# I'm only 9 years behind: Blair Witch Project (OPEN SPOILERS) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579 "2008-03-16T20:41:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/21 "2008-03-17T03:56:16Z")
the movie did one thing really really well. it broke the mold. love it or hate it you have to admit you havent seen anything quite like it before or since. while it didnt exactly scare me it was pretty creepy and the ending was pretty sweet. that and they made a friggin fortune off it cant hurt to bad. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/22 "2008-03-17T04:19:13Z")
I didn’t see the movie for a couple years after it came out. I found it in a bargain bin, brought it home with few expectations, and watched. Loved it. It seemed very real to me in several ways. 1. Usually one character delivers a line; the other waits, then delivers the next. But in this, they would talk over each other. And, there was no economy of words: they’d say things multiple times if they were really scared etc. 2. The shaky camera put me into the movie. Life isn’t viewed from a rock-steady camera on a tripod and it helped me suspend disbelief. 3. The overall edit felt like right. People say some parts were boring, and that mirrors real life. It didn’t feel neatly-packaged or glossy in any way. 4. It wouldn’t have worked with blockbuster stars like Matt Damon or Halle Berry: they just seemed like average people. But I think it’s a movie you either love or hate. As for the OP’s question about what happened at the end, I think we’re supposed to believe the witch is there. Heather gets bonked on the head, the camera falls while still running, and they’re all goners. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/23 "2008-03-17T05:25:43Z")
[QUOTE=Just Some Guy] They wound up where they started because evil, supernatural forces were at work. [/QUOTE] That’s it exactly. They got lost in what looked like a small sparse wood because…it was inhabited, or there was just something inimical about the nature of the place. What it brought to mind for me (I’m one of the people that film _worked_ for, _real_ well…and I am a jaded fuck who has watched horror movies obsessively since I was about six) was the grim old legends about the Fey Folk and what they are apt to do with people like us whom they decide to mess with – like leading them off paths and getting them hopelessly lost and betangled, wandering in circles until they died or went mad, sometimes just a little away from where they were going. That was the reason all the awful legends had attached to that little patch of forest; it was just …_wrong_, somehow. The place itself (or the spiritual forces attached to it) hated people and fucked them over whenever the chance arose, in any gruesome or uncanny way it (or they) pleased. As for the OP’s question – yeah, he was standing in the corner like Rustin Parr the child killer was said to have had to have his second victim do while he murdered the first one. Oh, man…that couple of seconds with him standing there just before the chick drops the camera stayed with me for a fucking _week_ after I saw that goddamn movie. And all those little handprints on the wall around the fireplace… (DLuxN8R-13 starts shivering uncontrollably and tries to glance over both shoulders at the same time. **12 freaking years later.** ) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/24 "2008-03-17T12:39:24Z")
[QUOTE=Jennshark] What’s your interpretation of the ending? [/QUOTE] Oh, I play it straight: that there really was a Blair Witch and that the college kids got caught in her (his?) grasp. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/25 "2008-03-17T12:50:48Z")
The Blair Witch Project: **The Boo in the Big Blair House** (If you don’t get that, you don’t have kids that watch the Disney Channel)\ ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/26 "2008-03-17T13:26:40Z")
Moderator comments: It’s never clear when a classic needs spoiler warnings, and you’re probably right, **Jennshark** , but… this is the first time you’ve seen it, and there may be others. So, I’ve added the spoiler alert to the title. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/27 "2008-03-17T13:31:49Z")
I thought the movie was incredibly effective, especially the end, as others have mentioned. I couldn’t get that vision of Mike standing in the corner out of my head for weeks. By the way, I could swear that I’d heard that one of the film makers (Eduardo Sanchez, I think)died a few years ago. I tried looking it up but didn’t find anything. Can anyone confirm or deny? ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/28 "2008-03-17T15:34:29Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] The Blair Witch Project: **The Boo in the Big Blair House** (If you don’t get that, you don’t have kids that watch the Disney Channel) [/QUOTE] Pip and Pop did it. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/29 "2008-03-17T17:41:11Z")
I dunno… I wasn’t impressed and I thought the guy was taking a leak in the corner. At least then I could get some purile entertainment from this. Never bought into it in the least… but it had a great marketing campaign. ---
**Author:** ![InappropriateHumor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@InappropriateHumor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InappropriateHumor)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/30 "2008-03-17T18:43:10Z")
[QUOTE=GingerOfTheNorth] Pip and Pop did it. [/QUOTE] Where oh where oh where is Shadow? Count me as one who dislikes the jumpy camera. It’s the same reason I didn’t like NYPD Blue when it was on TV. It makes me feel vaguely motion sick. I saw it amidst all the hype, so my expectations were probably too high, but I mentally MST3K’d it all the way through. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/31 "2008-03-17T19:03:52Z")
