Halloween Picks: The Rise and Fall of the Blair Witch

In my previous Blog entry I spoke of the War of the Worlds broadcast and how it was in fact a precursor to the Found Footage Genre.

In today’s industry you constantly find a Found Footage picture being released and I have to say there is a simple reason for this. Now many of you want to complain and say that it is because it is cheap and easy and I can tell you something it is not cheap and easy.

Take it from someone that makes Found Footage films, especially if you are using special visual effects.

The real reason for the popularity of these films is simply because it is the society that we live in.

One of the many gripes that I hear about the subgenre is that the cameraman would clearly cut at some point and I have to say as a documentary filmmaker myself we are taught not to cut.

When I say that this is the time that we live in I mean it and on a personal note when my home was destroyed in the fire back in December I can’t tell you how many people while we were running and evacuating from the fire were filming the events with their phones much similar to the films in this subgenre.

The first actual film of its kind is Cannibal Holocaust but the film that was the most influential is definitely the Blair Witch Project. 

I have to admit that this film is one of my favorites not just because of the film itself but the marketing that the film utilized that is now standard in today’s market.

Going into production in late 1997 with a budget of $25,000 the film was directed by Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick and stars Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams as three student filmmakers who venture into the woods to shoot a documentary of the spirit of a witch in the woods of Maryland and are never seen again. The film is the “Found Footage” that was located in the woods.

The poster for the film featured inverted color shot of the woods and the words “in October 1994 three filmmaking students disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later, their footage was found” being the only details given in the film.

Sánchez and Myrick camped in a trailer while the actors filmed their own footage while being given direction by the filmmakers who would stage events at night to scare the cast giving them actual reactions to the events climaxing with the actors ending in an old house and the cameras falling till the film runs out.

The Blair Witch Project premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and was instantly picked up by Artisan Entertainment to be released in the summer becoming the sleeper hit.

The Summer of 1999 saw the release of Star Wars: Episode 1, The Mummy, and Deep Blue Sea. However it was the summer of the Blair Witch.

Everywhere you looked you saw the Blair Witch. As a matter of fact that Halloween when the Blair Witch was released on VHS and DVD you saw all of the parodies.

I have to mention the original XXX Parodies were released around that time. There were two as a matter of fact.

The Jim Wynorski directed Bare Wench Project starring Nikki Fritz and the late Lorissa McComas and Seduction Cinema’s Erotic Witch Project with Laurie Wallace and Darian Crane. 

You also had the Scooby Doo Project on Cartoon Network to promote the marathon for Halloween.

My personal favorite Blair Witch Parody was that Halloween Eve on Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs was the Nair Witch Project in which Joe Bob, Rusty and Summer were lost in the Hollywood Hills searching for the ghost of the Nair Witch.

Also in the winter of that season saw the release of the Three volume Blair Witch PC Games all working as prequels to the film.

My personal favorite was the Rustin Parr Volume that was a sequel to Nocturne which was one of the best games of it’s kind made at the time.

As I said the Blair Witch was all the rage.

I think that the reason was because of the marketing of the film.

Now at first they did in fact try to market the film as a true story with the missing  posters of the three students circulating around the internet for months before the release of the film.

 I think that someone may have remembered what happened with Cannibal Holocaust.

In 1980 the director of the film was put on trial for making a snuff film and had to have the actors that were “killed in the film” appear before a judge to prove that they were still alive.

The Producers of the Blair Witch Project I think seceded not to go that far and they had Leonard, Williams and  Donahue also doing press for the film.

The marketing added to the film. The Website never aluded to the fact that the film was in fact fiction giving audiences more detail into the legend of the Blair Witch.

The Sci-Fi Channel aired a special documentary The Curse of the Blair Witch to promote the film, the special is a bonus feature on the Blair Witch DVD and even saw a VHS release.

The Curse of the Blair Witch I feel is as freaky as the film that it is marketing for. Seeking further into the stories that are mostly alluded to in the film giving more details into Rustin Parr and Coffin Rock and adding to the mythology with the story of a ghostly white hand that kills a little girl during a community picnic as well as giving coverage to the disappearance of the young filmmakers.

The part of the film that stands out the most is the Mystic Occurrences segments that were made to look like they were filmed in the 1970s for UHF Stations.  

