The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Coming Out at 28 July 1999 in theaters.
Horror, Mystery
The Blair Witch Project is supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It tells the fictional story of three student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard) who hike in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch. The three disappeared, but their equipment and footage is discovered a year later. The purportedly “recovered footage” is the film the viewer sees.
Myrick and Sánchez conceived of a fictional legend of the Blair Witch in 1993. They developed a 35-page screenplay with the dialogue to be improvised. A casting call advertisement in Backstage magazine was prepared by the directors; Donahue, Williams and Leonard were cast. The film entered production in October 1997, with the principal photography taking place in Maryland for eight days. About 20 hours of footage was shot, which was edited down to 82 minutes. Shot on an original budget of $35–60,000, the final cost was $200–750,000 after post-production edits.
In October 1994, film students Heather, Mike, and Josh set out to produce a documentary about the fabled Blair Witch. They travel to Burkittsville, Maryland, and interview residents about the legend. Locals tell them of Rustin Parr, a hermit who lived in the woods and kidnapped seven children in the 1940s, supposedly killing all of them on the orders of the witch. The students explore the woods in north Burkittsville to research the legend. They meet two fishermen, one of whom warns them that the woods are haunted. He tells them of a young girl named Robin Weaver who went missing in 1888; when she returned three days later, she talked about “an old woman whose feet never touched the ground.” The students hike to Coffin Rock, where five men were found ritualistically murdered in the 19th century. Their bodies later disappeared.
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Writers: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Stars: Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams, Bob Griffin, Jim King
Cast:
| Heather Donahue | … | Heather Donahue |
| Joshua Leonard | … | Joshua ‘Josh’ Leonard |
| Michael C. Williams | … | Michael ‘Mike’ Williams |
| Bob Griffin | … | Short Fisherman |
| Jim King | … | Interviewee |
| Sandra Sánchez | … | Waitress |
| Ed Swanson | … | Fisherman With Glasses |
| Patricia DeCou | … | Mary Brown |
| Mark Mason | … | Man in Yellow Hat |
| Susie Gooch | … | Interviewee with Child |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia