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Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

I had completely forgotten about this, but Scooby-Doo did a parody of BWP back in the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnS3KK0itLs&feature=youtu.be

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Dr Scoofles
Dec 6, 2004

Oliver Reed posted:

How exactly does the Coffin Rock stuff tie in with the Blair Witch mythology? Assuming, of course, that it does.

Also, from what I recall, the bodies found at coffin rock were tied hand to hand & foot to foot so each person is spread eagled in an X shape, kinda like the little wooden dollies they find tied up in the trees.

Toady
Jan 12, 2009

MisterBibs posted:

For some reason, adding the notion of time travel to the mix doesn't sit well with me. I think it's more disturbing for it to just literally not make sense.

Hell, that's how it's covered on CothBW. Everyone explains in detail about how it's impossible for the backpacks and the tapes to be placed there, but in the end that's where they were found.

Presumably, the haunted woods distort time and space. The house seen in the ending is Rustin Parr's house, which was burned down in 1941.

Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

Its a ghost house, not a time travelling house.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Nipplebox posted:

Presumably, the haunted woods distort time and space. The house seen in the ending is Rustin Parr's house, which was burned down in 1941.

The woods distorting space isn't even necessarily presumed, because nobody could possibly be so lost they couldn't find their way back to a road in three days time in the Black Hills Forest. Look at it on Google Maps, at any point in there you're only a mile or two from a road. That means if they walked in one direction for even two hours they would have hit a road, let alone the 18 hours or whatever they mention at one point.

Magic things happen in a horror movie???

Timeless Appeal
May 28, 2006

Raxivace posted:

I had completely forgotten about this, but Scooby-Doo did a parody of BWP back in the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnS3KK0itLs&feature=youtu.be
Which reminds me of this weird proto-Adult Swim piece. It's not as fun as it was when I was 14, but I do like the gag about the gang intentionally getting into accidents to seek out ghosts.

EDIT: Forgot I wasn't in General Horror

Timeless Appeal fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Nov 3, 2014

MisterBibs
Jul 17, 2010

dolla dolla
bill y'all
Fun Shoe

Mantis42 posted:

Its a ghost house, not a time travelling house.

This was basically my take on it as well. The house was just there again.

What really bakes my noodle about the end is this: Was Mike being ghostilly forced to not turn around to talk to Heather, or was it that he didn't want to turn around to see what happened to Heather?

About walking straight: it's a noted thing that without significant landmarks, people have the tendency to walk in circles when they think they are still walking straight.

FreudianSlippers
Apr 12, 2010

Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

precision posted:

The woods distorting space isn't even necessarily presumed, because nobody could possibly be so lost they couldn't find their way back to a road in three days time in the Black Hills Forest. Look at it on Google Maps, at any point in there you're only a mile or two from a road. That means if they walked in one direction for even two hours they would have hit a road, let alone the 18 hours or whatever they mention at one point.

Magic things happen in a horror movie???

There's actually been research done that shows that people who are lost tend to walk in circles even when they think they're walking in the same direction.


This is GPS data from one such experiment. The person represented by the yellow line walked on a clear and sunny day and could therefore use the sky for navigation. The Blue lines are people that walked on clouded days and couldn't. All of them were totally unaware that they were walking in circles instead of a straight line.


In the case of the Blair Witch Project the forest being haunted can't have helped.

FreudianSlippers fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Nov 3, 2014

Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

Oh yes, I remember the walking in circles tendency as being a major plot point in Flight of Phoenix.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Loved this movie when it came out. But it absolutely made camping a total bitch for a few years after.

Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007

Witchfinder General

The Blair Witch Project to me at least was like the best film of it's time, I remember seeing it with my cousin who believed it was actually loving real. A lot of people did, like people genuinely thought it was real.

Which made it that much better. I remember being in a crowded theater and people got up and left they were so scared. Then at the very last possible moment. 2 guys apparently and this is in a crowded theater right at the very very end right when it cuts out, Jumped up with Masks on and started screaming and running through the theater.

People. Lost. Their. poo poo.

My cousin came out of his seat to loving bolt, I was laughing hysterically lots were as people were screaming, like screaming not frightened jump scares, at this and moving as fast as they could out of the theater.


Pretty much the greatest theater going experience I've ever had.

