The Rewatchables - ‘The Blair Witch Project’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, to rewatch the 1999 horror phenomenon ‘The Blair Witch Project,’ starring Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard. Watch this episode on our Ringer Movies YouTube channel! Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey y'all, Sirot Sohi from The Ringer here, and I wanted to let you guys know about a new show that I'm hosting. The Ringer WNBA show. We're going to be talking about all the biggest personalities, breaking down and analyzing the latest happenings that make the W so fascinating, featuring some of the best guests and experts from around the league. Tap in with us on the brand new Ringer WNBA show feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is brought to you by Adobe Firefly, the all-in-one, creative stage. studio with AI powered image and video generation. Built for today's creative process,

Firefly helps you generate, edit, and experiment fast. Because the asks aren't getting smaller. And the timelines? Ooh, yeah, still tight. With all the best creative AI models in one place, Firefly brings your ideas to life. Learn more at adobe.com slash Firefly. This episode is brought to you by Apple and AT&T.

scroll long enough and you'll hear it all. Miracle diets, fitness trends, you name it. But with iPhone and Apple Watch, you get meaningful insights from a very trusted source. Your body. You can track sleep quality, cardio fitness, and more than unpack all the information in the health app on iPhone to get a picture of your overall health. These health insights are developed with clinical experts from start to finish. Find out more at Apple.com slash health.

Apple Watch is not a medical device and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. The rewatchables is brought to you by the Ringer podcast network where you can find the watch

with our friend Chris Ryan. That's right. Still making that, huh? Slow horses. Slow horses industry? I know you've gotten caught up recently. Yeah, I'm a big Rishi guy. I know you are.

It's my guy. When he lost his mind gambling for a night, it brought me back to the late 90s. You don't understand. This guy, Bill, said million dollar picks. He said the Eagles were lock. You could also see R in the big picture. Maybe on some basketball podcast this fall.

You never know. I was on the Ringer Fantasy Football Pod, Bill. You can't stop me. Yeah. My name is Bill Simmons. We were about to do the weirdest movie I think we've ever done in the rewatchables. The Blair Witch Project is next.

In October, three student filmmakers arrived in Berkittsville, Maryland to interview locals about the legend of the Blair Witch. All I'm saying is that you got us lost. I know we're not lost. Oh, you knew that yesterday, too, and you knew that twice. Go more or less this way.

One year later, their footage was found, but the three were never seen again. I don't die, Paul. All right, CR. I don't know where to start, but I'm going to start here. Most ripped off movie gimmicks of the last 50 years, I made a list. Superman with Christopher Reeve, comic book heroes, just creates this whole, we'll do a big thing. We'll get Gene Hackman as the villain, and we'll blow it out, and we'll promote the shit out of it, and we get that becomes the blueprint.

48 hours, buddy cop, these guys don't like each other. There's going to be some jokes. At the end, they'll get along. People rip that off for the next 40 plus years. Die hard. Becomes die hard in a blank. Yeah. Fatal attraction.

Blank from hell. Halloween. There's a boogeyman killer. He's unstoppable. She's going to go to this camp and kill people. When Harry met Sally, the modern rom-com. Oh, these two, they're not meant to be together. Oh, maybe they are.

Oh, they made it at the end. The will they all, they? Animal House. The body-com. comedy. These guys are just trying to get laid. Let's do that for 10 years. And then the Blair Witch Project, which was made for like 10 bucks and created this whole new form of horror called Found Footage that is still going 25 years later and is one of the most influential movies, not only the last 25 years, but you could really argue the last 50. It makes no sense. And I know you

like this movie because you wanted to do it. But how do you even explain this? The right movie at the right time and the right way of making a movie and the right way of marketing a movie and just capturing the power of the nascent internet and allowing people to feel like they were participating in the movie in a way and that might be its greatest legacy. Now, even this many years on, I think there are some films that have done found footage better

have been more creative with found footage. Obviously, there got the paranormal activity franchise that has gone on to probably more financial success than the Blair Witch franchise. But in terms of being like the right movie for the baby steps of the internet is like this was lightning in a bottle. Horror movies are effectively dead

except for there's that new post-screen model with I know he did last summer, Halloween H-2O. It's usually like kids in high school and they're the faculty. So we're doing those that like Jason and Freda Kruger, they're on their last legs

and there had been no innovation at all. All right, normally we bring him in at the end of the podcast, but I have to bring Craig Khorrelbeck in now, our producer. Oh, okay. Yeah, you're coming in now. Craig, this movie comes out in January 1999 when you were a young pup.

I think you were like five years old, four years old, whatever. Do you believe that people actually thought this was a real movie and all these people died? in 1999, that that was a thing that really happened? Yes, and I think if you look at the amount of conspiracies that are going on now, when we have the Internet everywhere, I think it's even more believable that people back then seeing this footage

would have thought this was real. So I think 100%. So the backstory, they put out a website. When did they put the website out, CR? The website and the doc came out before. So this movie premiered at Sundance in January, and they came out in theaters in the summer. But the website and the curse of the blur which sci-fi series or documentary came out like a month before that.

So there was this huge buzz coming out of the internet and off of the dock. Yeah, so I'm on the internet right at my sportscom back then. I think I might have still been AOL only at this point. The internet, who's our guy from Heat? What was his name? The guy, the internet was all out there. She's got to know where to grab it. Yeah.

I'm going to grab it. And they do this Blair Witch website. And it's so early in the internet, people are like, what the fuck is this? They found these videotapes in the woods of these people getting murdered. And now this is going to be the movie of this. So I was dating my future wife for six, seven months. You know, not as fun as the Craig and Liz love story, but a good love story nonetheless with some fun stories behind it. But so we go to this and it's still early in the internet where we don't know if it's real or it's not real.

And we go opening night because I'm a huge horror guy and I'm super excited. Can I stop you right there? Just out of curiosity, which theater in Boston? Kendall Square and Cambridge. Bill, we might have been at the same screening, man. Oh, shit. Yeah, I was at Kendall Square opening weekend. It's very possible.

We went that Friday night. And the movie ended and people, one of the few times of my life, people just sitting in their seats. and we were so freaked out. Craig, we were on the theater and we just thought we watched like a snuff film. Yeah. And there was no way to research it after the fact.

It was not like now. You'd be like, oh, I'm going to Google it. Oh, they did this. Oh, here's, and it bothers. Like, we literally thought it was real. Did you think it was real, CR? Yes. Well, okay.

I think I thought it was 80%, like I didn't think that they would be showing us a snuff film. But the 20% that was like maybe they just did was much more passionate than the 80% that was cynical about it, if that makes sense. You know what I mean? Like, I knew better, but I was like, God, that was convincing. But wait, so was the marketing of this movie, this was, this is real? Or did they just kind of not say that? Not only was the marketing of the film, this is real, the actors were not

part of the promotion of the film. Like, very specifically until after it had become a phenomenon, that's when they started appearing on like the Tonight Show and they dropped the pretense that it was, that it was a real like this was found footage. But leading up into the release, there was a, like a pretty plausible sensation that this was like these people who had gone off into the woods and they found their footage.

