There’s no overstating the cultural impact of The Blair Witch Project. It wasn’t just one of the most profitable movies ever made (grossing nearly $250 million on a production budget of $35,000), but it was also a storytelling landmark that signaled a shift in how audiences interact with media. That’s why it’s no surprise that this DIY masterpiece spawned a long-running franchise, as well as inspiring countless spoofs and an ongoing wave of like-minded Found Footage flicks.
Whether you’re a fan of reality-bending epistolary mysteries or appreciate a good old-fashioned supernatural horror story, there’s a lot to love about the Blair Witch mythos. That’s why the franchise remains one of my all-time favorite pieces of media, and I don’t just mean the original movie. From Gathering of Developers’ survival horror trilogy to D.A. Stern’s The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier, I’ve been in love with this mythology since I was a teenager. My first tattoo was even the infamous Elly Kedward stick-figure design, which I hope gives me some kind of supernatural buff when directing Found Footage movies.
So when it was reported that Lionsgate is allegedly planning to bring this iconic franchise back for another round of shaky-cam mayhem, I was naturally ecstatic. I think there’s something to love about every entry in the series so far (especially Joe Berlinger’s unfairly maligned Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows), so suffice to say that I’m always down for a return to Burkittsville.
Of course, the Found Footage sub-genre has changed a lot since 1999, and so has our relationship with viral marketing and faux reality. The open-ended nature of these movies also means that direct sequels with returning characters would be a little complicated, forcing filmmakers to think outside the box when it comes to a possible follow-up. That being said, this humble writer has a few ideas about where the franchise could go next.
“Let’s go, let’s go! Are you not scared enough?”
First of all, I’d suggest bringing back the narrative-based marketing campaign. Half the fun of the original Blair Witch Project didn’t even stem from the film itself, but the urban-legend-styled hype surrounding it. ARGs and other forms of unconventional storytelling have come a long way since the 90s, with online juggernauts like Marble Hornets and The Sun Vanished proving that viewers are hungry for reality-bending interactive enigmas. That’s why it would be fun to see filmmakers come up with innovative ways to get audiences involved with a new Blair Witch mystery before they’ve even seen the movie. Instead of those infamous TV specials, maybe we could get a dedicated YouTube channel or Twitter account this time around.
In fact, this hypothetical sequel shouldn’t even be marketed as a film, but as a multi-media experience combining elements of True Crime, social media and traditional horror. Sure, contemporary worries surrounding the political consequences of things like fake news and conspiracy theories mean that actively misleading marketing is a big no-no, especially now that audiences are much more skeptical about allegedly “true” stories, but a new Blair Witch movie could actually address issues like misinformation in the digital age.
The lack of a compelling marketing campaign and believable presentation is likely the reason why Adam Wingard’s 2016 sequel didn’t connect with audiences like the studio intended. While I still think it’s a solid horror flick with a kick-ass third act, there’s no denying that it feels way too much like a traditional movie, perhaps even more so than Berlinger’s “true story re-enactment” in Book of Shadows. If the goal is being realistic, a new Found Footage film would have to look and feel less polished and scripted in order to tell this kind of story.
Another idea would be for the sequel to go full meta. The success of Radio Silence’s new Scream has proven that audiences are still hungry for self-referential thrills, so a story that acknowledges the franchise’s massive success and pseudo-reality origins could play around with Found Footage tropes and even comment on the current state of the horror genre. The plot could borrow from the setup of Berlinger’s sequel and maybe center on a group of Blair Witch fans investigating the franchise’s real life inspirations. Hell, you could even admit that all the other films in the series have been complete works of fiction, with this new group accidentally stumbling onto something real for the first time.
‘Book of Shadows’ had more than a few good ideas that deserve revisiting.
Of course, the absolute best thing that Lionsgate could do is bring the franchise back to its roots by returning it to its creators. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez actually had quite a few plans for possible sequels, though their ideas have been largely ignored since Artisan insisted on rushing out a follow-up before the duo was ready for another story. After the success of the original Paranormal Activity, Myrick and Sánchez even came close to producing one of their proposed sequels, which would supposedly bring back actors from the original and further flesh out the backstory of the Black Hills Forest. Unfortunately, the project was eventually shelved by Lionsgate, which then began work on Wingard’s film.
Now that legacy sequels are back with a vengeance, with everything from Halloween to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre trying to return their franchises to their origins, it’s clearly the perfect time for the studio to once again partner with the duo that revolutionized Found Footage filmmaking in the first place. It’s not like Myrick and Sánchez were one-hit wonders either, with both of them having successful careers in both film and television (Sánchez even contributed to Bloody-Disgusting’s own V/H/S franchise), so it would make a lot of sense to hand them back the keys to the Blair Witch kingdom.
Regardless of what Lionsgate ultimately chooses to do with the franchise, the important thing is that the legacy of the Blair Witch lives on. I’m grateful that new audiences will have the chance to interact with this rich mythology. And even if the eventual next sequel isn’t what we’re expecting or hoping for, remember: it’ll never replace the legendary original.