Lastdancer
Apr 21, 2008
Maybe some of you can finally clear this up for me.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater on release, but the film was running at what seemed to me like 60fps at the time and had a different aspect ratio than normal, not sure which but it looked more square or 4:3 than rectangular, almost like someone's home movie shot in 16mm or something. Was this actually a thing? Did any/some/most/all theaters do this? I have to ask because that's how I remember it and I also remember it being jarring when I saw it at home a while later and it looked different.

Additionally it is almost definitely possible that I'm mis-remembering and a crazy person.

edit: Okay I'm watching the movie on Netflix now and I'm starting to think it was a combination of their color camera footage mixed with the extra smoothness of the image from the theater's film projector that made me think it was running at 60fps. Still not sure on the aspect ratio.

Lastdancer fucked around with this message at 06:47 on Nov 3, 2014

a kitten
Aug 5, 2006

Hollismason posted:


Pretty much the greatest theater going experience I've ever had.

It's definitely one of the very best for me as well.

Saw it in Philly when it was still in limited release, a whole bunch of us went to see it based on third-hand recountings of the trailer, brief glances at the website and just general word-of-mouth. I don't think I've ever been in a theater where the whole place was as caught up in a film as this.

Obviously that's a hard thing to qualify, but I swear you could feel the whole place holding its breath at the end when Heather is running trying to find Mike.

Later that year, after it was in wide release I watched it again at a multiplex while visiting my parents and the crowd didn't give a poo poo about it at all. Totally different and much lamer experience. Oh well.

It's still one of my favorite movies and I should re-watch it one of these days soon.

a kitten fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Nov 3, 2014

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Mechathief posted:

Maybe some of you can finally clear this up for me.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater on release, but the film was running at what seemed to me like 60fps at the time and had a different aspect ratio than normal, not sure which but it looked more square or 4:3 than rectangular

The original theater run was shown in 4:3 because it was intended to be footage from video cameras from 1994.

e:

quote:

Artisan have released BWP in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on this single-sided, dual-layered DVD. Mini-controversy #1: all the people who are bothered that BWP is not a) letterboxed, and b) enhanced for widescreen televisions. As I mentioned, the theatrical aspect ratio is 1.33:1, which is just the same as your 4X3 TV; as such, there's no need for letterboxing since the theatrical ratio equals the one you normally see on your TV screen. This also obviates the usefulness of 16X9 enhancement, since the source material does not approximate a widescreen ratio.

precision fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Nov 3, 2014

Lastdancer
Apr 21, 2008
Ahh I knew I wasn't completely out of my mind! Thanks. Yeah it didn't bother me or anything, I just thought it was a neat approach. Any idea if the VHS version ran at a higher framerate, similar to that of camcorder footage? I've only ever seen the theater and DVD releases until now.

BENGHAZI 2
Oct 13, 2007

by Cyrano4747

precision posted:

The woods distorting space isn't even necessarily presumed, because nobody could possibly be so lost they couldn't find their way back to a road in three days time in the Black Hills Forest. Look at it on Google Maps, at any point in there you're only a mile or two from a road. That means if they walked in one direction for even two hours they would have hit a road, let alone the 18 hours or whatever they mention at one point.

A movie about ghosts not conforming exactly to reality? Get out.

Who cares if the ghost kept them lost and the Magic Woods distorted time and space? Who cares? I think it's loving scarier if they were just hopelessly lost idiots and then also they got hosed with by a ghost, adn it's two separate and unrelated things. Why do we need to explain poo poo away as "it was the ghost keeping them lost and also they went BACK IN TIME"? Jesus Christ.

Hodgepodge
Jan 29, 2006
Probation
Can't post for 272 days!
I haven't seem it since the theatre run, but I do remember that they're going in circles was a plot point that sparked an argument when they found themselves at the river again.

Avril Lavigne
May 29, 2006

I think Mike and Josh kept themselves lost on purpose, including Mike getting rid of the map. Once Heather was mentally and physically worn down enough, Josh disappeared to the Parr house and drew Mike & Heather there with his cries, eliminating any need to convince Heather to go inside such a creepy place following all these other disturbing events. Then Mike willingly stood in the corner while Josh sacrificed Heather, Rustin Parr style, as they'd planned all along.

penismightier
Dec 6, 2005

What the hell, I'll just eat some trash.

The only one of those theories I like is that Mary Brown, the old woman who claimed to see the witch and live, was the Blair Witch.

Mostly I like it because this is her fence:

SirDrone
Jul 23, 2013

I am so sick of these star wars
Still a better theory then this apparent design of the blair witch.

