Twenty-five years ago, The Blair Witch Project changed the face of horror forever . Shot on a minuscule budget, it pioneered not only the found footage genre, but also the use of the internet as a marketing tool for film. It captured the mainstream zeitgeist in a way few horror films outside The Exorcist or The Silence of the Lambs had. And now, according to Variety, the Blair Witch is returning for a new reboot, courtesy of Blumhouse Productions and Lionsgate. They made the announcement at this year’s CinemaCon. Jason Blum will team with producer Roy Lee, who previously produced the 2016 Blair Witch reboot.
The original film changed the game, landing young directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez on the cover of TIME Magazine. Yet none of its sequels have ever been able to capture that lightning in a bottle again. A more traditional horror sequel came out just a year later in 2000, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. It failed to make much of a splash, and many thought of it as a cash grab. Sixteen years later, after the found footage genre became hot again, we got a new installment, with 2016’s Blair Witch. Critics liked it overall, but it found little love at the box office. There have also been games. Can Blumhouse turn things around for this franchise?
The Blair Witch Project was about three college students who went into the Maryland woods to film a documentary on a local legend. They disappeared, and the terrifying footage they left behind became the basis for the film. Audiences in 1999 absolutely believed the movie was an actual documentary, leaving movie theaters totally shaken. Filmed on a budget of $200,000, it made micro-budget horror a trend, one which Blumhouse later capitalized on with Paranormal Activity. So in many ways, this partnership makes perfect sense. No word yet on who will write or direct this reboot. Hopefully, the movie will come out this year during the franchise’s 25th anniversary.
