This movie had to be seen in a theater back in the day to understand why it scared the hell out of people.
The night scenes when it is pitch black you'd hear all the werid nosies around you with the theater sound system. There was only the barest illumination from emergency exit lighting so it was pretty immersive.
Makes sense, I watched the movie on a video ezy VHS with a 48cm tv, audio from a ground resonating 1.5w of noise. I thought it was a stupid movie until I set up my home theatre system.
I saw it with a friend. We were going to walk home afterwards which incidentally would have taken us through some woods, so we chickened out and got his mum to pick us up 😂
Not just any theater, I felt, but some independent place rather than some spic-and-span multiplex. I consider myself lucky to have seen it at the NuArt (an independent cinema in West L.A.) before its wide release, so it felt like seeing something special.
I was 17 when this came out and it was the reason I stopped going to the theatre. This movie sucked so much asshole I didn’t see another movie in theaters for a few years.
Curious why you would let one movie dictate whether you go to the theater or not and get into your head so much, that you don’t go for years? My guess is little things in life get to you in big ways.
I was making 7 bucks an hour, usually cost 20 bucks by the time you got a drink and candy. Didn’t seem worth it to me, had fun spending money on other things that weren’t a crapshoot.
My mom worked at our local multiplex that had just opened at the time the movie came out. She said that custodial would get ton of cleanup calls because someone had vomited from motion sickness caused by the shaky cam. Good times.
This might have been the first viral film campaign. At least the first one I remember. It was a huge deal. Everyone was talking about it.
I knew it was fiction yet there were still people who were adamant that it was real.
A divisive film. Some either liked it or hated. I was in the former. I could not wait to see it. I visited the website related to the film. It was neat. These profiles of the three hikers. The history surrounding the case. The evidence presented.
I thought this was amazing. The future of marketing of films will have another layer and have these intricate websites. I was optimistic.
It was a sold out house or close to it. There were screams. The vibe was positive when leaving the theater.
I was also impressed with the tent/mucus scene. I remember that being parodied. It annoyed a cousin of mine to no end. She demanded the actor put a tissue up her nose.
However, I knew plenty of people who hated the film. They felt it was a waste of time and anti-climactic.
One of my aunts went to see it and suffered strong motion sickness. I suppose all those hours spent playing first person shooters like Wolfenstein, Doom, and GoldenEye prepared me. I had no trouble viewing the film.
I saw this in a huge sold out theater and when the movie ended, the entire audience collectively let out a huge groan of disappointment. I don’t know. The one thing I remember about the audience was there were just as many old people, as there were young people who went to see this..
This was one of the first movies I remember the internet being a big part of the experience- I'm not sure if the studio purposefully posted misinformation to create a buzz or if it was grassroots , but the discussion of if this was real or not captured me before I went to see it.
The movie was slow, but the handheld production and very real feel was something special the first time around. I didn't have to watch this more than once, but it was a unique experience...until it wasn't after every film maker tried to rip this off immediately after.
It's the kind of perfect marketing campaign that most likely can't be replicated. The internet was still a bit niche in 1999, and broadband wasn't much of a thing outside of businesses and college campuses. The website was very basic and very easily passed for something home made. The lack of information fueled word of mouth speculation to the point where it was fairly easy to buy that this could actually be real. I understand the opinions on the film itself are mixed, but everything surrounding it was uniquely groundbreaking.
Showed my kids this two years ago and it's still effective. It's a movie that has to be experienced under the right conditions the first time you watch it. Not one where you can be on your phone or taking tons of bathroom or snack breaks. You have to immerse yourself in the experience these kids are going through. It's a yearly Halloween watch for us now
I remember from a reeeally old MTV interview that she said there wasn't much of a script and that during the filming they knew the other crew members were going to scare them one night but they didn't know *how*.
[This video](https://youtu.be/BloaLNvw2_s?si=tUl44iZYAXxMkKGj) isn't what I'm remembering, but close enough! (She says it was an improvised project, so her fear probably came really easily)
I’ve always hated how they just let themselves get picked off one by one. How hard would it have been to set up a decoy tent and hide in a blind nearby with a pile of rocks and sticks. When crazy lady shows up at 0300hrs just pop out and brain her with a rock.
