Dark, stormy nights. Wolves howling, maybe some swirling fog. A couple, or maybe a group, lost in the cold woods and a shaky camera tracking them. These are just a few of the hallmarks of the ever-rehashing horror genre. These tricks and ambience-setters have seemingly been around forever with the exception of one.
The shaky, “found-footage” style is implemented in probably one-in-four of your standard horror flicks, but 20 years ago, it was far from a standard of the industry. Then “The Blair Witch Project” happened.
The film tracks the story of a group of film students hellbent on finding out whether or not the legend of the Maryland “Blair Witch” is true. Along with the students, we delve into the woods of Maryland as they catch every moment on film.
With a never-before-seen jittery camera style, “Blair Witch” stunned audiences and critics alike. Roger Ebert, a prominent American film critic, gave the film four stars out of four, saying, “The Blair Witch Project is a reminder that what really scares us is the stuff we can’t see.” And boy, was he right.
“Blair Witch” dances around its antagonist but remains a thrilling, chilling ride of a movie. The only thing more shocking than the movie itself is its backstory.
The movie was made with just $22,000 back in 1999. The camera used to shoot “Blair Witch” was bought at a (now out of business) Circuit City. After shooting was finalized, it was promptly returned. “Blair Witch” went on to gross more than $240 million. More innovative measures were taken on set, too, than in standard horror fare. Many of the scenes in the film were improvised by the directors, legitimately scaring the cast and adding to the realism of the end product.
Yet the biggest achievement of “Blair Witch” is not the pioneering of a genre or the budget to-gross ratio, but the fact that it is still just as relevant and just as scary as it was 15 years ago.
_Andover Film Club will be screening “The Blair Witch Project” at 8:30 p.m. on Halloween, along with “Halloween” at 7 p.m. in Kemper Auditorium._
