If hundreds of copycats have since dulled the impact of The Blair Witch Project in the wake of its original release, it doesn't hurt to close your eyes, cast your mind back, and remember how seminal this movie really was. Nowadays, it's often lambasted for its handheld camera style, as person after person recalls how it didn't scare them when they first watched it. But those people are liars: put The Blair Witch Project on whilst home alone, in the middle of the night, with the lights switched off, and let's see who's not scared. This is modern horror as its most terrifying. Aside from its inherently creepy title (still one of the best ever), the set-up is innately creepy, too: a bunch of kids head out into the woods in Maryland in hopes of capturing some footage of a local legend, the Blair Witch. The purposely amateur nature of the production brought horror closer to audiences than ever before, many of whom were duped into thinking that the "found footage" they were watching was actually real. The trick is that we don't get to see the Blair Witch; all the "action" happens off camera. And we buy it all because the performances are chillingly real.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
