The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Directors:

Daniel Myrick
Eduardo Sánchez

Writers:

Daniel Myrick (writer) &
Eduardo Sánchez (writer)

Release Date:

30 July 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary...A year later their footage was found.

Plot:

In October of 1994, three student film makers disappeared in the woods near Burkittesville, Maryland. One year later, their footage was found.

Plot Keywords:

Forest | Legend | Maryland | Student Film | Video Camera

Awards:

11 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Heather Donahue	...	Heather Donahue
Joshua Leonard	...	Joshua 'Josh' Leonard
Michael C. Williams	...	Michael 'Mike' Williams (as Michael Williams)
Bob Griffith	...	Short Fisherman
Jim King	...	Interviewee
Sandra Sánchez	...	Waitress (as Sandra Sanchez)
Ed Swanson	...	Fisherman With Glasses
Patricia DeCou	...	Mary Brown
Mark Mason	...	Man in Yellow Hat
Jackie Hallex	...	Interviewee with Child

Directed by
Daniel Myrick
Eduardo Sánchez		(as Eduardo Sanchez)

Writing credits
Daniel Myrick		(writer) &
Eduardo Sánchez		(writer) (as Eduardo Sanchez)

Produced by
Robin Cowie	....	producer
Bob Eick	....	executive producer
Kevin J. Foxe	....	executive producer
Gregg Hale	....	producer
Michael Monello	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Tony Cora

Cinematography by
Neal Fredericks

Film Editing by
Daniel Myrick
Eduardo Sánchez		(as Eduardo Sanchez)

Production Design by
Ben Rock

Art Direction by
Ricardo Moreno		(as Ricardo R. Moreno)

Art Department
Patricia DeCou	....	art technician
Brigan Gresh	....	scenic artist (as Brigan Docking)
Andrew White	....	scenic artist

Sound Department
Harry Cohen	....	final sound mixer
Gerry Lentz	....	final sound mixer
Dana Meeks	....	sound mixer
Jack Sherdel	....	sound
Rich Weingart	....	final sound mixer
Eddie Bydalek	....	sound recordist (uncredited)
Paul Curtis	....	dialogue editor (uncredited)
Elisabeth Flaum	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)
Shawn Kennelly	....	foley mixer (uncredited)
Clive Taylor	....	sound editor (TV version) (uncredited)

Stunts
Steven A. Blake	....	stunt rigging
Douglas Retzler	....	stunt rigging

Camera and Electrical Department
Stefanie DeCassan	....	still photographer (as Stefanie Decassan)
Hector Lopez	....	additional photographer
Julie Ann Smith	....	still photographer

Casting Department
Lisa Dane	....	additional casting

Music Department
Dan Barrio	....	music assistant
Tony Cora	....	musician

Other crew
Melvin Bayer	....	location
Howard Bernstein	....	phase one instigator
Mark Bobrow	....	production assistant
Beverly Brooks	....	video to film transfer
Shelley Buell	....	accountant
Rachel Carter	....	audition assistant
Harry Clein	....	marketing
Ray Combs	....	behind-the-scenes video
Matt Compton	....	audition assistant
Matt Compton	....	location
Sarah Cowie	....	accountant
Carolyn DeCassan	....	audition assistant
Carolyn DeCassan	....	production assistant (as Carolyn Decassan)
Stefanie DeCassan	....	audition assistant
Stefanie DeCassan	....	production assistant (as Stefanie Decassan)
David Donaldson	....	video to film transfer
Julia Fair	....	production assistant
Lonnie Glerum	....	key production assistant
Christian Gueverra	....	location
Trey Howard	....	investor tape production (as Trey Butts)
Chrystal Jordan	....	investor tape production (as Crystal Jordan)
Shannon Kibler	....	production assistant
Kurt McNew	....	production assistant
Zubi Mohammed	....	behind-the-scenes video
Britt Nichols	....	audition assistant
Gene O'Baker	....	accountant
Kelly Phipps	....	audition assistant
John Pierson	....	phase one instigator
Billy Plank	....	production assistant
Tina Plank	....	production assistant
Dave Poole	....	production assistant
Sandra Sánchez	....	production assistant (as Sandra Sanchez)
Dave Segal	....	investor tape production
Wendy Smith	....	investor tape production
Joe Solari	....	investor tape production
Adrian Steinbach	....	production assistant
Fahad Vania	....	audition assistant
Fahad Vania	....	production assistant
Jeremy Walker	....	marketing
Dennis Warner	....	investor tape production
William L. Whitacre	....	legal (as Bill Whitacre)
Jenn Winn	....	investor tape production
Sam Barber	....	pre-production supervisor (uncredited)
Cathy Ziehl	....	assistant to studio vice president (uncredited)

