But in keeping with the mock documentary spirit of the film, the website assumes that the events depicted in the film actually took place. An elaborate website (has been created to fill in details that were left out of the theatrical release. The three young film-makers eventually succumb to the dark forces of the forest and the film purports to be based on their footage, which survived them.
At night, after pitching their tent, they again hear the eerie cries from within the forest, which seem closer now. At first the three head due south in hopes of running into a settled area, but after a sixteen hour hike they end up exactly where they started out from. The mood of the film changes drastically when it is discovered that Josh the soundman has thrown the map into a brook as a gesture of defiance against the overbearing Heather. Heather takes it all in stride since all of these elements will only help to make her film more interesting. Although nobody ever sees their source, they are continuously on their minds. At night in their tent they hear indistinct cries outside in the distance.
Not too long after they have entered the depths of the forest, they begin to notice spooky piles of stones on the ground and stick figures hung from the branches of trees. She has a map that they keep referring to as they make their way deeper and deeper into the gloomy autumn woods. She is in control not only of the film-perhaps overly so, but of their safety as well. The two young men occasionally get annoyed at her, but she insists that she is serious about her documentary and wants to get in as much footage as possible. Heather is a compulsive film-maker and takes shots continuously, including bags of marshmallows in a supermarket where they have stocked up for the hike, and of a dead mouse on the side of the trail. With packs on their back, they descend into the forest on Halloween looking for interesting footage to use in their film, most particularly a cemetery where victims of the witch are buried-mostly children. The student director Heather (Heather Donohue) is accompanied only by Michael the cameraman (Michael Williams) and soundman Joshua (Joshua Leonard). Made by two neophyte directors, 35 year old Daniel Myrick and 30 year old Eduardo Sanchez, it depicts in self-referential fashion-but importantly, absent any sense of irony-the making of a student documentary in the woods of Maryland where according to legend a homicidal witch dwells.
What does "The Blair Witch Project" mean for movie-making in general? Furthermore, what does its dark theme tell us about the mood of the American society, particularly among the youth who have catapulted it into success?īefore discussing these questions, it would be worthwhile to consider the film as film. Its huge box-office success, threadbare production values and offbeat approach to the horror genre have generated widespread discussion. Made at a cost of $30,000, it returned $48 million in its first week of wide release.
The "Blair Witch Project" is the most profitable movie in American history.