Episode 226: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

This week, we contiue Taproom of Terror with a discussion on 1999's The Blair Witch Project. In this episode, we'll share with you some fun facts about the film along with a scene by scene breakdown. 

This week's Shot Out goes to Watch It If You Can

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-gray-s-taproom-podcast--6403665/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hmm, what's up, ladies and jurs.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello, welcome to a brand new episode of the Greatest
Tapper and Podcast. I am one of your co hosts,
the trash Can Tabby, and with me as always Mike
who has sporadic hair patterns on his chest. Harry Blank,
Harry Blank.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
I appreciate the reference, but you and I both know
that's a fucking lie.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
I was waiting for you. You should see my ass.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Oh the line, Yeah, yeah, I forgot that one's actually
more validated. Again, you and I.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Both know exactly. Welcome. Thank you guys for listening, Thank
you guys for watching on YouTube. Yeah, both, we appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
The veil is fucking thin as fu right now, it's thinning.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
We're getting closer and closer and closer.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
It's yeah, it's pretty fuck The veil is thinnest. Fuck.
Not only that, whatever that, I don't know what that means.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
I have explained that to you multiple times.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
It's stuff that I don't understand.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Stuff you don't care about either too. So the closer.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
On on the veil between the living and the dead
is the thinnest on Halloween. Everybody knows that. Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, Okay,
it's a Halloween thing.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's Sam Hayne, Solloween all the above, Sam like from
Trick or Treat.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
His last name is Hayne, Samuel Julius Hayne.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Oh, I was gonna say it's Julius. Okay, Evelyn.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
So remember the Titans reference.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh, I've never seen it.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
So it's so good. It's a great football movie. It's
a great fall movie. Crispy autumn air. Crunchy leaves in
the cemetery is the opening scene.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Very nice, said, a Halloween movie. And speaking of crispy air,
so excited for this weather finally, well, we did have
about three weeks worth in August September, that's August, but
August should have been sweltering hot the whole month.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
For the most part of the way. That one week
where it was nice.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
I remember this morning waking up well, when I took
the dogs out for the second time, the air was
so crisp and cool that I went and it smoke.
They did the cold the breath, the cold breath.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
I don't know if the door bell camp caught me saying,
but when I left for work this morning, I went,
it's cool.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I didn't watch it anytime you should start watering. It's cool,
we'll put it in clips.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Nice. No, God, I'm so glad. So I thought October
was going to bitch out. No, I genuinely thought October
was going to bitch out again.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
I remember, though, you gotta remember past Haunt seasons. I
don't give a fuck about HANT season, and you shut
up for like three seconds and let me fucking finish, Like, oh, okay.
The first two weekends, because haunted houses are open for
at least six weeks minimum. Yeah, the first two weekends
are hot as dick. Yeah, fall out, people die, you sweat,

(03:44):
you don't get overheated because it's like.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
In the middle of September.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, at the end of September. The middle two weekends
in October, the middle two of HANT season. The first
two weekends in October are usually perfect. It's seventies in
the daytime and fifties at night. And in the last
two weekends of October are cold is dick. No, so
we're nearing cold, is dick.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
October was gonna bitch out, I thought, No, so super
excited that today the high was like seventy two, yeah, three,
and tonight it's supposed to get down to forty six.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
And oh, there's only one day, one day next week
that we actually see eighties. It's only eighty two. It's
eo okay, but it's only eighty two, I know. But
still it's not ninety nine with one hundred percent humidity,
I know.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
But still temperatures in the eighties.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
The coldest that we do have as of right now
is Friday the twenty fourth, when we carve Jack. The
lantern said, sixty four is the high end, forty four
is the low. Yeah, ah, we're cold, well cool, I
should say, I'm really excited about that. I like chili.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
What day is it's supposed to be retarded in the eighties?
Next week?

Speaker 2 (05:03):
What did I say for Oh, Friday, Friday the seventeenth.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Oh, I guess I can deal with one more.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
It's low eighties. I'll take low eighties over nineties. And yeah, well,
you're in the wrong state for that, the wrong part
of the country for that. You gotta go further north
if you want cold.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
I just want to fall. When false starts. No, summer
lasts way too long.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, that's also because winter went last way too long.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
I know.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Winter usually starts around the beginning of November, right after Halloween.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
What does the groundhog see when he wants to dick
us over with extra summer?

Speaker 2 (05:43):
No, summer usually starts if the groundhog sees a shadows
dead six weeks of winter. Six weeks more of winter,
and he always sees a shadow, which means that winter
usually carries on until about middle end of March. We
don't really have a sping until.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
About eight Remember that first that one year, the first
day of spring, it snowed like a foot.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, that was crazy. I remember. I remember the first
weekend of April, the first full weekend of April, it
snowed that weekend.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
H Yep, April is a tricky bitch around here.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
And there was that one derby in the seventies that
it's supposedly at the beginning of May snowed.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
So, I mean it's Louisville. You can never ever discount
the weather for anything.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
And that's the weather report. Ladies and gentlemen shut in
for eighties on the eight.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Kenny G Music, I was gonna say, and the sports
by sportsball.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Oh, I was doing a nineties weather channel callback I know,
I know, didn't have cable. It's just watching weather scrolls
and Kenny G's playing music, so it sounds like Kenny G.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
I hate Kenny G.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Kenny G rules.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Can we get this shot out done and over with
because I'm smelling this banana liqueur and I'm trying not
to puke spoil. Sorry, all right.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
This week's shoutout goes to drum Roll. Watch it if
you can. You can follow them on X at watch
Underscore It Underscore Pod. They follow us, We follow them.
Their show is Awesome and it is a podcast hosted
by Dave and Liam creating box sets of their favorite
movies and TV shows.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Okay, awesome.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Become pretty solid friends with them. They're pretty awesome.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
That's great. So you run the X that's right. And
I don't. I don't, I do anybody I do. I
don't talk to anybody.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
But people talk to me on X like it's you.
I don't know. It's just things they say, like, no,
I don't know what the fuck y'all are talking about.
That's not me. They talk about it nonsense that I
don't understand. Okay, girl, stuff I don't know.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Shout out, have another beer. I will, all right, let's go, cheers, guys.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Shout out to Dane for that moonshine.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Damn it, I don't want to. Oh it's so good.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
I like it. Well, god well, ladies and gentlemen, Now
that that's out of the way. On this week's episode,
as tap Room of Tara continues with episode three twenty
twenty five, we are discussing a film that kicked off
the found footage phenomenon, that sparked spond, a sequel that

(08:31):
really sucked in a prequel that was really not that bad.
We are, of course, talking about nineteen ninety nine's The
Blair Witch Project. Do you remember the first time you
saw this?

