The Blair Witch Project. 10 Years Later.

Ahhh.... The Blair Witch Project.

10 years ago, me and my friend Nick, hopped into my 1994 Dodge Shadow, and made the hour drive to the Harkins Theater, to check out The Blair Witch Project. I had been reading about this documentary on the internet for quite some time. Watched the special on TV about it. And I was one of those people that bought into the hype about it, I bought it all. And I thought this movie was fuckin real. I fell for the marketing tricks. I thought this was 100% legit. I even went out and bought the soundtrack, which was marketed not as a soundtrack, but it was "A mix tape found in the car of Josh which was parked on the side of the road." The movie came out in limited release in one theater far away. We went opening night to the only theater playing it, before it was announced that it wasn't real. And I sat there, and basically shit my fucking pants.

The Blair Witch Project, I will admit, is the only horror movie to really scare me. The finale in that house, I actually did close my eyes during. I would open them up only to quickly see what was going on before shutting them again. The movie ended, people were fucked up, crying, scared shitless. We ran to the car, drove home. Now like idiots, we went to a 10pm showing, and I lived out in the fuckin boonies at this time. No street lights, no sidewalks, out in the middle of bumfuck. I dropped my friend off at home, went home, ran into my house turning on every light. I called my girlfriend at the time and told her all about this movie and forced her to stay on the phone with me until the sun came up.

Fuck that movie.

A couple weeks later, it was revealed that it was all a hoax. The kids in the movie were actors and they were just fine. And a stange thing happened. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, all the praise this movie was getting, turned into, OH MAN THIS MOVIE SUUUCKS!!!! It is really strange to me, why people would turn so quickly on this movie. I came up with a few ideas.

A. They were just pissed that they fell for it, thought it was real, and found out it was fake so instead of just enjoy it anyways, they had to get uptight and pissy. People, it's a MOVIE. Fake or not, it's a MOVIE. Do you like Star Wars? Of course you do, everyone does, but guess what? It's not real.

B. They are pussies and got motion sickness.

C. And this is the main reason why I think people hate on it. Is because it scared the shit out of them, and they won't admit it, so in turn they just say it sucks and shrug it off like it's nothing.

Since then, there have been many rip-offs of this movie. Such as Cloverfield. But the one thing missing, and what made Blair Witch so scary, and made it work, was the realism in it. It felt real. After seeing it, I refused up and down to go camping. In the past 10 years I have gone camping once, and I didn't sleep. Of course that could mainly be because I was drunk and roasting marshmellows with my fellow drunken friends, but still. Everyone that saw Blair Witch when it was released, will remember it. Everytime they go camping they think of it. Evertime you see a couple sticks tied together you think Blair Witch. Love it, or hate it, you have to admit, it was an innovative movie. And for the haters out there, lighten up, it's only a movie.

I put this movie up there with the greats. The Halloweens, Fridays, Nightmares, all of them. It is a classic horror film. Scary as fuck with zero violence in it. Plus, the music, or sounds, or whatever you want to call it, scared the shit outta me.



10 years later, knowing nothing is real in this movie, that it was all mostly fake. I still refuse to watch this movie alone at night.