October 10, 2023 • 41 mins
Prepare yourself for a chilling journey as we dissect the iconic horror film, The Blair Witch Project. Ever wondered about the terrifying legend of the Blair Witch and the eerie tales of Burkittsville, Maryland? We'll navigate the dark forest of this narrative, retelling the horrifying tale of three students - Heather, Josh, and Mike, their harrowing encounters in the woods, and the bone-chilling folklore shared by the townsfolk. From tales of Mr. Potter's heinous crimes to Mary Brown's eerie encounters, we'll lay bare the spine-tingling backdrop of the movie.
Lost in the woods, our trio's quest takes a truly terrifying turn. Hear the ominous echoes of the unseen voices and the horrifying discovery of the three piles of rocks. The suspense is ratcheted up a notch as we recount Josh's chilling disappearance and the blood-curdling findings that follow. Heather's heart-wrenching apology video, the bundle of sticks tied with Josh's flannel, and the pouch filled with teeth and blood - all hint at an unspeakable horror just around the corner.
As we reach the climax, brace yourself for the ultimate horror - the blood-soaked abandoned house, the ghastly symbols, the haunting voices, and the dreadful finale. Experience the hair-raising eighth night in the woods through Heather and Mike's lens and witness their horrifying fate. We'll dig into what makes The Blair Witch Project a successful horror film and how its tragic end leaves us unnerved yet satisfied. So, dim your lights, and step into the terrifying world of The Blair Witch Project with us.
If you'd like to own your own copy for when this film isn't streaming, look no further!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Travis (00:00):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, colon
.
They're pretty good.
I'm your host, Travis Dudding,and today we are going to be
talking about one of my all-timefavorite horror movies, the
Blair Witch Project 1999,directed by Daniel Myrick and
(00:22):
Eduardo Sanchez.
This is a found footage film,one of the first.
I'm not going to say it's thefirst, but it's definitely what
kicked off the craze of foundfootage movies and handheld POV
movies, which definitely gotoverdone for a bit there.
(00:44):
But I'd say that if you don'tlike those types of movies
because like, oh, like it'soverdone, but if you haven't
watched this one, at least watchthis one because it's great.
Like a lot of people overlookthis one or think they don't
need to watch it, but trust me,it's great.
(01:05):
It is great.
I love this movie so much.
All right, so let's get rightinto it.
So we get a title card, or not atitle card, but it's saying in
1994, three students fromBurkittsville, Maryland, went to
(01:30):
into the woods to make adocumentary.
They never came back and a yearlater their footage was found
in the woods.
So this is the footage thatthey found is the movie.
So so we got Heather, Josh andMike.
(01:50):
It's Heather's project,basically, like I'm guessing
she's the film student and itwas her idea and everything like
that.
Josh is her friend and Mike issomeone that they hired to have
an extra hand for this.
So we see them going to pick upMike and they're going to get
(02:12):
groceries and supplies andthings like that that they need.
They go to get batteries forthe cameras and everything and
then they're off off on the road.
They see them stop at a dinerand they're interview they're
interview any locals that theycome across basically about this
Blair Witch, and we'll learnmore about the legend of the
(02:35):
Blair Witch as the documentarygoes on.
So the town of Burkittsvilleused to be called Blair and they
changed the name, so that'swhere the Blair in Blair Witch
comes from.
And so he started to hear likea little bit of info.
(02:56):
Basically like a lot of kidsdied in the 1940s and a lot of
like the people don't seem toknow what happened or even
remember that anything like thathappened In one of the
interviews.
I like this you see the there'sa mom holding her little little
(03:22):
girl and she's telling part ofthe story and everything above
the Blair Witch and the littlegirl is like getting upset and
like trying to stop her fromtelling it.
And I always wondered if andI'm sure it's I've seen like the
special features in thedocumentaries and everything on
it like so many times but Ialways forget, like if they
(03:45):
meant for that girl to get upsetor if that was just like part
of it, but it works so well forthe movie, just because it seems
like she's like getting freakedout about it and everything.
Then we there's an old mantalking about a Mr.
Potter from the 1940s andthey're saying that some hunters
(04:11):
were like out in the woods andthis Mr.
Potter guy came out of thewoods and he just said I'm
finally finished.
And so they're like, ok, likewhat?
What does he mean by that?
Like, after he came into townand said that, so they went out
to his house and when they wereat his house, Mr.
Potter's house, they found thebodies of seven children.
(04:33):
So then they you know whenthey're, when he's going to
trial and everything and they'reinterviewing him he said that
he would take the kids downthere into the basement, two at
a time when he was going to killthem, and he'd make one stand
in the corner facing away fromhim while he killed the other
(04:55):
one.
And then, you know, kill thethe one that was in the corner,
and the reason that he made themturn in the corners?
Because he could feel theireyes on him and he didn't like
them, like that feeling of theireyes on him.
So, and we'll get some more onthat a little bit later so then
they, they get a name from oneof the locals that they're
(05:17):
interviewing, mary Brown.
So they go find her trailer andthey go and interview her and
she, she has like the demeanorof someone who's like a little
bit like OK, like I don't trustthis person.
But you know, she gives a lotof info and if, if, what she's
(05:39):
saying is true, then it's alittle understandable that she'd
be a little off off a rocker,you know.
So they, they start to ask herabout her encounter with the
witch, because that's what theyheard, that she had this
encounter when she was young andshe said that she was out
fishing with her dad and thiswoman came out of the woods and
(06:03):
that she said that her arms werelike hairy, but not like human
hair but like horse fur almost,and that she opened her cloak
and she was wearing this longcloak and her body was like a
horse too, but it was like said,like woman shaped, but like
with horse fur and everythinglike that, and I forget hooves,
(06:26):
I don't remember, but either way, like you know, freaked her out
and she's like never got thatout of her mind.
Then we cut from the interviewto them in their motel for the
first night they're just likegetting having drinks and
(06:48):
prepping because, like, thefirst day wasn't like a full,
like a full shoot day basically.
But yeah, so next day they'redown on a river interviewing
these two fishermen and you knowthey make, you know, get
permission from them andeverything, say that they're
doing a documentary on the BlairWitch and ask them if they know
(07:09):
anything about it.
And then so they start tellingthe story that in the late 1800s
a little girl named RobinWeaver wandered off into the
woods and just was missing for afew days.
Three days later she comes backand like just shows up on her
(07:30):
grandma's porch and everyone'slike, oh, like, where were you?
Where were you?
And when they're asking herquestion, she started.
She just kept talking aboutthis woman whose feet never
touched the ground that she saw,and then, like the another
fisherman's talking about howlike he saw this like gray vapor
(07:51):
coming out of the the river onetime, and the other guy's like
oh, you're full of shit.
And he's like, no, like I'mtelling you like these woods are
haunted and everything.
Everybody knows that.
So, like one guy is prettyskeptic and the other like isn't
really, you know, he's a littlemore of a believer.
(08:12):
So after that interview theydrive to their spot where
they're going to park the carand then hike into the woods and
then they're going to camp forthe rest of the shoot and
everything, because they can'treally reach it by road.
And they hike over to a placecalled coffin rock and they do
another piece for thedocumentary there and she reads
(08:33):
an excerpt from a book and shetalks about how the, these five
men, were out there.
I forget what they're, why theywere out there, if they were
just taken there or if they wereLike doing a job out there
hunters, I don't remember, butthese five men were like tied
together, like the in some kindof formation and Tortured,
(08:59):
basically like their intestineswere cut out and like they could
tell from the person that foundthem that they were alive when
all this happened.