Speaker 2 (08:46):
H No, I do not, because ninety nine I was thirteen, Yeah,
and I was not allowed to watch scary movies.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Right, as one in your situation does.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
But the if I could think back, I feel like
I was like seventeen, sixteen or seventeen and it was
one of those where again bringing this up, Jason his
friends who got to watch scary movies right Blockbuster night
or somebody bought it on VHS, so we kind of

(09:22):
had a Friday night movie night or Saturday night movie
night and popped it in and watched it.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Well, I've well, let me talk about the first time
I saw it was this was not a theater viewing
for me. I saw this probably about a year after
it came out. And then when all of the talk up,
when it was finally revealed that oh, this is bullshit.
These were actors, Oh we were fucking with them.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
No, I never heard that it was bullshit, like up
until probably about ten or twelve years ago.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
Well, yea, that's what I said. This was even I
didn't still didn't know.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, you made it seem like it was like a
year after you watched it when you found out it
was bullshit.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
It was a year after I watched it. Yes, but
when I saw it it had been it had been
out for a year when I saw it in two thousand.
In two thousand, yeah, yeah, well I didn't.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
It was always rumored that it was true. Yeah, like
that's but yeah, No, I just found out probably fifteen
years ago when they really released it and they were like,
it's a fake.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
And I think I was watching it with my cousin
and we were both completely in awe of like, what
what the fuck did we just watch? Yeah? Did we watch?
Is this? I was in funny enough the next day
or the next weekend, I went hunting with Dad, and

(10:40):
you can imagine what was running through my head being
alone at like five o'clock in the morning, it's dark outside,
and I'm in a deer stand by myself. Scared too.
I remember getting in the floor of the deer stand
and just like, oh God, oh God, oh God. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no,
this is so scary.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
You were what fifteen?

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Then? Yeah, I was scared out of my mind watching this.
And then a year later I found out, Wait, this
was not real. This is total k fabe.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
I think I did read somewhere and I can't remember
where I read it, so correct me if I'm wrong,
ladies and gentlemen. Is that they signed an NDA where
they could not act in a movie, or produce a
movie or do anything to do with a movie for
like three or five years. Because they made it seem
like it was real.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
It was legit, and they did a damn good job
of making it seem that way.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yes, but uh, it was great until until if you
go back, like I don't know if it was prior
to Blair Witch or post blair Witch, but you can
see Heather in a steak in Shape commercial.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yes, That's how I realized that, Uh wait a minute,
this what Yeah, because I know her, that's the girl
from blair Witch.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
I think it was. I think it was after blair Witch.
It was when she was doing the Steak and Shake commercials.
She had red hair at that time and not brown.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
She had colored her hair.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
It was like heather color hair ginger like yeah, not
like fire engine red, but like coppery color.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
Right. Do you think like so she had dyed her hair?

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, well she just does.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Do you think she did that to kind of like
I guess like throw off yeah, like throw off the scent.
Or do you think she's colored my hair because I
wanted to? Yeah, okay, yeah, I just I wonder if
she was still.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Like in KFA mode not at that point, because.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
It had been out her contracts.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, was probably her NDA was probably out.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yeah, the movies out and people have seen It's been
out for a while. People have seen it, so we
can freely talk about this.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
And I know it was a sixty thousand dollars budget. Yeah,
and it has actually grossed to date like three hundred
and twenty million dollars. Did you know that the actors
in the movie were only paid like cast crew. Everybody
was only paid one thousand dollars for the how long shooting?
Eight days?

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Eight days?

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Eight days of shooting.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
So it was directed by Daniel Merrick and Eduardo Sanchez
and they.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
Ah, god, I read that the other night they came
up with the idea of not just the witch or
yeah it was it was either a witch or a
wizard and just somebody performing spells and rituals and stuff
and like people that like go hiking in the woods,
disappearing and things like that. They're like, what if we

(13:47):
turned this into a movie. I like the way it
birthed found footage.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
It was released on January twenty third, I Like That
nineteen ninety nine with Sundance on the at the Sundance
Film Festival, and then released on July fourteenth, day after
Jas's birthday. So Jason Gunner shared this movie one day
July fourteenth.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Oh I thought you said fifteen.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
So Gunner and Jay shared this movie together and it
was released in the US with a run time of
eighty one minutes, a budget of between two hundred to
seven hundred and fifty thousand, and a box office of
two hundred and forty eight point six million. It racked in.
It did very well, very fucking well, which I'm not surprised.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
No, I know, at the beginning, it was a slow
start because a lot of the people who went to
the movies beforehand to see it was like, Oh, it's
a piece of shit, it's garbage. But then you have
like those true diehard fans who are like, oh my god,
this is old fucking awesome.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
Yeah. I think people who didn't like it can just
eat shit.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Kike rocks, Yeah, he sucks. Yep. So I like the
fact that you never see the monster. Yeah, it makes
it that more ominous of like you can't you don't
know what's there, who's there? Why?

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Like, it makes it harder to believe the story. I
think that's my opinion. What do you think on that?
It doesn't make it harder, Like it brings it a
little a little more reality to the story.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Well, I mean, if you've ever had a paranormal encounter
of the sorts, it makes it. I feel like if
I had something in front of me trying to kill me,
then at least I know, hey, I have a chance
because I can see it.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, I agree with that.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
With the Blair Witch. You can't see it. You, she's
fucking with you.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
And that's what I love about this movie is because
it's like you're in their POV. You you you never
see her, which is cool, but all so it's suspense
of where the fuck is she? From start to finish.
I love that. I'm I'm a fan. Tell me another
horror movie that's done that.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, I can't yeh off the top of my head
right now like that, I know. I like the way
that they introduced them as friends. And if I'm not mistaken,
they they weren't or they had a they had one
table read and yeah, a thirty five page script just
outlining it wasn't a real script. It was just outlining

(16:33):
what was going to happen.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Yeah. So I've got a couple of first time viewing
comments that you had posted on Facebook.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
I did so.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
Uh. I want to shout out Ashley Harrell. First of all,
she saw this in theaters. I still thought it was
real footage, scared her to death and she hasn't watched
it since.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Oh wow, go back and watch it.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Jecka. Staley shout out, huge, shout out. I've watched it
a few times. Kind of in the middle of how
I feel about it. I don't love it, but I
don't hate it. I think for a found footage type
movie at the time, it was decently done. A lot
of it was predictable, but still had Still it has
become a write of passage as a classic in its

(17:21):
own way. Would like to see an updated version with
new technology.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
I don't know if I would want to see an
updated version with new technology. To be honest, I think
they would put too much CGI in it. This was
everything was hands on and real.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
I love that, I like I said, I like the
way that the characters meshed, uh huh, like the way
that you know, like, yes, they did a table read,
but they never really got to know each other and
then they just kind of like throw them into the woods,
like here you go.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
So you had you found a website yesterday too, okay
with some interesting important facts about the movie.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
This one is from watchworthy or ranker ranker dot com.
The Blair Witch Project, disturbing stories from the cast behind
the scenes, Heather Donahue and everybody's name is literally their
name in the movie. You got Heather, Josh and Mike.
After Donahue won the part of Heather, Her family feared

