Current Events > Just saw The Blair Witch Project for the first time.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Y'all really fell for this back in the day, huh? Smh.

I didnt

some people I know thought it was real (might or might not still believe)

The story around the Blair Witch release has been almost as blown out of proportion as Welles' War of the Worlds.

No, almost no one believed it was real.

No. I knew it was fake because the premise didn't make sense. Snuff films are illegal. And you wouldn't be able to release footage of people dying for profit. I think only little kids were fooled. I was like 17 or something when it came out

I was like 17 or something when it came out

i was nine when it was released and then I didnt believe it but thought it had a decent twist

It was the first popular one of its kind, kinda hard to judge it with 25 years of found footage films. Also marketing campaign was p good for the time

Its kinda scary, but I know some people think the last shot was one of the scariest scenes in any movie

I just watched it for the first time like 2 years ago. I thought it was really well done for what it was, and the super low budget.

Just curious did you watch it because of the Ringers Rewatchable podcast?

i was 11 years old

for what it is, its very good tbh

I don't remember anyone actually believing it was real. Then again, I have always had smart friends.

To my excuse I was only 12 or 13 in a pre social media world.

It came out when I was in the like 5th grade. Never saw it and for years talked shit about it because others did. I finally watched it as an adult and while I obviously didn't think it was real, I thought it was done much better than the shit I talked about it as a kid.

The_Popo posted...

I just watched it for the first time like 2 years ago. I thought it was really well done for what it was, and the super low budget.

Just curious did you watch it because of the Ringers Rewatchable podcast?

No, there was a special screening at a theater I like to go to.

I saw it 7 times in theaters and met the cast. I still love it.

Justin2Krelian posted...

Its kinda scary, but I know some people think the last shot was one of the scariest scenes in any movie

it was for me. Really subverted the genre at the time the way they did it imo

I didn't think it was real, but the idea of it was cool.

It was also different. This was the first "found footage" movie, so it was a unique take on the horror genre.

Between all found footage movies, Blair Witch, to me, was honestly the most believable premise. I can believe that some kids got lost in the woods somewhere and weird stuff started happening. And the ending was so baffling and abrupt and left a lot to the imagination and speculation.

Its easy to look at something with 2020s lenses where many things have copied and even parodied it. For its time it was a new thing.

DisgracefulSins posted...

It was also different. This was the first "found footage" movie, so it was a unique take on the horror genre.

It's not the first Found Footage movie, but it definitely popularized the genre.

I went and saw it in the theaters back in the day with my G/F at the time group of friends with their G/Fs. It's funny because as we were walking out you could hear all the girls in the theater talking about how scary it was, and all the guys were talking about how lame it was. My group of friends shared the same sentiment.

Everyone knew it was fake though because the main chick was also in a steak and shake commercial around the same time the movie came out. I did know a few people that briefly thought it was real though and they were very gullible people.

It's not that we thought it was real, it's that the marketing of the film sold it brilliantly and stirred up a fuck ton of interest. I was shocked when I saw how big the lines were for it on opening night.

Kitt posted...

It's not the first Found Footage movie, but it definitely popularized the genre.

IIRC, the first found footage horror movie was Cannibal Holocaust

Were you too young to have seen it during its original release?

I think it's more that ppl weren't sure if it was real or not. it was a very different time and practically nothing like that existed in the mainstream. At the time media was more "authentic" than today. These days half of what you see in media is complete fabrication. Ppl practically make it their hobby to tell others how fake a video is.

I was about 13 when it came out. I loved horror movies, but was still a dumb, impressionable kid. Part of me still wanted to believe in the supernatural or just weird stuff.

It messed with me a little back then. More imagining some crazy horror that they never show you in the movie as the real witch and because I saw the movie, she was after me!

Man, kids are dumb haha

Hey man it was pretty scary when I was like 8 and lived near a forest. Other than that pretty boring on rewatch. I think some of the lore is pretty cool, though.

It was a fun movie and had clever marketing in a less developed internet time.
Nowadays it wouldn't stir up as much hype but its cool for what it was.

they made like 2 crappy sequels too

Saw it in the theater as a teen and it was a much different experience than seeing it on TV. Being in total darkness with the sound booming made it a lot scarier, even though I knew it was fiction.

I was real young like 10 years old, watched it at a buddies house then walked home on an early quiet morning in a rural town. There was heavy fog. I was scared shitless.

love Blair Witch and its whole vibe if youre able to put yourself in their shoes so to speak.

I do love the Family Guy sketch with Bryan narrating whats happening in the film tho.

The movie is a trip with or without the true story stuff

One of the few horror movies that genuinely frightens me. Slenderman energy

It wasnt that people thought it was real (or maybe some did), but that it was pretty original for the era. Most horror movies were either dumb girl running in the woods from a killer movies, or dumb stuff like the Ring.

It was just refreshing.

Kitt posted...

Y'all really fell for this back in the day, huh? Smh.

Simply brilliant marketing. They even created a faux documentary to go along with the movie, called Curse of the Blair Witch. But most people could just look it up on the internet to find out that it's not real.

That was just marketing.

Which was probably smarter and more influential than the film itself.

The fact that it introduced the question and the debates on if it was real or not means it worked

well i was semi-terrified when i saw this as a kid.

nowadays i would probably just laugh at it... lol