I was camping just outside Burkittsville, Maryland. Why?

I know a lot of people hold subby's opinion, but as a guy who doesn't much care for scary movies (because most aren't scary), when I saw this in the theater it scared the crap out of me.

I was working in a book store in the west village in nyc. A bunch of coworkers went to see it when it premiered at the Angelica. They all fell for the marketing campaign that had swept through & thought it was a real documentary.

Trivia Jockey: I know a lot of people hold subby's opinion, but as a guy who doesn't much care for scary movies (because most aren't scary), when I saw this in the theater it scared the crap out of me.

Same here. I think most people objected to the hype machine, not the movie itself. Hell, the entire movie was pretty much just filler to get to the last 20 minutes or so, and then within that to the last 30 seconds.

That final scene, even ten years later, still gives me the willies.

I was on the phone breaking up with one girl while walking into the theater with my (now) wife to see it.

/liked the last 5-10 minutes, and that's about it.

I went opening night.My smoking hot girlfriend that was out of my league thought it was real.


/nuff said

I was trying to convince a few 20-30 year old's that there was no way in hell it could be a true story. (I was about 17)

I lost respect for a lot of people when that film came out.

I couldn't get scared by the movie, because I was too busy trying not to get sick from the "hand-cam" technique.

I saw it on opening night. I thought it had some neat creepy visual elements (the piles of stones, the stick figures, the handprints on the walls) but was a pretty lousy movie. Also, ten years? WTF? I'm old.

Saw a bootleg copy before it hit the theaters which being a boot gave it extra creepiness.

I remember the media hyping it up like crazy. Some entertainment news sites were like 'zomg, we just got this trailer for a documentary, those poor kids'.

I actually went to see it around opening night at the little art theater by my house and it had a huuuuge line. We were in it for 5 minutes when someone came out and said 'All shows are sold out for the rest of the day! You can go home'.

I eventually caught it on DVD and other than the last 5 minutes I was like 'meh'

For those of us with imaginations, The Blair Witch Project was a f*cking terrifying movie.

/scared f*cking sh*tless

Joe_diGriz: I couldn't get scared by the movie, because I was too busy trying not to get sick from the "hand-cam" technique.

I've never had problems with motion sickness in films. Do FPS video games also affect you? Or do you get motion sickness in cars? I'm just curious if they are connected.

Experiencing the future joy of people answering their cell phones during a movie.

RING RING RING
"Hey! What's up girl!"

It was more annoying because the sound quality of the film was... less than ideal

Trivia Jockey: I know a lot of people hold subby's opinion, but as a guy who doesn't much care for scary movies (because most aren't scary), when I saw this in the theater it scared the crap out of me.

Ya, I saw it opening night. With all the hype, it was pretty scary.

I was in the theater, watching it and enjoying it, and thinking to myself that it would not be long before proclaiming hatred for it evolved into the next bit of shorthand by which intellectual titans struggling to be heard by an unworthy audience could demonstrate to a world of lemmings the vast extent of their uber-cool and simmering angst over the simplicity of the sheeple-filled society in which they are forced to dwell.

Although, I will say that the movie does not stand up well to repeat viewings.

Pocket Ninja: I was in the theater, watching it and enjoying it, and thinking to myself that it would not be long before proclaiming hatred for it evolved into the next bit of shorthand by which intellectual titans struggling to be heard by an unworthy audience could demonstrate to a world of lemmings the vast extent of their uber-cool and simmering angst over the simplicity of the sheeple-filled society in which they are forced to dwell.

Although, I will say that the movie does not stand up well to repeat viewings.

Agree with you entirely.

Sure, it's not a great movie. It was enjoyable at the time. And it's better than the vast majority of big-budget horror movies.

At least it tried something different. At least it wasn't a remake.

davedirt01: I was on the phone breaking up with one girl while walking into the theater with my (now) wife to see it.

/liked the last 5-10 minutes, and that's about it.

I call Shenanigans! Your cordless phone with the metal antenna couldn't have reached that far. And cell phones hadn't been invented yet.

It's been 10 years since "The Blair Witch Project." Where were you when this crappy, one-joke, overhyped piece of crap crapped its way into the movie theaters?

In the bathroom vomiting.

Even knowing it was going to be a complete steamy loaf I was dragged to see it. I can't remember who I saw it with but I do remember that they were completely freaked out by it. I was wondering if we saw the same movie.

It was such a sleeper I had to envision that Scooby Doo was going to pop out in the final scene and then they would all say "Scooby you kooky nut going out and looking for your Scooby Snacks like that, get back in the Mystery Machine."

