After The Blair Witch Project made $248 million on a $35,000 budget, studios rushed to create the next found footage sensation. Now, at the film’s twenty-fifth anniversary, there’s much less in the way of direct formal imitation. But the movie’s triumphant demonstration that shoestring horror films can lead to big paydays, and its grungy willingness to show without ever explaining, has continued to inspire. The Blair Witch Project remains important for its gimmick, for its business model, for its craftsmanship, and for its audacity.

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Directors Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick’s high concept was to create a movie about the creation of a movie. The film is supposedly composed of footage discovered in the Maryland woods, shot by three would-be filmmakers creating a documentary about the legend of the Blair Witch. In glimpses from their own cameras, you see the three actors—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard—wander into the woods and get more and more lost, and more and more angry with each other.

And then you see them slowly realize they’re not the only things out there. The movie’s most iconic scene is a so-close-you’re-up-her-nose selfie video shot of director Heather, apologizing to her colleague’s mothers in a trembling, weepy panic attack. “And this is where we’ve ended up and it’s all because of me that we’re here now—hungry,........

© Observer