The Blair Witch Project: It Went Viral, But Was it Good?
Photo credit: Lionsgate Films
1999’s The Blair Witch Project was not the first fake “found footage” movie, however, it is the first in the age of the internet. For the very first, you’ll have to go back to 1961’s The Connection. For the first notoriously famous one, you’ll want to research 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust.
Viral Marketing
The Blair Witch was made on a shoestring. The producers, etc., were smart enough to utilize viral marketing via the internet. The Blair Witch website is still active today. Way back in 1998(months before the movie was released), mostly young adults spread the story like wildfire, swearing it was true. People visited the website before the film was released, perusing the photos and evidence. Some argued it wasn’t real(ding ding ding! Correct!), some pointed to the website as evidence. It’s on the internet, so it has to be true, right?
The Exorcist used similar(non internet) marketing, according to some sources. The fainting, etc., was allegedly staged.
The Movie
Initially made for $60,000.00, The movie became a major sensation and money maker, launching the advent of found footage films and television. I say initially, because while that was the shooting budget, the transfer to 35 mm, sound work, etc. increased the budget to around $200,000.00. Marketing was around another $6,000,000.00. That still barely covers one special effect and craft services from today’s films.
The film ended up grossing over $249,000,000.00, so not too shabby. Not the best, ever, though. Gone With the Wind and Star Wars take the crowns for absolute profit and most profitable, respectively.
But Was it Scary?
Full disclosure: I hated, hated this movie. I saw it in a drive in upon its initial release, and was bored to tears. There were vague moments, a lot of running, and shouting(OK, some of it was me, shouting riffs, MST3k style at the screen), and geological anomalies that cannot occur, powerful witch or no.
My Theory/Opinion
I camped a lot up into my teenage years. Camped. In a tent, in a sleeping bag, on the ground. In the woods. The movie went from boring to shark jumping when the characters would follow the river and wind up at the same point. I believed that my camping experience made me impervious to its hype. Since I worked at a video store at the time of its release. I asked the people that returned it if it was scary. Overwhelmingly, the campers all said “Hell, no.” The non-campers were a different story.
The acting was fine, but a lot of the time, it was just boring. Hell, Hollywood made Natty Bumpo running around in the woods interesting-this, not so much. The Blair Witch made money because of its far more interesting viral marketing. This in turn hyped up the audience to near hysteria by the time they got to the theater.
You want to see a scary woods movie? Rent Deliverance…
What did you think about The Blair Witch Project? Scary or no?