I saw this movie at a friend’s house with 10 other people, and it still got to me. I’m quite certain I don’t need to see it in the theater. This guy I know watched this movie right before he was shipped out for 2 weeks of wilderness survival traning in the Florida everglades. He spent every night of the first week with his back against a tree, clutching a big stick, repeating ‘There is no such thing as a witch’ over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/32 "2008-03-17T19:11:45Z")
[QUOTE=WOOKINPANUB] I thought the movie was incredibly effective, especially the end, as others have mentioned. I couldn’t get that vision of Mike standing in the corner out of my head for weeks… [/QUOTE] I don’t go to many horror films, but I gave in to the hype and saw this. It annoyed me at first, for all the reasons others have noted, but by the end I was on the edge of my seat. The ending really stuck with me. Very creepy. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/33 "2008-03-17T19:56:42Z")
At the time, I thought this was one of the best horror films I ever saw, and I haven’t changed my opinion. I never got the impression that the kids got lost because they were stupid, it was because whatever was haunting the woods was messing with them. The whole movie was about the big bad getting into their heads, before going for the kill. It had the feel of some very old, nasty fairy tale. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/34 "2008-03-17T20:02:30Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] I’m fond of the pseudo-documentary format, and up until **Blair Witch** there really weren’t any notable horror films that used the device aside from **Cannibal Holocaust**. [/QUOTE] [The Last Broadcast](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122143/) - released a year earlier, far superior to Blair Witch… and I _liked_ Blair Witch. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/35 "2008-03-17T20:58:47Z")
I wouldn’t say that it’s far superior. If anything, the ending of _The Last Broadcast_ left me thinking, “What the h…”? ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/36 "2008-03-17T23:09:21Z")
[QUOTE=WOOKINPANUB] By the way, I could swear that I’d heard that one of the film makers (Eduardo Sanchez, I think)died a few years ago. I tried looking it up but didn’t find anything. Can anyone confirm or deny? [/QUOTE] [imdb.com](http://imdb.com) doesn’t say either is dead. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/37 "2008-03-18T00:35:34Z")
I remember being psyched for the movie and after seeing it, I was extremely disappointed. I was about ready to throw up from the camera shaking (I saw it in the theatre), and the movie did drag. See some scary stuff, run around, whine, say the word “fuck” 4,000 times, rinse and repeat. Then comes the so-so ending. I wanted my 5 bucks back… ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/38 "2008-03-18T02:59:51Z")
Well… yeah, they did say “fuck” a lot. A movie in which modern college kids in a stressful situation don’t say “fuck” a lot is a movie without versimilitude. Unless they’re attending an Amish college or something, I guess. The language the kids use these days… It’s this “rap music” they listen to, I’m telling you. ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/39 "2008-03-18T08:14:17Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain] I remember being psyched for the movie and after seeing it, I was extremely disappointed. I was about ready to throw up from the camera shaking (I saw it in the theatre), and the movie did drag. See some scary stuff, run around, whine, say the word “fuck” 4,000 times, rinse and repeat. Then comes the so-so ending. I wanted my 5 bucks back.. [/QUOTE] I’m not a horror person. The snakes in Indiana Jones scared me. The only thing I knew about the movie was it was horror, and that was enough for me. My friend loved this movie so I agreed to go to a matinee showing. She even insisted on paying. Not only was this the least scary movie I’d ever seen, ever, but I still feel I overpaid. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579/40 "2008-03-18T08:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=Jennshark] So I finally watched the film on TV. Some nice chills. My questions are (and I don’t think we need to “spoiler” answers 😛 ): What happened in the end? Was Michael (Josh?) re-enacting the child murderer’s method of having one child stand in the corner while he killed the other child? Also, was there a white figure standing in the woods in the “ohmigod we’re at the same log again” scene? My TV screen is small . . . [/QUOTE] I’m with you, I found some of the scenes that were supposed to be scary more frustrating, and along the lines of -what the heck am I looking at?, I can’t quite make it out, is that a coat hanging in the corner? Why are we supposed to be afraid of a coat? Sheesh, this would be a lot scarier if I could see what it is I’m supposed to be scared of-. Like you, I watched it a few years after it came out (not 9 though, more like 2 IIRC). And I’d seen very little of the hype, and hadn’t really heard anything about the movie when I rented it. I had no idea it was not an actual videography (if that’s the right word). I had to do a bit of web researching to figure out the real deal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-only-9-years-behind-blair-witch-project-open-spoilers/441579.md?page=3)