The Blair Witch Project (1999)

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On October 21, 1994, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams hiked into Maryland's Black Hills Forest to shoot a documentary film on a local legend, "The Blair Witch." They were never heard from again. One year later, their footage was found. The Blair Witch Project is their legacy. (Artisan Entertainment)

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Directed By: Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick

Written By: Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick

Starring: Joshua Leonard, Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams

Genres: Suspense/Thriller, Horror

Franchise: Blair Witch

Country: USA

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The Blair Witch Project belongs to 78 collections

1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 232 stars)

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4. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)

5. Onion AV Club: The New Cult Canon (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 28 stars)

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12. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 11 stars)

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22. Budget of less than $50,000 (collaborative: moderated by saudade - 5 stars)

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25. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)

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48. "Seasons: Autumn" (collaborative - 1 star)

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55. JEATH Movies (collaborative: moderated by DesertPunk)

56. Cinema Sewer (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess)

57. Blair Witch series (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub)

58. The Canon podcast (all films) (collaborative: moderated by psim)

59. Sleeper Hits (collaborative: moderated by comepelicula)

60. The Canon podcast (only the Canon) (collaborative: moderated by psim)

61. Setting: woods (collaborative: moderated by tipar)

62. Into the woods (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed)

63. Found Footage Film Festival (public: monocle)

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TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
11	BeeDub	92 _84th
This movie gets a lot of hate for spawning the now-ubiquitous "found footage" subgenre, but it remains an eerie and effective fright flick with one of the creepiest endings ever. Bonus points for its cutting-edge (at the time) viral marketing campaign, which was, to my teenaged brain, just as engrossing as the movie itself.
9	loserville	82 _83rd
I don't care how much shit this gets, it was the scariest movie I'd ever seen in theater up to that point.
8	doctor7	75 _62nd
It's not great but it's still pretty freaky. I'm very, very impressed at how well it turns out for just being a student film. The entire film is unsettling with the "is it real or in their heads" angle. And the ending, my lord, I loved the ending. I honestly don't see why it gets so much hate.
7	Moribunny	85 _95th
I don't like the fad of dissing BWP out of spite, for the viral hype it used to promote itself and how it fooled people. This is a highly immersive, realistic and enjoyable movie, and strikingly original despite its linkage in a glorious tradition of great horror/shock-umentaries from Bunuel's Las Hurdes, through the Italian Mondos and Cannibal Holocausts to the August Undergrounds, all of which are staged but really have you going.
6	mikeypain	1 _0th
Ooooh, we're out in the woods. We're out in the woods. We're dribbling snot all over the place. We're out in the woods. It's dark and there is a sea of snot. We're out in the woods. We're in a creepy structure. We all drop out cameras when teacher tells Bobby to stand in the corner. End of movie.
6	Shmendrek	4 _83rd
Genuinely spooky. I was surprised at how many people didn't enjoy this film. I think to truly enjoy it requires a little bit of imagination: you never really see what is hunting the three hikers. Full of suspense and general creepiness. Worth a watch.
6	KasperL	80 _86th
Not only minimalism done right, the mockumentary style fits the content perfectly in that by letting the audience share the restricted viewpoints of their characters, knowing and seeing as little as them, Myrick and Sánchez nail the less is more approach, also exploiting the impression of realism inherent in home video aesthetics. The preliminary inteviews communicate a sense of forboding and we share the crew's frustration in the forest. The final scene is chilling. An impressive piece of work.
5	Nathan S	4 _74th
A clever idea that, I think, transcends the novelty or gimmickry of its ad campaign. Tension between the characters is effectively communicated to the viewer, and as a result this is an incredibly stressful film to watch. The last act in particular is absolutely terrifying, but it should also be mentioned that there is a good deal of comedy incorporated at the expense of amateur auteurs.
5	ajeckertdo	92 _81st
Groundbreaking, in a way. Made for pennies, and grumble all you want about the jittery camera, but that ending still terrifies me.
5	Jeb	35 _20th
Didn't scare me in any way and the acting was terrible. Don't waste your time on this piece of crap people call horror!
4	MadMan	86 _56th