(18:25):
the premise of the low budget horror movie was just
a ruse to get her into the woods alone. According
to Donahue's co star Josh, Heather's parents were worried ed
and Dan might be taking her out into the woods
to make a snuff movie, which, honestly, I don't blame them,
because she was I think one of the only females
on it. The initial reaction of my loved ones was

(18:47):
that I definitely should not go into the woods with
a bunch of guys I didn't know. My mom wanted
to know if she could have all of their Social
Security numbers. All of my friends pitched in to make
sure that I bought a knife, know if it's on
this one or the other website that I have, and
if it is, I'll skip it.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
That's not annoy This is an noyse.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
So did you know that there was supposed to be
three college buddies in film school that was out in
the woods.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
Oh, the original it was originally.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Was three males who were college buddies in film class
in film school.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
I would I would like to see that version too.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Well, here's the here's the deal, though, is. I think
it's on the on the next website that I have.
But Heather nailed nailed So is this an audition? Her audition?
She nailed it so fucking hard. They said, you're in
good And there's a question that they asked her. What

(19:49):
was it if you were sentenced to life in prison
but after twenty five years that you would be able
to receive parole?

Speaker 3 (19:59):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (20:00):
And a judge asked you should I let you out?
What would you say? And she said, don't let me out? Hmmm,
And that's what did it?

Speaker 3 (20:13):
Really?

Speaker 2 (20:14):
That answer is like right there, they said. Everybody else
was like playing victim and pleading and being like please don't.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
She went for the killer.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
She went straight for the kill.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
She said, yeah, I did that ship.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
But in a way that was like just a couple
of words that was like, yeah, nope, don't let me out.
I love that.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
I think I think that rule. I think it is
like that.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
My other notes, uh, the actor's family received sympathy cards
from people that know that thought they were no longer
alive because of all the missing posters.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
I remember seeing those.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
Yeah I did too, Man, what a trail throw off.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
I think the people that made this movie were wrestling fans,
They're like, we're going full fucking k fab Oh yeah,
protect the business, all right.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah. Prior to Artisian Entertainment purchasing the distribution rights to
The Blair Witch Project, Myra Con Sanchez created a website
featuring a missing poster with the names and pictures of
the cast members, set up as a real event in
a time where this type of marketing was unheard of.
People believe that the movie to be a real documentary.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
After Artisian became came aboard, they updated and improved the
site for continued use as a marketing tool, causing many
people to think Donahue, Leonard, and Williams actually went missing
and possibly perished in nineteen ninety four, even though it
was shot in ninety seven. But it was set in
ninety four.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
It was shot in ninety seven. Yeah, and it took
two years for this to come ome. Yeah, that explains
their wardrobe.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, but it was also supposed to be set in
ninety four.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, our parents, Leonard recalls, recalled his parents receiving sympathies
and reactions from fans. Excuse me, our parents were getting
condolence because Dolence's calls. And then when the cat was
finally out of the bag and we started press, some
people still didn't believe us. They thought we were actors
hired to play Josh, Mike and Heather in order to
keep the whole thing from seeming like a snuff film.

(22:10):
To this day, there are still conspiracy theories about this stuff,
like what, I don't know, it doesn't go in depth.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
I'm gonna have to look this. I'm gonna have to
goog this.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
The next one is the actors were so uncomfortable one
night they fled to a hotel. They said, fuck the ship,
come out.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
What Heather, Josh and Mike. Yeah, do you think that
that's where the scene where they're in the hotel drinking
the scotch. Shout out to Heather for putting down that scotch.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Johnny Walker, she did.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Girl that when we watch shout out yeah, and she.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Goes and I agree with our fucking hate scotch.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
But she goes, mmmm, it's scotch. I fucking hate scotch.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
I make that face too if it's the only alcohol there.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Like you look, you see I think it was Josh's face. Yeah,
Josh was the guy with the long hair. Right, He's
going like, I did not expect this. I think you
just became my new best friend.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
So the filming of Blair Witch Project did not involve
the sound stage, but an actual force in rural Maryland,
where the actor slept in tents. Over the course of
the finish movie, it became clear that the weather is
quite chilly and some scenes even have rain. Donahue, Leonard,
and Williams actually had to sleep in their elements, leading
them leading to them refusing to spend another night in
miserable conditions. We left the woods and found the first

(23:38):
house that we went to, knocked on the door. The
guys were like, Uh, you have to go. You have
to go, because if a guy knocks on the door
at a house in the woods at night, nobody's gonna
let them in. So I knocked on the door and
I'm like, I'm sorry. We're supposed to be lost in
the woods, but we're not, and we have to call
these guys. They were weirdly nice enough and trusting enough
to let us in, and they gave us hot cocoa
and we ended up staying in a hotel that night.

(23:59):
Yeah I would, Yeah, I mean I've gone camping at
the in the middle of November, end of October, beginning
of November, Like it's cold and wet, and when it
rains and you're just fucking miserable, everything hurts. Yeah, and
it's just it's awful. The actors invented a safe word

(24:20):
for when they got too deep into characters. So we
all know that. Literally, the only reason why that Mike,
Josh and Heather got these parts is because they were
the best improv actors. Yeah, because ninety percent of this
movie is improved.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Oh for sure.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
They gave them an idea of like they put them
in the thirty five millimeter canisters of what their next scene,
how they were supposed to react in the next scene,
and they just let them go. So it was like,
you're angry, you're going crazy, You're just laughing at the
whole situation. So they had to improv of what that was. Yeah,

(24:58):
they that's on the next uh information that I have
for that one. But tensions got high, we got hungry,
we got uncomfortable, and we hurt each other's feelings. So
we came up with a safe word for whenever we
had to break character and remind ourselves this was just
a job.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Taco safe word. Yep.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
We regretted that. By about day three, it just been
reminding us about how hungry we were.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
Well, I do know that they were as each day
went on. They were given less and less food each
day because they wanted them to really have that legit anger.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
That's actually in other notes in here too on the
other side. But they gave them so the first day
they gave them like a sandwich, a bag of chips,
and some apples. Yeh'd say, so they got a decent meal.
The next day they it would just be a sandwich. Yeah,
Then the day after that it would just be a
bag of chips.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Right.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Then the next day it would just be an apple.
Like that's all they got for the day. So they
kind of dwindled it down to make them in that mindset. Yeah,
the Knights were not intense as they seemed. People always asked,
according to Josh, people always asked if we were actually
scared when the filmmakers messed with us in the middle
of the night. The answer is not really, because of

(26:16):
what was usually happening behind the scenes was we were
exhausted and hungry and often wet. We'd set up camp
and crash, and just about the time we got warm
enough in our damp sleeping bags to fall asleep, the
guys would start playing a boombox with creepy children sounds
outside the tent. So a lot of what you're seeing
on film is directly following a collective groan when we

(26:37):
realized we had to put our shoes back on and
start acting again. Yeah, oh here it is. Oh Jesus Christ,
Brandy's not up here, and Brion just farting and my
mouth was open. God, Mike Williams revealed, not me, Nope.
The directors left private notes to each actor at their campsites.

