10 Horror Movies That Brutally Punish Your Curiosities

3. The Blair Witch Project

The Houses October Built
Artisan Entertainment

It's tough to put together such a list and not include Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez's revolutionary The Blair Witch Project. After all, it was our trio of central characters' curiosity of the Blair Witch legend that caused their disappearance.

That trio were student filmmakers Heather, Mike and Josh, and they had the boneheaded idea of exploring the Burkitsville woods to document the local legend of the Blair Witch. This trip clearly goes t*ts up, with the audience told during the opening seconds of the movie that the three are missing and that we're about to see the footage the triumvirate had managed to film.

Even before The Blair Witch Project was released, many were already aware of the fate of Heather, Mike and Josh, as Myrick and Sánchez did a phenomenal marketing job on the movie; creating a monumental buzz by making a fake 'missing persons' website and framing the film as true events. As for the cast, all three of the leads did their best to completely stay out of public view, adding to the authenticity of The Blair Witch Project.

At the close of this 1999 effort, Josh is missing, Mike is seemingly under the influence of the Blair Witch, and Heather is attacked as the film's footage clinically stops.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.