Not even close. Cannibal Holocaust beat it by almost 20 years. Several other found footage films predate BWP, including Man Bites Dog, which is a far better film.
There is no way anyone thinks this. Right?
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Is The Blair Witch Project (1999) a masterpiece?
- Thread starter Lights and Waves
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Not even close. Cannibal Holocaust beat it by almost 20 years. Several other found footage films predate BWP, including Man Bites Dog, which is a far better film.
There is no way anyone thinks this. Right?
Basileus777
Member
No, it was a bad film marketed extremely well.
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
nope, the fake documentary was better.
TrAcEr_x90
Member
I not only got scared at this movie being a teenager but it also made my friend puke in the popcorn bag in the middle of the movie because he had issues with motion sickness. Top tier horror movie to me!
whitemex88
Member
I couldn't sleep for a week after that ending
CharminUltra
Member
It's a piece.
Strangelove77
Member
People seem really offended that other people really like this movie. Weird.
Anywho, I don't know if it's a masterpiece, but it's a very good movie.
Anywho, I don't know if it's a masterpiece, but it's a very good movie.
Lys Skygge
Member
I'd say it's at least top 5 of all time.
Professor Renegade
Banned
Is it good? More or less. A masterpiece though? I don't think so. The Blair Witch Project is iconic because it started the found footage horror movie idea, or at least popularized it. it really is a product of its time, especially given the marketing campaign that it got.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
A masterpiece of marketing and as an event, absolutely. As a movie though? No.
Ghostwatch
Edit: No, actually, that wasn't 'found footage', it was a mockumentry.
nkarafo
Member
It succeeded in what it was supposed to be. A found footage film.
It was realistic. The actors convinced me they are real people going through this.
It wasn't supposed to be a stupid Hollywood "horror" movie with monsters booing you. It was supposed to feel realistic.
A masterpiece? Well, that's a stretch but it's definitely the most convincing found footage movie after the August Underground series.
It was realistic. The actors convinced me they are real people going through this.
It wasn't supposed to be a stupid Hollywood "horror" movie with monsters booing you. It was supposed to feel realistic.
A masterpiece? Well, that's a stretch but it's definitely the most convincing found footage movie after the August Underground series.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
I didn't care for it when it came out, but it's somewhat grown on me over the years. Still don't particularly love it though. I remember liking that documentary thing they did on the legend itself. Caught it late at night on showtime or something a long time ago, and thought it was pretty effective.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Yeah yeah Cannibal Holocaust was technically the original found footage movie but Blair Witch Project popularized it. Its like pointing out Wolfenstein 3D wasn't the first FPS because of MIDI Maze, like that matters. If you want to go a step further then 50% of Lovecraft's stories are an abandoned journal addressed to whoever finds it, and I'm sure there are older horror examples.
Alcibiades
Member
I remember incredible hype for it during the summer heading into my junior year in HS. I was at a summer camp and word was spreading.
Then I went with a group of friends to see it - thought it was boring and a waste of money. The hype was real - the end product was not. Maybe my expectations were too high? I think figuring out before hand that the whole thing wasn't true really deflated the experience.
I just went this past week to go see Blair Witch and I actually enjoyed it much more (probably due to not being disappointed over the "found footage" not being real).
Then I went with a group of friends to see it - thought it was boring and a waste of money. The hype was real - the end product was not. Maybe my expectations were too high? I think figuring out before hand that the whole thing wasn't true really deflated the experience.
I just went this past week to go see Blair Witch and I actually enjoyed it much more (probably due to not being disappointed over the "found footage" not being real).
Spiral Insanity
Banned
Unions won't let you film for days/nights like they did with Blair Witch. The actors were sleeping in those tents.
(Or you could do it without unionized crew)
Heavy_D206
Member
The WAY they went about making the film was unique and interesting, but the actual film itself is pretty shitty.
I recently rewatched it with my g/f and were both surprised with how bad it actually is.
I remember liking it when it came out, but I was probably like 13 years old back then lol
I recently rewatched it with my g/f and were both surprised with how bad it actually is.
I remember liking it when it came out, but I was probably like 13 years old back then lol
And by the end virtually starved them with few and few food rations.
It's probably the most authentic feeling movie then and since then. Nothing has really come close to capturing that feeling.
Insane Metal
Member
Should've been first reply.
I dont get the blanket hate for a whole genre. I dont like slashers or torture porn horror but i dont begrudge those that do. Im not going to tell them their way to enjoy horror is worse then mine.
Mortimer Brewster
Member
Thank you, Cannibal Holocaust and other Italian mondo films of that era were using the same marketing ploys for years. Ruggero Deodato had to deal with legal inquiries from Italian authorities because Cannibal Holocausts effects and marketing was so effective in convincing people the human deaths in the film were as real as the animals.
The Blair Witch Project's main contribution was bringing the found footage genre into the mainstream.
triplestation
Member
It's the best horror film ever made as far as I'm concerned, right next to the first paranormal activity
Popculture phenomenon? Yes. Marketing brilliance? 100%. Everybody was talking about this movie.
A good movie? Nah. I found it to be pretty mediocre. I never felt any tension during the thing and when it finally gets somewhere... it ends. I dunno, it felt like this enormous anticlimactic happening. I only remember the final five minutes. Oh well, can't always have a winner!
