Blair Witch Project Turns 24 Today
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was released 24 years ago today. One of the most influential horror movies of its generation, and made on a shoestring budget, the making of story is one of Hollywood’s most unique…
A THREAD
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
- The Blair Witch Project was released 24 years ago today. One of the most influential horror movies, made on a shoestring budget, remains to be one of the most unique and successful yet...
- Student filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez met at the University of Central Florida in 1993 and bonded over a love of horror. Together they came up with an idea: a group stumble upon a terrifying house in the woods and aren’t able to resist going inside.
- They pitched their idea to distribution companies. Miramax passed, saying there was no chance their idea would make any money. Eventually, after making them wait 3 months for an answer, Artisan Entertainment struck a deal with Myrick and Sánchez.
- Myrick and Sánchez didn’t write a full script, but rather a 35 page outline for the film. They did this as they wanted to hire actors who were good at improv to add realism to the high concept idea.
- Auditionee's would enter the [auditioning] room and be told "you've just served 10 years of a 25-year prison sentence. Tell us why you should be due for parole". Heather Donahue went on a 10 minute rant about why she should never be released and was cast in the lead role.
- The characters were originally going to be named Jane, John, and Bill but the actors suggested that they use their real names to make the improv more natural, and the directors agreed.
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The actors had the 35-page outline of the plot, but that was all. All lines were improvised and they filmed themselves. The crew followed but remained hidden and would leave each actor an individual note every morning to let them know what they were to do that day.
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
- The Blair Witch was named after Blair High School, the school Eduardo Sánchez's sister had attended. The film was originally called The Blair Witch Tapes, and had a working title of The Black Hills Project.
- The final day of filming was on Halloween night. The crew had planned on wrapping one day before, but the camera had run out of batteries due to the camera light, so an additional day of shooting was needed.
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The actors’ first task was to interview the townfolk, who were planted by the directors and told what to say. The woman telling her account of the Blair Witch made up the story on the spot. As a result, the three actors thought The Blair Witch was a real legend.
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
- The cast were given a walkie-talkie to contact the crew in an emergency and a o device was used to help them find a crate with a red flag attached. The crate had instruction for that day and snacks. And the actors left the previous days footage in the crate.
- Despite the walkie talks and detailed instructions, Heather, Mike and Joshua got lost 3 times. Including on the first day, within 1 hour of leaving the car and being separated from the crew.
- The three actors signed a release giving the crew permission to "mess with your head". This led to the nighttime tent attack, below. The actors didn’t know it was coming and their terror was genuine. They said they hoped, but didn’t know for certain, it was the crew.
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In the scene, Heather yells, "Oh my God, what the f*** is that? What the f*** is that?" The cameraman was supposed to pan to the left where we would glimpse a woman wearing a white gown. Myrick and Sanchez preferred the accident and it wasn’t reshot.
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
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The sounds of children heard at night was taken from kids playing around the house of Eduardo Sánchez's mother. The tape was played over boomboxes in the forest and Mike said this was the most terrifying moment to film.
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
- Over the course of filming, the crew left less and less food for the actors each day. Over the last two days, Heather and Mike were left a Power Bar, a piece of fruit, and some water. Heather later said she’s never been so "hangry".
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The most famous shot is the close-up of Heather’s face as she tapes her goodbye video. Donahue planned to have her whole face in frame, but had zoomed in too much. The directors were blown away by the moment and kept it in.
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
- The actors had been told that Mike would disappear at some point but the crew left a note for Josh telling him to wait for the others to fall asleep then leave the tent. He was glad to leave as he wanted to go to a Jane’s Addiction concert.
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Several different endings were shot, all in the basement of Rustin Parr's house: two versions of Mike standing in the corner (backwards and forwards), one of Mike hanging from a noose, and one of Mike levitating amongst branches and stickmen.
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
- The actors were not told what was down in the basement. Mike was told to run downstairs and keep Heather behind him. When he reached the basement he was told stand in the corner. When Heather arrived they grabbed her 16mm and dropped it floor while gesturing to stop screaming.
- Due to sound issues the scene had to be shot twice. There was a big break between the two takes as, after the first one, Heather couldn’t stop hyperventilating and crying.
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Test audiences found the end confusing so Sanchez and Myrick shot the scene that explains murderer Rustin Parr forced one kid to stand in the corner while he was killing another. This is Rustin Parr’s last interview from The Curse of The Blair Witch.
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
- In 8 days of filming, Heather, Mike and Josh shot 19 hours of footage. It took 8 months to edit it down to the 90 minute runtime.
- The marketing campaign was legendary. The three actors were listed as "missing, presumed dead" on IMDb and posters put up around film festivals. Heather Donahue's mother received sympathy cards from people who believed her daughter was dead.
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A fake documentary was created called Curse of the Blair Witch featuring faked news footage and clips from a fake 1970s documentary. It aired as if real on the Sci-Fi channel, leading to thousands of viewers believing the Blair Witch was an actual historic legend.
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- All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 14, 2023
- The film had an initial budget of about $25k. After the studio carried out post-production on the footage, it rose to about $600k. The film’s box office gross of $250m led to it being in the Guinness Book of Records for Top Budget: Box Office Ratio.
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the blair witch project is my all time favourite horror film. my mum let me and my sister watch it way too earlier but she had us convinced this all really happened. it still creeps me out at 29!