Alec Eiffel
Sep 7, 2004

by Fluffdaddy
But what does she look like after she had her coffee in the morning?

a kitten
Aug 5, 2006

Is that a Todd McFarlane thing? Sure looks like it.

MantisToboggan
Feb 1, 2013
Yup. It was designed by Todd McFarlane for the Movie Maniacs toy line. It was never intended to be used in the movie, thank god.

weekly font
Dec 1, 2004


Everytime I try to fly I fall
Without my wings
I feel so small
Guess I need you baby...



penismightier posted:

The only one of those theories I like is that Mary Brown, the old woman who claimed to see the witch and live, was the Blair Witch.

Mostly I like it because this is her fence:



Yep she's a great red herring but there's also some fun non story reasons for her weirdness. The directors put crew want ads around local colleges and the only person to reply was the that woman. She eventually became the art director in the loosest of terms and that trailer is her actual house which probably explains the similarity between the fence and the figures. Also the scene where they're in the car talking about all the weird poo poo she claimed is totally real. The actress was just chatting with them after filming and they all assumed she was still in character but no she was just this sorta crazy confessions of a dangerous mind type.

penismightier
Dec 6, 2005

What the hell, I'll just eat some trash.

weekly font posted:

Yep she's a great red herring but there's also some fun non story reasons for her weirdness. The directors put crew want ads around local colleges and the only person to reply was the that woman. She eventually became the art director in the loosest of terms and that trailer is her actual house which probably explains the similarity between the fence and the figures. Also the scene where they're in the car talking about all the weird poo poo she claimed is totally real. The actress was just chatting with them after filming and they all assumed she was still in character but no she was just this sorta crazy confessions of a dangerous mind type.

Holy poo poo, that's awesome.

Incidentally, anyone interested in the stick figures should read "Sticks," the short story that supposedly inspired them. VERY creepy.

http://books.google.com/books?id=pNgZxdPETK0C&pg=PA209&lpg=PA209&ots=MKCaf01bsP#v=onepage&q&f=false

ZBS Foundation did a great radio version of it here: http://www.zbs.org/index_new.php/store/product/sticks-o-boy-o-boy-o-the-bleeding-man-mp3

FreudianSlippers
Apr 12, 2010

Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

The Blair Witch Project reminds me a bit of The Haunting. In both movies you never actually see the ghost(s). In both movies the haunted location itself basically is the monster.

Uatu The Lurker
Sep 14, 2003

I can say no more!
Already I have over stayed my time in this ephemeral sphere!

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

Book of Shadows should be approached as supplementary material for the rather-good Shadow Of The Blair Witch, AKA Curse Of The Blair Witch 2, which is based on the premise that Book Of Shadows is crass and stupid.

Watched together, it's like the play between 'reenactment' and 'actual footage' in the The Fourth Kind.

Hey SMG you should check out "The Burkittsville 7" if you haven't already: http://vimeo.com/59334058

It was made to air after The Blair Witch Project when it premiered on Showtime, and is made by the same guy who did Shadow Of The Blair Witch, except this one takes place "in universe" with the first film, as it were.

Toady
Jan 12, 2009

Literally The Worst posted:

A movie about ghosts not conforming exactly to reality? Get out.

Who cares if the ghost kept them lost and the Magic Woods distorted time and space? Who cares? I think it's loving scarier if they were just hopelessly lost idiots and then also they got hosed with by a ghost, adn it's two separate and unrelated things. Why do we need to explain poo poo away as "it was the ghost keeping them lost and also they went BACK IN TIME"? Jesus Christ.

The mythology built for the film describes the time-altering nature of the Black Hills area. I don't see what the big deal is.

penismightier
Dec 6, 2005

What the hell, I'll just eat some trash.

Mister J posted:

Hey SMG you should check out "The Burkittsville 7" if you haven't already: http://vimeo.com/59334058

It was made to air after The Blair Witch Project when it premiered on Showtime, and is made by the same guy who did Shadow Of The Blair Witch, except this one takes place "in universe" with the first film, as it were.

This rules.

Uatu The Lurker
Sep 14, 2003

I can say no more!
Already I have over stayed my time in this ephemeral sphere!

I feel like it's much better done on a technical level than Shadows. It nails the talking head aesthetic.

I also love that the same old timer plays the Burkittsville Historian in both this, which takes the original movie as real, and Shadows, which doesn't. I think he might be the Blair Witch.

penismightier
Dec 6, 2005

What the hell, I'll just eat some trash.