(26:59):
The scenes were driven by notes that were left in
thirty five millimeter canisters throughout the woods. So we had
a GPS that was programmed by the producers and directors,
and they had mapped out the whole locations. They pre
programmed what they called waypoints into the eight days. At
each waypoint station, we would look at a GPS and
it would say waypoint number three, waypoint number four is

(27:19):
three kilometers away, so you would look it up in
the compass and at the next waypoint there would be
an event happening there. So every time they got a
thirty five milimeter canister, something would happen. Yeah, the crew
spent nights finding low fi ways to scare the actors.
Free of the big budget of Hollywood blockbusters, the crew

(27:40):
had to think outside the box to create scares for
the actors to encounter. Not only did the filmmakers control
how much information about blair Witch each cast member possessed,
but they also allowed them to believe that the legend
was real and not created for the film. Actual townspeople
included plants meant to lead the cast to different conclusions
or provide further detail about the mythology to create a

(28:00):
sense of reality about it. As Donahue, Leonard and Williams
was filmed, the crew stayed out of sight during the night.
The crew dressed in dark colors or camouflage clothing in
order to snap branches in the woods, slam their hands
on the tent walls, or make creepy noises to antagonize
the cast. Not every scare worked as it was supposed to.
We had this whole plan, Myrik, one of the producers,

(28:21):
We had this whole plan of this guy creepy moment. Oh,
this is what I wanted to tell you last night
when we were watching it. Okay, the creepy moment where
there might have been an analysis where if someone looked closely,
there would be a glowy white humanoid figure in the woods.
We had a friend of ours dress up in white
long John's and be parked off in the woods, just

(28:42):
between the trees, and our hope was that as the
camera was running, it would catch a little glimpse of
this guy. That's what Heather was reacting to when running
through the woods, saying.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
What oh okay, but.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
We never got him to read on camera. I felt
bad for the guy because it was it was pretty
cold that night, and he fell into the water. We
had to take off our clothes to get him out
of the water. A lot of work for no end
result except for what the fuck is that?

Speaker 3 (29:13):
Huh?

Speaker 2 (29:14):
I love that scene though, the fact where they're running
through the woods and she just starts screaming, like, I
love that scene. Yeah, that is so cool though, Like
and that was just generated, like non prompt, like she
saw the guy in the white long Johns running through

(29:34):
the woods with them. Oh, here's the less and less food. Okay,
so let's say the first day was a sandwich and
a bag of chips for lunch, and the second day
was maybe just sandwich. The third day was maybe just
the bag of chips, the fourth day maybe we didn't
have lunch. By the last couple of days, there was
enough to sustain, but not a lot of food, so
they decreased the amount of food we were eating, in

(29:54):
which we knew was gonna happen. But it wasn't like.
It wasn't like we didn't eat for days. Safety was
never at risk. The whole idea was to have us
uncomfors as comfortable as possible without putting us in danger.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
Here it is all right, after this one, I'm gonna
get into the each scene.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah. Donahue's audition was so good that the filmmakers changed
the role for her. Auditions for the movie's lead roles
involved improvisation from the moment each actor entered the room
with my Reconsanchez. Originally, the filmmakers wanted to have three
men as college students lost in Marilyn Woods while looking
for the Blair Witch. However, once Donahue entered the picture,
the role changed to that of a woman. Twenty fifteen,

(30:32):
Donahue told the week how she landed the part. When
we went to auditions, he asked us to improvise. In
my improv it was you have been in prison, you
serve nine of a twenty five year sentence. There it is,
but you're up for parole. Why should we let you out?
And I guess I was the only person that said
I don't think you should. Oh, go ahead, I'll let

(30:53):
you finish that.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
No go ahead is that I.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Was gonna say. Last Dona Hu's Heather Heather's scene where
she like got the camera in her face and she's like,
I'm so sorry, Mom, I'm so smorry Dad. Yeah, she
thought it was a wide shot. She never knew it
was an up close shot to her.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Face created one of the most iconic shots in.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Horror movies, exactly hold on, let me get it. She
received instructions for the scene in a note that said
she needed to apologize. That's all. It said. You need
to apologize for causing all of the movie's events. While
keeping Mike Williams unaware of her filming and its content,

(31:32):
Donna Hugh took the camera into a secluded spot in
the woods and filmed the entire scene alone. She thought
the camera was zoomed out to capture entire face for
the performance, learning only later that it was up close
and snop filled. We told Heather, according to Sanchez, you
don't want to freak out Mike obviously, so take the camera,
find an area near the tent and basically say goodbye

(31:54):
to everyone. You know, yeah, you're gonna die. We were
feeding them ideas where they went as far as their character.
At that point, Heathery pretty much knew she was going
to die. Then she went out and delivered the crazy,
brilliant performance. As you see. It was one of those
moments as filmmakers. We hadn't seen her shoot that because
we basically left her alone. But when we saw when

(32:17):
we edited, we were like, wow, this could be really powerful,
and they were right. It was so good. I'm so sorry, mom,
I'm I'm sorry. I didn't need for this happened. I'm
so scared.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
So the introduction, Heather, Donna, Hugh, Josh Leonard, Michael Williams
are introduced as student filmmakers praying to document the Blair
Witch legend in Birkettsville, Maryland. Heather films. They're set up
at her house, outlining their plan to interview locals and
explore the Black Kills Forest. The trio interviews talentsfolk about
the Blair Witch, learning about the legend's history, and the

(32:59):
group gathers, applies, dives into the drives to the forest edge,
and begins hiking, aiming for Coffin Rock. They're enthusiastic with
playful banter, though Heather's intense focus on filming hints at
future attention. The first day and night they hike, set
up camp and discussed the project, how their films. A

(33:19):
monologue about the legend at night, and they hear distant
twins snapping, twig snapping not playing noises which dismiss which
they dismiss as animals. So there's that. So going to
the locals of the of the the town, did you

(33:40):
know that all of those are paid actors? Not all
of them, but they didn't know that. They thought that
they were actual local people.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah, but no, I think there was one.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Or two of them that wasn't they were all actors.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
That wasn't the I like the beginning where they like,
hey are you Mike, Yeah, I'm like cool, get in
the car. It's like Josh and Heather know each other,
but then they found a dude on the side of
the road. They're like, hey, get in the car, we're
gonna go.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Sound guy Mike.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yeah. And I like the way they're talking about the
cameras and then they like hang out and get to
know each other a little bit better. Yea, And then
they go like that was cool for me. I like
that like solidifies that they all want this, they all
want to find the Blair Witch.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Yeah. And uh when they're talking to the locals and
you hear all these different stories of quote unquote like
encounters that they've had.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
That hillbilly guy where it's like, oh, there's a witch. No, no, no, no,
do you believe in that? No?