And like, yeah, like one out of every five person, maybe one out of every three people you talk to be like, yeah, it's not real. Like they just did this whole elaborate scheme to show like the background of the story. But it was pretty easy to buy into this because like Bill was saying, you basically were on diet. up. You were probably using like university computers or whatever. You only knew your friends that you were friends with. It's not like you could check in with whoever. And crucially, Craig, like,

because of that and because of like the era that it was, most people probably came from an area of the country that had something like this. And it might have been bullshit, but I had, you know, we have the pine barons in the Philadelphia area. It's like the New Jersey devil. I'm sure Bill had something in Massachusetts and New England. I have it right down in the third floor of my house. But everybody had like a... The local town myth. A suburban legend, basically.

Yeah. So the guy who played Mike in the movie, there's a really good oral history about this movie that came out, I think, in the 2015th or 20th anniversary. And he said, the internet, Michael C. Williams, the guy played Mike. The internet was new. So think back, some of the things you read on the internet, you go, oh, that must be true. I saw it on the internet.

Just like when newspapers came out, you believe what you read. And they figured out a way to market this movie where it was just, I didn't have my conspiracy bill did not exist in 1999 except for the JFK assassination. So you saw this. They're like, wow, I want to see that. Found footage. People were murdered in the woods. It might be the most 1999 movie ever made because if it came out any year after this,

it would be less and less believable. Well, so think about in 1993, the crying game came out. And the whole thing about that was there's a secret. And you just, like, don't tell me this secret. I don't want to know. And this secret turned out to be the Jay Davidson character. Then usual suspects, same thing. Then Sixth Sense, which was the same year as this movie, same thing.

Is that, in your generation, is that possible to keep a secret with a movie like that? I would say it's impossible. I'm trying to think of an example of anything related to that, even if it's not in movies. a TV show? You can keep the series finale of an episode secret, but other than that, not something like this

where it's like people thought it was a snuff film. Marketing has changed so much now that I would say, if anything, they are like so hyper-aware when they have a twist that they almost, like when I get PR emails about TV shows, like for instance,

like I don't want to, I guess, spoil it for the people who haven't watched, succession, but something happens in the last season of succession. We were not told explicitly that that happened, but we were told that the episode that it happened in was very significant and that we should like, please not spoil it for other people. And so immediately, you're like, well, what could it be, right? Right. I guess Game of Thrones was the last property that like effectively engineered the twist. But that was a very interesting experience because you had like an entire

strand of the audience that actually did know what was coming. And so they were actually, I found to be one of the great examples of like, honestly, audience generosity was people like Mal and Jason who were like, yeah, obviously, like, I know Red Wedding is coming, but I wouldn't want to spoil that for anybody. And it was awesome that way. Well, I'll tell you this. It's one of the most masterful marketing campaigns I can ever remember. It got me to go opening night. The mystery around it, then when you knew what happened, leaving the theater, still not knowing that night and still not really having way to to research it.

And then, I don't know, CR, when did we kind of finally realize this was real? They started doing interviews like, I think weeks after, as it became a sensation. Like three to four or five weeks later. Yeah, I don't think it was very, it wasn't like this like we have to find Heather.

You know, I mean, like, it was, I think actually also like fairly short. That would be great. C.R. led though, we have to find Heather. He was in the woods in Baltimore. They had to keep the actress in like a, in like a room for months. But they did.

Yeah, they were like. They got mad at Josh Leonard for being in an indie movie because they were like, you're going to screw up the premise of our film if people can see you in like some nascent, like, early mumblecore movie in soon, you know? Now we just have like Mr. Beast buries himself alive for seven days and you tune in to see if he makes it. That's the closest thing we have. Right.

Well, the other piece of this is in the movie theater. It was so much more terrifying. There's no way to recreate it in your house. You could turn all the lights off in your house. You could make it as quiet as possible. But when you're in a movie theater with a 50-foot screen and it's dead silent and people are terrified and you get hit the last 15 minutes of that movie, it was, I was about as scared as I can't remember being more scared in a movie theater.

Can you, Chris? No, this is the single most frightening movie theater experience I ever had. So the two scariest movies I've ever seen are this and Texas Chainsaw Masker. saw this like bill. That's another one. Yeah. In Kendall Square opening night. All it was was like, uh, what's, is this like a documentary? Like, if you guys heard about this movie? Like, because even with Sundance stuff, like, it's not like we were reading movieline.com or some, it wasn't like I was like on the net every day reading about movie news and having things explained to me. So you're just kind of like, this sounds like it's going to be a really big deal.

Let's go see it opening night. I saw this one. And then Texas Chainsaw I watched it like one in the morning in an empty house, like moving into a house in Mission Hill in Boston. And I'd never seen it before. And I don't think I slept for like the rest of the week. My dad, there was this place, God damn, it was somewhere in Boston. I can't remember what part of Boston. And they would show movies and they had food and there would be older movies, right? And it was a little like the model for what Alamo is. Like pre-Alamo. Okay. Yeah, pre-Early early Alamo and you could go. And we went and we saw a couple movies there, but one of the ones we saw was Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So I was probably like 13, 14.

I can't believe I made him go to movies like this, but it was the same thing, like, at the end of that. And I just knew it was scary, and I just knew the guy holding the chainsaw at the end and I didn't know anything else. And the same thing where you left and you're like, discombobulated. It was so freaky. And I don't know if there's another, even Halloween, which is a masterpiece, but it's so stylized, though.

Yeah, it was more cool. You're like, oh, man, I like what they did. Like it wasn't like this where you're like, oh my God, this guy's out there. We got to get them. So I don't know. Last year, or maybe it was, yeah, about last year, I went on a trip to like kind of rural Oregon. It was me and my wife and then her friend and her friend's family.

And she has like three daughters. And two of the daughters, like they were 14 to 12 at the time or something like that. And we watched Blair Witch for the first time. Oh. And it was like late at night. I think we started at like 11. And it was like really like kind of a spooky watching experience. And at first the girls were like, this is cringe, this is so fake, this is so fake.

And then as it gets going and as they switch goes off in this movie. When they discover like the dolls and when Josh disappears and all this stuff is happening, you could see them on their phones like Googling like, is this real? Did they die? And I was like, it still works. Yeah. It still works. Like after all these years, it can still freak people out if it catches them unaware.

So Craig, you watched it this morning for the first. first time, but you knew the premise, right? Because he's a coward, and he didn't watch it at night. I watched it at 7.30 a.m. this morning. No, I, to be honest, I kind of, I mean, I generally knew it was like kids going into the woods in search of something, you know, supernatural. That was it. All right, so we'll spoil. You should be doing this at the end, but did it work for you? I think it's hard. Because you've seen 25 years of found footage movies at this month. Well, he actually, I mean, you're not into scary movies, though. I'm not. But, I can understand why this was such a big deal in the moment.

You know what? I actually found this movie quite palatable at 7.30 a.m. Yeah. Good, like having a nice, strong cup of coffee. Yeah. Josh! Josh! To be honest, I think the horror actually was a little milder than I expected.

Yeah, but you didn't set the mood right. I mean, 7.30 in the morning, you want to watch this at night in a dark place. It's a 10 p.m. start, man. Did not want that to be my nightcap. I'm just saying, I mean, they don't really show a lot in this movie. What would Mike Tomlin say about this? You know? Mike's...