They weren't just like deadbodies that were tied up Because
there's like signs of astruggle if someone happened
upon them, goes to, goes back totown, like there I mean,
(09:21):
they're dead by the time thisperson finds them.
Goes to town to get the sheriffthey got, brings a sheriff
where all the cops come out tothe Back, to the coffin rock and
they're gone.
The bodies are gone.
So there was evidence that theywere there, like there was
still blood and stuff, but justso someone had moved them.
(09:43):
And then they were never foundever again.
So it's starting to get dark, sothey start setting up camp in
the rain and Then it cuts to themiddle of the night and they
can hear some.
Oh wait, no, it's just the nextmorning.
And and Josh is saying how heheard noises in the middle of
(10:09):
the night and but like couldn'treally tell what they were.
And then Mike's like, oh, if Ihad heard noises, oh, yeah, he
said that they sounded likecackling is what it was.
And then Mike says if I heardcackling in the middle of the
night I would just shit my pants, you know so.
But yeah, they don't reallydwell on that too much.
(10:30):
They talk about it and thenthey move on.
So now they're hiking throughthe woods.
They're not on a trail andthere's.
So there's some conversationabout how like, okay, like we're
just taking a shortcut to thetrail, you know, but we're gonna
like, trust me, we're gonnafind it.
And they're looking for, likesome, some kind of cemetery.
(10:51):
Basically, this is one of thefirst arguments about whether or
not they're lost, which isgonna be a majority of the film.
Honestly, they finally findthis clearing that has these
individual piles of rocks Likespaced out around.
(11:14):
There's seven different pilesand they're like okay, this is
the, this is the cemetery,because it was the, the seven
kids that died, so there's sevenlike little piles of rock and
it's still like a little eerieand everything.
They decide to wait till nightto do like the, their piece for
(11:36):
the documentary and they recordthem in the dark, so it's a
little more ominous.
And Then this is the first timethat we see, see them record
the noises that they're hearingin the night.
This is the third night forthem and we can hear you can
(11:57):
hear these.
It almost sounds like rocksbeing like Piled and toppled and
like thrown around the in theforest, but they say that it's
like all all around them, likethey can't like pinpoint a one
specific direction.
It's like they're surrounded bythese Rocks that are making
(12:18):
noise, so it's starting to get alittle more ominous.
Next morning it's raining again.
They're tearing down the camp.
They said they're done withtheir shooting, like they've
they've had all their location.
(12:39):
So this is their day thatthey're just walking back to the
car.
And then so they start to argueabout like this isn't the way
we came.
And Heather says no, like we'retaking a straight shot to the
car because the the first twodays or whatever first day was
like the quickest route to thetwo locations that they wanted
to shoot.
But this is a straight shotfrom their last camp to the car.
(13:02):
Apparently so, but no one'slike really trusting each other
then.
But they're just kind of takingher word for it, arguing off
the map again Then.
But it's starting to get lateagain and they're still not back
(13:23):
to the car and Mike's startingto snap.
He's like yelling and stuff inthe end of the woods.
So they figure that it finallydoes get dark, too dark, and
they do have to camp.
They're getting upset becausethe camera equipment has to be
returned the next day, josh hasto work the next day.
(13:43):
So Like tensions are gettinghigh but there's nothing they
could do because they haven'tfound the car.
They so another cut to themiddle of the night again and
they're starting to hear morenoises and there's like getting
a little more freaked out aboutit.
(14:04):
This time, like Before, it'sjust like, oh, that's weird,
maybe it's just, you know, deeror something Like that, but this
time they can hear what soundslike footsteps.
So they're a little morenervous about it.
Wake up the next morning andthere's three piles of rocks
(14:25):
surrounding the tent, like onefor each of them, and so they're
A little freaked out about that.
Then Josh is a little skeptical, like are you sure those
weren't there when we set upcamp?
And now there's like I think wewould have noticed if we were
setting up our tent right in themiddle of three piles of rocks,
(14:46):
you know.
So they get all packed up andeverything.
And this is when Heatherrealizes that the map is missing
, and so there's an argumentabout that, like no, I gave you
the map.
And then Josh was like yeah,then I gave it back to you.
Like I know, I gave it back toyou and I gave it back to you,
(15:06):
and it's just like no one Canfind it and Heather's like
always put in the same spot andit's not in that spot, so one of
you must have taken it and bothof them are denying taking it
and everything like that.
Then, uh, so they decided tokeep moving and, uh, end up
(15:28):
getting there Crossing theanother creek.
Everyone gets their shoes wet.
Uh, mike starts laughingHeather thinks that she's laugh,
that he's laughing at her, andbut he just like keeps laughing
and laughing and laughing likemore than is warranted for the
situation.
And he finally comes out withit that he kicked the map into
(15:53):
the creek the day before andhe's like that map wasn't doing
us any good, we were lost anyway, so I just kicked it in there.
And so everyone freaks out onhim, like rightfully so.
And like once they finally allcalm down, they get back to
(16:14):
hiking and hopefully they don'thave a map, but they're just
like let's just go in onedirection, this is the way we
were going before, so let's keepgoing that way.
Then they stumble acrossanother clearing but there's
these stick figure sculptureseverywhere and they're hanging
from the trees and everythingand it's super like, okay, like
(16:37):
what the heck is this?
Like, what's up with this?
Everyone's a little freaked outabout it.
They get a bunch of shots ofthat and then they're like okay,
like let's get out of here,let's go, like we're still lost,
so we need to get out of here.
But they go as far as they canand it's starting to get dark,
(16:57):
so they set up camp again.
So this is now the fifth night.
They were only supposed to beout for three nights and this is
now their fifth night.
This time in the middle of thenight they wake up and hear
noises again, but this time thenoises are voices.
It's not just rocks likeclinking against each other.
(17:20):
They are hearing voices, butyou can't really make out what
anyone's saying.
And then they realize that thevoices are kids' voices and you
can even like kind of hear ababy crying and stuff like that,
but they're all like all thevoices are like layered, so you
can't really like make outanything specific.
So obviously they're freakingout a little bit about that, or
(17:43):
not a little bit, a little moreabout that.
And as they're sitting there,then the tent starts to shake,
like all the flaps on the sideof the tent are like, and of
course that's the final straw.
They go flying out of the tentand they're running away and
they're just start taking offstraight out of the tent and
(18:06):
they're running and running andthen they see something.
Of course we don't see itbecause it's dark in the middle
of the night and it's not lit.
But Heather's screaming likewhat is that?
What the fuck is that?
But yeah, we have no idea whatit is.
But they see something and theyjust take off running until they
eventually like all catch upwith each other and they turn
(18:30):
off the lights on the camerasand their flashlights and
everything.
And then they just like kind ofhuddle together and just like
calm down together and wait itout.
And you can like it'scompletely pitch black, camera
wise but you hear like Josh likesay like telling himself like
that wasn't, like it's not a,there's no baby out there,
(18:51):
there's no baby crying Things,fine, like you know kind of like
reassuring himself and theothers.
You know, it's the next morning.
They kind of they just kind ofwaited out in the woods until it
got light and they're like okay, it's been about an hour, let's
go back to the camp.
Sun's starting to come up, sothey like feel a little safer.
(19:14):
Head back to the camp and it'slike completely trashed.