Speaker 3 (34:41):
The woman when they went to the trailer park, I
think her name was Brown, Yeah, something like that. Yeah,
and she had her she was holding a Bible and
had her rosary around her neck.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Like this lady kind of went all in for the role.
They really want to sell this.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
The thing is, though, is there are people like that?

Speaker 3 (35:00):
Yeah? There is.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
I mean again, we just watched Gane the other day
and the story of ed Gene and that's his mom.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Absolutely, how seen her once? How seen her? She touched
my butt hole, like that those those people exist.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yeah, it's it's pretty weird a little bit.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
I love when they I like the fact that they
tried to turn the beginning of it into a biography
type thing, like an interview. Yeah, biography, and they're they're
talking to them like, hey, what's your story?

Speaker 3 (35:34):
Almost like a like something you'd see on like the
History channeler or something like that.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, you catch one of them YouTube videos or something. Yeah, hey,
let's talk to the locals and see what they think, yeah,
or what their stories are. But that's what you do
is you find the oldest person in the area and
and ask them, Hey, you've been here your entire life.
Give me the lore, give me the stories. I want
to know everything.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Yeah, it was I mean, they certainly made it out
to sound really believable.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
It was really good though, Like believe it.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
They did a really good job. Yeah, I think. I mean,
that's that's my opinion.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Uh so that they made them like human like at
the beginning where they're really really documenting, they're trying to
find out like what do I need to look out for?
They then they get into the woods as they're heading
towards Coffin Rock, they're talking to the guys who are fishing,
and they're like, oh, there were some hunters that never
came back, and yeah, then they went to the cemetery

(36:36):
and they're like, oh, there's a bunch of children dead.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Like yeah, it was, like I said, they made it
sound really believable.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Yeah, I would have believed it.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
I mean I yeah, I did believe it.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yeah at first I did for a while.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
So going into Act two, so the group reaches Coffin Rock,
where Heather recounts the gruesome history the ritual murders in
the eighteen eighties YEP. They find no evidence, but grow
frustrated with Heather's leadership and the map's reliability. This is
where Mike, I kicked it into the fucking creek.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
I kicked it into the.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Fucking or No. They were night two strange noises at
their second camp site. Louder noises like crackling branches, whispers,
and possible child laughter surround the tent. They wait to
find three piles of rocks outside where each weren't there
before increasing their fear, the group realizes their loss. Despite

(37:30):
Heather's intense instances on the map, more stick figures in
the tree markings deepen the unease. Mike and Josh openly
challenge Heather and the group cohesion phrase nighttime noises intensify.
In the morning, they find a bundle of sticks containing

(37:51):
bloody teeth or bone wrapped in Josh's flannel shirt.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Oh that was that was night three, or that was
day four.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
Day four, or Josh vanishes without a trace. Heather and
Mike search for him, hearing his screams at night, which
heightens their panic. It's just supernatural force.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Before we get there, though, like we're on day three,
they've been walking and they keep walking in circles, but
it's like the woods are shifting to where they they
don't think they're going down the same path, but they
end up in the same path going south right, No, No,
they went south first. Yeah, well they turn around and
went north.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
When they crossed that tree that was broken down over
the creek, and then we see later on in the
movie they are back at it.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
And then they go north thinking they could yeah, cut
past it and go further north, and that's.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
Keep ending up at the same spot, but ended up
going in circles.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Makes you think that you know, the witch has already
got there. Her spell on them.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
You know, it really did it for me. And what
you just said, the witch's spell thing. When Mike or
not Mike, when Josh lays down and just says, I'll
be here, come back and get me, so send somebody
to find me. I'll be here under this tree where
the vine is, and he's like giggling and laughing.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Well, no, Mike had already lost his mind before that.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
No, no, Josh, I know.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
But what I'm saying though.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
Yeah, Mike had already Yeah, Mike was in and out. Yeah,
And Josh starts crying. He goes, does anyone have a cigarette? Oh,
we're all.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Out, Like fuck, I've been there.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
Yeah, because you and I both know.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
When you don't have any and you have no money
to get any, or you're you have.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
No access to them, you're in the middle of the woods.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
But if they would stop smoking every ten feet, maybe
they would have had some. That bothered me. Now I
understand that you have to ration your cigarettes.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Trusting someone to take over the map like they did
with Heather and then the other like She's like, I swear,
I swear, this is this is the way that we're going.
We've never been past here. This is what we're doing
at that point. The map is null and void, but
the guys don't believe that. Yeah, but she's like, I
swear to God, like I know how to read a map,
and this is where we should be, but we're not.

(40:05):
We're back at square one. I like the way that
I remember one of the scenes the first night, I
do believe it was. It was Heather talking about the tent,
pitching the tent, and she's like, I don't understand how
they make a tent this big for three people or

(40:27):
something like that. So they all slept in the same tent,
which to me, I would feel more comfortable sleeping in
the same tent with other people just for the fact
that I wouldn't want to sleep by myself alone in
the woods like that. Hell no, nope.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
With what's already going on in your head and about that.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Yeah, but if you listen very closely, you could They
did really well with the giggles and the laughs and
the snaps and the cackling, and it was faint, but
it was there.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Yeah, you could kind of hear it off in the distance,
but really spassed me out. Aside from when they get
got outside the tent, and there's those little rock towers
around the tent. That was one thing. But when they
stumble upon the stick figures all in the trees that
I remember, that really fucked me up because for a while,

(41:19):
anytime I was near woods, I was looking for God, Yes,
that shit was fucking everywhere.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
It was, It really was.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
They were all over the place was and then you
see what was it in the trees. They were like
rocks in the trees that they had like made little
nests out of, and there was that the stick figures.
There was more piles on the ground, and they started
to think that this was like some sort of of course,

(41:54):
you're going straight to Indian burial ground because ten years
prior to this Poultergeist, that was a popular thing to
be afraid of.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
I like the significance of the three piles of rocks
in front of the tent, like that was like, up,
you guys are fucked your focks.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
And how many laps around that tent do you think
Heather made filming those?

