Just a little over a week away from the opening of Blair Witch, Lionsgate has released a “360 Degree Experience” trailer that gives viewers a better look inside the minds of the explorers and one step further in the Blair Witch mystery. The new trailer (which can be found here) is the latest gimmick currently being used to promote horror movies that gives fans a better taste for what is in store for them in the film without giving too much away. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a virtual reality session worth?
For the Blair Witch experience, viewers take the place of one of the hikers looking for a missing person armed with just a flashlight and a camera. As viewers scroll their way around the virtual world, they are rewarded with special effects when they hover over certain key elements on the screen.
James Allen McCune stars as James in ‘Blair Witch.’ [Photo by Chris Helcermanas–Benge for Lionsgate Entertainment]
Released in 1999, The Blair Witch Project started the whole “found footage” and “fake documentary” movie craze and some consider it to be the best example of the genre. That may be because it was the first to come up with such clever premise. Some audience members who say the original film had a hard time not believing that it wasn’t a real documentary that they were watching. The Blair Witch Project was also a phenomenon in that it virtually had no budget, showed little if any violence on screen, was created by unknown filmmakers and grossed millions.
The Blair Witch Project featured three friends who went into the Black Hills Forest in Maryland while doing research on the legend of the Blair Witch. They never came back. The new film is about James (James Allen McCune), the brother of one of those three friends who went missing 20 years ago. Like his sister, he is joined with a few of his own friends in hopes of finding her which include Peter (Brandon Scott), Ashley (Corbin Reid) and Lisa (Callie Hernandez). The movie is directed by Adam Wingard.
“When it first came out, I was one of a billion high school kids taking a camcorder into the woods and doing a Blair Witch spoof with my friends… The film had a total dedication toward authenticity. No one has so completely committed to that type of realism before or since.”
Lane (Wes Robinson) and Talia (Valorie Curry) in Blair Witch. [Photo by Chris Helcermanas–Benge for Lionsgate Entertainment]
After the huge success of this little film, the sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, was rushed into theaters the next year. The second film had a larger budget but was also had a different tone and despite the fact that the film did well financially, it was greatly panned by critics and filmgoers alike. Ever since, Lionsgate had been searching for a follow-up tale that would be on par with the original film.
“Simon [Barrett] and I re-watched the film half a dozen times during pre-production to consider every option when creating our story, and were we were astounded by how well it held up — not just as a found footage movie but also as a horror movie.”
Wanting to stay true to the original mythos of Blair Witch, Barrett did his own sleuthing familiarizing himself with every key element.
“The mythology was a huge enticement for me because the first film never really explained anything… We wanted to take the mythos further and explore how outsiders approach the haunting and how locals see the legend.”
However, Wingard and Barrett say that watching the original film is not a prerequisite to enjoy the new 2016 tale.
Blair Witch opens in theaters on September 16.
[Image via Lionsgate Entertainment]
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