But then they realize that theperson, that only one of their
packs is trashed, and it'sJosh's and I forgot to mention
before, when they found thecemetery with the seven
individual piles of rocks, joshaccidentally kicked over one of
(19:38):
the piles of rocks and they,like try to put it back together
and everything.
But you know, he accidentallydesecrated this pile of rocks
that is supposed to be symbolicof one of these dead kids and
but so, like the camp itself ispretty trash, but only his stuff
(20:01):
is like thrown everywhere.
And it's not only throwneverywhere, he's like, oh, like,
why is my, why is it all wet?
And he's like it looks likeslime, and then so it's like
there's some kind of like slimysubstance, like on all this
stuff, and it's just his, likeheathers and Mike's packs are
like completely intact, but justlike thrown to the side.
(20:21):
So that's a little, a littleweird.
And but they, you know, gatherthemselves, gather the stuff and
get back on the, the trail orlack of, and as they're moving
they realize that they comeacross a log that they already
(20:45):
crossed before and so, eventhough they've decided we're
just going to go south, becausethey have a compass.
They don't have a map, but theyhave a compass, and they're
like okay, let's just go in onedirection.
Eventually we'll findcivilization, because you know,
it's not that big of a forest,which makes sense, I think, what
you're supposed to do in thattype of situation.
(21:07):
But somehow they've gone in acomplete circle, even though
they've thought they were goingsouth the whole time.
So this is put.
This is putting tensions evenhigher between the three of them
.
(21:27):
Josh has the camera and he'slike shoving it in Heather's
face, like like seeing, liketrying to give her a taste of
her own medicine, because she'sbeen filming everything, even
though, like they think that sheshould be a little more worried
about the fact that they'restill out there.
And she is worried, but sheadmits that this is like all she
(21:48):
has left, like she has to keepfilming because this is what's
keeping her sane, you know.
But Josh is like shoving thecamera in her face and like,
what's your motivation?
You're lost and God is all lost.
And then she starts crying andMike's like, okay, like good one
, you got her, like that'senough, like good point, you
(22:09):
made your point.
Then finally they calm down,everyone comes down, it cuts, oh
yeah.
Then we get a scene of them inthe tent at night and you know,
they got their flashlights, butthey're just like having this
(22:29):
like nice conversation wherethey're just trying to keep it
light and Mike's joking that hehas a cheeseburger in his back
pocket and like oh, I can't waitto like, have this food again
and like wish this.
And it's just a verylighthearted, nice conversation
where everyone's like they'reall friends again Next morning.
(22:53):
Josh is missing, they're, andthey're looking for them.
They're yelling for him andhe's just completely gone and
you know yelling his name.
They look for him for a littlebit.
At some point they just give up, like okay, like, but we still
got to get out of here, you know.
So they decided like, okay,like, what direction should we
(23:17):
go?
Mike's like which one of thefrom the Wizard of Oz was the
bad witch?
The east of the west.
And she's like the wicked witchof the west was the bad guy.
And so Mike says okay, let's goeast then.
So they decide South wasn'tworking, let's go east.
Cut to them waking up the middleof the night again to noises
(23:40):
like this is the seventh nightnow.
Yes, this is the seventh nightthey wake up in here Josh
screaming, and out in the woods,but they can't.
It's just like with the rocks.
It seems like it's coming frommultiple directions and it's
(24:02):
like you can't really make outlike what he's yelling, but he's
just like it sounds like he'sjust screaming in pain and
they're like Josh, like whereare you, josh?
And?
But they just can't find themand he's just yelling and
screaming and screaming.
That's like this all nightpretty much.
One thing that's cool about thisis like obviously they're
filming Outwards, like they'renot filming their own faces
(24:25):
during this, but all you see islike the, the light from the
camera like shining on the treesand because it's cold, you can
see Mike's breath like go, like,go across the light, and I
think that's like a cool lookingshot that I that I hadn't
really noticed before.
But it's nothing like major.
(24:47):
It's not like a big plot pointlike, or it's not symbolic like
well, what does Mike's breathmean?
But I Just thought it was likereally cool, like, oh, like
that's like all you can see islike just the, the breath from
him, like screaming Josh's name,so Obviously they don't find
him.
(25:08):
They wake up the next morning.
Heather has the camera and shelike shows that Mike is still
alive and still there, thatthey're both still alive, unzips
the tent and there's a bundleof sticks, like right outside
the tent in the morning.
It's like okay, like, like youknow, obviously a little nervous
, like what is this?
Zooms in on the bundle ofsticks.
(25:29):
It is tied together with whatlooks like Josh's flannel, like
a strict, like, like his flannelwas like cut into strips and it
was used to like tie thisbundle of sticks together and
she's like freaked out a littlebit.
Like okay, like let me justtake this away from the tent and
Worry about that.
After a calm down, you knowthat type of thing Finally does.
(25:57):
Oh yeah, we get this like shortscene of, you see, like Mike
like off in the woods, like kindof rockin, like trying to keep
himself together, and he's likeit's okay, like I found found a
pack of cigarettes on the bottomof my pack.
It's like all the way in thebottom so that like we're
smoking.
That means we're still alive,you know.
And then Heather goes and sitsnext to him and just get like a
(26:22):
shot of them, like kind ofholding each other a little bit,
and and then you, we seeHeather has the camera.
She's going back to the bundleof sticks.
She's gonna untie it and seewhat's inside.
She gets it open and there'slike a like more flannel, but
(26:43):
it's like a pouch, like tiedinto a pouch, and she says that
it's all bloody, like it's fullof blood.
She gets the pouch untied andit's teeth, like human teeth, so
presumably Josh's teeth, inthis pool of blood, tied into
this bundle of sticks using hisown flannel.
(27:03):
So that's like obviously very,very scary for everyone and Like
.
So Heather starts panicking,she's like hyperventilating and
just freaking out.
But she doesn't want to freakMike out, so she kind of just
keeps it to herself andeverything.
So once she finally calms downand like washes her hands of the
(27:26):
blood and everything and justMike's like you okay.
She's like, yeah, just washingmy hands, and she's like she's
still like very Like botheredand Mike can tell, but he's, but
she's still not gonna say likewhat happened, and then they
just get back to hike in andeverything Once.
Once she like composes herself,we cut to.
(27:51):
It's Heather, like with thecamera pointed at herself, we
only see, like from her nose up,like it's just a very close-up
of her eyes basically, and she'ssending to like a video message
, to Like she's like I want toapologize to Mike's mom, I want
to apologize to my mom and she'slike her and Josh's mom it's
(28:13):
you know, it's all my fault likethis was my idea.
I'm the one that insisted thatwe do this, I'm the one that
insisted that we weren't lostand all this stuff, and she's
just like putting all the blameon herself.
And this is like the.
This shot's been parodied andlike so many things, like the
office scary movie, all thisstuff like it, and it's the
(28:38):
Iconic shot from the posteritself.
So I Think part of the reasonthat this Gets parodied so much
is like you could see like hersnot bubbles and stuff, and so
that's pretty impressive to likemake yourself Snot like that.
But I guess it's pretty easywhen you're like actually
camping in the cold of Marylandin the fall, you know.
(29:02):
But so then it's a little bitlater in the night and they're
hearing voices again this is theeighth night, by the way, and
this time they can hear Joshyelling again, but this time
they can hear Tim like yelling,like help me, help.
So they're like okay, like youknow, they grab their cameras
(29:23):
and they head out to look forthem, like this time they're
gonna look for them.
They each have a camera.