Thanks
Jane E. Barrick	....	special thanks
Teresa Bone	....	special thanks
Steve Boudreau	....	very special thanks
Peter Broderick	....	special thanks
Carmen Cacaven	....	special thanks
Larry Carneglia	....	special thanks
Karo Cavanaugh	....	very special thanks
Brian Clark	....	special thanks
Fran Cowie	....	very special thanks
Les Cowie	....	very special thanks
Sandy Craig	....	special thanks
Matthew Curtis	....	special thanks
Cecilia DeCassan	....	special thanks
Gino DeCassan	....	special thanks
Stefanie DeCassan	....	very special thanks
Sarah Foxe	....	special thanks
Ingrid Fraley	....	special thanks
Richard Fraley	....	special thanks
Melanie Gasper	....	special thanks
Ellen Gillis	....	special thanks
Lonnie Glerum	....	special thanks
Christian Gueverra	....	special thanks (as Christian Guevara)
Dee Guzzi	....	special thanks
Jackie Hale	....	very special thanks
Tonya Hale	....	special thanks
Lynda Hansen	....	special thanks
Thomas Ethan Harris	....	special thanks
Diana Iwanow	....	special thanks
Jeff Johnsen	....	special thanks (as Jeff Johnson)
Mary Johnson	....	special thanks
Bob Jones	....	special thanks
Mike Jones	....	special thanks
Nancy Jane King	....	special thanks
Louise Levison	....	special thanks
Jean Lipphard	....	special thanks
Sandra Lukas	....	special thanks
Scott Macquarrie	....	very special thanks
Terry Martin	....	special thanks
Kurt McNew	....	very special thanks
Margarita Moreno	....	special thanks
Oscar Moreno	....	special thanks
Dick Morris	....	special thanks
Joe Nagy	....	special thanks
Michael Nelson	....	special thanks
Dave Norman	....	very special thanks
Gene O'Baker	....	very special thanks
Peg O'Keef	....	special thanks
Anthony Pekarik	....	special thanks
Klark J. Perez	....	special thanks
Janet Pierson	....	special thanks
John Pierson	....	special thanks
Don Rhodes	....	special thanks
Jim Ritzel	....	very special thanks
Korrin Ritzel	....	very special thanks
Brian Saway	....	special thanks
Cecilia Saway	....	special thanks
Rita Saway	....	special thanks
William Saway	....	special thanks
Jack Sherdel	....	very special thanks
Catherine Smith	....	special thanks
Don Smith	....	special thanks
Ali Steinbach	....	very special thanks
Francis Tanner	....	very special thanks
Lindsey Tanner	....	very special thanks
Jan Ungaro	....	very special thanks
Richard Ungaro	....	very special thanks
Dennis Warner	....	special thanks
Paul K. Williamson	....	special thanks
Lorraine Wood	....	special thanks
Tara Zwicker	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Haxan Films

Distributors

• Alliance Atlantis Communications (1999) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Arthaus Filmverleih (1999) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Asmik Ace Entertainment (1999) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Budapest Film (1999) (Hungary) (theatrical)
• Egmont Entertainment (1999) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Eurocine (1999) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Filmes Lusomundo (1999) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Klock Worx Company, The (1999) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Mars Distribution (1999) (France) (theatrical)
• Paradiso Entertainment (1999) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Parco Co. Ltd. (2000) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Pathé (1999) (UK) (theatrical)
• Shôchiku Eiga (1999) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (200?) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Artisan Entertainment (1999) (USA) (all media)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2000) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Laurenfilm (2000) (Spain) (DVD)
• Lions Gate Films (2003) (USA) (all media)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Pioneer LDC (2000) (Japan) (DVD)
• Yorin (2003) (Netherlands) (TV) (first national airing)

Other Companies

• 4MC  video to film transfer
• Chapter III Records  soundtrack
• Clein + Walker  marketing
• Digitec  audio
• Jeremy Walker + Associates  publicity
• Wishire Stages  final mix
• Wolf, Young, O'Baker  accounting

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Malaysia:18PL | Hungary:16 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA (original rating) | Australia:M | Belgium:KNT | Chile:14 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (original rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #36716) | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Adamstown Village Market - 5550 Mountville Road, Adamstown, Maryland, USA

Company:

Haxan Films

Trivia:

Apparently, Heather Donahue brought a knife into the forest while filming was taking place because she didn't like the idea of sleeping with two guys.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: A girl is playing with a Tamagotchi virtual pet in a scene set in 1994, but the toy was not released in Japan until 1996 (it wasn't officially available in the USA until May 1997).

