10 Exact Moments That Changed The Horror Movie Genre Forever

10. The Blair Witch Project - Going Viral

The Blair Witch Project is a prime example of a project being utterly and completely perfect for its time.

If you tried to replicate the buzz around the original in today’s climate – and many have tried – you’d fail. Likewise, if you tried to replicate this movie before Blair Witch came out in 1999, you’d also end up failing.

With The Blair Witch Project released when the Internet was in its infancy, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez magnificently used this to their benefit. After making a concept video to show their Blair Witch idea to investors, these two young filmmakers set the ball in motion for what was a truly genius piece of marketing.

Six months before Blair Witch was even released, the minds behind the movie had set up a website that was searching for the missing trio seen in the film. Faux fliers, news stories, police reports, and TV clips were all simply part of convincing the world that the events depicted in this upcoming new movie were all 100% genuine.

At that period in time, the Internet was new to us all – and we were maybe a little naïve to the authenticity of what gets published online – and so the growing buzz around Blair Witch had so many people believing that this was some shocking documentary-esque project. And like that, this feature become one of the first real viral sensations of the modern age.

From the moment The Blair Witch Project became a viral hit, Myrick and Sanchez’s film was nailed on to be a success. Now, two decades later, audiences are still being bombarded with a slew of found-footage movies looking to somehow capture the magic of The Blair Witch Project.