While it may not be extremely scary or brilliant, The Blair Witch Project is pretty damn good, and is an interesting film experiement. Having actually read about some of the techniques they used to make it on IMDB.com, I do admire the film while noting that its not a great one. The stuff in the woods is at times annoying, but I feel that the film expertly builds up a sort of eerie and strange atmosphere that is finalized with a dam creepy ending.
4	supergloo	10 _93rd
Never has so much been done with so little.
4	Judge Holden	8 _94th
The Blair Witch Project gets so much undeserved hate these days that it's easy to dismiss it as a parody of its former self. That's a shame because it truly is one of the most effective found-footage horror movies ever made, thanks especially to the ending, which is one of the best in the genre. The decision to leave the "witch" unseen adds to the realism and, in turn, to the horror. Its effectiveness is virtually unmatched even today. I still get uneasy just starting this.
4	glumpy_99	93 _86th
Iconic grandaddy of the 'found footage' genre is much more a portrait of psychological disintegration than an out-and-out horror film - and is all the stronger for it; minimalist sound effects and prop design are creepy, but what makes this work are the impressive, naturalistic performances from the three leads, who all convince as 'normal', flawed, sometimes obnoxious but ultimately relateable people; their gradual descent into insanity makes for a uniquely queasy viewing experience.
4	thegreyfox	10 _1st
A Good premise, "is it real or not", "ad hoc dialogue", "shakey camera technique" ...... but regrettably, none of that premise came to fruition, and this film turned out to be the most boring and pointless film I can remember seeing for a long time. I know some people found this scary .. perhaps they wanted it to be because thats what they were told it WOULD be. In reality, this is a bore-fest from start to finish.
4	Jasongirl67	10 _4th
Another "Found Footage" film I can live without Hey if I wanna watch some guys in the woods with a chick Shaky camera's and a baffling plot I can rent porn and probably be more entertained
3	fabfunk	86 _80th
A genre classic, still creepy after all these years. Nothing scares like the element of mystery, what lies in the darkness.
3	Pickpocket	2 _21st
Meh, just not very good. The 3 leads are all douches and I hated them all. Not scary just kind of weird and gay and come on is this really believable? Oh God look a pile of rocks and some fuckin sticks!! Oh wait, we can't see anything cause it's dark for all of the "scary" parts. Shouting and breathing hard isn't scary people. If you were scared by this you are a n00b.
3	saucyjack	80 _67th
Who would have expected this movie to be looked at the way it is now? Almost universally reviled by the general public in the current day, this is an excellent horror film that does a lot with a little.
3	Luna6ix	31 _1st
The novelty of the extremely low budget seems to be the only thing carrying this movie, since had it been a big budget movie with those actors and that plot it would have fallen flat on its face.
3	DavidBlast	75 _72nd
Faded since it stirred up America, but kudos for making one of the most succesful horror movies of all time, using nothing but three actors and a forest, whilst inventing a subgenre in the process.
3	overrated	93 _98th
This depends a lot on how much you can freak yourself out, and I'm a gigantic fucking pussy.
2	BattleToad	35 _10th
Not so much scary as it is choppy and annoying. In an attempt to be unique and creepy, the film was made as something that is very difficult to look at without getting a headache. Due to my discomfort, I also believe that the story is stupid. Total crap!
2	hellsditch	84 _81st
Have to admit...really got to me when I first saw it and the hype hadn't really set in yet. Doesn't really hold up to repeated viewings, but still, it packed a punch in its day.
2	la boheme	50 _13th
OH NOES THE STICK FIGURES OF DOOM LET'S SWEAR LIKE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS AND SHAKE THE CAMERA SOME MORE!!1!
2	BillyShears	85 _86th
The year this came out went on an overnight elementary school class trip to some conservation area education whatever park thing and this fat idiot girl said she saw a thing in the woods and the entire class lost their shit at bed time and it was a huge embarrassing fiasco BUT NOT ME I SWEAR.
2	batface89	96 _94th
You either love it or hate it. I thought it was brilliant.
2	jodamico	84 _93rd
It does chaos so well, it's hard to recognize just how perfectly controlled this film is.
2	gorejunky	95 _79th
The movie that began the shaky cam horror film. Suspenseful, dramatic and one of the better endings to a movie of this genre that I have seen. Well done horror without having to rely on effects and gore. Highly recommended!
2	Lord Moe	89 _82nd
This movie is not only scary, but very smart. Keeping the strange occurrences off-camera is a nod to the old saying of "less is more" (which is something that modern horror directors, such as Eli Roth, can learn from). I highly recommend this film to any fan of horror movies. If you're going to watch it, get into the mood. Believe every word of it. It's how it was meant to be viewed.
2	Leonardis	77 _23rd
I can't complain too much about it, The Blair Witch Project is an excellent spine-tingling mockumentary. Didn't like the script at all times but it's still creepy nor does it deserve some of the criticism it got. It takes time to sink in and it's a little slow but that's okay.
2	Groovy_Souls	50 _29th
