Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick also used the internet to their advantage.

It had been done before but in very niche movies like Cannibal Holocaust, which came out in the 80s but was a very grindhouse, underground movie. It was a perfect storm of being released exactly around the time the internet was beginning to boom, combined with this idea of ‘found-footage’ – that what you’re seeing is raw video material that somebody has left, and you’re watching it back un-edited. We hadn’t had anything really scary in a long time and were just looking for a new spin on the horror film, something that breathed fresh life into it. Mike Muncer: Generally the 90s are not considered the best decade for horror. In our conversation below, Muncer details the impact and legacy of this low-budget masterpiece, from its seminal use of found-footage, to its innovative promotion tactics and the DIY ethos it engendered among future filmmakers – we dissect one of the most important contributions to horror in the last twenty years.įinn Blythe: When it came out in 1999, what made The Blair Witch Project so radically different from anything that preceded it? In between endless re-hashings of the Freddy Krueger universe ( Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare 1992, Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday 1993) they had to endure Stephen King’s crack-pot debut screenplay Shapeshifters (1992), and several appalling sequels, most notably Jan De Bont’s limp take on Robert Wise’s 1963 classic, The Haunting.Īs part of the BFI’s two month exploration of 90s film and television, The Blair Witch Project will return to the big screen with an introduction by host and producer of the hugely successful podcast, The Evolution of Horror, Mike Muncer. When it was released in 1999, The Blair Witch Project arrived as redemptive salvation for horror fans, a welcome antidote to the dross that had been served up that decade, and a truly terrifying spectacle that not only harnessed the nascent power of the internet but re-drew the boundaries of what the horror genre could contribute to cinema.īut for a few lasting contributions made to the genre – Candyman (1992), Scream (1996) and The Sixth Sense (1999) – the 90s will not live long in the memories of horrorphiles.

The blair witch project