10 Greatest Horror Films That Don't Rely On Jump Scares

Though it wasn't the first found footage film, The Blair Witch Project is often cited as the reason for the resurge of the genre in the 2000s, giving rise to the Paranormal Activity franchise and even a sequel in 2016.

But unlike these later examples that ultimately resorted to using predictable jump scares, The Blair Witch Project relied on its purely atmospheric tension to deliver its chills.

For those who (somehow) haven’t seen this film, the plot follows three student filmmakers (played by unknown actors Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams) venture into the Black Hills Forest in search of the fabled Blair Witch who’s said to haunt the area.

The majority of what follows is watching the trio wandering around the woods becoming increasingly lost and divided as tensions in the group start to rise.

Except for strange occurrences happening around the camp at night, viewers never actually see anything supernatural or “scary”.

Rather, the horror stems from not knowing what the threat is or what it’s capable of. Combined with the authenticity generated by the found footage aesthetic and clever extra-textual marketing ploys, and the final scene remains just as unforgettably chilling years later.