There was also a book published that also gave more details of the Witch and featured Heather’s Journal talking more about the characters and their lives and some of the other details that weren’t discussed in the movie such as Heather’s boyfriend that was never mentioned in the film.

The film is also much more personal for me because I was like that when I was younger if you see the scenes where the college students are filming everything that moved.

We did those things when we were young and had a camera to film, and the segments remind me of the shoots that I went on when I was younger and working with a small crew that we all would stay in one room in the evenings.

I also like the film’s interview subjects that became characters in themselves. Characters like the mother and her baby daughter Ingrid that is scared of the stories that are told.

My favorites are the Father and Son-in-Law that are fishing in the stream arguing about the truth of the legend.

Now the Blair Witch Project did have a brief Controversy.

The film The Last Broadcast which was produced first however was released after tried to claim that Blair Witch was a rip-off of their film and while there were similarties the film featured much of it’s own original sgements and a far different ending and is highly recommended for Found Footage fans.  

The film is highly dated but It still has the appeal and it even changed the way that we market out films today.

Naturally a sequel was inevitable.

Now here is where the Blair Witch lost it’s thunder and to be quite honest with you the sequel was not that bad and is a true example of how much damage a studio can do to a film.

Now someone recently pointed out that in reality no studio executive wants to destroy a film they are just trying to make the film more marketable and they infact have the best intentions but you know what they say about the Road to Hell.

Directed by Joe Berlinger who was hot off of Paradise Lost 1 and 2 and the effect of those films are definitely seen in the film. 

First off the format on the film is far different than it's predecessor. Where the  Blair Witch Project had the found footage format Blair Witch 2 was narrative following a small group of Blair Witch enthusiasts who venture out into the woods on a tour led by a pre Burn Notice Jeffrey Donovan and fall victim to the witch. 

While I am a defender of the film because I know the truth behind it. 

In reality the studio re edited the film and shot additional scenes which destroyed the narrative and the direction that the director wanted to go.

Book of Shadows also featured a game inside the movie called The Secret of Esrever which was hidden messages in the movie intended for home video usage to solve the mystery and the ones that cracked the code would go to the Blair Witch Website and would access a deleted scene from the film.

The film also utilized a add campaign similiar to the one used to promote the original film, even featuring a Sci-Fi Channel  similar to the Curse of the Blair Witch titled Shadow of the Blair Witch and also the use of a book and theaters even featured a cardboard stand telling the history of the Blair Witch made to look like a museum display.

Where The Blair Witch Project was all the rage, Book of Shadows Blair Witch 2 was universally panned and despised and was accused of franchise milking and served to devalue the original film.

Granted I feel that is unfair because the film was good in it's own right but that is around the time that audiences began to turn on the film.

Haxan films went on to produce the short lived Blair Witch inspired television show FreakyLinks which can be seen on the Chiller Channel.

While the hype had died down the Legacy of the Blair Witch remains in the Found Footage genre as well as the use of the internet to promote films.

The film also reminds me of the time that it was made and my college days and is why it is included on my list of Halloween picks. 

UPDATE Halloween 2014

I was privileged to film the QnA at the 2014 Texas Frightmare Weekend where James Wallace maderated with Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Joshua Leonard 

Halloween Picks: AMC Fear Fest

Those of you that are fans of Halloween are probably aware of AMC Fear Fest or as I still call it Monster Fest since that is what it was called for over a decade.  programming Block that I never miss.

Similar to Discovery's Shark Week AMC has it's famous

Back in the days before AMC was known for their award winning shows it was a classic movie channel called American Movie Classics. 

The channel was intended as an wander to the classic films that were released on television and were all unedited and in Black and White. Also the movies were not commercially interrupted. 

Beginning in 1997 AMC began Monsterfest which was a week long block of programming featuring a multitude of classic horror films. Along with the films were documentaries such as "Monstermania" hosted by Jack Palance telling the screen history of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. 

Monstermania proved to be so popular that in the next couple I years saw the sequels like Bride of Monstermania telling about women in horror, and Attack of the 50 foot Monstermania  featuring Giants on screen. 

Many of these Documentaries were hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark with her own comedic style. 

