Day 20 - Your favourite horror film involving a killer animal.

 

    So, today's prompt is "Your Favorite Horror Film About a Killer Animal". I do not have one! I don't usually watch films about killer animals. I'm gonna have to change that! So, instead of answering this prompt, I am going to generate a new one. So, today's prompt is "Your Favorite Found Footage Horror Film". I'll be honest, I just needed to create an opportunity to talk about The Blair Witch Project (1999).

    I have mentioned before that I enjoy watching found footage horror films. I think they are very immersive and I have fear of missing out. I wanted to make a list of some of my favorite found footage horror films, but that would be creating more work than necessary. So, I must talk about my favorite found footage film of all time!

    I remember the first time I ever watched The Blair Witch Project. I was very young, possibly around 5 or 6 years old. My mom, possibly my younger brothers, and my aunt (who is only 3 years older) watched the film during the nighttime. I am pretty sure my aunt wanted to watch it, since there was already so much built-up hype around the film. We also own this film, and the companion documentary, on VHS! So, we watched the tape on our VCR ;)

We had the 2-Tape set, but it was banged to shit!

    It was a scary watch! At least, from what I could remember... The only thing I remember vividly was the score that plays during the end credits. I remember my aunt freaking out, causing a bit more panic to rise within me. To this day, the score still freaks me the hell out! I'm currently getting chills as I listen to it... EWW! Apparently, at the end of the track, you can hear the witch whispering Heather's name... CHILLS!!!

    As I got older, I regained interest in the film and started to grow more fond of it. I enjoy when films, especially found-footage, are rooted in realism. And I am a sucker for ARGs, or Alternate Reality Games. like Sexygirlmax2019. That ARG is one of my favorites, please look into it here and here! The internet was used as a tool to promote this film, utilizing a website and the actor's real names. I can't say that the marketing for the Blair Witch was one of the earliest examples of an ARG on the internet, but at the time, it was groundbreaking. It made it harder to tell if this film was real or not!

    Unfortunately, the website for the Blair Witch has been archived. However, you can visit the site through the Wayback Machine! The website is a bit tricky to navigate, but it is still possible. You can explore it for yourself here or you can watch Loey Lane's video to see what it looked like.

    In combination with the website, the actors "playing themselves", the found-footage element, and the era the film was released, The Blair Witch Project was thought to be real footage. That intrigue generated more hype for the film. It reminds me of when The Exorcist (1973) premiered! The audience kept saying how scary the film was, people were throwing up and fainting while watching, and there were priests hanging around the theaters to bless people. All of this hype sounds like so much fun to me, I can't imagine being able to experience that kind of excitement today.

    What I also love about the film is how bare bones and simple it is. Less is more. I like that we don't get to see the Blair Witch. When it comes to otherworldly creatures, what can we possibly comprehend? It's better to let the audience use their own imaginations. The film's simplicity makes it seem more plausible. And it's almost like we don't have the right to see the Blair Witch. We didn't get lost in the woods, we didn't endure several nights of being tormented, we don't have Heather's tenacity to pursue this project, therefore we have not earned the right to see the witch.

    Now, you know how I feel about remakes. There has been recent news of The Blair Witch Project receiving a re-imagining of some sorts. It is set to be released a year from now in September. Now, I love this film, but I still have some issues. As you know, the actors were required to use their very own names in the film. What happens is the names become trademarked. Imagine a giant company trademarking the name your mother and father gave you?

    Heather Donahue has spoken about how much trouble this caused her while she was still pursuing acting. Apparently, she was paid so that her name could be used in the film... And that was the only payment. This movie has been making hell money since it premiered, can you imagine how much more money she could have made? I am not sure if her and her castmates were able to receive residuals. As a result of this experience, she has changed her name to Rei Hance and has distanced herself from The Blair Witch Project.

    Rei Hance was offered some kind of agreement in regards to using her name and likeness in the reboot. She had posted this to Facebook:

    I don't know how I feel about this reboot yet. Book of Shadows has its own shitty little charm to it and I did not enjoy the 2016 film. I am getting so tired of all these remakes. Will I watch the film? I think you already know the answer to that. We shall see what happens as the film-making progresses throughout the year. In the meantime, I will be watching The Blair Witch Project over and over and over again.