A group of college students venture into the Black Hills Forest in Maryland to uncover the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of James’ sister who many believe is connected to the legend of the Blair Witch. At first the group is hopeful, especially when a pair of locals offer to act as guides through the dark and winding woods, but as the endless night wears on, the group is visited by a menacing presence. Slowly, they begin to realize the legend is all too real and more sinister than they could have imagined.

“Blair Witch” is another one of those movies that was filmed under a different name, with the sole purpose of keeping its creation under wraps until it was ready to debut. It’s a great way to keep speculation and rumor mongering to a bare minimum, and prevents social media from blowing things out of proportion and over-hyping it. I for one, am glad to see that studios are starting this trend, as it leads to such nice surprises as the next “Blair Witch” movie.

I don’t know about you guys, but I am seriously excited about this one. Here’s the trailer. Check it out.

Doesn’t that look kick ass?

I love how they do call backs to the witch’s house from the end of the first film. And it looks like Heather’s brother and his friends get hopelessly lost in the woods while looking for clues. I hope no one threw their map into the river!

 

It has a little bit of a “Grave Encounters” vibe, but that is not a bad thing in the slightest, as “Grave Encounters” is one of THE BEST found footage movies ever made. Hands down. I kid you not. Go watch it now if you haven’t seen it! Go! What are you waiting for?

For those of you that have kept on reading, this is what you need to know about the film:

This is a sequel, the next installment in the franchise, and unlike Blair Witch: The Book of Shadows, it is filmed in found footage style, just like the original movie.

For those of you that are too young to know, or didn’t have cable TV when “The Blair Witch Project” came out in 1999, it was the first movie to create a viral Internet campaign and framed itself as real footage made by college students that were making a documentary about the Blair Witch.  There was a documentary on the Sci-Fi Channel (now the SyFy Channel. Don’t ask me why they “rebranded” and changed their name),  which made this seem exceptionally real. As though the “mockumentary” was something that had actually happened. To this day, there are people who honestly believe that the Blair Witch is real, and that her victims are dead. (I hate to burst your bubble guys, but they were actors that used their real names in the film.)

Here you can see a frame from the movie trailer.

Note the last sentence: “A year later their footage was found.” Want to know where the term found footage movie came from? It’s right there. “The Blair Witch Project” wasn’t the first found footage film, not by a long shot. But, it was the first one that was so successful that it had a huge impact on horror film making.

“The Blair Witch Project” was so successful thanks to its viral campaign, and clever framing of being real thanks to a documentary on Sci-Fi Channel and HBO, that soon countless other films were to follow. This is the one that started the trend. Not “Paranormal Activity.” Nope. Found footage films as we know them today started with “The Blair Witch Project.”

But you don’t have to take my word for it. Watch “Moments that Changed the Movies: The Blair Witch Project”  below and listen to the directors and actors that were involved with making it a huge success.