Right. Tomlin's playing in the preseason. He's doing two a days still. That's not my style for horror movies. Tomlin's just grinding out a 13 to 6 win with a horror movie and that's it. But yeah, to be honest, I was surprised at how not scary this was to me. I think we're desensitized now and things are so heightened. He's not wrong because as they kept innovating on the found footage thing,

people did better versions of this movie. Oh, they added special effects. Yeah. I think the charm of this movie is just the story behind it, which we're going to tell. I think it's also very specific, probably for people who saw it in the theater, but also people around me and Bill's age

where the three characters are so relatable. And so, like, you just knew people like that when you were in college or, like, out of college. Definitely. knew the girl. There's like that. She existed a hundred different ways. Josh's car.

You knew guys like Mike who lived with his mom. Everybody's smoking cigarettes. Everybody's eating shit. And it still haunts me a little bit. Like how much it feels like it. I think that was part of the appeal is like the idea that it could happen to you because it was happening to people like you. Right.

Did this movie lose its shine for you guys after you saw it the first time? Like, would you consider this to rewatching the movie? It only improves over the years for me, honestly. I had a cycle with it. I really liked it as a rewatchable, and then I didn't. Because it's really like, especially first 30 minutes, once you've seen it a few times, not really that rewatchable.

And then there's like a 20-minute section where people are just screaming, but the ending's amazing. But then my son Ben Simmons got into it. And then it had another life with my kids. And it takes you back to how you felt. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and he was just, even last night I was watching it.

He's like, I'm going to come in for the last 25. Like, it was like, it's just, you know, they know how to do it. So that guy, Dan Myrick, who was written by Daniel Myrick and Edwardo Sanchez, who also directed it, edited the whole thing. Myrick said, it was kind of, to our surprise, embraced wholly by the press. And we fooled, if you want to call it that, a large swath of the, the public who thought it was real. We do interviews where people asked if the story was real, and I'd say, didn't you see the cover of Time magazine? Didn't you see the story in USA Today? It's obviously a movie, right? But if you wanted to believe it was real, it allowed you to do that.

That's what I was kind of saying. There was a part of me that was like, how amazing is this that we have, that this last bit of magic still exists where that might have been the case. Now, you can feel ethically dubious for watching three people get murdered by a witch. But I was into it in 1999. Totally. Can I tell you a little bit? Like, I do want to ask, because you were talking about the things

that were so influential and, and tropes and kinds of movies. And there's, like, yeah. Kind of nascent. There's sort of some found footage stuff that comes before Blair Witch.

Like, there's this movie the last broadcast. There's a couple of things out there. There's a cannibal movie, right? Yeah, like, the early 80s. Yeah. But, like, I think that it ultimately, what this movie is a huge influence is for me as well,

especially of the last, day or so, like going through the documentary and the website that they had put up and Heather's journals that they published and all this stuff, is it kind of feels like where Lost came from, where you could watch Lost and just kind of like watch it superficially and be like, I wonder if they're going to get off the island. I wonder why there's a polar bear here. Or you could lose yourself in reading about Lost and read these super long recaps and go to all the message boards and find out all the biblical illusions in it. And I think that was the coolest thing is that like the reason why Blair Witch remained so present in my life is because like every few years there would be

like some cool like archived piece from from the original press run or from the original sort of viral marketing campaign. And even now like the Reddit board is pretty good. You look at the Blair Witch Reddit board. I'm like some good content on this thing. Right. Yeah. YouTube really helped. All of a sudden the deleted scenes around there. There was a DVD that had a bunch stuff. There's a blue red that had a bunch stuff. There's like the scene when they all drink together in the hotel. It was like a super long version of that. You're right. It created this little weird world around the witch and this backstory of these murders.

And people were into it. And I really feel there's three things that I feel really 1990s to me. One is that you could get away with this movie and make people think it was real. Two was just people with cameras. Yeah. I mean, I identify. I was the guy with the camera in college, you know, videotaping, dumbshed. shit. But just the concept of, yeah, let's go here and I'll bring the camera and we'll just

kind of fuck around and shoot stuff. We did that all through the 90s. I don't know if now people have iPhones. I don't know if it works the same way. So that's the second piece. And then the third piece was what you said earlier about you just kind of knew people like that. They're very specific to the 90s. These people somehow don't make sense in like 2015 or 24. And I don't really know why. I can't explain it. It felt very much like, you know, if you weren't in New York at NYU Film School or in Southern California, going to film school out there, but you were interested in movies and you were interested

in making movies. Like, this was a very... And you didn't think outside the box. But it was also a very relatable setup that there's this woman, Heather, who's like, kind of like really wants to be a doc maker, but then like this guy, Josh is like, I just want to kind of be involved in this, but I don't really have a ton of... hustle. So I'm just kind of like, I'm just like the cool guy who smokes and has a girlfriend and stuff. Are we going to have enough cigarettes for the trip? Yeah. And then like, they obviously

get Mike from basically like a Bolton board ad, you know, like, and that kind of way of meeting people and the way where you kind of had to band together just really, really makes a lot of sense watching still now. And the other 90s piece is just where documentaries were at that point. So like Paradise Laos came out a little while earlier and became a, little mini phenomenon on HBO with Mark Byers and the missing kids and there ended up being multiple sequels. But documentaries were the one point O version of documentary is really starting with hoop dreams, started to take off where it could be like, I took my camera, I went here, I filmed stuff, I edited it into something, here it is. And that really feels perfect for that

error too, too, the way they did this. Because this is what you did. The cameras were a little too big. You had to lug them around. You didn't even know if there was going to be any upside or benefit to it and you just kind of film shit and hoped you captured something. So I don't, I just don't know what this looks like now. It'd be complete. They don't, they'd all have iPhones. They would have researched the area completely. They would have been doing TikTok or Instagram reels as they're doing it. They would have Starlink GPS. They would never be lost. You know, yeah. I mean, I think that, I mean, just even the idea of getting lost in America, I mean, she makes a couple of jokes about how it can't happen anymore and the Maryland woods aren't that bad. And obviously, like,

something more mystical is at play here rather than just them walking in a circle. But yeah, there's that. There's the idea that, I mean, one thing that's so interesting about the way that they perform this movie is that you mentioned how everybody had cameras back then. There was always like someone who had a video camera, but everybody was really aware that they were on camera. Yeah. So now I feel like when people are formative, but not really. Yeah, I feel like people are filmed with iPhones now and nobody even really notices that they're on camera. But back then, it was like all of a sudden everybody kind of had to address the camera and pretend like they were in a documentary when they were being filmed. So there's something very specific about that.

We'll take a quick break, a lot more to discuss with this movie. The playoffs are here and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul predicts. Follow all the playoff dishes, swishes, wishes, wishes, and misses. Predict the spread, the total points, and even the game winner. Sign up for Fandual Predicts and predict it from the couch. Offered by Fandual Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 plus. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors.

Manage your activity with our consumer protection tools. This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. Right now at McDonald's, you can get great deals all day with McValue. Jumpstart your day with the under $3 menu featuring a sausage McMuffin for just $1.50. Or grab the perfect lunch with the McDouble. for just 250. Honestly, nothing pairs

with a movie marathon like a McDouble in hand. Get even more value with McValue. Only McDonald's. Bada, Bap, Bap, uh,

limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher for delivery. Coming back. So, Myrick and Sanchez,

they were film students. They created, they decided basically, let's make a horror movie for us. It was like, they're equivalent of when we did Caldera's revenge on a rewatchables.