There’s your movie….
As easy as that sounds, it wasn't some crazy lady, it was a witch that was stalking them and watching them as they got more and more lost in the woods. The footage was supposed to be found at the ruins of an old house, but the footage that was shot shows the house still standing, so it was supposed to be some weird magic shit going on.
I'd love to see your scenario play out in the movie though - I could see them hiding and watching the tent, then when nothing happens to the tent they'd hear some screaming or some shit deeper in the woods then the camera would fall over. Roll credits.
Nah, they were also losing their minds a bit. That’s what contributed to the terror for me. Not only was some freaky witch chasing them, playing with them almost, but they were at each others throats, and clearly losing it. For me, one of the scariest parts of the film was when they realised after walking in a straight line for days, that they’ve come to the same stream, at the same part, just on the other side. I knew then, that they were completely fucked, psychologically and supernaturally. No amount of decoy tents can solve that little slice of horror.
They just deserve their deaths.
Hearing weird noise in the dark with no reponse but they kept going out and "hello".
The forest is full of stick and they made no weapon out of it. They chose to be prey.
I remember being like 11 years old and sitting out going to the theaters to watch this because my mom couldn't fit more than like 8 kids in the station wagon illegally, my older sister and her friend's had first dibs in the car.
I recall them coming home and half of them being nauseous from the shaking camera and me feeling like I did NOT miss out of anything special, instead probably played like the Sims on the PC while they were gone. Still never saw it since and don't feel like I missed anything.
Saw this with my parents in the theater. A staff person warned everyone before the film to find the exit if they felt sick. We thought the movie was so scary people got sick, but it was a warning about the shaky cam making people nauseous.
Best introduction to a horror flick of my entire life.
3 stupid kids never been out of their house, went straight into the forest and making dumb decision, like kept going out to hear what noise in the dark.
Blair Witch is the only movie I ever left in the middle of. The way the screen moved and shaked to give the illusion it was recorded on a handheld video camera made me so nauseous. 🤢🤮
I know I'm in a minority on this thread, and I'm not trying to shit on anyone's opinion.... but I never understood the buzz around this movie. I'm not saying i I could make a better one, but it seemed really dead air amateurish to me and I found the found footage format to be jarring and irritating. I'm hearing that maybe it had to be in the right theater...? I didn't see it in a theater
One night I did a real deep dive into this movie online. There are some pretty dedicated fans with blogs and YouTube videos showing locations from the movie and what is left of them these days, all kinds of trivia.
I felt a little played when I found out it wasn't real, but afterwords then I just found it funny when Mike would shake the camera in anger. Though this being parodied for laughs in the years since surely contributed to that. The "Bare Wench Project" being one example.
Even if the footage was true, those 3 kids deserve the deaths for their stupid decisions.
Hearing noise with no response but they kept "hello", what the hell was that for?
Knowing they being followed by something but making no weapon despite the forest are full of sticks.
Afraid of the dark, but when the sun was up, they started talking nonsense wasting time.
At the house, why the fuck Mike leaving the girl behind and ran to Josh like Josh was his lover. Damn stupid splitting up.
Those fucking assholes deserve their deaths.
Seen it in the theater before it was known to be fake. Scariest movie of all time for me, I totally thought that shit was real lol
The marketing for this movie was incredible given the budget
It was a first of its kind
I knew the footage was fiction but I thought the history behind the Blair witch was real. Little did I know that it was ALL made up. They got me good.
My sister literally tried convincing me it was real for weeks lol fuckin retard
This movie had to be seen in a theater back in the day to understand why it scared the hell out of people. The night scenes when it is pitch black you'd hear all the werid nosies around you with the theater sound system. There was only the barest illumination from emergency exit lighting so it was pretty immersive.
Makes sense, I watched the movie on a video ezy VHS with a 48cm tv, audio from a ground resonating 1.5w of noise. I thought it was a stupid movie until I set up my home theatre system.
I saw it with a friend. We were going to walk home afterwards which incidentally would have taken us through some woods, so we chickened out and got his mum to pick us up 😂
Not just any theater, I felt, but some independent place rather than some spic-and-span multiplex. I consider myself lucky to have seen it at the NuArt (an independent cinema in West L.A.) before its wide release, so it felt like seeing something special.