They're following the voice,the sound of Josh's voice, and
they come across the house andlike, oh my god, there's a house
like, and it's just likecompletely run down, like gutted
house, like wood, like holeseverywhere, no window, like the
(29:47):
windows are smashed out andeverything, and there's just
like piles of lumber, like wherethe door should be, and but
they're like, all right, let'sgo in because that's where the
voice is coming from.
And so they go in there lookingfor Josh.
Like I said, they each havetheir own camera, so we get the
POV from each character in thisscene, which is essential.
(30:12):
They, as they're like lookingthrough the house and everything
, they hear Josh's voice againand this time he's yelling like
Heather like.
So he's Like and Mike's likehe's upstairs, like let's go
upstairs.
And then he's like running upthe stairs and as he's going up
the stairs, you see on the wallthere are a bunch of tiny bloody
(30:34):
hand prints, like Presumably ofkids, but they're like the wall
is completely covered withthese like blood hand prints.
And so super unsettling gets tothe top.
Obviously Josh isn't there andHeather followed Mike up there
(30:56):
and then, like, as they're bothupstairs, then they hear Josh's
voice again and Mike's like I'mcoming for you, buddy.
Like he starts runningdownstairs, pass the first floor
and they starts heading downinto the basement.
Now, as he's going down to thebasement, we see more of these
bloody hand prints all over thewalls, but there's also these
(31:18):
like different Like, I'mguessing, like runes or
something.
There's a bunch of symbols onthe wall as well and he kind of
any kind of like Pans the cameraacross those and like says like
you know, like what the helllike?
But then he keeps going becausehe could, you know, hear Josh,
and so he keeps going down intothe basement and he gets gets
down to the basement, he kind ofpans around and he's like he
(31:40):
just says Josh, like, almost,like hey, is that you like?
Walking towards me, and thenthe camera falls and hits the
ground.
Now, this is why it's key thatthere was that they each had
their own camera, because thisis my favorite part, like this
(32:02):
is my favorite thing about thisthe climax of this movie it,
it's so well done and so likecreative, like I just can't get
over.
Like and ah, it's so we get thePOV shot from Heather's camera
(32:22):
looking for Mike.
But we have the audio fromMike's camera, which is laying
on the floor of the Basement ofthis house, and so we can hear
Heather yelling like Mike, likeyou know, yelling for Mike.
But it's starting out far awayand then getting closer and
(32:46):
louder and louder, and louderand louder as she gets down into
the basement and it's so.
We're seeing her head slowlydown to the basement, but she's,
you know, a little morecautious than Mike was, but
she's still hiding down there.
We're seeing the handprints.
(33:07):
Again.
She gets down to the basementand she's panning like the same
that Mike did.
But when she gets to the corner, we see Mike standing in the
corner, just like in the storyof the mr, mr Porter, mr Potter
or whatever it was how he wouldface the kids in the corner when
he was killing the other one.
(33:27):
We see Mike face in the cornerand as soon as the camera sees
him and she screams, thenHeather's camera falls to the
ground and that's it.
That's the end of the movie,right there, oh, so definitely
not a happy ending, but Doesn'thave to be a happy ending to be
(33:50):
a satisfying ending.
That was such a satisfyingending like Ah I, I don't even
have the right words to just saywhy I like it so much.
I think what makes this work asa scary movie so well is that
(34:12):
you don't See anything.
You see the results of theBlair Witch, but you don't
actually see the Blair Witch,which I think is is where the
2016 sequel fell short, becauseyou do get a glimpse in that one
(34:34):
and it's and it's notsatisfying because it never
could be.
When you've gone 17 years ofjust having your imagination
fill the blanks of what, thewhere, what the Blair Witch is
and looks like any of that stuff, then nothing could ever do it
(34:54):
justice.
Like no matter what it lookedlike, you know, and that's what
that was.
What was so genius about this?
Like you don't see anything.
It's all tension.
It's all like tension building,and it's very good at that.
It's very slow and you'regetting tense with the
characters as well, and that'sjust what I love about this
(35:17):
movie so much, and it's it doesa good job because, like you, if
you watch this movie byyourself and then go walking
through the woods at night, yousee it's gonna freak you out.
Like I added, like I did thatlike I had watched it one year.
This is when I was living inMaryland, where it takes place,
and I lived.
This is when I was still in themilitary, I lived on base and I
(35:41):
was working nights, so I wouldwalk and I would walk to work
because I, like, lived closeenough and I'd have to walk
through the woods.
There was a trail that wentthrough the woods to the street,
like a little shortcut, and itwas freaky and I and I made the
(36:02):
mistake of doing that afterwatching this movie and like I
just couldn't.
I mean, obviously I made itlike I'm still here today and
nothing like actually could havepossibly happened, but it was
still it's.
It was creepy and I thinkthat's what makes an effective
horror movie.
Is it just kind of messes withyou and it sits with you, and
(36:25):
this one definitely south withme.
And I remember the very firsttime I watched it I watched it
on a DVD and because I was alittle too young when it first
came out, like yeah, I was 10and there's definitely people
that watched scary moviesyounger than that or that age,
but I was, I was a scaredy catfor most of my time as a kid and
(36:50):
so I came like a little late onthis.
I was buzzed in my teens.
I was in high school the firsttime I watched it.
But I watched it completelyalone, like literally no one
home at the house, like I forgetwhere, I don't remember where
my parents and my brother were,but I was home alone and I
watched it and it freaked me out.
(37:12):
And then I watched the specialfeatures and there was this
documentary on there I thinkit's called the curse of the
Blair Witch and it's anotherfake documentary about this fake
documentary.
But it was done.
It was done like this was likeactual found footage, not like a
(37:34):
behind-the-scenes thing, likehow they, how they make this
movie.
It was like making it like theBlair Witch project was real
found footage, and it for asplit second.
I was like wait, is this real?
Like did this actually happen?
And then, like I had to likeget out.
Luckily the internet was aroundso I was like, oh, and then,
(37:56):
you know, felt super dumb likeafter that, but that's how, like
ingenious this was.
And then, because these, theseactors were like nobodies at the
time I think most of them itwas their first film they used
their real names.
They, you know they didn't dolike actor names.
(38:20):
So, like the parents I know Idon't know about all three of
them, but for sure the parentsof Heather Donahue received like
condolence letters, like sayinglike, oh, like, we heard that
Heather went missing and stufflike that, and so it worked on
like everybody.
So it's like, even if youdidn't believe the ghost stuff,
(38:45):
yeah, it was, it's very easy tobelieve like, oh, like these
kids went to the woods to make adocumentary in what missing and
that could have been from aghost or from you know, just
someone kidnapped them, you know.
But yeah, man, I just, I willnever get sick of watching this
(39:06):
movie.
It it always.
It always delivers and in a waythat very few movies do, that
slow burn.
The build is key, I think, forcreating war.
It really is, because if Ithink about other movies that
(39:29):
are like scary, it's the onesthat are a little bit of a slow
burner.
Hereditary, which I think isgonna be next week's episode,
that's another slow burn, butthat one you actually see some
stuff, but they do it in a greatway, you know, and I think the
(39:51):
other reason that this worked sowell is that they were like
that.
The three actors were actuallycamping and the directors were
out in the woods making noisesand like, actually like trying
to scare them, so like thosereactions are fairly genuine.
You know it's not like, youknow, that's just not
(40:14):
supernatural stuff that'sscaring them, but it's still
three people out in the woodsand there's people out to get
them in quotes, surrounded them,making noises and trying to
scare them, and it worked, and Ithink that's another thing that
this movie has in its favor.
