That Blair Witch Project? Yes, friends, that Blair Witch Project. The incredibly influential and still totally terrifying pioneer of the found footage horror genre was helped a bunch by a viral marketing campaign that's been as much inspiration on modern cinema as the movie itself. The internet materials disseminated in the build up to the film's release, mainly online, helped create an air of mystery around the film's contents, and hoped to provide more "evidence" that the film was a true story. Obviously we know it isn't, and the filmmakers dropped the conceit once the film came out and the film's stars were revealed to be actors at the premiere, but they went all out to trick us to begin with. Which makes sense, because the movie itself isn't half as scary if you don't buy that the hand held footage is being captured by actual people in actual peril. $25 million was spent on marketing The Blair Witch Project, which had a budget of $20,000 - but it paid off. The film's official website made out as if the whole thing was real, documented the (made up) history of the Blair Witch legend, along with the story of the three filmmakers who had disappeared hoping to track said legend down. The site was eerily accurate and believable, with photos from the "crime scene", entries from a character's journal and excerpts from the film. There was also a number to dial for any information on the missing persons, and the cast list on IMDb listed all the people involved as "missing, presumed dead". Even now that's all pretty weird.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