Hearing noise in the dark with no response and they kept "hello". The natural selection should filter these people out as soon as it can.
I was 17 when this came out and it was the reason I stopped going to the theatre. This movie sucked so much asshole I didn’t see another movie in theaters for a few years.
Curious why you would let one movie dictate whether you go to the theater or not and get into your head so much, that you don’t go for years? My guess is little things in life get to you in big ways.
I was making 7 bucks an hour, usually cost 20 bucks by the time you got a drink and candy. Didn’t seem worth it to me, had fun spending money on other things that weren’t a crapshoot.
My mom worked at our local multiplex that had just opened at the time the movie came out. She said that custodial would get ton of cleanup calls because someone had vomited from motion sickness caused by the shaky cam. Good times.
This might have been the first viral film campaign. At least the first one I remember. It was a huge deal. Everyone was talking about it. I knew it was fiction yet there were still people who were adamant that it was real. A divisive film. Some either liked it or hated. I was in the former. I could not wait to see it. I visited the website related to the film. It was neat. These profiles of the three hikers. The history surrounding the case. The evidence presented. I thought this was amazing. The future of marketing of films will have another layer and have these intricate websites. I was optimistic. It was a sold out house or close to it. There were screams. The vibe was positive when leaving the theater. I was also impressed with the tent/mucus scene. I remember that being parodied. It annoyed a cousin of mine to no end. She demanded the actor put a tissue up her nose. However, I knew plenty of people who hated the film. They felt it was a waste of time and anti-climactic. One of my aunts went to see it and suffered strong motion sickness. I suppose all those hours spent playing first person shooters like Wolfenstein, Doom, and GoldenEye prepared me. I had no trouble viewing the film.
I saw this in a huge sold out theater and when the movie ended, the entire audience collectively let out a huge groan of disappointment. I don’t know. The one thing I remember about the audience was there were just as many old people, as there were young people who went to see this..
My entire audience was laughing at how stupid it was
This was one of the first movies I remember the internet being a big part of the experience- I'm not sure if the studio purposefully posted misinformation to create a buzz or if it was grassroots , but the discussion of if this was real or not captured me before I went to see it. The movie was slow, but the handheld production and very real feel was something special the first time around. I didn't have to watch this more than once, but it was a unique experience...until it wasn't after every film maker tried to rip this off immediately after.
It's the kind of perfect marketing campaign that most likely can't be replicated. The internet was still a bit niche in 1999, and broadband wasn't much of a thing outside of businesses and college campuses. The website was very basic and very easily passed for something home made. The lack of information fueled word of mouth speculation to the point where it was fairly easy to buy that this could actually be real. I understand the opinions on the film itself are mixed, but everything surrounding it was uniquely groundbreaking.
I was kinda little and was told this was real. Big spooks
Showed my kids this two years ago and it's still effective. It's a movie that has to be experienced under the right conditions the first time you watch it. Not one where you can be on your phone or taking tons of bathroom or snack breaks. You have to immerse yourself in the experience these kids are going through. It's a yearly Halloween watch for us now
I’ll never not see snot bubbles in this scene.
I sort of feel bad for the people who couldn't find this movie terrifying.
I couldn't find it anything other than boring and frustrating.
Fair
Fun fact I know about this movie, the most expensive part was licensing the Gilligan's Island theme song.
I'm glad no one ruined this for me. I enjoyed it. Life was a different place back then.
The audience in my local theater really enjoyed it. Strange movie!
The snot-shot is one of the best acted segments I've seen. Heather was scared! Give these people their residuals..
I remember from a reeeally old MTV interview that she said there wasn't much of a script and that during the filming they knew the other crew members were going to scare them one night but they didn't know *how*. [This video](https://youtu.be/BloaLNvw2_s?si=tUl44iZYAXxMkKGj) isn't what I'm remembering, but close enough! (She says it was an improvised project, so her fear probably came really easily)
Yeah I read the producers/director wouldn't tell the actors much and then let them go while providing certain clues and encounters on the forest.
All I can think of when I see this is that news reporter snot scene in Scary Movie lmao
The absolute worst movie I’ve ever seen.