A good movie? Nah. I found it to be pretty mediocre. I never felt any tension during the thing and when it finally gets somewhere... it ends. I dunno, it felt like this enormous anticlimactic happening. I only remember the final five minutes. Oh well, can't always have a winner!
choco-fish
Member
So in the US did people believe the marketing, that it was based on real found footage? Or was it obvious to you guys that it was just cleverly marketed?
In the UK it felt to me like it was sold on the success of the marketing campaign in the US, but it never felt like it was sold as real footage. Still people were queuing round the block to see the film, something I'd never seen at that point.
In the UK it felt to me like it was sold on the success of the marketing campaign in the US, but it never felt like it was sold as real footage. Still people were queuing round the block to see the film, something I'd never seen at that point.
Fallout-NL
Member
Hell yeah I think it is a masterpiece. The ending is incredible and I love how authentic it feels. Really excellent acting too. Just leagues better than what you get from most horror films. I absolutely adore it. One of the best horror films ever made.
Oh fuck, and the end credits. <3
Oh fuck, and the end credits. <3
petran79
Banned
I remember watching it like a normal horror film on VHS. Found it ok but didnt feel any tension. Then I went to sleep and 2 hours later late at night I wake up terrified, feeling a sense of fear I had never felt before. First film to delve into my subconscious.
My friend had watched the film too at a later date and he told me he could not understand what happened in the ending. I felt a little odd to hear that since the ending wasnt anything hard to grasp.
Then I realised how he perceived things and we laughed.
My friend had watched the film too at a later date and he told me he could not understand what happened in the ending. I felt a little odd to hear that since the ending wasnt anything hard to grasp.
Then I realised how he perceived things and we laughed.
Due to the blurry picture he thought that the guy who was hanging was just standing there taking a piss. So he couldnt understand why the girl was screaming.
I don't think I would call it a masterpiece, but I do feel it is a modern classic, an important film for the horror genre.
Watched it again for the first time in probably 15 years a couple months ago and the film really holds up well in my opinion. Everything besides the marketing, is minimalist. The story behind the witch is really all that deep, but they did a great job of fleshing out what is there. The effects are all really easy and mostly the type of thing you might actually do to someone if you were camping, which really helps with the ambiguity of whether there is a witch and really building up to the ending.
And the ending is probably one of my favorite of all time. So simple, yet makes sure you know that they weren't just lost kids being fucked with by locals and that there was a witch without ruining it by showing some cheap monster.
Watched it again for the first time in probably 15 years a couple months ago and the film really holds up well in my opinion. Everything besides the marketing, is minimalist. The story behind the witch is really all that deep, but they did a great job of fleshing out what is there. The effects are all really easy and mostly the type of thing you might actually do to someone if you were camping, which really helps with the ambiguity of whether there is a witch and really building up to the ending.
And the ending is probably one of my favorite of all time. So simple, yet makes sure you know that they weren't just lost kids being fucked with by locals and that there was a witch without ruining it by showing some cheap monster.
I can't believe anyone ever bought it as being real. Realistic, maybe... but the idea that theatres would play actual footage of people who went missing in the woods under suspicious circumstances... that people believed the footage would be edited to feature length... and that somehow the families would sign off on it...
That's more terrifying than anything in the film.
Megalosaro
Banned
Looking back, yeah. But it was a more innocent time back then
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Can't tell if you're joking or not
I was a teenager when it came out and I've always scared easily. Saw it in the theatres with some friends. I remember being quite bored until the very end, then I got more involved, but never scared. Can't remember everyone else's reactions. I don't remember if anyone else was scared.
Anyway, my personal feelings aside, I think it's pretty good at what it does, but I dont think it deserves to be called a masterpiece.
Anyway, my personal feelings aside, I think it's pretty good at what it does, but I dont think it deserves to be called a masterpiece.
The last 30 seconds were the only good thing about Blair Witch. The rest was shaking foliage and bad actors being shrill.
Miss.Selfdestruct
Member
Masterpiece? Yes
The viral marketing behind it had a lot to do with its success, obviously. And that's a huge part of its brilliance, it managed to sucker so many people into believing that it was real. It broke that 4th wall. It unfortunate that the actors involved gt a bad rap afterwards, the did such a god job.
Strongly encourage people that haven't seen the first one, or are just hearing about it now and don't get it, to listen to this podcast:
http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/09/12/the-canon-episode-93-the-blair-witch-project
That's because it was the first of its kind. It wasn't even meant to be screened in large theaters or get a nation wide screening to begin with.
The viral marketing behind it had a lot to do with its success, obviously. And that's a huge part of its brilliance, it managed to sucker so many people into believing that it was real. It broke that 4th wall. It unfortunate that the actors involved gt a bad rap afterwards, the did such a god job.
Strongly encourage people that haven't seen the first one, or are just hearing about it now and don't get it, to listen to this podcast:
http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/09/12/the-canon-episode-93-the-blair-witch-project
That's because it was the first of its kind. It wasn't even meant to be screened in large theaters or get a nation wide screening to begin with.
I had already seen the mcpherson tapes before this came out, on sky t.v in the UK and they didnt show any credits at the end, crafty sky cut them off, making it scary for me, despite being a teen i should have realised what i was watching was on a film channel, not something like discovery, still that was pre blair witch and therefore the first time i encountered it, it was already old hat to me by the time blair witch came out.
ArkkAngel007
Member
I was quite bored of the Film. The marketing had good elements and the style was novel at the time, but nothing really seems to stand out anymore.
I plan to rewatch it in the next few weeks, so perhaps something will click then.
I plan to rewatch it in the next few weeks, so perhaps something will click then.
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