Anyways, I can go on and onabout this, but I realize I'm
(40:38):
just gonna be making the samepoints over and over again.
And I just really love thismovie.
I hope you guys do too.
I hope you guys enjoyed thisepisode.
I hope I didn't get too ramblyand too redundant, but that's
just.
That's just how you know that Ireally, really love something
(40:59):
and have for a long time when Ijust get kind of like, oh man,
this is so good.
So thank you guys for listening.
Hopefully I covered everythingI wanted to.
Hope you guys tune in next week.
We're gonna.
I'm gonna be doing horrormovies for the rest of October,
so stay tuned and everyone, havea good week and see you next
(41:24):
time.
Thanks, bye.
Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, colon
.
They're pretty good.
I'm your host, Travis Dudding,and today we are going to be
talking about one of my all-timefavorite horror movies, the
Blair Witch Project 1999,directed by Daniel Myrick and
(00:22):
Eduardo Sanchez.
This is a found footage film,one of the first.
I'm not going to say it's thefirst, but it's definitely what
kicked off the craze of foundfootage movies and handheld POV
movies, which definitely gotoverdone for a bit there.
(00:44):
But I'd say that if you don'tlike those types of movies
because like, oh, like it'soverdone, but if you haven't
watched this one, at least watchthis one because it's great.
Like a lot of people overlookthis one or think they don't
need to watch it, but trust me,it's great.
(01:05):
It is great.
I love this movie so much.
All right, so let's get rightinto it.
So we get a title card, or not atitle card, but it's saying in
1994, three students fromBurkittsville, Maryland, went to
(01:30):
into the woods to make adocumentary.
They never came back and a yearlater their footage was found
in the woods.
So this is the footage thatthey found is the movie.
So so we got Heather, Josh andMike.
(01:50):
It's Heather's project,basically, like I'm guessing
she's the film student and itwas her idea and everything like
that.
Josh is her friend and Mike issomeone that they hired to have
an extra hand for this.
So we see them going to pick upMike and they're going to get
(02:12):
groceries and supplies andthings like that that they need.
They go to get batteries forthe cameras and everything and
then they're off off on the road.
They see them stop at a dinerand they're interview they're
interview any locals that theycome across basically about this
Blair Witch, and we'll learnmore about the legend of the
(02:35):
Blair Witch as the documentarygoes on.
So the town of Burkittsvilleused to be called Blair and they
changed the name, so that'swhere the Blair in Blair Witch
comes from.
And so he started to hear likea little bit of info.
(02:56):
Basically like a lot of kidsdied in the 1940s and a lot of
like the people don't seem toknow what happened or even
remember that anything like thathappened In one of the
interviews.
I like this you see the there'sa mom holding her little little
(03:22):
girl and she's telling part ofthe story and everything above
the Blair Witch and the littlegirl is like getting upset and
like trying to stop her fromtelling it.
And I always wondered if andI'm sure it's I've seen like the
special features in thedocumentaries and everything on
it like so many times but Ialways forget, like if they
(03:45):
meant for that girl to get upsetor if that was just like part
of it, but it works so well forthe movie, just because it seems
like she's like getting freakedout about it and everything.
Then we there's an old mantalking about a Mr.
Potter from the 1940s andthey're saying that some hunters
(04:11):
were like out in the woods andthis Mr.
Potter guy came out of thewoods and he just said I'm
finally finished.
And so they're like, ok, likewhat?
What does he mean by that?
Like, after he came into townand said that, so they went out
to his house and when they wereat his house, Mr.
Potter's house, they found thebodies of seven children.
(04:33):
So then they you know whenthey're, when he's going to
trial and everything and they'reinterviewing him he said that
he would take the kids downthere into the basement, two at
a time when he was going to killthem, and he'd make one stand
in the corner facing away fromhim while he killed the other
(04:55):
one.
And then, you know, kill thethe one that was in the corner,
and the reason that he made themturn in the corners?
Because he could feel theireyes on him and he didn't like
them, like that feeling of theireyes on him.
So, and we'll get some more onthat a little bit later so then
they, they get a name from oneof the locals that they're
(05:17):
interviewing, mary Brown.
So they go find her trailer andthey go and interview her and
she, she has like the demeanorof someone who's like a little
bit like OK, like I don't trustthis person.
But you know, she gives a lotof info and if, if, what she's
(05:39):
saying is true, then it's alittle understandable that she'd
be a little off off a rocker,you know.
So they, they start to ask herabout her encounter with the
witch, because that's what theyheard, that she had this
encounter when she was young andshe said that she was out
fishing with her dad and thiswoman came out of the woods and
(06:03):
that she said that her arms werelike hairy, but not like human
hair but like horse fur almost,and that she opened her cloak
and she was wearing this longcloak and her body was like a
horse too, but it was like said,like woman shaped, but like
with horse fur and everythinglike that, and I forget hooves,
(06:26):
I don't remember, but either way, like you know, freaked her out
and she's like never got thatout of her mind.
Then we cut from the interviewto them in their motel for the
first night they're just likegetting having drinks and
(06:48):
prepping because, like, thefirst day wasn't like a full,
like a full shoot day basically.
But yeah, so next day they'redown on a river interviewing
these two fishermen and you knowthey make, you know, get
permission from them andeverything, say that they're
doing a documentary on the BlairWitch and ask them if they know
(07:09):
anything about it.
And then so they start tellingthe story that in the late 1800s
a little girl named RobinWeaver wandered off into the
woods and just was missing for afew days.
Three days later she comes backand like just shows up on her
(07:30):
grandma's porch and everyone'slike, oh, like, where were you?
Where were you?
And when they're asking herquestion, she started.
She just kept talking aboutthis woman whose feet never
touched the ground that she saw,and then, like the another
fisherman's talking about howlike he saw this like gray vapor
(07:51):
coming out of the the river onetime, and the other guy's like
oh, you're full of shit.
And he's like, no, like I'mtelling you like these woods are
haunted and everything.
Everybody knows that.
So, like one guy is prettyskeptic and the other like isn't
really, you know, he's a littlemore of a believer.
(08:12):
So after that interview theydrive to their spot where
they're going to park the carand then hike into the woods and
then they're going to camp forthe rest of the shoot and
everything, because they can'treally reach it by road.
And they hike over to a placecalled coffin rock and they do
another piece for thedocumentary there and she reads
(08:33):
an excerpt from a book and shetalks about how the, these five
men, were out there.
I forget what they're, why theywere out there, if they were
just taken there or if they wereLike doing a job out there
hunters, I don't remember, butthese five men were like tied
together, like the in some kindof formation and Tortured,
(08:59):
basically like their intestineswere cut out and like they could
tell from the person that foundthem that they were alive when
all this happened.
They weren't just like deadbodies that were tied up Because
there's like signs of astruggle if someone happened
upon them, goes to, goes back totown, like there I mean,
(09:21):
they're dead by the time thisperson finds them.
Goes to town to get the sheriffthey got, brings a sheriff
where all the cops come out tothe Back, to the coffin rock and
they're gone.
The bodies are gone.
So there was evidence that theywere there, like there was
still blood and stuff, but justso someone had moved them.
(09:43):
And then they were never foundever again.
So it's starting to get dark, sothey start setting up camp in
the rain and Then it cuts to themiddle of the night and they
can hear some.
Oh wait, no, it's just the nextmorning.
