The Blair Witch Project has attained cult status and the positive statements of its triumph, ring out into the night. But, just how original is it? .
Anyone who followed the international festival circuit this year will probably feel like they have seen it all before. A featured project at a number of international festivals was the $900.00 digital first, The Last Broadcast. Shot on mini DV format (Digital Video) the film was heralded as much for its breakthrough in digital techniques and low distribution costs as for its story line. Similarly the hype surrounding the Blair Witch Project quite naturally focuses a lot of its attention on the amount of profit it is making relative to its low cost.
But this is not the only time the two films overlap. The central core of each film is remarkably similar. A quick synopsis of the Blair Witch Project tells us that the film revolves around four filmmakers who make a journey to a remote area of the US to investigate local folklore about murders in the area. The ghost of the Blair Witch is believed to have been terrorising the local people and causing a string of murders. The four filmmakers assemble their equipment and disappear into the woods but never return. Their tapes are found buried under a house and these show the last terrifying days of the filmmakers as they met their fate. The story is then built around the content of these tapes.
Similarly, The Last Broadcast is set around a cable access show called Fact or Fiction. To boost its ratings the show featured a live broadcast of a journey to a remote location in New Jersey to investigate local folklore about The Jersey Devil, a winged creature believed to have terrorised the surrounding area. Four people were enlisted to go on the trip and they are last seen entering the woods with their cameras and sound equipment. Only one came out, with the blood of the others on his clothes. Their dismembered bodies are discovered and with them a video tape of their last days together and it is this tape which becomes the central mechanism to tell the story in a similar documentary style.
Both movies have been hyped brilliantly online, with personal appearances at Cannes and other festivals world wide. With low cost and high appeal this horror genre is popular and the theme will undoubtedly continue with more online and digital releases to come. Hollywood look out.
GQ 12/8/99