It was a one for us. In some ways, we should have dedicated that episode to those Blair Witch filmmakers. We should have. I'm my apologies. Really following their spirit. So they were talking about stuff that scared them.

They rented a bunch of documentary style type movies. And they said the legend of Boggy Creek, ancient astronauts. And they were like, could this work? They created this whole Blurowicz thing. They had a 35-page outline. But they said there were more.

influenced by that Leonard D. Moyne show in search of, which, by the way, a show that I really liked or would be like, this week, Bigfoot, does it exist? And Leonard Neumoy would be creepy. And they said, if there was footage of kids in the woods and then people analyzed it after, but it was way more of a, there's some footage and here's the documentary of everybody, analyzing what happened. And then Sanchez said, it started becoming obvious the footage in the woods was the best part. The producer Greg Hales, like, it's something. obvious now that that was the movie, but at the time, you know, it took us a while to get there. And they basically just, they kept editing it and they eventually figured out somebody had the

voala moment of, wait a second, what if the entire movie is the found footage? And then that's it. And that 25 years later still works. I guess in the way you're telling it, it's like the curse of the Blair Witch, which was this documentary that the same filmmakers made and put up on the sci-fi network on cable. was kind of what their original idea for the Blair which project was. That was like half of the movie. Yeah, and they were going to send these actors out. And so it's worth mentioning.

So they basically hire these actors saying, like a fully improvised movie shooting in a heavily wooded area for about a week. They get Josh Leonard and Heather Donahue, and they bring these people on. They give them an outline that's like 30 pages long that's essentially like you have to, this has to happen, you have to be here,

you have to do this, but these people are shooting it. And originally they were like, we're just going to do a bunch of like 16mm scenes out in the woods. And that'll be part of this documentary that we're also making. And then the camcorder got added in eventually as like a character almost in the movie. And so yeah, I mean, like, it's a crazy what if is like, what if they never made this decision? Right. I mean, the curse of the Blair Witch is arguably like creepier than the movie in some ways. But when you're, but like the movie you can just take or leave.

you don't need to know a lot about Berkittsville to watch the film. Yeah, it's 44 minutes, the curse of Blair Witch. You can find it on YouTube. It's easy to watch. I think it's on Tubey, actually. Yeah, and it's just a blown out version of the first 12 minutes of the movie. So they create, the legend is Rustin Parr, a hermit, live deep in the forest, in the forest, abducted six children. But then we get the, I think the fisherman give us the,

crucial point that this guy murdered all the kids in the basement, but he would murder them two at a time, put one person in the corner, murder the other one, which is just fucking creepy and weird. Another one was about a kid went missing in 1888, so they have that. There's an old woman whose feet never touched the ground. So they're planting all the seeds in the beginning of the movie. So you kind of have to remember as you're watching it the first time, like, okay, I got this, I got this, because it's all going to come back. But here's a, here's a thing. You can watch this movie, as I did probably most of most of my life and not really even be paying that close attention to the first part. Because you're just like, the point is, is that the woods are cursed, that there's something out there that's bad. And like, it's over the last couple hundred years made people do these murderous acts. I mean, there's like a whole thing with this woman named Ellie Kedward, who is, you know, this Salem Witch-esque character

who gets convicted to die of exposure, but then apparently haunts the woods, she's manipulating Rustin Par. Like, there's all this stuff you can read about it, but really what you need to know is that these woods are evil and these people wandered into them. Are you an evil woods guy in general? Or just for this movie?

Not a fan. Not a fan of evil woods at all. Really spooks me. You're a big hiking guy, though. No. That's one of the things I, hate about Los Angeles is people like want to go for a walk. I'm like not really. I thought you like the Portland like you like doing like being outdoors doing outdoors.

I don't mind being in the outdoors. It's because of this movie. It's been hiking for you. I like using the outdoors as a recreational area, not as like an aimless walking area. I love when we find little CR tidbits. Hiking sucks. My column. The other thing they did was they So they have these actors and they decide they're going to fuck with them. And the actors know they're being fucked with, but they also don't 100% know they're being fucked with. And they're not being fed a lot and they're getting sleepy. And Greg Hill, the producer said he'd been through Survivor School

when he was in the Army. And I thought we could run the actors through a storytelling survivor school obstacle course where they just had the GPSs in the woods, but then we could fuck with them and then we'd have their reactions to what was happening. And there's stuff that I didn't, I knew a lot of this stuff, but there was doing the research for this pod. Like, I didn't realize there were times when they were just fucking with the tent and the actors really didn't know what was happening because none of this was in the outline.

Yeah, wasn't there like also like something about like one night they had the art director of the movie like run around wearing like all white and like ran and like ran through the night and like just to freak them out? Now in the 2020s, I feel like multiple lawsuits and violations probably would have happened. Yeah, right? I think so. I was triggered on my camping trip for the student film I was shooting. The guy Mike played by Michael C. Williams, he said the only direction they gave him was

they wanted me to be the one who was more scared. They didn't tell me anything. They didn't want me to change why I was. The whole idea was be as close to yourself as possible, but you're the super scared one. So it was cool. They had that. Then they're building the website at the same time. and that became a destination thing.

It goes to Sundance, becomes that guy, Joshua Leonard, says that was the first year I heard the term buzz film. All of a sudden, we were the buzz film. And Sundance, they had to schedule extra screenings because people were going nuts for it. Yeah. And then that was it.

So this movie, the budget was probably around $500,000, maybe a little bit higher, different estimates. It made almost $250 million. It was the 10th, biggest movie of 1999, apparently has the best budget to revenue ratio of any movie ever. Yeah, I was wondering if it was this or paranormal or what it might have been. But this is, it's astonishing. It's like a personal fortune. I'm even wondering, what did $500,000 go towards? I don't even, I didn't, I thought it was even less than that. Yeah, there was, they had to,

they had to do the Gilligan's Island theme song, like stupid stuff like that. Oh, they had to pay for that. They paid the actors. The budget is between. 207.50, yeah. Yeah. That's still a hell of a return. Roger Ebert. Do you know the answer to this one? I didn't. I didn't want to look it up. What is it? Our guy. What do you think Raj gave this? I think he thought it was stupid.

Four stars from Raj. Our guy. Yeah. He said it was an extraordinarily effective horror film at a time when digital techniques can show us almost anything. The Blair Witch Project is a reminder that what really scares us is the stuff we can't see. The noise in the dark is almost always scarier than what makes the noise in the dark. Welcome to my life in my house. What was that?

Do you want to talk about it? Do you want to talk about your ghost? I'm just, I'm going to end up like Josh. I'm just going to disappear one day and my wife's just going to get my shirt with my teeth wrapped up. She's going to find a Celtics T-shirt with your teeth. my teeth, my tongue, and a finger. It's like, Bill's gone. He's not coming back.