The Blair Witch Project is undeserving of its hate, and under serving of its praise. It simply just is. While it ends up with some nice tension building and gets points for creepiness factors, the direction is vomit-inducing and the acting is not much better. It's neither good nor bad, but I'd say it probably leans towards the latter.
2	vv238	81 _86th
I don't care what anyone says, I love The Blair Witch Project. It's gritty, raw, messy, (like a reality show, how about that?) and terrifying. But, but nothing happens! They just wonder around in the woods! If you can't find the terror in being lost in the woods not knowing whether you are losing your sanity to your own hubris or supernatural events than I don't know what to say. Go back to watching your jump-scare ridden, atmosphere-less crap that comprises most modern horror.
1	MartinTeller	62 _20th
This movie gets a bad rap but it's not so awful. Yes, it revolves around the gimmick of trying to convince the audience that it's real (which, it's worth mentioning, was fairly successful at the time). A lot of it is kind of boring, with just dumb kids swearing at each other and trudging around. But I think the creepy parts are still pretty creepy. The ending is really unsettling. The novelty of the concept has long worn off, but it was a clever idea. And honestly, the acting isn't bad either.
1	triffid	21 _1st
Incredibly overhyped. This film sucks more than the best comercially available vacuum cleaner on this planet.
1	Toolvixen	80 _38th
Not that great. It was good, but not great.
1	trile	99 _95th
My favourite horror of all time. All you gotta do is watch it alone, in a dark room, with a 5.1 speakers set aloud!
1	darkkato	96 _96th
Went in minus the internet hype/scrutiny - came out having watched the scariest film I have ever seen. Like Joey from Friends I keep my DVD copy in the freezer to feel safer.
1	Cerebrus	60 _41st
It's not really successful, but at least it's an interesting concept and does have a few scenes that could have been truly iconic and chilling if I had not seen them in various ways multiple times.
1	Alex Watkins	4 _70th
"Okay, here's your motivation. You're lost, you're angry in the woods, and no one is here to help you. There's a witch, and she keeps leaving shit outside your door. There's no one here to help you! She left little trinkets, you took one of them, she ran after us. There's no one here to help you! We walked for 15 hours today, we ended up in the same place! There's no one here to help you, that's your motivation! That's your motivation!"
1	brendoman	85 _30th
Say what you will, but when it first came out it scared the crap out of me.
1	Stain	90 _86th
Astonishingly effective, considering. Never did I dream that anyone would ever make another "terror of the unseen" film, much less do it this well, and much much less have it turn into a huge hit
1	martryn	53 _19th
A really creepy ending to the film, and it's nice to see it, especially before your own hiking trips, but it hasn't aged well. Credit for starting the found footage craze, though I'm not sure that adds points or subtracts them from this film.
1	Mentaculus	15 _3rd
A very, very poor man's Cannibal Holocaust, without the subtext. A good student film but lacks any substance whatsoever.
1	Haruko	90 _98th
Finally seeing this movie was like seeing a famous painting. You've seen pictures and read so much about it that all the scenes seem familiar and you know what to expect. Still it got to me. Briliant movie making with a non-existent budget. Solid acting and pioneeric style. The BWP is a classic for a reason.
1	Drewlephant	79 _66th
A hell of a noble experiment. Those kids deserve what they made for taking a tiny little movie like this and turning it into a sensation.
1	fleagle	60 _58th
Despite its criticism simply for its hype, Blair Witch is an original idea executed very well that will never see an equal.
1	Jarmann	75 _53rd
Groundbreaking in its own sense. Made movie history and should be watched for that reason alone. Still it works very well.
1	zombiezeus	95 _96th
Wrongly maligned as a 'disappointment' due to the movie's hype, this is one of the most effective horror movies of all time, due to the no-tech aspect of the scares; it ALL takes place in your head, and that's the scariest place of all. Brilliant.
1	LookingLand	25 _24th
i was entertained the first time i watched it, but i can't imagine it ever being anything worthwhile post-hype.
1	Philip	70 _56th
Inovative, but not scary.
1	bellamyr	88 _86th
Spooky, scary, horribly mind twistingly nerve chillingly frightening. Don't watch it in the dark without pulling the curtains first !!
1	jstry	49 _27th
I guess this was something different, so it gets points for that, but all in all, I thought it was pretty lame and I definitely wouldn't be able to sit through it a second time.
1	Urielac	50 _5th
too american too much marketing around it. a bit slow good suspenese.
1	sork	87 _90th
Truly original and creepy in a good way.
1	Vandelay1	74 _84th
good movie
1	kav	70 _57th
Enjoyable even though almost nothing happens. Some genuinely creepy moments.
1	Obdurate	85 _80th
The gimmick works because it plays on your fears. The less you see, the better. Despite how it was filmed, there actually were some really striking shots. The performances were actually solid and the ending. Oh god the ending. I just peed a little.
1	INDYATMN	30 _2nd