And and Josh is saying how heheard noises in the middle of
(10:09):
the night and but like couldn'treally tell what they were.
And then Mike's like, oh, if Ihad heard noises, oh, yeah, he
said that they sounded likecackling is what it was.
And then Mike says if I heardcackling in the middle of the
night I would just shit my pants, you know so.
But yeah, they don't reallydwell on that too much.
(10:30):
They talk about it and thenthey move on.
So now they're hiking throughthe woods.
They're not on a trail andthere's.
So there's some conversationabout how like, okay, like we're
just taking a shortcut to thetrail, you know, but we're gonna
like, trust me, we're gonnafind it.
And they're looking for, likesome, some kind of cemetery.
(10:51):
Basically, this is one of thefirst arguments about whether or
not they're lost, which isgonna be a majority of the film.
Honestly, they finally findthis clearing that has these
individual piles of rocks Likespaced out around.
(11:14):
There's seven different pilesand they're like okay, this is
the, this is the cemetery,because it was the, the seven
kids that died, so there's sevenlike little piles of rock and
it's still like a little eerieand everything.
They decide to wait till nightto do like the, their piece for
(11:36):
the documentary and they recordthem in the dark, so it's a
little more ominous.
And Then this is the first timethat we see, see them record
the noises that they're hearingin the night.
This is the third night forthem and we can hear you can
(11:57):
hear these.
It almost sounds like rocksbeing like Piled and toppled and
like thrown around the in theforest, but they say that it's
like all all around them, likethey can't like pinpoint a one
specific direction.
It's like they're surrounded bythese Rocks that are making
(12:18):
noise, so it's starting to get alittle more ominous.
Next morning it's raining again.
They're tearing down the camp.
They said they're done withtheir shooting, like they've
they've had all their location.
(12:39):
So this is their day thatthey're just walking back to the
car.
And then so they start to argueabout like this isn't the way
we came.
And Heather says no, like we'retaking a straight shot to the
car because the the first twodays or whatever first day was
like the quickest route to thetwo locations that they wanted
to shoot.
But this is a straight shotfrom their last camp to the car.
(13:02):
Apparently so, but no one'slike really trusting each other
then.
But they're just kind of takingher word for it, arguing off
the map again Then.
But it's starting to get lateagain and they're still not back
(13:23):
to the car and Mike's startingto snap.
He's like yelling and stuff inthe end of the woods.
So they figure that it finallydoes get dark, too dark, and
they do have to camp.
They're getting upset becausethe camera equipment has to be
returned the next day, josh hasto work the next day.
(13:43):
So Like tensions are gettinghigh but there's nothing they
could do because they haven'tfound the car.
They so another cut to themiddle of the night again and
they're starting to hear morenoises and there's like getting
a little more freaked out aboutit.
(14:04):
This time, like Before, it'sjust like, oh, that's weird,
maybe it's just, you know, deeror something Like that, but this
time they can hear what soundslike footsteps.
So they're a little morenervous about it.
Wake up the next morning andthere's three piles of rocks
(14:25):
surrounding the tent, like onefor each of them, and so they're
A little freaked out about that.
Then Josh is a little skeptical, like are you sure those
weren't there when we set upcamp?
And now there's like I think wewould have noticed if we were
setting up our tent right in themiddle of three piles of rocks,
(14:46):
you know.
So they get all packed up andeverything.
And this is when Heatherrealizes that the map is missing
, and so there's an argumentabout that, like no, I gave you
the map.
And then Josh was like yeah,then I gave it back to you.
Like I know, I gave it back toyou and I gave it back to you,
(15:06):
and it's just like no one Canfind it and Heather's like
always put in the same spot andit's not in that spot, so one of
you must have taken it and bothof them are denying taking it
and everything like that.
Then, uh, so they decided tokeep moving and, uh, end up
(15:28):
getting there Crossing theanother creek.
Everyone gets their shoes wet.
Uh, mike starts laughingHeather thinks that she's laugh,
that he's laughing at her, andbut he just like keeps laughing
and laughing and laughing likemore than is warranted for the
situation.
And he finally comes out withit that he kicked the map into
(15:53):
the creek the day before andhe's like that map wasn't doing
us any good, we were lost anyway, so I just kicked it in there.
And so everyone freaks out onhim, like rightfully so.
And like once they finally allcalm down, they get back to
(16:14):
hiking and hopefully they don'thave a map, but they're just
like let's just go in onedirection, this is the way we
were going before, so let's keepgoing that way.
Then they stumble acrossanother clearing but there's
these stick figure sculptureseverywhere and they're hanging
from the trees and everythingand it's super like, okay, like
(16:37):
what the heck is this?
Like, what's up with this?
Everyone's a little freaked outabout it.
They get a bunch of shots ofthat and then they're like okay,
like let's get out of here,let's go, like we're still lost,
so we need to get out of here.
But they go as far as they canand it's starting to get dark,
(16:57):
so they set up camp again.
So this is now the fifth night.
They were only supposed to beout for three nights and this is
now their fifth night.
This time in the middle of thenight they wake up and hear
noises again, but this time thenoises are voices.
It's not just rocks likeclinking against each other.
(17:20):
They are hearing voices, butyou can't really make out what
anyone's saying.
And then they realize that thevoices are kids' voices and you
can even like kind of hear ababy crying and stuff like that,
but they're all like all thevoices are like layered, so you
can't really like make outanything specific.
So obviously they're freakingout a little bit about that, or
(17:43):
not a little bit, a little moreabout that.
And as they're sitting there,then the tent starts to shake,
like all the flaps on the sideof the tent are like, and of
course that's the final straw.
They go flying out of the tentand they're running away and
they're just start taking offstraight out of the tent and
(18:06):
they're running and running andthen they see something.
Of course we don't see itbecause it's dark in the middle
of the night and it's not lit.
But Heather's screaming likewhat is that?
What the fuck is that?
But yeah, we have no idea whatit is.
But they see something and theyjust take off running until they
eventually like all catch upwith each other and they turn
(18:30):
off the lights on the camerasand their flashlights and
everything.
And then they just like kind ofhuddle together and just like
calm down together and wait itout.
And you can like it'scompletely pitch black, camera
wise but you hear like Josh likesay like telling himself like
that wasn't, like it's not a,there's no baby out there,
(18:51):
there's no baby crying Things,fine, like you know kind of like
reassuring himself and theothers.
You know, it's the next morning.
They kind of they just kind ofwaited out in the woods until it
got light and they're like okay, it's been about an hour, let's
go back to the camp.
Sun's starting to come up, sothey like feel a little safer.
(19:14):
Head back to the camp and it'slike completely trashed.
But then they realize that theperson, that only one of their
packs is trashed, and it'sJosh's and I forgot to mention
before, when they found thecemetery with the seven
individual piles of rocks, joshaccidentally kicked over one of
(19:38):
the piles of rocks and they,like try to put it back together
and everything.
But you know, he accidentallydesecrated this pile of rocks
that is supposed to be symbolicof one of these dead kids and
but so, like the camp itself ispretty trash, but only his stuff
(20:01):
is like thrown everywhere.
And it's not only throwneverywhere, he's like, oh, like,
why is my, why is it all wet?
And he's like it looks likeslime, and then so it's like
there's some kind of like slimysubstance, like on all this
stuff, and it's just his, likeheathers and Mike's packs are
like completely intact, but justlike thrown to the side.
(20:21):
So that's a little, a littleweird.