Quotes:

Heather Donahue: Flames are licking you like the devil there, Josh.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Septem8er Tapes (2004)

Soundtrack:

The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle

Tense, unsettling, original, intelligent, short, cheap.

This film is not a feature film. For a start, it is not feature length, also, it is not shot on film. More importantly, it does not have what feature films have these days: star actors, special effects, exotic locations, explosions. Instead, seeing B.W.P. is seeing something else that a cinema can be: a place where people can share an intimate experience created by a few people on a tight budget. I would be glad of its success if only for that reason.

The first section of the film appears at first to be amateurish and slow. In fact, it is very deft, and very efficient at what it does. It tells the audience everything it needs to know about the characters and situation, and nothing more. Also, it gets the audience into the habit of viewing the film's format: alternating between black and white (very grainy and poorly focussed) film, and the washed out colours of shaky pixilated video. The film makers managed to set up a rationale for why the film is so cheaply made. Three people hike into the woods for a few days to shoot a documentary, with borrowed equipment, and are in the habit of videoing everything for the hell of it. They cannot carry tripods, steadicams, dollies, large lighting rigs, or the like, so everything we see is lit either by raw daylight, or by a single light fixed to the camera, which illuminates just what is within a few feet of the lens. The film creates its own excuse to be cheap. This is intelligent.

The acting and script are both excellent. The well-cast actors are presumably playing pretty-much themselves, and are convincingly naturalistic, and neither too likeable or too dislikeable. The slow route into hysteria is well documented. Rather than simply having a character say "We're lost!", we see many scenes which show the trio getting more and more hopelessly lost, and more annoyed with each other for this. By the time they are thoroughly lost, the audience shares the despair.

My friend and I, after seeing it, both felt a little sick. I put this down to my having been tense for a hour, he put it down more to motion sickness. The jerky, badly-framed camerawork is hard on the eye and stomach, but I applaud the director for its uncompromising use. Similarly, no compromise is made with the dialogue. Some of it is very quiet and must be listened for, some is technical jargon, which is left realisticly unexplained.

One of the great strengths and weaknesses of the film is the editing. It is good in that it does much to heighten the tension, with many key moments lasting just a little too long for comfort. Each time the characters find something nasty, the viewer is made to want the editor to cut soon to the next scene, and the fact that he doesn't adds to the sense of being trapped, as the characters are. The problem with this, though, is that one is left wondering about the motives of the fictional editor. In truth, of course, the film is edited to create these effects, and to entertain, but the film's rationale is that these are the rushes of a documentary put together posthumously by someone other than the film's original creator. Why, then, would an editor piecing together such footage, edit for dramatic effect rather than for clarity? Why would he keep cutting back and forth from the video footage to the film footage, when neither shows any more information than the other?

The film is stark. After one simple caption at the start, all that follows is the "rushes". I wonder if the film might not have been improved with an introductory section which documented how the rushes were found and edited. A programme was made for television which did this. Perhaps a portion of this might have been added to the film, making it more complete, and more believable (and proper feature length).

While I applaud the fact that young original film-makers have managed to create a mainstream hit out of a simple idea, well-handled. I dread the possible avalanche of inferior copies which may come.

Most horror films these days are created not for the audience, but for the makers. The departments of special effects, make-up, model-making, animation and so forth all try hard to show potential future employers what they can do. The result is that nothing is left for the audience to do, since everything can be seen and heard, and the viewer's imagination can be switched off. Today, it is possible to see pigs fly on the screen, and so film-makers show off and show us a formation of Tamworths, which is something which will look impressive in the trailer. To show us less is to make our minds fill in the gaps. This way, we create our own terrors, perfectly fitted to ourselves. The ghastly face I see in my head, is the ghastly head which I find scary. The ghastly face I am shown may be one I can cope with quite easily. If I see a believable character screaming in hysterical fear at something I cannot see, my own brain creates demons for my night's dreams, demons far more mighty than anything CGI graphics or a latex mask could portray.

This film will stay in your thoughts for some while.