Mention The Blair Witch Project to people and you will get one of two responses. It’s either one of the most brilliant movies ever or one of the worst (I guess technically people who haven’t seen it give a third answer but now you’re getting picky). I happen to fall on the side of amazement. I love what Blair Witch accomplished. I love how such a low budget movie can absolutely scare the hell out of you as long as you are willing to suspend disbelief and give yourself over to the mythos.
It was that mythos that really hooked me to the movie and the surrounding attempt at a franchise. Unfortunately the studio and the subsequent clones never got that the way the original filmmakers did, and so Blair Witch slid away into obscurity. Having wasted my time seeing Book of Shadows in theaters, I have to admit that, despite my interest in the Blair Witch mythos, I was glad to see it go.
Apparently Blair Witch may be gone but it’s not forgotten. While promoting his upcoming film Believers, Blair Witch creator Daniel Myrick told our friends at Bloody Disgusting that he (and presumably co-creator Eduardo Sanchez) still have some ideas floating around for another follow up: "We have a prequel idea, we even have a sequel idea, and we would like to explore the mythology one of these days. Lion’s Gate owns the rights to it right now, one of these days when they are prepared to get behind it; we’re prepared to shoot it. It’s all a matter of the money guys."
I love that Myrick wants to explore the mythology more. I think that was the key element that was missing from Book of Shadows and I do think that there is a way to create a commercial Blair Witch movie without losing that. Even better, the director doesn’t want to demystify his own creation like most horror franchises have felt the demand to do: "Well, our idea for the prequel isn’t realizing any manifestation of the witch itself, it just delves into the mythology of the witch itself. How the legend got started, and arguably whether it was true or not. I think it’s important to always maintain that ambiguity, whether the legend is a supernatural force in the woods, or if it is all in people’s minds. I think most boogeymen are just that, a little bit of both.
Sadly for fans, Lion’s Gate has the rights so it’s up to them to green light another movie. Until then, I’ll just enjoy the first movie, ignore the second one, and hope that Myrick and Sanchez get to revisit their creation in the future. For now, check out more of Myrick’s interview about Believers over at Bloody Disgusting.
