Reely Bernie Faves: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

I’m a sucker for the found footage horror genre. Yes, there were prototypes and hybrids before 1999, but the origin of the now exploited device started with a witch in the woods caught on tape. (Or, was she?)

I was privileged to be in one of the first audiences for the premiere of The Blair Witch Project with my middle brother on July 30, 1999. Missing posters for the “subjects” of the movie were plastered on the exterior walls of the Mayan Theatre in Denver, and when my brother and I walked into and ran out of that dark room, we genuinely thought we saw “found footage” of three victims abducted (or killed) by a mysterious witch in the woods. There were no cellphones then, so it was a captivating ride back home with my brother as we just let our imaginations make sense of what we had seen (and not seen).

Even when we researched more on the making of the movie and discovered that we were watching amateur actor/filmmakers, the movie forever left a mark in our memories—both haunting and forever nostalgic. I still shudder when I think of that time. I felt duped, and I wanted more. (Also, did we actually see the witch?)

Almost a hundred of found footage movies have been made since Blair Witch. Some are very good (Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield, Creep) Some are very bad (The Devil Inside and anything Paranormal Activity after the first two). Most are just copycat formulas of a formula that has exhausted itself to the point of self-aware boredom.

In fact, today, it is impossible to see past the “acting” of actors trying not to “act.”

Still, the genre was groundbreaking in 1999, and I’ll always remember how much my middle brother and I believed we witnessed a legend. Even when we discovered the truth, we commended The Blair Witch Project’s ability to successfully do what the movies are supposed to do: suspend disbelief.

Written and directed by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez and starring Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Joshua Leonard, Blair Witch was ahead of its time, reinventing horror under the collaboration of an amateur marketing team and low budget. It really doesn’t get better than that, especially if you yearn to get scared in the simplest of ways.

Reely Bernie Faves:

1. Amadeus (1984)

2. Magnolia (1999)

3. Poltergeist (1982)

4. Pulp Fiction (1994)

5. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

6. The Godfather Part II (1974)

7. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

9. Goodfellas (1990)

10. Nosferatu (1922)

11. Pollock (2000)

12. Kicking and Screaming (1995)

13. Jaws (1975)

14. Fargo (1996)

15. Citizen Kane (1941)

16. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

17. The Endless Summer (1966)

18. Back to the Future (1985)

19. Angel Heart (1987)

20. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

21. The Goonies (1985)

22. Trainspotting (1996)

23. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

24. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

25. Bambi (1942)

26. The Paradise Lost Trilogy (1996-2011)

27. Psycho (1960)

28. Parenthood (1989)

29. Swingers (1996)

30. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

31. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

32. Smoke (1995)

33. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

34. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

35. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

36. City of God (2002)

37. 1917 (2019)

38. Black Swan (2010)

39. School of Rock (2003)

40. Mulholland Drive (2001)

41. Groundhog Day (1993)

42. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

43. The Greatest Showman (2017)

44. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

45. The Florida Project (2017)

46. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

47. So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

48. Shadowlands (1993)

49. Steve Jobs (2015)

50. ¡Three Amigos! (1986)