Exactly what I was thinking. In fact, I was searching for the first TV possible footage of an interview with her and found this. I absolutely believe that some of the people in this audience were surprised she was alive.
I agree! The "real footage" marketing gimmick was no different than The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or Fargo (both amazing films). This film is beyond amazing. Even today.
+Emii ddrr Nope; it's all fake. A lot of extraneous effort was put forth into establishing the lore, though, so I can understand why you're inclined to believe that.
men.... the history is all true, the " history " . of the blair wich , the history of the rustin parr is true, the history of Elly Kedward( the witch) is true, the history, of coffeen rock is true..the place of the wich is in, is true.... but the movie... this movie, is just a fake movie.. who in the beggin talk about the history of the blair wich , and yes this is history is true.. the rest of the movie, is just a " movie "
@@emiiddrr8891 Everything you just said is fake. It was just thought out with so much detail that it makes it more believable. That's a filmmaker's job.
What's interesting is you cannot watch the movie for the first time NOW and get the same experience as you could have THEN when it was first released. The marketing and back story that was created back then complimented the movie so well that it made you suspend your disbelief and you bought the premise of the movie. Now days with the explosion of the internet people go into the movie knowing it's fiction and they don't get the same experience we did watching it at release. That said I find it to be a brilliant movie that was well done and accomplished what it set out to do.
i went and got the movie, thinking it was real. i must say i really enjoyed it. it doesn't matter anymore that i know it's fake since i found out after i'd watched it.
True. But there's always the occasional youngster who just hasn't heard of this movie. Slice of life: I'm 34 and I have a "little" brother who is 22. When the movie came out he was only 7 so naturally he didn't see it. Well up until last year he had still never heard of it so I explained to him how three students went to make a documentary about a witch in the woods and then disappeared and how the footage was found a few years later, I showed him the promo website which looks very amateurish, etc. Well I sat down with him thinking that would be a great night and it was - he literally shit his pants watching them die not really knowing what was happening. Which was very funny because he's always been quite the skeptic. Let me tell you, though I had seen the movie many times before, that night I was almost feeling as if I was watching it for the first time back in 1999 when everybody was scared to death in the theater.
that movie is one of a kind in that genre. that story made me smile a little, i'm glad someone can still enjoy the original movie the way it was intended at its time. i got to admit though that i was a little skeptic having seen the Chernobyl film before. but still TBWP gave me the creeps it was pretty cool.
I had a good friend that said the movie sucked.... Some people just cant embrace theater of the mind. Not only was the marketing genius but this film added a new genre to the movie industry. I watch this move a few times in the fall every year and am watching it right now! definitely in my top 5
The marketing was definitely genius!!! I remember when it came out... we thought it was real! I was scared for a LONG time afterwards... but I kept going back to it! Haha!
I had one prerequisite for my girlfriends while I was single, they had to watch this with me the weekend before we'd go camping. It's a strange tradition but during the first weekend the weather is warm enough to have the windows open I watch The Blair Witch Project, Scream, and Children Of The Corn. My wife hates it.
The witch let her off work that weekend for some interviews, but her break is now over and she is back at work out in the woods. This is all third party info though, maybe the witches twitter got hacked? 😁
LOL, the Backstage ad made it sound like they were looking to recruit cast for a snuff film. If they had 2,000 responses...it must be fairly easy to pull a snuff film together, even these days.
im glad i stayed up all night and watched a documentry on the history channel about how they set the WHOLE thing up. its still one kick-ass movie though. I HATE old movies but The Blair Witch cept me at the edge of my seat(:
In a weird way, I'm really glad Heather Donahue only played this one role as an actress and became a legend for the millennial generation! There are so many actresses that have dozens of famous films and are fabulously wealthy beyond their dreams, but I would bet anyone that none of their works evokes such feelings of nostalgia and sense of creativity and all around fun as Heather Donahue's performance, along with her co-actors, in The Blair Witch Project. It was literally a community event, the "Woodstock" moment of our age, that only comes once in a generation. There will never be another Heather Donahue or The Blair Witch Project, at least with the same magical spell and social phenomena serving as the backdrop for what essentially was a chance at some exposure and minimum financial success. Yet here we all are nearly three decades later...love this movie til the day I die!
It's an excellent horror movie if you watch it 2-3 times and understands it. Many people don't get the end because it happens so fast, and sometimes even pieces from the movie. I think most humans are terrified of the unknown especially when you hear it but can't see, it's way scarier than the typical slasher with a guy and a knife. Being alone in a dark forest, far away from your comfort level, it's horrible !
i just watched the blair witch project, i thought it was real and fealt bad for them then in the ending credits it said written by so and so starring so and so xD lol it's all a made up movie i'm glad that theyre all alright :)
The acting in Blair Witch Project is how acting *should* be. It's pretty unfortunate that so many movies have this mechanical and lifeless feel to them so often, I don't know how to describe it but you can very often tell that you are watching a movie, because the characters simply aren't acting as real-life people. Blair Witch Project is an exception though, and should inspire all actors in the world.
