20 Things You Didn't Know About The Blair Witch Project

14. A Fake Website Was Set Up Six Months Prior

Blair Witch Project
Artisan Entertainment

Arguably the most impressive thing about The Blair Witch Project is the marketing behind the picture and the way in which it utilised the Internet.

You have to remember, this was at a time when the Internet was a shiny new toy for us all and we naively believed that everything featured on the ‘net just simply had to be true. After all, who would go to the effort to write made-up bullsh*t, right?

Six months prior to The Blair Witch Project receiving its Sundance premiere - which was a further six months before the film's first cinema run - the minds behind the movie set up a website that was reporting on the missing trio of Heather, Mike and Josh and asking people to keep their eyes open for the three.

Perfectly exploiting the technology of the time, the buzz around The Blair Witch Project became huge down to how many angles the directors had covered – a prime one being the foresight to create a website so far ahead of the film’s release.

It may seem like basic fundamentals nowadays, but back then this was revolutionary.

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.