The Blair Witch Project
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In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.
What critics thought
Critics broadly embraced The Blair Witch Project as a landmark in horror filmmaking, crediting its found-footage approach with conjuring genuine dread through what it withholds rather than what it shows. The gap between critical enthusiasm and audience satisfaction is real, though — many viewers found the shaky-cam monotony and thin characterization more exhausting than terrifying, and a vocal minority of critics dismissed the hype as manufactured.
“An intensely imaginative piece of conceptual filmmaking that also delivers the goods as a dread-drenched horror movie, The Blair Witch Project puts a clever modern twist on the universal fear of the dark and things that go bump in the night”
Todd McCarthy·Variety
“the ultimate triumph of the Sundance scam: Make a heartless home movie, get enough critics to blurb in near unison 'scary' and watch the suckers flock to be fleeced”
Andrew Sarris·The New York Observer
“boring – really boring”
R. L. Schaffer·IGN
Parents guide
- Violence
- mild
- Sex
- none
- Profanity
- severe
- Substances
- mild
- Intensity
- severe
Genres
Horror, Mystery
Cast & Crew
Daniel MyrickDirector
Eduardo SánchezDirector
Heather DonahueHeather Donahue
Joshua LeonardJoshua Leonard
Michael C. WilliamsMichael WilliamsThe Blair Witch Project
In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.
What critics thought
Critics broadly embraced The Blair Witch Project as a landmark in horror filmmaking, crediting its found-footage approach with conjuring genuine dread through what it withholds rather than what it shows. The gap between critical enthusiasm and audience satisfaction is real, though — many viewers found the shaky-cam monotony and thin characterization more exhausting than terrifying, and a vocal minority of critics dismissed the hype as manufactured.
“An intensely imaginative piece of conceptual filmmaking that also delivers the goods as a dread-drenched horror movie, The Blair Witch Project puts a clever modern twist on the universal fear of the dark and things that go bump in the night”
Todd McCarthy·Variety
“the ultimate triumph of the Sundance scam: Make a heartless home movie, get enough critics to blurb in near unison 'scary' and watch the suckers flock to be fleeced”
Andrew Sarris·The New York Observer
“boring – really boring”
R. L. Schaffer·IGN
Parents guide
- Violence
- mild
- Sex
- none
- Profanity
- severe
- Substances
- mild
- Intensity
- severe
Genres
Horror, Mystery
Cast & Crew
Daniel MyrickDirectorEduardo SánchezDirectorHeather DonahueHeather DonahueJoshua LeonardJoshua LeonardMichael C. WilliamsMichael WilliamsStream
Rent & Buy