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Probably Look at the rocks.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
Guys, the rocks, and you can hear it, Yes, yes, Heather,
we see the fucking rocks. We see the rocks. Heather
can you please get Heather. Heather, we get it. There's rocks.
Can we keep going? Yeah? But guys, the rocks. Look
at these rocks. We know, God damn it, Heather, come on.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
I like the way that. Also, when they were on
their like last leg before Josh just neared, they were
like finding things funny, which meant their sanity was slowly dwindling.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
Yeah, they were slap happy.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Who was it that felt? Was it Heather that fell
in the water? Yeah at the beginning, well, at the
beginning she fell in the water.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
And then was it I see a muddy but but
then they all had mud on their ass.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Yeah, how bad do you think they smelled? Probably not
that bad because it wasn't hot.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
It wasn't hot.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
But I do remember what it was like. I've got
to be at work at nine am, it was, Josh.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
Yeah, if I don't call my girlfriend, my girlfriend's going
to get mad at me, and she's going to wonder
where I am. And I have to work tomorrow and
and I just.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Really has to be back by tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
And yeah, all this stuff he was going through, all
his list of problems, and then of what happened Mike or.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
Was it Josh that said, if you're if you're if
you're not home by specific time, that means they're going
to call the police and then they're going to come
looking for Oh.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
This was all Josh when he was rambling on.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
He went full, he went full, like panic attack mode.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
I mean, I don't I don't blame him. If I
was in the woods for more than three days and
not know where the fuck I was going, and you
have no food, food is good and scarce, and not.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
One cigarette, you're you're spasing. No one is chill, and
no one has a cigarette.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Now I understand why Mike was eating the leaves. Yeah, now, yeah,
I'm surprised they didn't kill each other at that point.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
Oh my god, day not. If they did one more day,
they would have murdered each other. It would have been wild. Yep,
it would have been wild.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
It was night four that Josh disappeared, and then Mike
and Heather were alone for Mike disappeared, Josh, No, Josh
disappeared first. Mike and Heather were the one in the house.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
Remember Josh disappeared.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Yeah, and that's when you could hear him. Or was
it night six? It was night five? Josh disappeared. Yeah,
I think it was night five that Josh disappeared. And
you can hear him in the background screaming. And I
love the way they made him scream because if you
once you watch the movie and you understand why he
was screaming. M And then when Heather wakes up the

(45:11):
next morning and opens that bundle that's tied with his
shirt and it's his teeth, he's screaming because they're pulling
his teeth out.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
Yeah. I love that he's being murdered.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
Do you know what really really fucked me up? When
they're in the tent and you don't know that it's
just the crew slapping the sides of the tent they
are Yeah, I went spassed. I spassed out so fucking hard.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
That Yeah, what what the fuck? What the fuck? Yeah?
Well that was when Heather was running through the woods
and they had that white the guy in the white
uh huh long John, did you?

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Yeah? It was a guy and it was a guy
in ye old and underwear. I that's that's just one
of the camera opera. That's the boom guy her vocals,
that's the guy that hired you for this job.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
It was just a random guy who was like, yeah,
i'll do it. That was a local, I'll do it.
So then we get to.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
Her.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
I really like the bond that she made with Mike
towards the end of it. Yeah, she had her time
with Josh at the beginning, bonding with him, and then
she got to the end where she started to bond
with Mike. But this was a harder bond because they're fucked, Like,
Josh is gone. How are they going to explain this?
Maybe Josh found his way home, Maybe Josh got out.

(46:33):
We don't know where Josh is. Yeah, and then they
stumble upon the house, sick House. They actually they said
that that was a two day shoot.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
Did was there a like was that house like just
there or was that set design that was there? They
just found this house?

Speaker 2 (46:51):
Yeah, yoh. They said it was a two day shoot
because they had to not only keep the constitution ority
continuity up. Yeah, but when they were walking through, they
had to be careful where they were walking because there
were nails and rusty glass, like glass and rusty nails
and stuff everywhere.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
Give me that house are.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
On that house? Yeah? Yeah, I don't think it was built.
I think it was I think they found it.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
It was just like, hey, talk about Hey, this house
is here, let's use this. How lucky is that for
for a movie like this, you find just a random house.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
That's my bad. I should have looked that up.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
That's fine.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
But still, yeah, it was great. That was a good
That was a good shot.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
Yeah. I like when like they so they're exhausted, they're tired,
they have no food. You never hear them talk about water. Though,
that's odd that they they're not talking about water.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
I think that it's implied. Maybe I think so.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Oh and then when Mike finds the pack of cigarettes
in the bottom, he's like, yeah, figures at the bottom
of my bag.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
You think that was Josh's cigarettes? No, he just oh, well,
oh he forgot he had them. Yep, I was I
was thinking that maybe that was Joshus smokes that he had.
He just forgot that he had him. Or when Joshua
felt when josh was asking for a cigarettes, he's like,
I only have this much left. I'm not sharing these.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
No. I think honestly he packed an extra pack. But
because they were taking stuff out of their bag and
yell to the bottom and he actually went through his
bag hoping he could find something. Do you think so? Yeah?
I do you think so? I do? I really do,
because I've done that before.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
But if that's all you have left, also like this
is all I got, I'm.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Not yeah, but how is he going to walk away
fifty feet hundred yards from them to smoke a cigarette
and they're not going to be like, what are you
doing there?

Speaker 3 (48:55):
Oh? Did he? After? After after, Josh wanted basking do
we have any more cigarettes? And Heather goes yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
I feel like Mike and Heather both were truthful of no,
we don't have any more cigarette.

Speaker 3 (49:05):
He just forgot that he had them.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
I do believe that he really forgot that he had
them because at that point or thought he lost him.
I mean it was day three, Yeah, and they didn't
They smoke so much that they didn't have any of.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
Your mind's all over them.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
That's what I'm saying is they're in survival mode and
they're not thinking. Maybe I do I think so?

Speaker 3 (49:23):
I mean, that's no, I'm not disagreeing with you.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
I love the connection though, that Mike and Heather had
when they when Mike was smoking the cigarette and he
was just sitting there flicking it. I remember that very vividly.
And then Heather puts the camera down and walks next
to him, and she's got a cigarette and she sits
down and then puts her head on him, and they
both kind of have a moment of like, yeah, I
think we're gonna die.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
We need to stop fucking around with each other, and
we need to like get out of this instead of
being at each other's throats. We need to figure out
how are we going to get the fuck out of here?
Because I want to go home. You want to go home.
So we really need to like figure this out.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
When Mike is like completely done and he asks her,
you know, they're like, which way have we been traveling?
And she says east and he goes east, West, West, East,
Wicked Witch of the West, Wicked Witch of the East.
Which one was the Wicked Witch? Yeah, she said west,
and he goes west. Okay, so we'll go west.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
It's like, oh, you just foreshadowed foreshadowing into the Wicked
Witch of the West. Yeah, you're gonna die. Yeah. Then
we get to the house and Mike's like, oh, here Josh,
and Josh is screaming, and he runs upstairs and he's
looking throughout the house and he's like, oh, Josh, Josh,
where are you?

