from Fringe Video Fanzine Issue #002

Rating: Null/10 (3 June 2001)

Not since Last House on the Left's (1972) 'Keep repeating, it's only a movie, it's only a movie' or the days of William Castle's The Tingler (1959) has a marketing campaign been so successful, and for that reason alone you should like this movie. The film opened with stark, white type on a black background: ...In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary... Despite dramatically mixed audience reaction, The Blair Witch Project became an overnight success. The directors "supposedly" use the much hated, shaking hand held found footage shot by the victims before they died. Hundreds of people actually believed this hype, thanks to disinformation spread by the internet, and by the time the film got to the Sundance Film Festival, it was being promoted with missing person flyers picturing the actors. ...it's not like no-one ever thought of the idea before. Cannibal Holocaust (1979), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1989) and Man Bites Dog (1993) all have used the fake documentary footage. Some even say the directors completely stole their movie idea from an earlier low-budget film entitled The Last Broadcast (1997). However, none of those films made the kind of cash that this one did. Blair Witch has pulled in some $140 million on an initial investment of approximately $35,00 - Night of the Living Dead (1968) cost three times that. Love it or hate it, the film has made an impact.