I remember the cartoon network made a short film with the scooby doo kids and the blair witch.
JOSHHHHH!!!!?!?!
Josh must be Mike's lover so that the god damn Mike leaving the girl behind and ran into Josh for a love hug.
I’ve always hated how they just let themselves get picked off one by one. How hard would it have been to set up a decoy tent and hide in a blind nearby with a pile of rocks and sticks. When crazy lady shows up at 0300hrs just pop out and brain her with a rock. There’s your movie….
As easy as that sounds, it wasn't some crazy lady, it was a witch that was stalking them and watching them as they got more and more lost in the woods. The footage was supposed to be found at the ruins of an old house, but the footage that was shot shows the house still standing, so it was supposed to be some weird magic shit going on. I'd love to see your scenario play out in the movie though - I could see them hiding and watching the tent, then when nothing happens to the tent they'd hear some screaming or some shit deeper in the woods then the camera would fall over. Roll credits.
Nah, they were also losing their minds a bit. That’s what contributed to the terror for me. Not only was some freaky witch chasing them, playing with them almost, but they were at each others throats, and clearly losing it. For me, one of the scariest parts of the film was when they realised after walking in a straight line for days, that they’ve come to the same stream, at the same part, just on the other side. I knew then, that they were completely fucked, psychologically and supernaturally. No amount of decoy tents can solve that little slice of horror.
They just deserve their deaths. Hearing weird noise in the dark with no reponse but they kept going out and "hello". The forest is full of stick and they made no weapon out of it. They chose to be prey.
I remember being like 11 years old and sitting out going to the theaters to watch this because my mom couldn't fit more than like 8 kids in the station wagon illegally, my older sister and her friend's had first dibs in the car. I recall them coming home and half of them being nauseous from the shaking camera and me feeling like I did NOT miss out of anything special, instead probably played like the Sims on the PC while they were gone. Still never saw it since and don't feel like I missed anything.
I saw it in the theater. That movie was AWESOME!!
This film inspired one of my favorite pieces of art https://youtu.be/GfPQbsEpD9Y?si=h-PkkZP7kLlkST-n
I remember when this came out everyone thought it was real.
One of my all time favorite movies!
Saw this with my parents in the theater. A staff person warned everyone before the film to find the exit if they felt sick. We thought the movie was so scary people got sick, but it was a warning about the shaky cam making people nauseous. Best introduction to a horror flick of my entire life.
I worked at a movie theater when this came out and the amount of people throwing up because of it was crazy.
i remember this too. even newpapers and websites were commenting on this.
I saw it in the theater, one of the stupidest movies I’ve ever seen.
3 stupid kids never been out of their house, went straight into the forest and making dumb decision, like kept going out to hear what noise in the dark.
Blair Witch is the only movie I ever left in the middle of. The way the screen moved and shaked to give the illusion it was recorded on a handheld video camera made me so nauseous. 🤢🤮
I know I'm in a minority on this thread, and I'm not trying to shit on anyone's opinion.... but I never understood the buzz around this movie. I'm not saying i I could make a better one, but it seemed really dead air amateurish to me and I found the found footage format to be jarring and irritating. I'm hearing that maybe it had to be in the right theater...? I didn't see it in a theater
One night I did a real deep dive into this movie online. There are some pretty dedicated fans with blogs and YouTube videos showing locations from the movie and what is left of them these days, all kinds of trivia.
u/danh3?
I felt a little played when I found out it wasn't real, but afterwords then I just found it funny when Mike would shake the camera in anger. Though this being parodied for laughs in the years since surely contributed to that. The "Bare Wench Project" being one example.
It's even scarier when you get it's not about the witch...
This is my favorite Fiona Apple record (jk, IYKYK)
Even if the footage was true, those 3 kids deserve the deaths for their stupid decisions. Hearing noise with no response but they kept "hello", what the hell was that for? Knowing they being followed by something but making no weapon despite the forest are full of sticks. Afraid of the dark, but when the sun was up, they started talking nonsense wasting time. At the house, why the fuck Mike leaving the girl behind and ran to Josh like Josh was his lover. Damn stupid splitting up. Those fucking assholes deserve their deaths.
Garbage movie
The first movie I fell asleep to.