Speaker 3 (50:37):
And Heather's like, oh, we see Mike.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Yeah, and as there as he's like running through the
house and then he's like, oh, he's not up here,
and like bypasses Heather in a fury, like fucking flash
woo woo, and starts making his way downstairs, and Heather's like, Mike,
what are you? Just trying to keep up with him,
and then he goes silent and she's like, where are yeah,
And then you find them in a corner, which from

(51:03):
folklore to the quote unquote locals, they said that they
would put one of the children in the corner while
she killed one of the kids, and then would kill
the kid who was in the corner.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
So they didn't have to watch their friend get killed.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
Yeah, and that's why we see Mike in the corner
m hm. Which was creepy as hell. It was another
very iconic shot.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Fucking love that shot so much. It was so great. Yeah,
that was so great.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
Yeah, this film brought to like iconic moments more than two. Well,
Heather's up close booger and fact and you know what's
gross about that is when she backs the camera away
a little bit, you can see boogers on her lips.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
Yeah. Well, I mean you gotta remember too, it's cold.
Her nose is running. Yeah, she's also.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Right, she has she has allergies. Blair Witch getting you.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
Yep, blair Witch is getting me.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Oh no, you have the blair Witch allergies.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
It just blair Witch eye.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
It is called doctor Conrad Hawkins.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
He can fix me.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
He fixes everything, he really does. He's a booboo fixer.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Oh no, but Mike in the corner. I mean when
Randy gets in his little things that he does and
he just stands there and sits and stares in the corner,
and it's like Randy Radnee.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
You know what's funny is in the prequel they actually
show you the blair Witch.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
It has been forever since I've seen the prequel.

Speaker 3 (52:33):
We watched it last year.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
I don't remember. There was a lot of alcohol.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
It was in the middle of the week.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
It was probably no alcohol. Yeah, well, I just know
blair Witch too with garbage. It sucks. It was absolute
fucking trash. It is there in my top ten worst
films that I've ever seen.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
It's a top three for me.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Oh, it's so bad. They ruined a good thing.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
It's yeah, it's right next to everything Rob Zombie has
ever done. If you know, you know, go back and
listen to our Halloween franchise from last year.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
I'll have so much shit on that one.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
But no, if you in the prequel there they go
back to the house and when they're upstairs on.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
The second looking for her or something, yeah, it's Heather's brother, totally.
Friday the thirteenth, the new one that was a little
a little bit yeah, but then they reached the house
and in the second flour you see the blair.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
Witch up there. She's in the window or something. She's
like you could see like her shadow. No, they're in
the house running and sporadic and freaking out and want
somebody go. Whoever has the camera goes down a hallway
on the second floor and you see the blair Witch
like boom, she busts out. But she's like really like
alien looking. It's kind of crazy. Yeah, she's like big

(53:48):
and scary.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
This is set also in uh Maine, is.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
It main or Maryland? It's Maryland, Maryland.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
It's Maryland, Maryland. So that whole East Coast with the
Witch Salem Witch Trials and all of that stuff.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Oh yeah, free and just shit, I'd expect nothing less from.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
That and smell like a doggy twoty in here. But no,
I really feel like this is like the godfather of
found footage.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
It's kickstarted so much.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
And yes, it is a little bit, you know, you
kind of have to pay attention. It is kind of dry,
but once you get into the nitty gritty of it,
you you really get into I feel like you get
into it. If you've never seen it, we just ruined
everything for you, go watch it. But if you have
seen it, and it's three seventy nine on Prime, and

(54:43):
if you have seen it and you're kind of unsure,
go watch it again. Your tastes might change, might have to. Yeah,
And if you've watched it and you love it, go
watch it again because you love it.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
I remember when I first saw it, I was scared,
and then I saw it again years later I was like,
fuck this movie sucks. Then I watched it again It's like, fuck,
this movie rules. I love this movie and today I
will die on that hill. Blair Witch, the Blair Witch
Project fucking rules.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
It is in my top five found footage movies.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Yeah, oh uh, you're your pal. Big Nick also jacked
up reviews. The beg of people filming movies but who
can't keep their camera steady? I don't know what that means.
What was it? The beg of people filming movies but

(55:33):
who can't keep their camera steady? I don't know what
that means.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
No, the whole point about found footage is it supposed
to put you in the shoes of the person holding
the camera, like you are the camera holder.

Speaker 3 (55:44):
Yeah, you're the it's your pov.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
And and that's why the camera can't be held study.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
Big Nick said, great movie, the second one sucked balls,
but the recent Blair Witch the prequel wasn't bad either.
M So shut out big Nick and jacked up.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
Filming lasted twenty four hours a day for eight days straight.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
The premise of the movie came from Eric and Sanchez
wanting to be scared.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
The actors received a crash course in recording sound and video,
so they didn't have any time anytime at all to
learn how to do all of that with the equipment
that was given to them.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
But hot, damn did they do a damn good.

Speaker 2 (56:32):
Jobyep, and this was filmed in an eight day period
October nineteen ninety seven, from October twenty third to October
thirty first, in Birkettsville, Maryland and Seneca Creek State Park.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
I would love to visit the grounds.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
Oh, where it was shot. I bet people do all
the time.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Actually they did. I read that after this came out,
a lot of people showing up made pilgrimages at search
part for Heather, Mike and Josh Ethan and they're at home, like, dude,
we're fine.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
I mean, Heather now is a Merrick Miracle medical marijuana, marijuana.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Grower, shout out.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
I don't know what Josh and Mike are doing.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
But they're all living their best. Guys.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
They're fine, They're great, They're great.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
I do want to visit. I do want to visit
that for us to be like, yeah, the blair Witch
project happened and I'm standing on it. I want to
find the house.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
I want to camp out just one night.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
You want to do the blair Witch like a pilgrimage
the path just one night, eight days, no.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
No cigarettes though, yeah, sleep on the cold ground though
for eight days.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
If it's cool, if it's not summer.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
Same time a day like, yeah, late October in May, Maryland.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
Let's go hold as shit, sign me all the way up.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Do you want to go?

Speaker 3 (57:56):
Brian doesn't. Brianna wants her spot on the couch.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Oh you want your princess spot.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
She wants her spot on. Yeah, just can we bring Yeah,
that's fine and let's go. Well, Jase might go maybe, yeah,
maybe we'll get we'll get we'll get some, We'll get
a group. Aaron would go shout out. Aaron I had
to say.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
It, maybe yeah, maybe. Do you think McShane would go yes,
probably no, maybe.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Is there is there beer here?

Speaker 2 (58:22):
Can we bring beer?

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Is there is there?

