She even wrote a book about her experiences called ' Growgirl: The Blossoming of an Unlikely Outlaw.' Donahue was frustrated by how effectively she 'died,' and, after a decade of appearances in a few raunchy comedies and low-budget horror movies, retired from acting to become a marijuana farmer. The actors' parents started getting flowers and cards offering condolences. Hollywood acting agencies didn't reach out to the cast because, well, everyone thought they were dead. Since part of the marketing for 'The Blair Witch Project' was maintaining the myth that it was actual found footage, the rumors that the actors had indeed died was perpetuated (Artisan Entertainment - who handled the marketing and took credit for the website - even altered the IMDb entries of the actors to say they had died). But the nightmare wasn't over, at least not for the actors.

The stranger in question gave them hot chocolate and they made their way to a hotel.Īfter the harrowing shoot and miserable conditions, and after all the intense days of improv came to an end, the above-mentioned marketing began, and it aided 'The Blair Witch Project' in becoming one of the most successful films of all time. The cast had to walk away from the 'set' and find a local cabin to make a phone call back to the directors (Donahue was assigned the task, as the other actors felt she was the least intimidating to a stranger). Donahue felt that actors shouldn't have to deal with such conditions, and radioed the safe word to the directors. They set up their own tents and found they were filling with water. It was raining on the day in question, and the actors were cold and miserable. If the actors ever felt that they were in danger, or were uncomfortable to the point of wanting to stop filming, the cast merely needed to say 'Bulldozer.' The actors also had to play some incredibly intense scenes of fear and anger, and if the scene got too intense, or the yelling perhaps began to feel a little bit too real, they could use the safe word ' taco.'ĭonahue, however, recalls the one time the safe word was used didn't work. 'The Blair Witch Project' was a prank of the highest order, and an amazing horror film to boot.īut everyone played safe, even to the point of having a safe word. There were also tie-in mockmentaries, meant to grow the myth of the Blair Witch, leading some visitors of the website to conclude that it was actually real. On it, the filmmakers perpetuated rumors that 'The Blair Witch Project' was real, that the subjects of the film had really died, and that the footage had indeed been found and edited together after the fact. well, that should remain hidden for those who haven't yet seen it.Ī big reason for the film's success can be attributed to its marketing, most notably, the then-novel use of its website,. They heard eerie noises at night, and a mysterious unseen figure hung effigies around their tents, and left them little bundles that contained. There are also hints that the film’s fragmented narratives are more multi-layered than they first appear.Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 'The Blair Witch Project' was shot in a documentary style, and purported to be the real footage of real people who actually got lost in the woods and who perhaps encountered the bizarre supernatural leavings of a real witch. Barrett, meanwhile, creates compelling explanations for those trademark stick figures, and Rustin Parr’s insistence that his victims stand in the corner. Amid the usual found-footage longueurs and sudden jolts, Wingard finds time for snatches of genuine tenderness, such as when Lisa and James cling together, terrified, their breath fogging the lens. So why bother?įrom the chilly grief of A Horrible Way to Die (2010) to the visual dazzle of V/H/S (opens in new tab) (2012), Wingard and Barrett are one of the most reliable pairings in modern horror. Indeed, bar an overwhelming sense of one-upmanship – pus in boots rather than snot in camera, massive stick figures as well as tiny ones, a creepy witch house with (structurally unwise) tunnels under the basement – we might as well be watching a remake. While the original (unseen) Blair Witch fooled (some) viewers into believing she was real, the 2016 version even has her own stunt double. As a glitchy DV Lionsgate logo reminds us: we simply can’t trust images. By now, everyone knows the legend of 17th-Century witch Elly Kedward and 1940s child killer Rustin Parr, and all the characters immediately deconstruct everything they see.

Blair witch woods