Obdicut: Pocket Ninja: I was in the theater, watching it and enjoying it, and thinking to myself that it would not be long before proclaiming hatred for it evolved into the next bit of shorthand by which intellectual titans struggling to be heard by an unworthy audience could demonstrate to a world of lemmings the vast extent of their uber-cool and simmering angst over the simplicity of the sheeple-filled society in which they are forced to dwell.

Although, I will say that the movie does not stand up well to repeat viewings.

Agree with you entirely.

Sure, it's not a great movie. It was enjoyable at the time. And it's better than the vast majority of big-budget horror movies.

At least it tried something different. At least it wasn't a remake.

All of the above for me, although I do agree there could have been a bit less hype about it.

That said, though... if it was such a pointless pile of crap, subby, why are you submitting threads 10 years later to talk about it?

Rev.K: For those of us with imaginations, The Blair Witch Project was a f*cking terrifying movie.

/scared f*cking sh*tless

Yep. I saw it in the middle of the week with my roommate and we were the only two people in theater. Scared the hell out of both of us.

Not to be a dick, but I find myself completely baffled by what most people find scary in movies.

Off the top of my head, I honestly can't think of one movie in the last 20 years that was billed as a horror movie that I've found truly scary. I just don't find witches, vampires, monsters, ghosts, and comic book violence all that frightening anymore.

I'm not trying to say I'm better than everyone else; I just don't get it. Every time I see my brother-in-law, he's got whatever the hot new torture porn movie is and he always thinks it's going to blow my mind, but those movies are almost comical to me. I get the sense that even my bro-in-law isn't actually "scared" by them as such, just excited by them.

The last movie that truly freaked me the f*ck out and scared the sh*t out of me was "Inland Empire", and that's certainly not what most people would consider a "horror" movie.

/Never seen "Blair Witch"...which I guess technically makes this a threadjack.

That movie gave me such a headache. At least the second one had titties.

Thanks for making the shaky camera cool.

sigdiamond2000: Not to be a dick, but I find myself completely baffled by what most people find scary in movies.

Off the top of my head, I honestly can't think of one movie in the last 20 years that was billed as a horror movie that I've found truly scary. I just don't find witches, vampires, monsters, ghosts, and comic book violence all that frightening anymore.

I'm not trying to say I'm better than everyone else; I just don't get it. Every time I see my brother-in-law, he's got whatever the hot new torture porn movie is and he always thinks it's going to blow my mind, but those movies are almost comical to me. I get the sense that even my bro-in-law isn't actually "scared" by them as such, just excited by them.

The last movie that truly freaked me the f*ck out and scared the sh*t out of me was "Inland Empire", and that's certainly not what most people would consider a "horror" movie.

/Never seen "Blair Witch"...which I guess technically makes this a threadjack.

Psychological thrillers/mind fark movies are scarier than jumpy slasher flicks. I like slasher flicks. They make me jump. But the really scary stuff is less literal for me, so I get what you mean. Any scariness to Blair Witch depends on your imagination, not gore or violence. Which is pretty farking scary.

Egg. I mean Ann: Any scariness to Blair Witch depends on your imagination, not gore or violence.

Maybe I'd like it then, because that's more the sort of thing I find scary.

Gee whiz, I love the occasional loquacious outburst as much as the next guy but that load of flotsam doesn't deserve that level or oratory.

- Keats Ode To A Greasin' Turd

Pocket Ninja: Although, I will say that the movie does not stand up well to repeat viewings.

This. The first time around, I loved it.

The second time around (at home), I was very "eh."

It's hip to hate it, but at the time it was widely loved. I suppose the loses-effect-with-repeated-viewings bit has something to do with it.

Also, you have to give them credit for their trailblazing advertising campaign.

It was kind of 85 minutes of filler but I would argue the final few minutes/last scene are creepy and good and at this point, iconic.

Roook: Joe_diGriz: I couldn't get scared by the movie, because I was too busy trying not to get sick from the "hand-cam" technique.

I've never had problems with motion sickness in films. Do FPS video games also affect you? Or do you get motion sickness in cars? I'm just curious if they are connected.

FPS games only affect me if they have bad framerates or if the center of view moves around too much over an extended period of time. (Older games, with the low-res blocky graphics and relative lack of color palette, tended to make this effect much worse.)

I generally only get motion sickness in cars (or even boats and airplanes) if it's really bouncing around, and I can't find something relatively steady to focus on (closing eyes doesn't work). Looping roller coasters, for example, I can (mostly) deal with, but only as long as I don't look around while moving.

Blair Witch is the only movie I've had real problems with, and I believe it was a combination of the hand-cam (which was distracting enough) and the washed-out, sometimes semi-fuzzy picture. (Yes, I realize that was how it was supposed to look, but it bothered me far more than I thought it might.)