Other than the fact that everyone I speak to who enjoyed this was under the misapprehension that it might have been real or based on a true story, I will never understand the appeal here. Not scary at all. The filmmakers had some real balls on them though b/c if I had made this I would assume it was junk and thrown it away. And that's not an exaggeration. It would've been beyond my imagination 2 think something so crappily done would be embraced by so many.
1	lumen	9 _93rd
The first and last movie where the shaky-cam is used effectively. Plus it's short, there's no gore, jump scares or clichéd plot devices, no happy ending, and the witch remains hidden, letting the amazing sound design remind you of the threat. It unquestionably had an impact on cinema and viral marketing (5 years before YouTube). It doesn't deserve the hate.
1	luc	40 _5th
What a bad unprofessional thriller, no horror to see, and I'm wondering : how can you lost in a forest where there is a river ?
1	ImThatDingo	0 _2nd
If I wanted to see runny noses, I'd hang out with the local elementary school kids during recess. =/ This was an absolute waste of time. Therefore, it receives the big 0!
1	HyphenateMe	62 _40th
Hype. Hype hype hype. Hype? And then a boring ending.
1	Councillor	78 _55th
Aided a ressurgence of well made cheap comercial indie cinema.
1	Melvin Smif	60 _65th
A movie that almost proves that films should be seen in the theatre to be truly expirienced.
1	ivyt	80 _86th
Big budgets can never make me feel as weird and unsetteled as this thing, and guess how much money it used? Barley any! Hahahaha! All it uses is the color black and screaming.
1	celticguy94	87 _66th
Creepy, and very atmospheric. You will never go camping again!
1	johnshaft	85 _81st
This is one of the few films that truly scares me.
1	oldgoat	74 _62nd
I saw it before it hit national release so I didn't know much about it. At the time, the only movie I ever saw that I forgot I was watching a movie. Creative and scary.
1	Anselmi86	80 _70th
This film has never really failed to creep me out. And whether people choose to admit it or not, it has had an enormous impact on the world of cinema.
1	aWay0fLife	87 _93rd
It's a shame this move gets so much flack for being what it is, because for me, THIS is how you do a horror film. I'm someone who has never been scared by the run of the mill, killer with a knife, cheap scares and over blown gore of most modern horror films, they just never do it for me, but the way they went about making this just sends shivers down my spine every time. Yeah sure the acting is mostly terrible and it takes ages to get going but it slowly builds up tension and then BAM, Terrify
1	tinysausage	76 _69th
I avoided this for years because of the hype. When I finally saw it, it was impressive. The last scene is positively dripping with dread.
1	redacted	79 _67th
Every now & then a film comes out that vastly polarises audiences, to this day, BWP achieves that. Perhaps due to it being behind the invigoration of the shakycam/now-spent found footage genre. Most likely it could stem from a case of TPSyndrome, as most know how much it made vs cost. Objectively, the characters aren't shallow (yet somewhat aggravating) & using the Jaws concept exchanging deep water with inky darkness, sound design & slow-build imagery worked well to create the mental anguish
1	Mr. Film	80 _51st
Realistic, but only parts of it were actually scary. Still, the film is good
1	hellboy76	66 _51st
Largely effective in its goals. Not as unique a premise as the creators would lead you to believe. It does not deserve most of the backlash it recieved.
1	MSterling	0 _0th
When this came out there was this huge following and excitement. I think the people who propagated the idea that this movie should exist should be punished. I never made it all the way through but I pity the people who tried to.
1	T3hJohnson	29 _53rd
Kind of cool to finally see the movie that got copied countless times in the past decade. And it was actually good.
1	Hofschneider	70 _30th
Its probably a good thing to watch this movie now, 15 years (?) after the (anti-) hype. So in the end: its ok. Nice suspence, surprisingly good acting and a main idea that isn't all new but works alright. The problems are the stupid figures and the script, that has to many holes to keep you interested. At least myself.
1	weezy	90 _65th
HURRRRRR I HATED THIS SUTPID MOVIE THE CAMERA ALWAY SHAKES ITS LIKE A HOME MOVIE I LIEK GUD SCAREY MOVIES I DONT NO Y SO MANY PPL THINK THIS SCAREIY. DUUURRRR
1	Paxton	68 _53rd
It would start a legacy that I would despise, but there is no denying (other than the lots that do) the effect of the film. If you escape into it than you know the potency of it's simplitude.
1	mattorama12	36 _5th
It was boring and cheesy. It probably deserves a higher rating, but I really have to take off a lot of points for spawning the whole genre of found footage films (ok, I'm sure this wasn't the first, but it certainly popularized it).
1	adamj1982	72 _63rd
As a teenager in high school, seeing this in a theater was amazing. The hype surrounding it's release added so much to the experience. Marketing= 100
1	msdstc	60 _57th
Buried in hype, forgotten for that reason. Solid underneath it all.
1	karamazov.	52 _70th
I found this to be a very simple, gripping film experience, in a way not dissimilar to "Gravity." And, fortunately, this one also lacked all the extraneous bullshit of the latter film. Just enjoyable exploitation, for those willing to let themselves soak it in.

Displaying 1 to 250 of 415 total ratings: Prev | Next

Average Percentile 38.1% from 11209 Ratings