10 Famous Movies Test Audiences Improved With Their Criticism

4. The Blair Witch Project

Though its endless found footage imitators have clouded some of the tremendous impact that The Blair Witch Project had on horror movies when it was released in 1999, there's no denying that Blair Witch is a taut thriller at 81 minutes. However, it didn't start in that form, and it's all because of a particularly influential audience member in a test screening that we ended up with the groundbreaking movie at all. The original cut of The Blair Witch Project was nearly twice as long. Dan Myrick, one of the movie's co-directors, told The Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook that they screened this cut in Orlando because they just didn't know what to do with all the footage. In an extremely lucky break, film producer Kevin J. Foxe was in the audience and not only did he agree to sign up to produce the movie, but he also told the directors to take out the entire middle part of the film. The result? One of the highest grossing independent films of all time. That was some excellent advice.