And but they, you know, gatherthemselves, gather the stuff and
get back on the, the trail orlack of, and as they're moving
they realize that they comeacross a log that they already
(20:45):
crossed before and so, eventhough they've decided we're
just going to go south, becausethey have a compass.
They don't have a map, but theyhave a compass, and they're
like okay, let's just go in onedirection.
Eventually we'll findcivilization, because you know,
it's not that big of a forest,which makes sense, I think, what
you're supposed to do in thattype of situation.
(21:07):
But somehow they've gone in acomplete circle, even though
they've thought they were goingsouth the whole time.
So this is put.
This is putting tensions evenhigher between the three of them
.
(21:27):
Josh has the camera and he'slike shoving it in Heather's
face, like like seeing, liketrying to give her a taste of
her own medicine, because she'sbeen filming everything, even
though, like they think that sheshould be a little more worried
about the fact that they'restill out there.
And she is worried, but sheadmits that this is like all she
(21:48):
has left, like she has to keepfilming because this is what's
keeping her sane, you know.
But Josh is like shoving thecamera in her face and like,
what's your motivation?
You're lost and God is all lost.
And then she starts crying andMike's like, okay, like good one
, you got her, like that'senough, like good point, you
(22:09):
made your point.
Then finally they calm down,everyone comes down, it cuts, oh
yeah.
Then we get a scene of them inthe tent at night and you know,
they got their flashlights, butthey're just like having this
(22:29):
like nice conversation wherethey're just trying to keep it
light and Mike's joking that hehas a cheeseburger in his back
pocket and like oh, I can't waitto like, have this food again
and like wish this.
And it's just a verylighthearted, nice conversation
where everyone's like they'reall friends again Next morning.
(22:53):
Josh is missing, they're, andthey're looking for them.
They're yelling for him andhe's just completely gone and
you know yelling his name.
They look for him for a littlebit.
At some point they just give up, like okay, like, but we still
got to get out of here, you know.
So they decided like, okay,like, what direction should we
(23:17):
go?
Mike's like which one of thefrom the Wizard of Oz was the
bad witch?
The east of the west.
And she's like the wicked witchof the west was the bad guy.
And so Mike says okay, let's goeast then.
So they decide South wasn'tworking, let's go east.
Cut to them waking up the middleof the night again to noises
(23:40):
like this is the seventh nightnow.
Yes, this is the seventh nightthey wake up in here Josh
screaming, and out in the woods,but they can't.
It's just like with the rocks.
It seems like it's coming frommultiple directions and it's
(24:02):
like you can't really make outlike what he's yelling, but he's
just like it sounds like he'sjust screaming in pain and
they're like Josh, like whereare you, josh?
And?
But they just can't find themand he's just yelling and
screaming and screaming.
That's like this all nightpretty much.
One thing that's cool about thisis like obviously they're
filming Outwards, like they'renot filming their own faces
(24:25):
during this, but all you see islike the, the light from the
camera like shining on the treesand because it's cold, you can
see Mike's breath like go, like,go across the light, and I
think that's like a cool lookingshot that I that I hadn't
really noticed before.
But it's nothing like major.
(24:47):
It's not like a big plot pointlike, or it's not symbolic like
well, what does Mike's breathmean?
But I Just thought it was likereally cool, like, oh, like
that's like all you can see islike just the, the breath from
him, like screaming Josh's name,so Obviously they don't find
him.
(25:08):
They wake up the next morning.
Heather has the camera and shelike shows that Mike is still
alive and still there, thatthey're both still alive, unzips
the tent and there's a bundleof sticks, like right outside
the tent in the morning.
It's like okay, like, like youknow, obviously a little nervous
, like what is this?
Zooms in on the bundle ofsticks.
(25:29):
It is tied together with whatlooks like Josh's flannel, like
a strict, like, like his flannelwas like cut into strips and it
was used to like tie thisbundle of sticks together and
she's like freaked out a littlebit.
Like okay, like let me justtake this away from the tent and
Worry about that.
After a calm down, you knowthat type of thing Finally does.
(25:57):
Oh yeah, we get this like shortscene of, you see, like Mike
like off in the woods, like kindof rockin, like trying to keep
himself together, and he's likeit's okay, like I found found a
pack of cigarettes on the bottomof my pack.
It's like all the way in thebottom so that like we're
smoking.
That means we're still alive,you know.
And then Heather goes and sitsnext to him and just get like a
(26:22):
shot of them, like kind ofholding each other a little bit,
and and then you, we seeHeather has the camera.
She's going back to the bundleof sticks.
She's gonna untie it and seewhat's inside.
She gets it open and there'slike a like more flannel, but
(26:43):
it's like a pouch, like tiedinto a pouch, and she says that
it's all bloody, like it's fullof blood.
She gets the pouch untied andit's teeth, like human teeth, so
presumably Josh's teeth, inthis pool of blood, tied into
this bundle of sticks using hisown flannel.
(27:03):
So that's like obviously very,very scary for everyone and Like
.
So Heather starts panicking,she's like hyperventilating and
just freaking out.
But she doesn't want to freakMike out, so she kind of just
keeps it to herself andeverything.
So once she finally calms downand like washes her hands of the
(27:26):
blood and everything and justMike's like you okay.
She's like, yeah, just washingmy hands, and she's like she's
still like very Like botheredand Mike can tell, but he's, but
she's still not gonna say likewhat happened, and then they
just get back to hike in andeverything Once.
Once she like composes herself,we cut to.
(27:51):
It's Heather, like with thecamera pointed at herself, we
only see, like from her nose up,like it's just a very close-up
of her eyes basically, and she'ssending to like a video message
, to Like she's like I want toapologize to Mike's mom, I want
to apologize to my mom and she'slike her and Josh's mom it's
(28:13):
you know, it's all my fault likethis was my idea.
I'm the one that insisted thatwe do this, I'm the one that
insisted that we weren't lostand all this stuff, and she's
just like putting all the blameon herself.
And this is like the.
This shot's been parodied andlike so many things, like the
office scary movie, all thisstuff like it, and it's the
(28:38):
Iconic shot from the posteritself.
So I Think part of the reasonthat this Gets parodied so much
is like you could see like hersnot bubbles and stuff, and so
that's pretty impressive to likemake yourself Snot like that.
But I guess it's pretty easywhen you're like actually
camping in the cold of Marylandin the fall, you know.
(29:02):
But so then it's a little bitlater in the night and they're
hearing voices again this is theeighth night, by the way, and
this time they can hear Joshyelling again, but this time
they can hear Tim like yelling,like help me, help.
So they're like okay, like youknow, they grab their cameras
(29:23):
and they head out to look forthem, like this time they're
gonna look for them.
They each have a camera.
They're following the voice,the sound of Josh's voice, and
they come across the house andlike, oh my god, there's a house
like, and it's just likecompletely run down, like gutted
house, like wood, like holeseverywhere, no window, like the
(29:47):
windows are smashed out andeverything, and there's just
like piles of lumber, like wherethe door should be, and but
they're like, all right, let'sgo in because that's where the
voice is coming from.
And so they go in there lookingfor Josh.
Like I said, they each havetheir own camera, so we get the
POV from each character in thisscene, which is essential.
(30:12):
They, as they're like lookingthrough the house and everything
, they hear Josh's voice againand this time he's yelling like
Heather like.
So he's Like and Mike's likehe's upstairs, like let's go
upstairs.
