make you jump out of your seat with 5000 watts of sound blasting at 400 decibels (ever seen the 1999 version of the Haunting? Event Horizon? - every potentially tense scene is preceeded by dead silence then the Blast). Wake up people! Blair Witch is the horror movies we have been needing for a long time and I'm glad someone finally had the guts to make it.