On a date with a very brief girlfriend. Got motion sick--had to close eyes for most of the movie.

/we're still friends
//Doofy: "Gail Swallows."

Seeing it in the theatre was key, I think. Sitting there in the darkness, hearing nothing but their voices in the tent and the creepy noises "outside," really pulled you into the characters' perspective.

elchip: Pocket Ninja: Although, I will say that the movie does not stand up well to repeat viewings.

This. The first time around, I loved it.

The second time around (at home), I was very "eh."


I went to see it opening night in one of the artsy theaters here in Houston. The entire movie pretty much relies on your imagination to frighten you (as do the best horror flicks) - this was enhanced by the way the opening night crowd acted during the movie. When the scene would go to one of those silent shots in the woods at night, you could have heard a pin drop in that theater. The end was wild and pretty much scared the piss out of everyone there.

I have it on DVD yet have never watched it since that opening night as I knew at the time that it wouldn't hold up to repeat viewings. I'll probably watch it if I catch the time right - sitting around drinking beer with friends is not prime viewing time for that movie.

Anyway, I remember that the biggest complaint immediately after the movie was that "you didn't see the witch".

i said it before and i'll say it again. i liked it and i don't know why people hated it so much. It scared the crap out of me, but it really doesn't take too much. It was scary in an actual scary kinda way and not a "things popping out at you to make you scream" kinda way.

I thought it was so farking stupid we jumped theaters and watched the six sense.

I think BWP's biggest impact was its use of the Internet in creating hype for the film. The website was, for the time, pretty spectacular.

A bunch of us went, we all knew it wasn't real and I enjoyed it. The last creepy minute was worth sitting through the entire movie.

Like Pocket Ninja said though, that movie doesn't stand the test of time.

The basic reason people hated it was because they had the piss scared out of them and they were screaming like little girls during the last five minutes of the film.

When they finally pulled their dresses back down off their heads they were FURIOUS that a movie made them wet their diapers. So they whined and moaned about how awful the movie was. When in reality, the movie was 100% effective.

/HAHA BUNCHA SISSIES.

DarthBrooks: The basic reason people hated it was because they had the piss scared out of them and they were screaming like little girls during the last five minutes of the film.

When they finally pulled their dresses back down off their heads they were FURIOUS that a movie made them wet their diapers. So they whined and moaned about how awful the movie was. When in reality, the movie was 100% effective.

/HAHA BUNCHA SISSIES.

There is so much projection in that post it could show the film itself

DarthBrooks: The basic reason people hated it was because they had the piss scared out of them and they were screaming like little girls during the last five minutes of the film.

When they finally pulled their dresses back down off their heads they were FURIOUS that a movie made them wet their diapers. So they whined and moaned about how awful the movie was. When in reality, the movie was 100% effective.

/HAHA BUNCHA SISSIES.

No, I found the Sci Fi channel special to be mire entertaining and scary.

Diogenes: Seeing it in the theatre was key, I think. Sitting there in the darkness, hearing nothing but their voices in the tent and the creepy noises "outside," really pulled you into the characters' perspective.

I shared a room with an older sibling. Between she and my father they did everything they could do desensitize me to that sort of fright. Someone making creepy noises in the dark stopped scaring me when I was 8.

Gwendolyn: No, I found the Sci Fi channel special to be mire entertaining and scary.

The Sci Fi thing, with no buildup or explanation, was scary.

The Blair Witch, coming at a time of overwrought thrillers, was a smart movie. Everyone was accustomed to the constant building music, cats jumping from behind curtains, the whole formula.

I never saw it actually. Not that I'm not a fan of those type movies - I just never got around to it.

Despite subby's opinion - should I?

/does own a TV

Trivia Jockey: I know a lot of people hold subby's opinion, but as a guy who doesn't much care for scary movies (because most aren't scary), when I saw this in the theater it scared the crap out of me.

This. Saw it with two friends like opening night. Scared us shiatless.

/of course, we were 18 at the time...

I know people who still think it was the real deal. And the SciFi special, damn near a heartstopper all by itself.

It was overhyped, so I waited for video.

Great student film. I'd'a been a little peeved if I'd paid full box office to see it.

I threw it in the river.

Hell, I enjoyed it, and enjoyed the hype and websites and everything else. I knew it wasn't "real" from the get-go. My girlfriend and I went to see it, and the power died with about 40 minutes to go. It didn't come back on. So, they gave us free passes for another show, which we saw a few days later. Still enjoyed it.

Rehearsing my role as the royal secretary, Phra Alack, in The King and I.

Hender: That final scene, even ten years later, still gives me the willies.

That was the only scary part of the movie...