And then he's like running upthe stairs and as he's going up
the stairs, you see on the wallthere are a bunch of tiny bloody
(30:34):
hand prints, like Presumably ofkids, but they're like the wall
is completely covered withthese like blood hand prints.
And so super unsettling gets tothe top.
Obviously Josh isn't there andHeather followed Mike up there
(30:56):
and then, like, as they're bothupstairs, then they hear Josh's
voice again and Mike's like I'mcoming for you, buddy.
Like he starts runningdownstairs, pass the first floor
and they starts heading downinto the basement.
Now, as he's going down to thebasement, we see more of these
bloody hand prints all over thewalls, but there's also these
(31:18):
like different Like, I'mguessing, like runes or
something.
There's a bunch of symbols onthe wall as well and he kind of
any kind of like Pans the cameraacross those and like says like
you know, like what the helllike?
But then he keeps going becausehe could, you know, hear Josh,
and so he keeps going down intothe basement and he gets gets
down to the basement, he kind ofpans around and he's like he
(31:40):
just says Josh, like, almost,like hey, is that you like?
Walking towards me, and thenthe camera falls and hits the
ground.
Now, this is why it's key thatthere was that they each had
their own camera, because thisis my favorite part, like this
(32:02):
is my favorite thing about thisthe climax of this movie it,
it's so well done and so likecreative, like I just can't get
over.
Like and ah, it's so we get thePOV shot from Heather's camera
(32:22):
looking for Mike.
But we have the audio fromMike's camera, which is laying
on the floor of the Basement ofthis house, and so we can hear
Heather yelling like Mike, likeyou know, yelling for Mike.
But it's starting out far awayand then getting closer and
(32:46):
louder and louder, and louderand louder as she gets down into
the basement and it's so.
We're seeing her head slowlydown to the basement, but she's,
you know, a little morecautious than Mike was, but
she's still hiding down there.
We're seeing the handprints.
(33:07):
Again.
She gets down to the basementand she's panning like the same
that Mike did.
But when she gets to the corner, we see Mike standing in the
corner, just like in the storyof the mr, mr Porter, mr Potter
or whatever it was how he wouldface the kids in the corner when
he was killing the other one.
(33:27):
We see Mike face in the cornerand as soon as the camera sees
him and she screams, thenHeather's camera falls to the
ground and that's it.
That's the end of the movie,right there, oh, so definitely
not a happy ending, but Doesn'thave to be a happy ending to be
(33:50):
a satisfying ending.
That was such a satisfyingending like Ah I, I don't even
have the right words to just saywhy I like it so much.
I think what makes this work asa scary movie so well is that
(34:12):
you don't See anything.
You see the results of theBlair Witch, but you don't
actually see the Blair Witch,which I think is is where the
2016 sequel fell short, becauseyou do get a glimpse in that one
(34:34):
and it's and it's notsatisfying because it never
could be.
When you've gone 17 years ofjust having your imagination
fill the blanks of what, thewhere, what the Blair Witch is
and looks like any of that stuff, then nothing could ever do it
(34:54):
justice.
Like no matter what it lookedlike, you know, and that's what
that was.
What was so genius about this?
Like you don't see anything.
It's all tension.
It's all like tension building,and it's very good at that.
It's very slow and you'regetting tense with the
characters as well, and that'sjust what I love about this
(35:17):
movie so much, and it's it doesa good job because, like you, if
you watch this movie byyourself and then go walking
through the woods at night, yousee it's gonna freak you out.
Like I added, like I did thatlike I had watched it one year.
This is when I was living inMaryland, where it takes place,
and I lived.
This is when I was still in themilitary, I lived on base and I
(35:41):
was working nights, so I wouldwalk and I would walk to work
because I, like, lived closeenough and I'd have to walk
through the woods.
There was a trail that wentthrough the woods to the street,
like a little shortcut, and itwas freaky and I and I made the
(36:02):
mistake of doing that afterwatching this movie and like I
just couldn't.
I mean, obviously I made itlike I'm still here today and
nothing like actually could havepossibly happened, but it was
still it's.
It was creepy and I thinkthat's what makes an effective
horror movie.
Is it just kind of messes withyou and it sits with you, and
(36:25):
this one definitely south withme.
And I remember the very firsttime I watched it I watched it
on a DVD and because I was alittle too young when it first
came out, like yeah, I was 10and there's definitely people
that watched scary moviesyounger than that or that age,
but I was, I was a scaredy catfor most of my time as a kid and
(36:50):
so I came like a little late onthis.
I was buzzed in my teens.
I was in high school the firsttime I watched it.
But I watched it completelyalone, like literally no one
home at the house, like I forgetwhere, I don't remember where
my parents and my brother were,but I was home alone and I
watched it and it freaked me out.
(37:12):
And then I watched the specialfeatures and there was this
documentary on there I thinkit's called the curse of the
Blair Witch and it's anotherfake documentary about this fake
documentary.
But it was done.
It was done like this was likeactual found footage, not like a
(37:34):
behind-the-scenes thing, likehow they, how they make this
movie.
It was like making it like theBlair Witch project was real
found footage, and it for asplit second.
I was like wait, is this real?
Like did this actually happen?
And then, like I had to likeget out.
Luckily the internet was aroundso I was like, oh, and then,
(37:56):
you know, felt super dumb likeafter that, but that's how, like
ingenious this was.
And then, because these, theseactors were like nobodies at the
time I think most of them itwas their first film they used
their real names.
They, you know they didn't dolike actor names.
(38:20):
So, like the parents I know Idon't know about all three of
them, but for sure the parentsof Heather Donahue received like
condolence letters, like sayinglike, oh, like, we heard that
Heather went missing and stufflike that, and so it worked on
like everybody.
So it's like, even if youdidn't believe the ghost stuff,
(38:45):
yeah, it was, it's very easy tobelieve like, oh, like these
kids went to the woods to make adocumentary in what missing and
that could have been from aghost or from you know, just
someone kidnapped them, you know.
But yeah, man, I just, I willnever get sick of watching this
(39:06):
movie.
It it always.
It always delivers and in a waythat very few movies do, that
slow burn.
The build is key, I think, forcreating war.
It really is, because if Ithink about other movies that
(39:29):
are like scary, it's the onesthat are a little bit of a slow
burner.
Hereditary, which I think isgonna be next week's episode,
that's another slow burn, butthat one you actually see some
stuff, but they do it in a greatway, you know, and I think the
(39:51):
other reason that this worked sowell is that they were like
that.
The three actors were actuallycamping and the directors were
out in the woods making noisesand like, actually like trying
to scare them, so like thosereactions are fairly genuine.
You know it's not like, youknow, that's just not
(40:14):
supernatural stuff that'sscaring them, but it's still
three people out in the woodsand there's people out to get
them in quotes, surrounded them,making noises and trying to
scare them, and it worked, and Ithink that's another thing that
this movie has in its favor.
Anyways, I can go on and onabout this, but I realize I'm
(40:38):
just gonna be making the samepoints over and over again.
And I just really love thismovie.
I hope you guys do too.
I hope you guys enjoyed thisepisode.
I hope I didn't get too ramblyand too redundant, but that's
just.
That's just how you know that Ireally, really love something
(40:59):
and have for a long time when Ijust get kind of like, oh man,
this is so good.
So thank you guys for listening.
Hopefully I covered everythingI wanted to.
Hope you guys tune in next week.
We're gonna.
I'm gonna be doing horrormovies for the rest of October,
so stay tuned and everyone, havea good week and see you next
(41:24):
time.
Thanks, bye.
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