February 12, 2025

FILMHOUNDS Magazine

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“There’s no-one here to help you” – The Blair Witch Project (Blu-ray Review)

Image: © Second Sight

It's impossible to look at out of context. 1999 marked a transitional era between analogue and digital technology, and the film had the benefit of a marketing campaign that convinced audiences that what they were seeing was real. This was before people were fully literate about the Internet and were generally unfamiliar with found-footage cinema. 

Part of the advertising included ‘Curse of the Blair Witch', a mockumentary which is included as a bonus feature on the second disc of this release. It fleshed out the backstory of the witch herself, and the fictional documentary crew in the main feature. Adding to the mythology of the film and drumming up an almost hysterical obsession with the mystery of what happened to our on-screen characters. 

Over time it became almost cool to hate The Blair Witch Project. Reports of viewers being traumatised didn't really match up to many die-hard horror fans' expectations to be shocked and then seeing… well… not very much at all. Heading back into the film in 2024 almost feels like examining a historical artefact. But not so much in the way the filmmakers intended. The experience of seeing a film, knowing that it isn't real, but understanding the influence it had on cinema as a whole makes it a fascinating prospect. 

The less is more approach to storytelling is still an effective one. Despite sparse moments of horror, The Blair Witch Project remains a chilling and unsettling 81 minutes. As we switch back and forth between different types of cameras, the sense of realism intended is emphasised, giving the feel of a collection of scraps cobbled together by whoever has found them. Perhaps the biggest fault of it is the characters themselves. Heather (Donahue), Mike (Williams) and Josh (Leonard), actors who used their own names for their characters, are often obnoxious and unlikeable. This makes it hard to feel sympathetic for them rather than impatient with their poor choices and inability to find their way out of the woods that are trapping them. 

Even so, the lack of answers, and purposeful avoidance of clarity when it comes to what happens to these characters, leaves the audience not just unsettled and confused but keen for more information. An urban legend-type mystery lending itself to hearsay and rumours much like those described in interviews in the film itself. 

The bonus features included on the release are a great inclusion for fans, despite some dry delivery of the facts they are interesting albeit not gripping enough to watch more than once. 

Ultimately The Blair Witch Project is more interesting for what it means and represents than as a piece of work in and of itself. You can almost draw a line between films that existed before and after it, marking a stylistic shift that we can still feel the ramifications of today.  

Special Features 

  • A new Second Sight Films restoration from the Hi8 videotapes and 16mm film elements, supervised and approved by the Producers and Directors
  • 2-disc edition includes restored and remastered Original Theatrical Cut and Festival Cut plus original-release version
  • The Blair Witch Documentary: a new feature-length Second Sight Films production
  • New audio commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson
  • Directors' and Producers' audio commentary
  • Deleted scenes including previously unseen video and 16mm footage
  • The Blair Witch Project: Analogue Horror in a Digital World by Mike Muncer
  • Curse of the Blair Witch
  • Alternate Endings
  • Cannes 1999: archive Directors interview
  • Trailers

Limited Edition Contents

  • Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Timothy Pittides
  • 184-page hardback book with archive production materials and new essays by Stacey Abbott, Becky Darke, Adam Hart, Craig Ian Mann, Mary Beth McAndrews,  Dr. Cecilia Sayad, Pete Turner and Heather Wixson
  • Heather's Journal
  • 3 collectors' art cards

The Blair Witch Project is being released on Limited Edition 2 Disc from Second Sight on November 11.