I first watched The Blair Witch Project six years ago,
viewed in several parts on YouTube while I killed some time in the study lounge
of my university residence. I’ve made a point of watching it at least once a
year ever since, and the impression it left on me has only grown. It was then,
and remains to this day, the single scariest film I’ve ever seen, one I will
recommend to any up-and-coming horror buff at the drop of a hat, and actually
one of my top five all-time favourite movies.
In spite of the
overwhelming critical acclaim it received and the huge dent it made in the box
office, Blair Witch never really
launched any careers—at least not any big name ones. Heather Donahue went on to
feature in the Steven Spielberg-produced sci fi miniseries Taken, as well as guest star on an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; Joshua Leonard has made a name
for himself in mumblecore films, chief among them Humpday; Michael C. Williams has mostly made appearances in indie
and low-budget horror flicks. As for one of the film’s directors and
co-writers, Daniel Myrick has continued to take his stabs at the horror genre,
none of which I’ve seen.
However, his
partner-in-crime Eduardo Sánchez has made at least one significant contribution
to horror cinema since. As with everyone else involved with Blair Witch, he hasn’t yet made it to
the A-list, but back in 2011 he directed and co-wrote Lovely Molly, starring Gretchen Lodge as the eponymous character,
the late Johnny Lewis as her new
husband Tim, and Alexandra Holden as her sister Hannah. It is, on the surface,
a fairly basic tale of a woman on her own in her haunted childhood home (Editor Daniel: Really, Dan? Is that really basic?), but Sanchez and company manage
to craft a subtle little film that relies on implication and extrapolation as
much as Blair Witch does and plays
around with and even subverts suspense in a really interesting way.