Let's do most rewatchable scene, which is brought to you by Paramount Plus. A mountain of movies awaits on Paramount Plus. That means a mountain of heart-pounding action. Blockbuster's like Top Gun Maverick, Mission Impossible Fallout and Gladiator. Three movies we've done on the rewatchables. A mountain of jump scares with throwers like

scream sick, smile, in a quiet place day one, and a mountain of fun for the kiddos with family favorites. Like, if Paul Petrieve's, of the movie, Dora the Lost City of Gold, and Blair Witch Project, too. No, I'm kidding. Discover something new every week on Paramount Plus. Okay, C.R. We've done, I think this is our 357th movie. Is it?

Maybe more. Something like that. Impossible to come up with rewatchable scenes. I just listed a couple. I like when they're in the hotel room getting drunk. I like when they get awakened in the middle of night in the fucked up forest. after the day, the same night, she got knocked over the rocks, and it's like, oh, this is bad.

The second time they get woken up when he's like, I don't think it's a fucking deer, man. And there are pile of rocks outside the tent. And she's like, those who weren't out here yesterday, that part's good. The three files for the three campers, yeah. We're obviously not wanted out here.

Let's get the fuck out. Heather loses the map, leading to Mike revealing. He dumped the map. What the fuck off me, man? They're doing shit. They find that. the crazy part of the forest is fun.

This is no redneck. No redneck is this creative. It's so funny. That's such a good line. Woke up screaming in the middle of the night is another one. First night after Josh disappears. So they said apparently Josh didn't know he was done.

And the initial plan was to have Mike disappeared. It was just Heather and Josh left. There's a lot of stuff in the research that Heather and Josh, it was not a great eight days for them as a tandem. Okay. And there was a lot of arguing, and they made the decision,

let's pull Josh out instead of Mike. So Josh said he got a note, when everybody goes to bed tonight, stay awake, once you're sure they're asleep, leave the tent. If anyone wakes up, tell them you're going to take a piss. So he waited, got up, walked out of the tent, and he said, Ed and Dan and Greg, they're waiting for me with flashlights,

and they said, you're dead, dude. And they took me to a really nice meal at Denny's. and the other two woke up the next morning and Josh was gone. And that was all like authentic reactions. Where they're like, where the fuck is Josh? And I too in 1999 was like, man, I'd love a real nice meal at days. Where were you? I don't know why they didn't invite you.

When do we do Grand Slam Breakfast Hour? Heather finds the finger, tongue, and tooth wrapped in Josh's shirt. That's, I guess, a scene. Heather's confessional is the most famous scene from that movie. And then the ending. So it's either the confessional or the, when they find the house in the whole ending, right? So I want to do,

I do want to give a special shout out to one scene that you, I don't think you mentioned, that then created, and this is pretty rare. It's got to be a really good horror movie for it to create a phobia or an anxiety for you.

Okay. When they come across the same log. That tree is down. That's the same one. Oh, God! No. You've got to be kidding me. No.

My, just please stop. Please, please stop. Please stop. Please stop. No. No, Mike, it's not the same log. It's not the same log, Mike. Same log.

Look, it's not. It is. Open your eyes. It's not the same log. After they've been walking for 11 hours. And they just like, you've got to be kidding me. And she's just like, it's not the same log. It's not the same log.

And she's just like, I can't fuck. They walked for 10. hours in a giant circle or, you know, through another dimension, I am petrified of that idea of getting like lost in the woods and being like, we're walking, we're walking straight, and we come across the same thing that we've started at. That is actually like weirdly like a huge phobia for me. But the most rewatchable scene is just the last 15 minutes. Let's do rewatchable scenes. Today's most rewatchable scene is brought to by Paramount Plus I was kidding. I was making believe we went backwards. I thought you would get that joke.

It's not the same ad read. It can't be the same ad read. Where are we? Where's Craig? Where's Craig? So what's your answer? The last 15 minutes. Like, just the house.

Yeah. The confessional's great. It became the most kind of talking point. It was the commercial. It was the most parody thing in the movie. It's the most memorable scene. There's a... The ending is the best part of the movie.

There's a school of online discourse that suggests that the... video that Heather leaves is like her confessing to like being partly responsible for it, which I never read it that way, but I thought it was, as this years go on, people read this movie in all these different ways. Partly responsible for what? Well, if you read the Heather's diet. I look that you're a Blair Witchhead. I'm just a, I'm just a guy.

Bill, I'm just a guy who reads Heather Donnie use journals. So I got to ask. Heather's journals give you a different sense of the character. She definitely has a lot more awareness about the dangers of what they're about to do. And a lot more ambition about confronting those dangers. And I think people like deduce from it that maybe she like drove them there or a certain point in the experience became possessed by the Blair, which I don't, I don't read it that way, but it is out there. She says, it's out there. I just grab this stuff and bring it, you know?

She says it's my fault. It was my project. I insisted. I insisted we walked out. Everything had to be my way. This is where we've ended up. And it's all because of me that we're here now. Hungry, cold, and hunted.

We're going to die out here. The ending. I'm getting downstairs. Josh. Josh, is that you down there? Josh. Yeah, man. Mike in the corner is just the fucking best.

It's so good. It's one of the best ideas anyone's ever had for a closing part of a horror movie. And what's great about it is some people don't even get it when they're watching it. Yeah. Because you have to pay attention to the other part of the movie. I got it right away. I'm sure you remember this, like in the theater, even if we weren't in the same screening, like 350 people being like, what the fuck?

Well, because she's shrieking screaming for a minute. And that was unsettling. then that shot of him just facing the other way. And it was like, oh no. Yeah. And then thump. It's as good as it gets. Cut to black.

No epilogue, no like authorities were never able to find their body. It's just like, bang, this is it. And that contributes to the idea that it is like found footage because it's kind of like, oh, there's no like cool, happy ending where somebody came in and was like, but don't worry because Josh was later found. you know, it's dark. I gave up on Josh when I saw the finger tooth in his tongue, but other people might have been holding on.

Yeah, it's brilliant. The house is brilliant. I mean, if you're going to nitpick, you're almost like we could have maybe done 15 more minutes in the house or five or three or find the house before. The house is such a good character. I wonder if they wasted it, just having it at the tail end.

I'm sure there's like lots of, practical considerations that went into that where it's like, could they, you know, with the equipment that they had, could they effectively shoot an interior at night? And like what was like the deal with like running up and down the stairs? But I mean, that's the thing is like this was made by the people that you see on the screen. What was the movie set in Russia that was a found footage movie with like the creepy building? And it was near the Chernobyl.

It was like the Chernobyl tapes. Turnable Diaries? I've seen that. That's a scary one too, yeah. I think the found footage, I watch all of them. Most of them are bad. It doesn't matter. Well, I saw the first paranormal activity in the theater.

