I'll admit, I've never quite understood how this particular film became as famous and recognizable as it did. At first, they didn't believe it was real, but their opinions change soon enough. The trio (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael Williams), using their real names, had enough food, and time on their schedules, for a couple days of wandering and shooting in the woods, though through mishap or fate, they ended up capturing the very subject they were seeking. In October of 1994, three student filmmakers entered the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland, shooting a documentary on the Blair Witch. Of course, the film I'm referring to is 'The Blair Witch Project,' a film that wasn't ruined by a cash-in sequel, leaving its legacy in the future films it would inspire. In a year that saw 'The Matrix' revolutionize the way films were made, an entire genre (or subgenre) was created, taking the idea of a mockumentary and turning it into an account of horror, a genre that has since been populated with some very talked about, very successful films, most recently ' Paranormal Activity' and ' The Fourth Kind.' Two handheld cameras, three "actors," a fistful of dollars, and a clever idea, did what it could to change cinema, or, at least, how we look at cinema. Of all the films released in 1999, a truly amazing year in cinema, it's amazing to think that one of the more influential films, one that became a part of popular culture, a borderline phenomena, was only made for $60,000.
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