The original The Blair Witch Project from 1999 pushed the horror genre into new territory, blending the classic tropes of isolation and the supernatural, with the rise of home video cameras – ushering in a wave of found-footage movies that swarmed the early 2000s. Despite two more movies in the series being made, none have been able to capture the horrifying realism of the original. Lionsgate aren’t done trying though, as a fourth film in the series is currently in the works from horror director Olivier Park (Strange Events).
Few details have been released about the upcoming project, however, it may be some time before a script is finalised considering the ongoing WGA strikes.
First released in 1999, The Blair Witch Project followed a group of student filmmakers who travelled to the cursed Black Hills Forest and were never seen again. The movie presents itself in the style of handheld video recordings made by the students, that were found a year after their dissapearance. The original was reportedly so realistic, some viewers thought the movie was a real documentary. Written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, The Blair Witch Project helped give birth to the found footage sub-genre, which later went on to include horror movies like Paranormal Activity and As Above, So Below, and inspire films outside the genre like Neill Blomkamp’s documentary-style District 9 and the POV action movie Hardcore Henry.
The Blair Witch Project has already spawned two sequels, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000) and Blair Witch (2016), both of which follow seperate groups of young adults who journey to the Black Hills Forest after watching the footage from the original movie. Although they match the found footage style of the original, neither sequel captures the same levels of terror as their predeccesor, and sit at a measly 14% and 37% on RT (respectively).