Monsterfest also began having hosts book ending these productions. These hosts included Linda Blair and Whoopee Goldberg giving the viewers information about the films. 

In 1999 Fright Film Producer Roger Corman was the host featuring his own original segments. 

In 2002 AMC began their own film school and commissioned their students to make Short Screamers and the shorts were shown durring that year's Monsterfest line up even receving their own special hosted by John Carpenter.

One year later a new slew of shorts were screened  and again they had their own special this time hosted by Clive Barker.

By the way speaking of John Carpenter AMC aired the infamous Television cut of Halloween 2 along with one of the definitive documentaries on the film Halloween: A cut above the Rest which went on to become one of the Special Features on the Halloween 25th Anniversary DVD release one year later.

in 2007 Monsterfest celebrated it's 10 year anniversary with new specials and even a DVD release of some cult classics featuring many of the works of Roger Corman among others.

However in 2008 the tide began to change. AMC began airing Horror Films on late Friday Nights entitled Fear Friday with the website featuring the change in tide.

Surely enough that October Monsterfest was re-branded Fear Fest bringing mostly just a change in title but much of the programing remained.

The name change was appropriate since the programing had less emphisis on the monsters and more fear elements.

In 2008 Fear Fest was hosted by Rob Zombie.

The next Year George A. Romero Hosted the marathon.

Another change to the line up was utilized in 2010 when that year's Fear Fest on Halloween Night treated viewers to the Premiere of the first ever Zombie Television Show The Walking Dead to a massive viewing audience

in 2012 AMC Fear Fest made another change when instead of One Week in October the programing now became a two week event and to promote this as well as the return of Comic Book Men AMC Fear Fest was hosted by the one and only Kevin Smith who treated the viewing audience on his views on horror films.

Also added to the line up was the now infamous Friday the 13th marathon making AMC the location where you can find the best in Slashers and Horror entertainment on Halloween.

Gory Matters Here.

At the Alamo: AGFA Screening of Beetlejuice

Well the Alamo in Richardson is kicking off well. I have recently began attending the screenings when I can and honestly it will take it some time for them to really get going and they are starting off.

Included in their lineups are both the Master Pancake stand up specials as well as the Horror remixes. 

One monthly event that they have added is be Free AGFA Secret Screenings 

The AGFA (American Genre Film Association) was founded in 2009  by an international band of genre enthusiasts. Featuring the worlds largest archive of Genre Films  with an emphasis on exploitation films from  the 1960s through the 1980s. With approximately 3,000 35mm prints. 

"AGFA exists to raise awareness of the importance of genre cinema through collection, conservation, and distribution."

To kick off these events myself and other genre enthusiasts headed over to the Drafthouse to find out what this special screening was. We all knew that this flick had to be a good one. 

When I sat down in the theater I had a $5.00 voucher since I reserved my seat online I was given a slip of paper advertising a special cocktail for the screening that was a hint as to what the film was  and we were all informed that if we could figure out what the screening was we would receive a free drink. The drink was called "Hydrated Chromium Oxide" and was mixed with Deep Eddy Vodka, Melon Liquer, Blue Curacao, with Lime and Grapefruit giving it a Blue Green Color and was garnished with a Gummy Worm which gave me the best hint of the film. 

The Film was Beetlejuice. 

There is a scene in the film where the character of Otho walks through the house deciding how to decorate the house and refers to a paint that he had created for one of he rooms that was Blue Green, Hydrated Chromium Oxide and the worm on the beverage could have been a reference to the Sandworms in the film.

Trust me when the Beetlejuice logo came on the screen the crowd went nuts.

Released in 1988 Beetlejuice was the second feature of director Tim Burton starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder, and Michael Keaton in the title role.

Telling the story of Barbara and Adam Maitland who after their deaths in a car accident are trapped in their home which is sold to the Deetzes who begin to annoy the couple and they bring in Bio-Exorcist Beetlejuice to haunt the house and to scare them away. However Beetlejuice has his own agenda and it involves the Deetzes young daughter Lydia.

Beetlejuice was a box office success and spawned Theme Park Attractions, a yet to be produced sequel, and was loosely the inspiration for a Saturday Morning Cartoon in the 1990s.

If this is only the beginning of the Screenings I look forward to seeing more at the Alamo Drafthouse as well as all of you in the future.