Genre-Changer The Blair Witch Project To Get Remake

A new X post from Daniel Ritchman has confirmed that the influential, iconic and genre-establishing 1999 horror film The Blair Witch Project by filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez will be remade by short filmmaker Dylan Clark. The original film tells a chilling story in a pseudo-documentary, found footage format about a trio of aspiring filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard) who head to Maryland’s Appalachian Mountains and woods to uncover the urban legend of an alleged witch known as the Blair Witch.

Myrick and Sánchez’s project is one of the medium’s most inspiring success stories, coming into the world in the humble beginnings of a budget of $35,000 and an amateur style of hand-held cameras with unknown actors. Due to a unique style (the found footage element was rather unknown), a great marketing technique of spreading missing posters featuring the main cast’s faces and a terrifying, unravelling ambience, The Blair Witch Project grossed a worldwide total of $249 million and became one of filmmaking’s most profitable features, as well as one of the independent film’s most successful contributions.

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Film critic Michael Dodd infamously stated The Blair Witch Project is responsible for “modernising [horror’s] ability to be all-encompassing in expressing the fears of American society” and  “in an age where anyone can film whatever they like, horror needn’t be a cinematic expression of what terrifies the cinema-goer, it can simply be the medium through which terrors captured by the average American can be showcased.”

The film also kick-started a wave of found footage contributions to the horror genre, including Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza’s [•REC], and Brad Miska’s v/h/s, to name a few of many. A sequel followed in 2000, titled Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, by Joe Berlinger, with a re-con sequel coming in 2016 called Blair Witch by director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett.

Clark’s own filmography includes the short Portrait of God, set to be adapted into a full-length film with renowned horror filmmaker Sam Raimi’s company Ghost House Pictures and newcomer horror maestro Jordan Peele’s Monkey Paw for Universal Pictures. Additional Clark titles include Transfigure, Seagrass and Behind the Frame.

About the Author

Ros Tibbs

Editor

Ros is a film and lit graduate writing news and reviews at The People's Magazine. She also writes long-form film theory, film history, analytical or curated recommendations pieces on other platforms.

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