The Blair Witch Project at 25

Define “You had to be there to experience it”?

Okay.

Obviously, I did not make The Blair Witch Project, but it made me.

There’s really no way to explain the Blair Witch hysteria that gripped the country when this movie released back in 1999. You really did have to be there to experience it. Even twenty-five years later I can still recall the fear and dread that seized my body each time the trailer came on TV.

Back then, the internet was still new and streaming wasn’t yet a thing, so I had to call dibs on the TV when The Curse of the Blair Witch “documentary” aired a few weeks before the release of the film. I sat and watched it with ghoulish curiosity.

Later that summer, I watched the movie in a crowded theater with two of my sisters, my cousin, and my aunt during a summer vacation in Connecticut. Heather’s screams. The abrupt ending. The unsettling silence that filled my brain when the screen went dark. All these things weighed on my eleven-year-old brain and heart as I left the theater with my family. Afterward, my aunt drove down a heavily tree-lined road to drum up some silly scares. I screamed and laughed with my sisters and cousin, but beneath the scary fun, my fear of the woods had taken root.

I won't talk about the second movie. Read into that what you will.

But fast forward to 2015-ish when my husband showed me a teaser trailer for a movie called The Woods—a seemingly generic horror flick about 4 hikers trekking through a haunted forest. I nodded and decided that I probably wouldn’t watch it. (I almost made the same mistake with The Cabin in the Woods, but I’m eternally grateful to Kellen for dragging me to the theater to see that masterpiece of horror.)

Fast forward again to July 2016. At San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that The Woods was actually a sequel to The Blair Witch Project! And you can bet that my position on watching the movie flipped faster than a pancake.

As one of my best friend once said, “Ally just walks in here with her terrible opinions…” (We’d had a disagreement about a beloved/hated book character.) I wouldn’t call this next opinion terrible, but it is unpopular, I think…

I love Blair Witch (2016)! It’s a solid follow up to the original film, and it can also stand on its own. It deserves more than the 2.5-star rating that it has on IMDB.

The story is sincere, as it features a younger brother in search of the older sister who suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from his life.

As far as characters go, I think it surpasses the original. Don’t sit around this campfire and claim that you had fond feelings for Heather or Mike because we both know that’s a lie. However, in Blair Witch (2016), most of the core four (sorry, Chad—it’s a good label) friend group is likeable.

The film uses unpleasant sounds to create scares, and it makes clever use of modern tech so that viewers don’t have to ask that age-old found footage question: “Why are they still recording?”

And finally, after nearly two decades, we get our first peek at the infamous Blair Witch. I had nightmares about the witch for weeks after watching the movie. Whenever I had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I avoided looking down the long, dark hallway so that I wouldn’t see the Blair Witch peeking back at me or reaching for me with her too-long limbs.

Much like Heather's screams in the original film, Lisa and Ashley’s sheer terror were palpable throughout Blair Witch (2016). And when I consider what the characters learned about the Black Hills Forest in the 2016 flick, I now rewatch the original film with a new sense of dread because Heather, Josh, and Mike didn't stand a chance. They were NEVER getting out of those woods.

When I realized that It Came from the Trees would publish on July 30, the exact same day that the original Blair Witch Project was given a nationwide release back in 1999, I got a little emotional. How fortuitous and fitting that my book would have such a special connection to the first story that made me exercise extreme caution of the woods—and on that film’s 25th anniversary no less! _{Psst…here’s the secret code word for giveaway #4: OWLET. For a chance to win a signed copy of It Came from the Trees, go to Instagram and share the code word with me via DM!}

As I told the audience at my book launch, without The Blair Witch Project, my book doesn’t exist.

Considering every sentence that precedes this one, you will understand why last April, when my husband shared news about a “reimagined” Blair Witch Project from Lionsgate and Blumhouse…I tensed up.

I’m reserving judgement. Generally, I’m okay with remakes and reboots because I understand that younger audiences often need an avenue to connect with original source material, and sometimes a bit of spring cleaning is in order.

However, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried. I worry that with this new Blair Witch Project, its extreme budget will show. I worry that it will be full of jump scares. (I am not opposed to jump scares. In fact, I love them. But I don't love it when they are the only tool used to thrill horror fans.) I worry that the acting will be obvious. I worry about unnecessary special effects. I worry about the direction of the new story. I worry that they’ll lose the thread of what made the original movie so special.

I worry.

But only time will tell.

I sincerely hope the new film will give modern audiences a “you had to be there to experience it” moment that’s worthy of this beloved franchise.

To the creators—please don’t kick the map into the creek! AND PAY THE ORIGINAL ACTORS WHAT THEY’RE WORTH!

And if you haven’t seen The Blair Witch Project or Blair Witch (2016)…what are you waiting for! You can watch both movies from the comfort of home, which means you don’t have to worry about mud, lost maps, ticks, and a centuries-old witch!

I had planned to write and share this blog post on July 30, 2024, but with work, travels to Boston, and book launch, this slipped through the cracks. I considered waiting until the next anniversary, but I missed the 20th anniversary, and I don’t want to wait another five years to share with you my deep connection to The Blair Witch Project.