I think I was on a, it was at my book tour in San Diego. I want to say that. I want to say I saw it in San Diego for some reason. Same thing. When these found footage things go off the rail in the last 50 minutes, it's terrifying. Anyway. That was today's most rewatchable scene brought to by Paramount Plus, from action blockbusters to thrillers to favorites for the whole family. Find something new to watch every week. A mountain of

movies awaits on Paramount Plus. Plans start at 799 a month, start streaming now. Let's take one more break. This episode is brought to by Pure Michigan. In Grand Rapids, every moment feels like a scene worth replaying, every riverside stroll, every slow afternoon sipping small batch bruise, every guitar riff drifting out of the city's brand new amphitheater. This is a place where everything feels cinematic. Like you've stepped into a highlight reel that's yours to explore, ranked as the number one city on the rise from LinkedIn, Grand Rapids invites you to find a rhythm all your own. Season after season in Pure Michigan. Find your season at experiencegr.com. This episode is brought to by the active cash credit card from Wells Fargo. That's a mouthful,

but that's because it packs a lot in. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with it, big or small. So whether it's buying tickets to the game and grabbing a coffee, it earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Say it with me, the active cash credit card from Wells Fargo,

be a 2%er. Learn more at Wells Fargo.com forward slash active cash terms of play. All right, CR, what is the most 1999 thing about this movie other than stuff we've already discussed? would you go with Heather's 1999 look? All the things we talked about, or do you have a specific thing we haven't mentioned yet?

Because I have one thing. Josh's car is very 1999. Even if it's not a 1999 car, it's like the kind of car that like a broke college student would be driving in 1999. It's like a cellica. Yeah. There's cigarette butts like between the seats.

Yeah, just even the way Josh talks, like when he's just like, I want mashed potatoes and a piece of ass. Like, it's just a very 99. He's like the guy that at one in the morning, he's smoking six, and he's like, I think Courtney Love killed Kirk Cobain. And you're like, dude, can we go to bed? Here's the most 1999 thing. One of the video cameras used by the actors,

they bought it at Circuit City. Yes. Filming was completed, and then they returned the camera for a refund to help their budget. They bought the camera at Circuit City. There's no more 1999 fact about this movie than that. I feel like every story I hear

about people making their first feature and maxing out two credit cards to pay for it. It always is like, oh, and then I made sex lies and videotape, so it all worked out great. Yeah, how many bad ones? I want to know the oral history of dudes who were like, I still have a poor credit score

because I tried to finance my Terminator sequel with a Discover card. That was us with the Take Hunter won. That's right. We funded it with whatever certain Best Buy. With Marriott Bonvoy points.

What's age the best? Horror movies where the kids are clearly asking for it. Don't go in the fucking woods. You knocked over the rock pile. Like, why? What do you? Oh, oh cool.

Look at the this, let's stay here today. I think it's an Indian burial ground. Get the fuck out. What are you doing? All of them deserve to die. All of them. They just should have been like, honestly, it should have been like, we're not going further than like 15 minutes from the car. Yeah. You know, like, it's just like this can be like we can get some scenery. We are not going in the woods. The curse of the Blair Witch doc you mentioned for Wood's age the best. I'm glad it exists. I got a question for you. I just got to ask this because we were talking about going into the woods. Like, how soon after starting the adventure do you start questioning?

Heather's navigation skills. Oh, immediately. Yeah. Yeah. Worst hike partner ever. Also, not hard to figure out. The sun's going that way. It came up this way.

It's going that way. I think that's how she was navigating and she wasn't really using that old map. What's age the best? Making one victim stand in the corner with their back to the second murder. I don't know how you come up with something that creepy, but congrats,

because that's about as creepy as it gets. You admire the discretion. You stand over there. I'm going to kill your brother. Like, what is a creepier horror movie gimmick than that? I know. Standing in the corner, don't move. You just have to stand that way.

And you're just listening to the other person get murdered. It's up there. It's up there with like the girl from the ring as like one of the scariest like single like seconds in a movie. Yeah. Or poltergeist's girl just being in the TV. Yeah. We've had some good horror. stuff. So another one, you mentioned this, the walking around for the same day and ending up

in the same spot just as a concept is pretty brilliant. Cudos to them for that. They all signed a release granting the production permission to, quote, mess with your head. So when you watch this movie, the tent attack and a couple other scenes, like they're genuinely don't know what's going on because they don't know if where they are is like a haunted place. Yeah. I also think one of the things that's a lawsuit now. That's aged the best is the group dynamic in relation to how fear like jumps from person to person. It's pretty rare that in any group, all three people are feeling like the same thing at once. So Mike will be freaking out and Heather will be kind of angry at him, but Josh will be trying to make peace.

Or Josh is freaking out and Heather's angry at him and Mike's trying to make peace. or Mike and Josh are going crazy and Heather's trying to make pieces. It's like they always have like this really like precise internal dynamic to their group. It's really, really well observed. No music in this movie other than...

Except for Josh's car. Rock songs. But once we get in the woods, it's just we're silent the whole time, which is a great choice. The trailer was really good for this and so was the poster, both super effective.

I mean, the poster was also like a misconduct. poster of Heather, right? Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, some of the stuff, the actors, and we'll talk about the what stage is the worst piece of it too, but how this movie became like a huge phenomenon and how dumbfounded they were by it is really interesting. Just like the concept of becoming famous overnight in this completely improbable way.

And also like early doors, like early stages of people. not being able to separate the actor from the performance and starting to get mad at Heather and how she felt like people really invading their privacy in a fucked up way. Yeah, like Heather said, I had this overarching wish that the movie would have just made $7 million.

That would have been a really great sweet spot. I was just in this position where I was the face of this thing that kind of blew up and I was utterly unprotected. Josh said, to completely honest, so much of an experience like that happens in a blackout when your life changes that drastically,

you don't even understand how crazy you are until you have the opportunity in hindsight. It was a tidal wave. It's really like one of, I don't know if there's been another movie quite like that. You've had movies with actors. You've had movies where actors could then have a career after the movie, like swingers.

You'd be like, oh, Vince Vaughn, what's his next movie going to be? These three were all supposed to be dead after the movie. Yeah, I mean. And kind of had to play dead like a dog even after the movie came out. And then it's like, okay, everybody kind of knows now, and then their careers were done.

There was also, like, that feeling with the indie movie scene, it wouldn't, you couldn't do this on Netflix, is what I guess what I'm trying to say. It couldn't be like, oh, this is on, like, Netflix would immediately feel like liable for, like, misleading people or for whatever. Like, their overnight sensation, it wasn't like what happens with, like, stranger things where nobody knows who those kids are. And then the next weekend, they're, like, super world famous. Right.

This was, like, legit people being like, so are these people. Are they alive? And then when they're not dead... They're kind of mad at them. Yeah, like a little bit? Yeah. Yeah. Weird.

Any other what stage the best? No, we covered a bunch of it. It was just like capturing that moment when handheld video is really starting to blossom in social circles and just how well drawn the characters are and just how knowable they are. The Fortune Three Clap Award for Most Giffable Moment is the same winner as,

the Great Shot Gorder Award for most cinematic shot. Heather's confessional. They just go for it. It's so creepy how close, like we're like inside her nostrils basically. There's like spit and phlegm and her tears and she's just so scared. It's really smart how they do it. Why? What would you have? I mean, the only competitor would be Mike sitting against the wall, but that's like a three frames of shot. The Heather thing is the correct answer. Denna Thieves, Benny Hanna Award for scene stealing location has to be the evil house at the end. Which house? For sure.

