The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 found-footage horror film about student filmmakers who disappear while investigating a local legend in Maryland. Its improvised style and fictional documentary campaign helped make it a landmark independent film.

Found footage: A storytelling technique that presents a fictional narrative as recorded material discovered after the depicted events. The film builds its horror from supposedly recovered footage of the missing filmmakers.
Daniel Myrick: An American filmmaker who co-directed The Blair Witch Project with Eduardo Sánchez. Myrick helped shape the film's improvisational approach and fictional documentary framework.
Viral marketing: Promotion designed to spread through person-to-person sharing, especially through digital networks. The film's early website and circulated rumors prompted audiences to share its supposed evidence.
Found footage horror: A horror subgenre that presents fictional events through recordings supposedly made by participants. The film established a commercially influential template for horror told through recovered recordings.
Mockumentary: A fictional work presented in the style of a documentary, often using interviews and documentary conventions. The film's interviews and documentary framing make its fictional legend seem locally documented.
Eduardo Sánchez: An American filmmaker who co-directed The Blair Witch Project with Daniel Myrick. Sánchez co-created the film and helped direct its minimally scripted performances.
Internet marketing: The use of online channels and tools to promote products, services, or ideas. The campaign used the web to distribute clues and background before the film reached theaters.
Paranormal Activity: A 2007 supernatural horror film presented largely through home-security and personal-camera recordings. Its low-budget release and found-footage style echoed the commercial path opened by Blair Witch.
Handheld camera: A camera operated by hand rather than fixed to a support, producing mobile and often unstable images. Unsteady camerawork makes the woods feel immediate while limiting what the film reveals.
Haxan Films: An independent film production company founded by filmmakers including Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. The company produced the film and developed its promotional mythology.

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