Jerry Brooklyn The credits actually don't list any actors, they are all uncredited and the main actors used their real names. there is a quick disclaimer at the end but it's under another chunk of text and you have to be really quick to read it
Internet then was a pretty new thing. And I really give credit to the marketing strategy of this film.. and I mean AMAZINGLY DONE!! This film really scared the hell out of me during its time because the timing was just really perfect. I bet 100% if any reboots or sequels are not as successful as this one. The only time I realised it was not real was when I saw the characters presenting an award. Their budget vs box office was staggering. NO EFFECTS, NO OSCAR AWARDS TYPE OF ACTING... JUST MARKETING. It was pure film brilliance. :)
Thank you for the interview. Blair witch released at the beginning of the 'digital " age and the internet. If you compare Blair witch to cannibal holocaust or the 1970s movies like ilsa- Blair witch looks awful yet those 1970s slasher films still look amazing in this millennium.
i remember watching that movie as a youngster when it came out and i was bored outa my mind... so i decided recently to watch it again as taste and perception changes.. and this time.. i was just as bored outa my mind.
The film is far from underrated but it is a MASTERPIECE. It almost makes me ill to watch it because I almost feel what they feel. It’s very realistic because it’s found footage and the dread just builds and builds and builds. There’s no background music. There are no special effects and you can’t see the antagonist, and yet you still feel it right there with them.
I know the movie was successful and all, but i really felt she should have gotten more recognition and praise for her acting in the film, as well as the other actors.
i didn't hate it when i saw it in 1999 but it's taken me until watching it recently to realise that it was actually a really really good movie, worthy of its cult status. i used to be annoyed that they lied and said it was true, because seeing it with that state of mind was horrifying. so it worked. great movie. :)
Heather recently wrote a book, "Grow Girl" about her experiences growing medical Marijuana in northern California. She has apparently left acting to become a MM activist. Good on you Heather!
OH MY GOSH !! WAS THAT MOVIE "ACTING"???? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF U PEOPLE ! u scared the hell out of me ! but they are ...UNBELIEVABLY GREAT ACTORS WOW ! I REALLY BELIEVED IT
i just simply can`t believe that people actually eat this marketing.and still talking about it after ten years.the makers of the movide did very good job with it`s marketing.respect for the masters of the mischief marketing.
people wanna talk shit about this movie, but they were like 10 years ahead of the curve, I even fell for this movie, thinking its real is what makes it even better
You can tell when he brought up the movie making $80 million she looked like she was going to cry. Sitting in that chair she had only received $8000 to be in the movie.
@masterwuchong: Actually some parts of the movie showed them truly scared. I mean they went out in the woods by themselves and got lost 3 times yet were found by the director. The director and his friends also shook their tent when they were camping without them knowing that was the director.
I'm most surprised at the people in this comment section saying they "had no idea" that the movie was a faux documentary, even up until a few years ago. I saw this in a theatre, in 1999, and everyone knew it wasn't "real" found footage. Not a huge secret.
okay seriously, this interview me gave me closure. I believed that movie was real my whole childhood. Plus, I used to go camping all the time. Pure torture.
The setup of that talk show sucks. The chair Heather is sitting in is in front of the host's desk. The guests have to turn backwards to talk to him. Can you say whiplash? 🙄
Whats weird is that all three stars of the movie aren't even actors. And yet they're pretty much the greatest actors in the world to pull that movie off that perfect and so realisticly.
The sound of the construction of the "stone pilings" was the scariest part for me. You'd have to figure that they got actual people to stand in the total darkness of the deep woods to create that sound. And then the next morning when the sun came up and they actually saw the small "towers of stone". I thought this movie was real myself. But then if it was a true story who would have released it?
Well, that's not really true crouchtrac. The filmmakers launched a viral campaign leading up to the release of the movie, which included posting missing person fliers and setting up a website dedicated to the mythology of the witch. Even the Burkittsville Sheriff contacted the directors requesting information about the missing students. Additionally, at the very beginning of the film there is a declaration that what we are about to see is the footage found from the missing students.
I was 12 when the movie came out in '99. I remembered it was a big news in the Philippines because the media said there was a lost footage found in the woods blah, blah.. My sisters watched the movie and they were terrified and scared after. Haha. Then, weeks after the news announced that it was all fake. Genius! 😁
![Heather Donahue - [Aug-1999] - interview](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
