10 Accidental Masterpieces From Otherwise Bad Directors

4. The Blair Witch Project €“ Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez redefined the "found footage" genre. Cannibal Holocaust was one of the more popular original takes on the genre, but The Blair Witch Project managed to crawl under your skin without having to show real animals getting butchered in the process. Filmed by a group of friends with just a few cameras and no real script to read off, the duo created one of the most influential films of the horror genre in recent years. Often copied but rarely duplicated to similar effect, The Blair Witch Project lacked high-production values, cheap scares and any real gore. Yet it still managed to scare the mud out of you. It proved that a few creative minds with the right tools were capable of tapping into your darkest fears and shaking them out of you. Conversely, it also proved that less creative minds with more money could drive a stake through the heart of the genre. Fans of The Blair Witch Project could only try and guess what this team of guerrilla filmmakers could do with a real budget, real actors and big Hollywood backing. The Answer: Not a damn thing. Seemingly, the strength in numbers thing was not to their liking and the two have gone off on their own to direct a decent list of films you have never even heard of €“ The type of films you see streaming on Netflix with 2-star ratings. Films like Lovely Molly, Altered, The Strand, and a segment that appeared in the horror anthology film, V/H/S/2.