Suddenly the children’s handprints on the walls upstairs feel like they have a clear meaning.Įxcept nothing is actually clear. What persuaded Mike, who’d been screaming for Josh to come out, to abruptly go into a trance? The serial killer didn’t have mind control, nor did he target college-aged adults on camping trips. Also, that killer had been dead for years. The legends of a magical figure are about a centuries-old witch. The Blair Witch Project (1999) doesn’t operate like the found footage movies it later inspired. In movies such as Paranormal Activity (2007) and Lake Mungo (2008) audiences spend the runtime narrowing down options of what’s going on and dreading a few possible outcomes. Coming to understand the antagonist is usually where dread comes from. You’re afraid of Jigsaw because whatever byzantine situation he’s set up will inevitably turn into a murder puzzle. Train to Busan (2016) tells you clearly: if zombies get on this train, or if they bite anyone aboard, we’ll be in trouble. The Blair Witch Project asks: how do you escalate a threat that will never be knowable?Īt the outset, the movie won’t make up its mind. No two people that the students interview agree on what the exact legend of the Blair Witch is. She might attack children who don’t go to bed on time, or she might be covered in horsehair and float mysteriously above rivers, or she might tie together the disemboweled bodies of men. Still, others say the real local legend is Rustin Parr, the previously mentioned serial killer who kidnapped and murdered children. But we do know he hated being watched.Īs such, any little event on the students’ camping trip could indicate what’s after them.

When Josh knocks over a pile of significant-looking stones, it could have angered a spirit.

When the students hear sounds at night, those could be a witch, or stalkers from town, or a red herring. Enough plot dots have been scattered that the audience starts connecting things. We can connect enough things that by the time of the first big night chase, we’re looking for corroboration of our fears.

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