There’s something to be said about the effective horror of the late 90s and early 2000s. Audiences sat at the intersection of belief and disillusion, and no other film tipped the scales quite like the 1999 classic The Blair Witch Project. Not only was it instrumental in the revival of sans-gore horror, but it could be argued that it single-handedly created a new genre: found footage. Though TBWP is not technically the first to experiment with this style of film (that honor goes to the 1989 McPherson Tape), it was the first one to garner such resounding success. In retrospect, the film’s triumph can be accredited to these three factors: the budget, the filming process, and the saturation of slasher culture.

TBWP had a budget of $60,000. Read that again — $60,000. It was a ground-up production, and needless to say, the film’s relatively unknown directors were up for a challenge. But Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick had a unique vision — equipped with a singular CP-16 film camera and a Hi8 video camcorder, the crew would spend eight days amidst the lush backdrop of Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County, Maryland. No script, no copious table reads, and a lean team meant the low cash flow was just enough to get this project off the ground. With a 35-page outline and some camping supplies in hand, cast Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams set out into the forest.

The journey to create the ideal ensemble was similarly unorthodox. Lead actor Heather Donahue said there was a poster backstage at the audition that read “An improvised feature film, shot in a wooded location: it is going to be hell and most of you reading this probably shouldn't come." When she walked into the room, casting directors instructed her with the following: She’d been in prison for nine years. They were the parole board. Why should she be released?

Without missing a beat, she famously replied, “I shouldn’t.” The film had found its heartbeat.

Once the small cast was assembled, filming would prove to be a flurry for everyone involved. Each day the cast, largely alone without any crew members in sight, would hike to a marked GPS location to retrieve their food and script for the day. As the days passed, their meals would consist of less and less. During the night, crew would appear to rattle their tents and play frightening sounds from speakers, garnering as authentic of reactions as possible. Nothing like slight psychological manipulation to get the blood pumping — and it was this sense of organic fear that had audiences right there in the woods with them.

Sanchez and Myrick were always a step ahead. Months before the film premiered at Sundance in 1999, they began to lay the groundwork for some of the most iconic horror movie marketing period. Blairwitch.com silently hit the web, constantly updated with various interviews, police reports, and first-hand accounts of this local myth. Putting ourselves firmly in the year 1999, this early web adoption was a sharp differentiator. No one was doing this yet, let alone small indie crews with a fraction of a studio budget. This build-up of suspense and suspicion cultivated with the film’s wide release, followed by more post-premiere stunts. The actors were shielded from the press as much as possible, their Wikipedia pages updated with their ‘death’ dates. To such extremes, the cast’s parents had even received sympathy cards from fans. 

TBWP truly came at the perfect time in cinematic history. The 80s and 90s were the pinnacle of slasher horror, yet after a decade of intense gore and long-winded chase scenes, fatigue was beginning to settle in among fans. This film brought a bounty of new to the table; unknown actors, unfiltered dialogue, unsteady camera work…and perhaps most importantly a faceless monster. We’re left with unresolved anxiety to this day as we watch the camera fall out of Heather’s hands and hear her screams fade away. There was no need to include a bloody death scene or deranged witch figure — the horror was in what we couldn’t see.

The lasting impact of TBWP can be seen over and over again throughout the last 20 years. Found footage films have dominated the horror scene, with movies such as Paranormal Activity and As Above so Below. TBWP proves that a film’s success doesn’t have anything to do with budgets, big names, or the latest tech. Rather, clever directing and terrifyingly simplistic concepts are what keep audiences captive.