The Blair Witch Project (1999)
74%RT Audience Score: 56%
Awards & Nominations: 19 wins & 26 nominations
Full of creepy campfire scares, mock-doc The Blair Witch Project keeps audiences in the dark about its titular villain, proving once more that imagination can be as scary as anything onscreen
The Blair Witch Project” is a horror movie that will make you want to sleep with the lights on. The shaky camera work and the eerie silence of the woods will have you on the edge of your seat. It’s not the goriest or the grossest, but it’s definitely the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. The only downside is that you might never want to go camping again.
Production Company(ies)
Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios,
Distributor
Artisan Entertainment
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Patapsco Valley State Park – 8020 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, Maryland, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language
Year of Release
1999
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby SR
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Aspect ratio:1.33 : 1
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Runtime:1h 27m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 25, 1999 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 12, 2010
Genre(s)
Horror
Keyword(s)
starring Heather Donahue, Michael C Williams, Joshua Leonard, directed by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez, written by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez, horror, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Joe Morgenstern, Paul Tatara, Jami Bernard, Desmond Ryan, Christy Lemire, Lloyd Rose, Peter Terzian, Brian Eggert, Joanna Connors, David Nusair, Anton Bitel, found footage, independent film, suspenseful, eerie, unsettling, horror classic, faceless entity, raw emotions, documentary footage, legend, small town, murderer, interview, clues, veracity, frightening turn, woods, horrific noises
Worldwide gross: $248,639,099
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $446,314,115
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 337
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 48,671,114
US/Canada gross: $140,539,099
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $252,271,601
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 251
US/Canada opening weekend: $1,512,054
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $2,714,179
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,171
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $60,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $107,702
Production budget ranking: 2,143
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $57,997
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $446,148,416
ROI to date (est.): 269,252%
ROI ranking: 2
Michael C. Williams – Michael “Mike” Williams
Joshua Leonard – Joshua “Josh” Leonard
Bob Griffith – Short Fisherman
Jim King – Interviewee
Sandra Sanchez – Waitress
Director(s)
Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Writer(s)
Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Producer(s)
Robin Cowie, Greg Hale
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
19 wins & 26 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (168) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (144) | Rotten (24)
The scariest shots, from someone’s little Hi-8 camcorder, document the students losing their bearings, giving way to panic and finally falling victim, though off screen, to some ineffably, unphotographably evil presence.
December 13, 2014
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
TOP CRITIC
Whenever night falls, the movie takes off, but in a slow creep, with all your childhood fears of the dark suddenly revealing themselves as absolutely reasonable.
September 29, 2014
Paul Tatara
CNN.com
TOP CRITIC
The very crudeness of the film stock and technique contribute mightily to the feeling that things are out of control, disoriented and possibly subject to unnatural laws.
September 29, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
You can dismiss The Blair Witch Project as a trick. Or you can give in to the treat and savor that rarest of accomplishments in a field notorious for tedium and repetition — an original horror movie.
October 5, 2013 | Rating: 3.5/4
Desmond Ryan
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
The thought that Blair Witch Project just might be real makes it much scarier than any of the teen horror flicks that have stumbled along in recent years.
October 5, 2013
Christy Lemire
Associated Press
TOP CRITIC
The Blair Witch Project” is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. Not the goriest, the grossest, the weirdest, the eeriest, the sickest, the creepiest or the slimiest… Just flat out the scariest.
October 5, 2013
Lloyd Rose
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
The intimacy of video and the believability of the three students close the gap between film and viewer, truly allowing us to suspend disbelief, something horror films seldom do.
May 26, 2022
Peter Terzian
Out Magazine
The Blair Witch Project lost me the first time, after the screen cut to black; during subsequent viewings, I have been even less engaged.
April 11, 2022 | Rating: 2.5/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
It sticks with you, as much for its old ideas as for its new ideas. “Blair Witch” may represent the cutting-edge of independent filmmaking, but its heart is as ancient and familiar as a Grimm’s fairy tale.
February 4, 2022
Joanna Connors
Cleveland Plain Dealer
…a typically erratic found-footage thriller that ultimately fares best in its opening and closing portions…
October 28, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
here the endless trees, bare and featureless, become ever more disorienting – and nothing quite captures the group’s sheer desperation like the sight of a despondent Mike chewing on a fallen, dry leaf.
October 21, 2021
Anton Bitel
BFI
The Blair Witch Project is pretty tame in regards to what it chooses to show you – or, more accurately, withhold from showing you – but for its time, it was a significant achievement.
April 14, 2021
Jim Rohner
Battleship Pretension…
Plot
Three film students travel to a small town to collect documentary footage about the Blair Witch, a legendary local murderer, but the project takes a frightening turn when they lose their way in the woods and begin hearing horrific noises.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels describes the cast of The Blair Witch Project as “raw and believable.”
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