Unbelievable. Big Kooner Burger Award, best use of food and drink. Are cigarettes eligible for this category? They are, and I would like to shout out Mike for finding the couple of Lucy's at the bottom of his pack. That's true dedication to smoking cigarettes. It's just like, I know I have one somewhere here. The Butch's Girlfriend Award, Weeklink of the film, other than the motion stuff,

which I think has gotten better over the years. 2019, we just weren't used to that, but I think now there's been so many things like that, your eyes kind of get used to it. It's just really hard for me to accept how they got this lost in the woods. So what you said about how they entered a different dimension almost has to be the answer or they're in, they're possessed by some sort of spirit that's just telling them to do this and they don't realize it. I go along with the idea that for the first third of them hike, Heather is kind of being loosey-goosey with navigating

and is really what she actually wants is to come across some really fucked up stuff she doesn't care about getting back in time but in her journal she's like we have to get home we have to get home we have to get home I think once Josh accidentally knocks over the pile of rocks and Heather's like oh my God

I think that trips something and they can't leave so they're walking around and the spirit's just Jedi mind-tricking them to stay at I wish it had been explained with more clearly, but whatever. Do you have a different week link of the film or no? No, I mean, I think that

I think that the setup for horror movies is usually like my favorite part of horror films because that's where you sort of get to know the people. And the Blair Witch, like, there's a lot of interviews, like it's somewhat repetitive.

I think if I had like 10 more minutes in the woods and 10 less minutes in town, I would have been fine. but that's also because you have the curse of the Blair Witch, which has all that stuff, essentially. I do love the one with the mom with the baby who's like trying to cover her mouth though. Yeah, that was good.

I had her like coming up later in a different category. What's age the worst? Big fat handheld cameras. Dat machines that you have to lug around, yeah. And by the way, those were like the new sleaker versions because the one, like the one I had in the late 80s, you're like separating her shoulder. nostrils in HD

poor Heather's nostrils says the TVs have gotten better hasn't been grateful. We're like going way. You can almost see your brain. Here's my big one. No fun, no super fun scene in the first like 25 minutes to make me care about the characters more. I actually think the drunk scene could have gone longer.

Maybe it wasn't good. Or some argument where they're arguing about some sort of pop culture thing or a sports thing or just something. where they could connect a little bit before it gets scary, it's definitely missing one or two scenes, right?

We're like, oh, I like these three are a fun hang or, oh, these three are interesting. But I think if they had done too much Gilligan's Island stuff, it would have dated it more. You don't think they should have done

the Tarantino? I think it's fine. You know what I like about Amsterdam? What? They're just like, you have any what stage is the worst? I mean,

number one is that Josh and Mike missed the Juan Dixon and Steve Blake NCAA tournament run. Yeah. They really would love that. Such a likable barrel of the team. You know, is this a single, exactly. But for real, the three actors got fucking jobbed. Like, yeah.

There's a lot of different. Yeah. There's a lot of different accounts of this. And this has become even a bigger thing now because in 2016, I think, or 18, they did Blair which was the reboot and now Blumhouse has the rights to it and is going to do it again. They did not really participate in the fortunes of this film. Yeah, so the backstory, they agree to make it. It's made for no money.

The guys who paid for everything sold it for $1.1 million to Artisan, which was some studio. Artisan then goes, see, it's basically an indie deal, but then they go and they make 248 million bucks from there. They didn't have any points in the movie. They didn't get bonuses for, you know, certain thresholds. And they basically, not only they make no money, then they had no career after, because their lives got turned upside out. Yeah. So it's this cool thing to be in the movie, but somehow they got nothing out of this thing they made $248 million. And I think it would be one thing if they were like in a James Cameron movie and they like are just walking across the frame and James Cameron is doing everything. They're literally doing everything in the movie.

Yeah, they're like shooting it. They're, like, shooting it. They're, coming up with the, they are the characters in a lot of ways and they're doing, I mean, like, obviously it's a collaboration, but I don't think that they ultimately got paid fairly for their work. And it's still going. There's a lot of stuff that you can really deep dive it. The other part, that's at what stage is the worst. So you said how Blumhouse owns it now. Jason Blum, who's, we've done stuff with, he's been on my pot a bunch of times. He was working at Merrimax at the time, passed on the movie, could have bought it, did it. Huge mistake became, he just didn't think it was going to be a hit.

and then what happens, eight years later, he makes paranormal activity. It's like, you know what I fucked up and then does a better version of Blair Witch, basically. I have that in what stage the worst

just because I think that's a loss for Blum. Let me ask you this. How many of the sequels have you watched? Are you Blair Witch complete? I definitely saw Blair Witch too on cable when it came out. It was awful and I hated it.

I haven't done any of the sequels. It's over here. I like the original and that's it. The Adam Wingard reboot is pretty bad. Except the climactic, their version, its version of what happens in Blair Witch Project is one of the most physically taxing, like fucking crazy horror scenes I've ever seen. Really? Oh, maybe I'll just watch that. There was supposed, we were supposed to see the Blair Witch.

Here's the Wood's age the worst. And the cameraman fucked it up the one time they actually had it when Heather was like, what the fuck is that? What the fuck is that? That's what I was wondering if that's supposed to be. That's the guy running around in white, I think. And then those guys got kind of fucked on the sequel, too, Myrick and Sanchez. They just wanted to pump it out as fast as possible. They got, and the guys were like, can we have some time?

Can we have time to create a new one? And they were, no, it's got to happen. Sanchez said, pick a release date, start working on the movie. There was a fuse tied. And whether you're ready or not, the bomb was going to go off. And those guys were like, we're out. We're not doing it. And they made it anyway, and it was terrible.

Another, what's the worst. So Heather Donahue changed her name to re-hunts. She retired from acting. She became a medical marijuana grower, changed her name, and just seems like really scarred by the whole experience that she was known as Heather from this movie and really regrets it regrets using her own name and did not have a great experience with the movie.

Yeah, I mean, there's a variety piece that's kind of like 25 years later with these folks or 30 years later with these folks and you can tell it's still with them. They're still better, yeah. The Ruffalo Hannah Rubeneck Partridge Overacting Award. They knew and they let it happen.

Don't you call me, lady. I come in here. I give these things to you. Give it all you got! Give it all you got! I treated you like a son. You fucking stab me in the heart. Fuck you. All three?

I don't think you can give it when you're being terrorized by a spectral witch. Is there really anything that's overacting? So I have Mike before they realize they're being terrorized when he's just getting super agro. Oh, yeah. And he kind of dials it up a little bit. It's like, all right.

It's early, Mike. Settle down. Have a cigarette. You haven't even found the same log yet, Mike. Yeah, come on, buddy. Was there a better title for this movie? The first title was called the Blair Witch Tapes? Hmm.

How about this? Why didn't they just call it Blair Witch? that's what the reboot ones of being called. For a while, its code name was the Woods, which is pretty good, but also pretty general.

The Blair Witch Project went towards the idea that this was like, this was like somebody was putting together this footage as a project and contributed to the weird kind of like, is this real bit? Can you dig it a word

for most memorable quote? Does this movie have a memorable? I think no redneck is this creative is up there. right, that's good. All right, the CR thinks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison for it hottest take award. We've alluded to it.

I just don't think you can actually truly understand this movie without watching Curse of the Blair Witch and in some ways Curse of the Blair Witch is almost better. Like, I would love to see... That's a hottest take. Curse of Blair Witch is almost, just go better because that's the hot take. I would love to see an assembly of the Blair Witch movie with the Curse of the Blair Witch and like have it be like two and a half hours. My hottest take, I think this is one of the most fucked up franchises we've had.