Speaker 2 (58:25):
We will dedicate one person to carrying all of the beer.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
It'll have to be it'll mc shane. He is the
biggest amongst us.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
He is the muscle.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
No, actually McShane needs to Let's not let him carry anything.
So if if we run into danger, McShane can he
can fight for it. He's you leave my friends alone
and to start beating the ship out of the Blair Witch.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Amos Amos and Jeff would go yeah, they totally would
go with us one hundred.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
I think we bet we could put together, a solid
crew together. Obviously Big Nick's coming. If Big Ning doesn't go,
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
If Big Nick goes, I'm out.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
AJ would go. Oh yeah, if Big Nick goes, you're out.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
I'm a good boys trip.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
It's yeah, we're browing. It's the bros.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
You should invite Tyler.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
Uh No, I don't want to do that. Nope, Tyler,
absolutely not. I'm out then no, Homo, buddy, I love you,
but no, Homo.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
So if you could score Blair Witch on one to ten,
what would you give it? Oh?

Speaker 3 (59:27):
My god, I'm going to give it a I'm going
to give it. Let's go an eight point three?

Speaker 2 (59:34):
Very nice.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
Yeah, I was gonna go solidate, solidate hard stop, solidate
full stop. Let's go solidate.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
Uh just because I mean I I loved everything about it.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
What would you give it if you had seen it
going back, like, let's let's let's put the nostalgia on it. Okay,
the first time you saw it? Okay, what would you give.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
It back then?

Speaker 3 (59:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Probably scaring the shit out of me and probably a
nine to five.

Speaker 3 (59:59):
Really, so, knowing what you know now, you can there's
some take.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
The there some stuff. Yeah, Okay, knowing the behind the
scenes and secrets and ship.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
I think my nostalgia factor would probably be about the
same as yours. Yeah, I mean like knowing that it's
not real now obviously.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Music, the outfits, the vibe, the camera angles, the the filters,
like all everything, like them trying to kill each other
over cigarettes and and like, yes.

Speaker 3 (01:00:30):
I would like to have seen at least an essence
of the Blair Witch herself. Yeah, well, not an essence,
but I like like the like when they're running around
the house and they're like, oh God and you see
her like standing there like blink and you miss her, right,
you gotta pause it if you want to see her. Well.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
I like the way though that it was like the
children were being puppets too. Yeah, that's almost there, Like
when they're shaking the tent or screaming in the woods
and things like that. That's kind of like, oh, the
Blair Witch is near because her children are here. Yeah,
that kind of freaked me out.

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
Yeah, so ready to put a pin on this, Let's
go watch SmackDown SmackDown and p yes. Yes, Well, ladies
and gentlemen, Tab is going to tell you our website
and where you can find us and our Patreon dot
com slash grast Stapping pod link.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
He already did that, so thank you guys for joining
us tonight. Make sure you check out Grace Taproom dot com.
It's our website and uh, you find us literally on
the website anywhere that you listen to podcasts. Check out
our YouTube channel at Grace Tapper and Podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
YouTube dot com slash at Grace Tapper and pod.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
Well you can also search Grace tappern podcast and that
pulls it up too. Don't forget the radio station tap
Room Radio. I don't know if it's working right now.
I have to get on that.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
And also don't forget to check out the legendary Gunner Pod.
He will be releasing a new episode on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:01:55):
Yes, it'll be Crown Jewel Crown jewelrycap.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Maybe or prior predictions. I don't know. You guys are
going to listen to this after.

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
It happens, so we're not going to be home for
him to record his recap.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
That's true. So yeah, whatever you guys did, just go
listen to Gunners. I don't care if it's recap or predictions.

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
It's his show. He'll decide on what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Yep, and we're recording on Saturdays.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
Can we talk about what we're making?

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Oh? Yeah, So we've made three gallons of.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
Mead and much much more to come.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
The first batch will be done on Wednesday because.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
Here soon I'm going to start putting it on socials.
But I'll go ahead and say it now if you
want me to.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
No, we don't have enough to make volume.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
Well no, I was just going to say the name,
oh of what's coming soon? Okay, coming soon, Castle Gray Mead. Yes,
we are officially announcing trying. Yes, so if you would
like to know coming in twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Six, maybe we'll have plenty by then.

Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
Maybe it's three hundred and sixty five days.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Yeah, but you have to have thirty days to process
at least. So we did try a little bit of
our first batch. Really excited about that one. That one
is going to be a heavy hitter. It is very dry.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
It's gonna be fuck you up.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Meaty, and we cannot wait to test it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
We did. We did a little sample today and hot Dog,
that'll put hair on your pencil. They'll put lead in
your pencil. Sorry, hair on your.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
Chest, hair on your pencil and lead in your chest.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
Yes, right, God damn it's good.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
But no. So then we have two other gallons that
we are in the process, which will be ready the
week before Halloween. Yes, only a select few are getting
a sample, yes, very select, and then the rest is
for us. And then we're going to start round three
two three, technically three well no, first gallon was one,

(01:03:47):
the other two were two, so technically round three okay,
which I'm excited for. Yeah, I can't wait too.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
And we will be selling bottles, So.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
We won't be selling bottles for a while.

Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
Well, coming in twenty twenty six. Maybe at some point
in that year.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Maybe, Yeah, maybe we'll have to look into it, maybe
licensing and all of that ship. Yeah, so don't say
we are so. Maybe the goal is too. The goal
is to have a meety within the next five years.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
So yeah, but it's a little thing where we're working on. Yeah,
we're going into business for our stuff. Fuck our jobs. No,
we want to be meet We want to be meter
meter maker, meter makers, meter me We're something we're both
very passionate and excited about.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
And once we get the meat processing, then we're going
to try beer. Yes, beer is a little bit more difficult.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
Coming in twenty thirty yep, five years. Yes, the trash
can stout and the uh, the the sour ale, yeah whatever,
I'm going to call it something.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
It's going to be Tennessee something. We'll see Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
I do know. My meat is going to be called
Tennessee sweetwater.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Yeah, we'll figure that out.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
And you will have trashberry.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
Maybe Trashberry might just be dumpster fire where we're just
gonna throw shit, just throw everything into it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
I worked really hard on trash Berry.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
You will not dismiss it. I know. I know it's
gonna be delayed.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
Like a cereal. It's an adult drinkable cereal.

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
Why not. You can't just have both trash trash whatever
you said, garbage water, dumpster Yeah, dumpster water and trash.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Berry hi ABV and very dry.

Speaker 3 (01:05:32):
I have Tennessee sweetwater.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
Low ABV and super sweet.

Speaker 3 (01:05:36):
It's gonna be so good. Okay, it's gonna be orange
flavored go balls. I love you and we will see
you next week. We hope you guys have a great Monday.
I love everyone who listens to this show. Smell I
love you, he loves you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
I don't well, just kidding I do. That's why people
like me more. I doubt that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
Thank you guys so much of you, and we'll see you.
We hope you have a great rest of your week.
Hope this made your Monday better and we'll see you.
Take care, guys, and we'll see you next week. For
horror movie hot Takes.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Hot takes, make sure you get it to us if
you have any horror movie hot takes so we can
shout you out. Bye.