Mister J posted:

I feel like it's much better done on a technical level than Shadows. It nails the talking head aesthetic.

I also love that the same old timer plays the Burkittsville Historian in both this, which takes the original movie as real, and Shadows, which doesn't. I think he might be the Blair Witch.

The actors are better, too, the film historian woman in particular is great. The Titticutt Follies-knockoff bit is a little undercooked but other than that it's really impressive both as a sequel to the film and as its own work.

weekly font
Dec 1, 2004


Everytime I try to fly I fall
Without my wings
I feel so small
Guess I need you baby...



Is Curse of the Blair Witch on any of the dvd/br releases? I'm desperate to watch it again and the only place I can find it is for 3 bux on Youtube and I'd rather just own the whole kit.

edogawa rando
Mar 20, 2007

I think my mass effect is broken

weekly font posted:

Is Curse of the Blair Witch on any of the dvd/br releases? I'm desperate to watch it again and the only place I can find it is for 3 bux on Youtube and I'd rather just own the whole kit.

Yes it is. It's certainly on my copy.

Uatu The Lurker
Sep 14, 2003

I can say no more!
Already I have over stayed my time in this ephemeral sphere!

penismightier posted:

The actors are better, too, the film historian woman in particular is great. The Titticutt Follies-knockoff bit is a little undercooked but other than that it's really impressive both as a sequel to the film and as its own work.

Agreed on all fronts. She's great, and the whole last few minutes that just sort of follow Chris around at his job are fantastic.

SuperMechagodzilla
Jun 9, 2007

NEWT REBORN

Mister J posted:

Hey SMG you should check out "The Burkittsville 7" if you haven't already: http://vimeo.com/59334058

It was made to air after The Blair Witch Project when it premiered on Showtime, and is made by the same guy who did Shadow Of The Blair Witch, except this one takes place "in universe" with the first film, as it were.

God bless you sir; I didn't even know this existed.

weekly font
Dec 1, 2004


Everytime I try to fly I fall
Without my wings
I feel so small
Guess I need you baby...



I didn't think adding a conspiracy theory angle to BWP's mythos would be remotely decent but gently caress if Burkittsville 7 isn't great.

SuperMechagodzilla
Jun 9, 2007

NEWT REBORN

weekly font posted:

I didn't think adding a conspiracy theory angle to BWP's mythos would be remotely decent but gently caress if Burkittsville 7 isn't great.

The major point of The Blair Witch Project is that the random and possibly pointless death footage had to be edited together into a coherent narrative. And then, the more you research it, you begin hearing all these conflicting explanations for the events. Why not throw a conspiracy theorist into the mix?

And then, why not cut between this conspiracy theorist, in his massive film archive, and a schizophrenic staring at a wall?

BENGHAZI 2
Oct 13, 2007

by Cyrano4747

Avril Lavigne posted:

I think Mike and Josh kept themselves lost on purpose, including Mike getting rid of the map. Once Heather was mentally and physically worn down enough, Josh disappeared to the Parr house and drew Mike & Heather there with his cries, eliminating any need to convince Heather to go inside such a creepy place following all these other disturbing events. Then Mike willingly stood in the corner while Josh sacrificed Heather, Rustin Parr style, as they'd planned all along.

This is loving stupid.

Mister J posted:

Hey SMG you should check out "The Burkittsville 7" if you haven't already: http://vimeo.com/59334058

It was made to air after The Blair Witch Project when it premiered on Showtime, and is made by the same guy who did Shadow Of The Blair Witch, except this one takes place "in universe" with the first film, as it were.

This is dope.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

Mister J posted:

Hey SMG you should check out "The Burkittsville 7" if you haven't already: http://vimeo.com/59334058

It was made to air after The Blair Witch Project when it premiered on Showtime, and is made by the same guy who did Shadow Of The Blair Witch, except this one takes place "in universe" with the first film, as it were.

I think I remember seeing this on TV? Anyway yeah it's really, really good.

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Hodgepodge
Jan 29, 2006
Probation
Can't post for 272 days!

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

The major point of The Blair Witch Project is that the random and possibly pointless death footage had to be edited together into a coherent narrative. And then, the more you research it, you begin hearing all these conflicting explanations for the events. Why not throw a conspiracy theorist into the mix?

And then, why not cut between this conspiracy theorist, in his massive film archive, and a schizophrenic staring at a wall?

His dismissal of the events of BWP itself as an obvious hoax at the beginning is just perfect as well.

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