Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

I mean, a no-budget movie that blows up and becomes a worldwide phenomenon? Blair Witch, of course, benefited from coming out at the dawn of the Internet, and its marketing strategy was genius. I also happened to like the film and found it to be genuinely creepy, relying on the viewer's imagination to fill in the gaps the budget couldn't cover. There was Paranormal Activity a few years ago, but it can it happen again? And what would it take, a mind-blowing twist?

Full disclosure: I made a micro-budget locked room mystery called "Kultur Shock!" available on iTunes and Amazon this Friday. Three disoriented immigrants are tormented by an Uncle Sam doll in a locked windowless room. Where are they? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2176236/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

It'll no doubt happen again.


Someone somewhere will have an original idea... and I guarantee it won't be one of the "writers" that are currently working in the big-budget areas... just like with Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity and so on, it'll be someone with little-to-no history in movies, and no budget, who will grab a camera and a few friends and hey presto, something that stuns the movie world for a year or two.


Just gotta wait for it to happen.

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

I thought the marketing and hype were better than the movie. The trailer scared me enough to check out the movie. I think I fell asleep.

Not an uncommon reaction. It's funny, I saw it in a packed theater when it first came out and people were spellbound, gasping and screaming when it ended. Maybe a group hypnosis kind of thing. But I remember getting caught up in the hype.

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

I'm not a fan of shaky cam- I can get vertigo from it. I didn't really fall asleep; I was just not as impressed with the movie as the trailer and marketing. The trailer scared the hell out of me (the high pitched scream). I will say, however, that what terrified me is I used to do a lot of wilderness stuff. The idea of getting lost out there is enough to make me cry in horror. And I loved the concept of just handing out script outlines each morning.

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

Judging by the poor box office result and critical reviews to latest one, I pretty much think the franchise is dead.

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

I think The Blair Witch Project is a horror masterpiece. The dread is just so effective, and the shaky, grainy, lo-fi, camera work just adds to the creepy atmosphere. Like even the trees look threatening. Paranormal Activity just lacked that raw intensity. But there have been some solid "found footage" films that never got any credit. Like Exhibit A which is just about a family disintegrating but it's so convincing and so disturbing. And Evidence is a good one too, only because it starts out like a typical BW found footage film and then goes off into a new direction I wasn't expecting at all.

The recent Blair Witch was so disappointing, and I really like Adam Wingard. But those useless jump scares, boring characters, and showing way too much, even if the final 15 or so minutes are fairly effective.

oh and, yeah it will happen again.

I really liked the Aussie movie The Tunnel. Watched that on my own one night when my husband was away. got a really big fright. And Creep surprised me. The ending was excellent IMO.

The Tunnel I need to rewatch because I've forgotten mostly all of it.

I LOVE Creep. It's one of the most uncomfortable watches ever (that bath tub scene), but Duplass is brilliant and really lives up to the title. And yes that ending.

Apparently there's a sequel in the works. Same Duplass character, different person.

The tunnel really got me. I had a chat to Enzo Tedeschi after and he was so happy at my reaction. Very nice guy if ever he visits the forum.

Creep - I really liked it. I think my niece recommended that one and i was very surprised. yeah the bathtub scene was Wut tha??? The end, though. So good. Can't say more for spoilers.

What I really like about Creep is it doesn't rely on ghosts or monsters or any of that for the creep factor, instead relying on something EVERYONE can relate to. Awkward/uncomfortable human interaction. It's like cringe the horror film.

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

Yeah I'm not a fan of supe horror. Ghosts make me want to slap them in the teeth. Creep is a psychological thriller/horror. That was cool.

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

Creep is amazing. you guys are right but V/H/S and V/H/S 2 for me are the perfect definition of great found-footage.

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

For me the marketing of Blair Witch was truly masterful, as an actual film it was very disappointing I got very bored during that movie and found it anything but scary although I did like the very end I did think that big was quite well done. As for will a marketing campain ever come around that will work as well as that one, I am sure that it will as history does have a habit of repeating itself,

I haven't watched the original Blair Witch in such a long time. I haven't watched the new one, but I just remember saying to myself "wow, that seems unnecessary" while watching the trailer. But, who knows, it has a good director attached to it, I'm sure I'll get to it one day.

As for another one? Probably not anytime soon. Even though it made decent money, Lionsgate was pretty disappointed with the box office results. But, with their biggest cash cow Hunger Games gone (for now) maybe they'll try to reinvent it again down the road.

The new one is really bad, I don't know if Wingard just had the studio pressuring him or interfering with him, or he was just having an off day. But it blows.

As well it should be. But it shouldn't diminish what the first one accomplished. That is a watershed moment in movie history.

Re: Will there ever be another Blair Witch Project?
 

My fault for a confusing headline. What I mean is, will there ever be another micro-budget indie film - $100,000 or less - with no stars that lights up the box office? Or was Paranormal Activity the last gasp?

I wouldn't hurry. The new one is basically the same movie as the original... except in the new one they have some sort of ghoul/mutant chasing them around the woods and they show the thing several times.

I knew what you meant which is why I gave the answer I did in my first post :D


Paranormal Activity is a perfect example though... the first one cost like, £10,000 to make, and they raked in something stupid like £200m at the box office. Marking it as probably the most profitable movie in history.
Then, the sequels were made on huge budgets with big studios taking over, and they were crap.


But yeah, reiterating, there will no doubt be another movie arrive at some point, made on a shoestring budget, that will smash records.