Ranking: 20 Highest Grossing Horror Movies Of All Time
5. The Blair Witch Project
Box Office: $248.6 million (#17)
One of the most successful independent films ever made and an iconic classic that kick-started the found footage genre, The Blair Witch Project has been frequently imitated, but never bettered.
The first significant film to use viral Internet marketing, Artisan Entertainment did a fantastic job selling the reality of the central missing persons scenario (especially if you were a youngster in 1999), but even on its own terms, this is a marvel in low-budget, slow-burn suspense.
With believably histrionic performances from its three unknown (at the time) leads and scares that prey on the audience's own imagination, The Blair Witch Project is an increasingly uneasy jaunt, all the way up to its horrifying final moments.
Though some might be turned off by its low-fi conception and abundance of screaming, the film's influence and popularity is absolutely undeniable.