
While the documentary format style can be occasionally cheesy, this only helps add to the feeling of authenticity and makes it all the more terrifying. This provides extra insight into the characters and their motivations, while also adding weight to the horror of the original film. It also explores the aftermath following the disappearance of the student filmmakers, including news reports and interviews with their family members, professors, and friends. It utilizes faux-archival records, eyewitness accounts, and even newsreel footage to expand on the origins of evil characters like witch Elly Kedward and child murderer Rustin Parr, who are only briefly covered in the first act of the actual film. Related: How The Blair Witch Project Tricked Audiences Into Thinking It Was A True Story When the distributor Artisan Entertainment made a deal with SyFy (then known as the Sci-Fi Channel) to produce a featurette promoting the film’s release, the filmmakers found an opportunity to edit the additional material into a short mimicking the TV documentary style popular at the time.
#BLAIR WITCH LEGEND MOVIE#
At a runtime of 81 minutes, the movie scratches the surface of the mythology before the horror of the main characters takes center stage. Ultimately, a decision was made to focus exclusively on the footage “shot” by the film students. In reality, it was all meticulously developed by the real filmmakers, who also created copious supplemental materials to corroborate the “authenticity” of their film. The main conceit behind The Blair Witch Project was that it was promoted as a real documentary it was said that the Maryland film students behind it were actually missing, and the terrifying legends of the Blair Witch were centuries old.
