Hey folks, Harry here. For many of you AICN was the first place where ya heard about THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. For those that saw the film in it's early days... before the hype took over... before the expectations for the film had left any semblance of sanity... this was a fun time to be a fan of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The film was one of the biggest bootleg tapes around. Floating from college room to college room. Folks had fuzzy bad Mpeg copies of the film bouncing into their computers off of binary newsgroups all trying to figure out what was going on in the corner. What was in the rag? What happened?
There's a part of me that wishes that THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT never had done it's amazing box office turn. That it never played on more than 45 screens across the country. That it stayed underground. A fun little secret that folks could prank new friends with. "This really happened!" Hell, I had one friend so convinced it was real that he considered going into the priesthood. BUT... that was in February... noone was talking about the film.
Well the movie made a bazillion dollars and put no-budget filmmaking on a completely different scale of consideration. There were articles written speculating that the promotion campaign would change everything about studio advertising. Gone would be the $30 million dollar ad campaigns. Now studios would become smart... spending less and thinking more about how to sell their films.
Well... this hasn't really happened. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 was advertised with giant pushes. As has every other big summer film.
And THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT? Well... Artisan is taking a new tact with the film. This time it isn't a group of 'so-called amateurs' with their DV and 16mm camera out in the woods making up dialogue and screaming at one another. (BTW... that's the cynical critical bs way to describe how the first film was made... personally I completely disagree) This time they hired a man that I consider to be a Genius. An absolute fantastic documentarian, and they've hired him to make a film. Not a zero budget off in the woods helter skelter riff... but a psychological horror film.
Joe Berlinger, director of the 3 brilliant documentaries... BROTHER'S KEEPER and the two PARADISE LOST child murder/conviction stories. These last two films chilled me. Not in a cheapo sort of way, but in that... Oh... No... sort of quiet self-haunting sort of manner.
Well, personally I'm all about seeing this film this Halloween, but... BUT... I really think that this first trailer is no good whatsoever. Here's what ARTISAN has to do.
First... The number one key to the success of the original BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was that little three paragraph bit about 3 filmmakers going into the forest stuff. It was an unmistakable, ultra-tantalizing HOOK. In this first trailer, we hear noises... see trees... stickman.... and the title of the film. THERE IS NO MYTHOLOGY BEING GIVEN TO US! You guys and girls at Artisan are going to have to sell all of us on why we should see this movie. Quick... in one to two paragraphs... WHY? What's the hook? Start a legend.
Second... Now I don't know if you folks know this or not, but there is currently a GIGANTIC BACKLASH against anything or anyone that is Pro-BLAIR WITCH... example... read the talk backs below... you'll most likely see a good bunch of folks talking about how the first film was shit, the acting sucked... what the fuck sort of camera work was that. What a crappy fucking movie! Etc etc etc... Then compare the talk back below... to the one in reaction to my initial review back in February of 1999. Now... you know how you shut these fuckers up? You give them a peek that this film isn't more shaky cam... that it isn't a 'thrown together film'... that this is a film with a pervasive psychological hook being told by a master filmmaker.
Third... The film itself. As soon as Joe and crew finishes it... and you guys decide whether you have a hit or a bomb... if it's a hit... You are going to HAVE to screen it. Not just to people like me. I didn't mean shit to BLAIR WITCH PROJECT... I got some initial folks excited... but what sold that film was 8 bazillion college students and film freaks that Artisan screened the initial film to buzzing like bees. The initial film wasn't about artificial trailers with flashlights and mysterious symbols... it was about mythology and the fact that so many people saw it and dug it and wrote like hell about it. But I know... a trailer like this is gonna get booed at theaters. You'll have wise ass 'geniuses' cat-calling the screen and hissing.
Instead... you need to impress and scare the audience in 2 minutes. You need to tell them why, and dare them to handle it. You need to make them believe that this time... it's a 'real movie'. AT least that's my take on it. Here's the link to the trailer folks... it's a bit underwhelming I'm afraid...
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE TRAILER DIRECTLY!!!
BTW... the words being spoken during the trailer in that cultish sounding manner... here they are...
Forgotten Father, our voices reflect the forgotten truth.
Silent Evil, from the depths of this earth, rise to the sacred surface once again and reclaim the land that once was ours.
The pious and god-fearing people will remember our curse:
Death awaits.
