Because of this, the film remains at the top of the found-footage genre and continues to chill the bones of new generations. It was like watching a campfire tale come to life, capitalizing on the way our imagination naturally takes over when we hear about something awful, unnerving, or out of this world. Even better, the two filmmakers were insistent on withdrawing from the traditional and tired tropes of horror, opting for atmosphere, tension, and raw storytelling. Williams. These no-names could have been anyone - they could have been us! - which is why it was so easy to relate to them as they wandered in the thick of the darkness, argued with one another, kicked maps into the river, and offered up tearful confessionals.

Then they told their friends, and they told their friends, and then they told their friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. Seemingly overnight, word spread about the elusive creature lurking up in the Black Hills of small town Burkittsville, Maryland, a legend that felt too real because it looked too real.Īfter all, nobody knew about Myrick and Sánchez just as no one had ever heard of stars Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, or Michael C.

As such, millions of moviegoers walked out of theaters that summer terrified, some even psychologically damaged, by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s little-indie-film-that-would-break-box-office-records-and-grab-248-million-dollars-worldwide.

At the time, found-footage films weren’t a household scare - a relic that dated back to 1979 with Ruggero Deodato’s cult horror Cannibal Holocaust - and the Internet was still naïve enough for urban legends to pass by either unnoticed or disproven. People forget how scary The Blair Witch Project was in 1999.

Download free the blair witch project 3