There should have been 10 of these. How did, I just don't understand why did they rush out the sequel? Why did the next one take so long? How'd they fuck that one up to the blueprint of like Blair Witch Woods, people going back, maybe there's a cousin of the Blair Witch in California. Like this just should have kept going and going. I don't understand it. Well, because they're also, they gave all of the opportunities to tell, like, the original stories, right?

Like, there could have been the crucible version of this with the original witch. There could have been the 1940s, like, the kids could have been like Yellowstone. Yeah. I think this is a multi-billion dollar franchise. Ripping death hanging out at the witch house. Let's go to 1880s, man. Hey, guess what? There's a fucking witch.

I don't know. I just feel like they really missed it. I can't believe they fucked it up that badly. Casting what ifs, so there are none. They did a whole improv process to find the three actors, and that was it. They wanted people that could kind of think on their feet. Heather said that they asked her to improvise, and the improv was, you've been in prison,

you've served nine years of a 25-year sentence, you're up for parole, why should we let you out? And she said, I was the only person that said, I don't think you should. And they were like, cool, you've got the job. Who knows if that's true? Best That Guy Award, everyone in the movie? Yeah, I mean, you can't really have that guy for this, for this movie, I don't think.

I do a fuck-up re-watchables pod, this is. Dionne Waiters, I have, though. The mom who covers her mouth? I like also, Ed Swanson, the younger fisherman. I like him. It's always good when somebody's a. about, and a bunch of movies of crib this, somebody's about to take that last step to go to the place you're not supposed to go. And they're like, don't fucking do it.

It's usually like some guy who's working at the last gas station. He's like, you kids, I'll never learn, you know. It's a fisherman or like there's some auto mechanic who's helping them with gas or whatever it is. Recasting couch director or city. So what if they got three actual 99-99 actors? and made the movie with three real actors. Like Affleck, Damon, and Paltrow, or something? I had Michelle Williams, Heath Ledger, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

It's just early Brokeback. It's like the Brokeback. Oh, I like that. But all them were acting, and they were all young actors in the late 90s. In this version of your broke back witch project? Brokeback Witch Project. Is Michelle Williams' character kind of like, why do you guys keep getting your own tent?

What's going on here? I brought one tent. Why did you guys bring another 10? Michelle Williams as the lead would have been really good, especially at this point in her career. But this movie doesn't work if you're like, oh, it's Michelle Williams from Dawson. You're right.

All the people from this movie became the person. All right, one more break. Coming back, Tony Romo, Chris Collinsworth, or somebody else for the director's commentary of the Blair Witch Project? I mean, we got to keep our hot street going. We got to get Belichick back. we're back

I thought you might do Van Pelt Josh Josh knocked over that pile of rocks there It's just a mental error Can't have that Can't have that Now he's He's gonna get slime on his clothes

And they'll find his tongue In a t-shirt I don't think When they keep any up at that log I don't think they realize They're In another dimension at this point Yeah I mean that's just

That's mental mistakes You gotta work on that You gotta know where you are I think when Mike lost the map, that was a huge moment for them, because you don't have a map. Reminds him of when Scott Pioly lost the map once. When I was working with Nick Saban,

1989, we had a map of our plays, and Nick Saban lost it. Couldn't do it. That was it. Can't have it. Map was gone. When are you going to break out Van Pelt? I can't wait for that one.

Heather, I'm just a guy in this. tent with you right now and I got to ask. Do you know where we're going? I've never been that scared, but I still got to ask. Do you regret going in the woods? Have fast internet research. Heather Donahy's mother received sympathy cards

from people who believed their daughter was actually dead. That happened. Jesus Christ. The shoot was eight days. The actors never knew the Blair Witch was fake. Thousands of people have gone to Maryland hoping to find the moment. Blair Witch legend and we're sadly disappointed because they had to,

they had to tear down that house because fans kept going and trying to like break off pieces of it as memorabilia. Yeah. And so they had to, they had to demolish it. I have, my half his internet research truly like made my day. So I got to share it with you. So there's, there's a theory online that Mary, the crazy lady that they visit in the beginning of the movie is the witch. Oh. And that she is basically, like not in her witch form when they see her, but that that's why she has like the little sort of voodooy ties around her fence

that keeps it locked. And that when Heather is running around filming the rocks in the beginning of the film, in the forest, she says something like, what was the Bible quote that Mary told us about the rocks? And so as people on Reddit basically

have found this quote that they think it is, which is from Genesis. Oh, Jesus. I know. I'm going to break out some genesis. This pile of rocks and this one special rock both help us to remember our agreement. I will never go past these rocks to fight against you. And you must never go on my side of these rocks to fight against me. And it's essentially like they pass the rocks. And that's why the witch comes out. So you think these filmmakers were smart enough to... I do. I do. Wow. Great job about that. It's a great Easter egg. I didn't know that's a theory. Yeah. And Josh knocks over the rocks. You know, Josh goes first. Have you thrown that theory at Ray Hans yet? I haven't. I haven't. There's a lot of stuff about Josh and Heather not getting along for people who care. The house used as the Rustin-Parr House, which you mentioned, was called the Griggs House, located in Patapisco Valley State Park, 50 miles east of Berkittsville, built in the 1800s, renovated early 20th century.

It had been abandoned, vandalized, and was decaying for several decades. And somehow they were able to film in there and then eventually now it's gone. And then Josh's camera, which was a CP-16, about 10 years ago, sold on eBay. What do you think they got? 30 grand. 10 grand. That's it. Apex Mountain.

Everyone in the movie. Yeah. And the directors. Like literally everyone. Sundance. I don't know. What is the apex mountain for Sundance? This is pretty good.

This movie became a top ten movie and a phenomenon based on a Sundance screening. So Sex Lies and Videotape is a huge Sundance movie, right? Yeah, that kind of creates Sundance. Yeah. So I wonder if that, what kind of functions is in that sense. Would you say it's Apex Mountain for viral marketing? Yes, good call. I found footage movies.

Probably paranormal activity, right? Because that leads to nine paranormal activities. But it's this invents it. You know, Orim probably doesn't do that. That franchise. Do you think it's... I think Wizard of Oz probably for witches. Fair.

Do you think this is Apex Mountain for Cal Ripkin getting mentioned in films? I'm going to say yes. How about staring in a corner right before a murder? Apex Mountain. Yes. Artists and entertainment acquired this movie for $1.1 million and $250 to timed it.

I'm going to say Apex Mountain for them because I can't think of another movie they made. The great film investments of all time. Yeah. Could have floated some to the cast. Cruise or Hanks? Why not both? Why not both as Josh and Mike?

No, got a pick. I was thinking Hank's as Mike Young Hanks. Like 1981 Hanks. Yeah. It would be really funny if 1999 Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks

were the fishermen. Like Magnolia Cruz. They were the fishermen. Cruz is doing the Jerry McGuire stuff. Yeah. I'm just going to freak out. I'm in the woods. Racehorse rock band.

So we have Hanks as the winner for that? Sure. We're keeping score. Craig Kewskar. Racehorse, rock band, wrestler, a fantasy team name. Coffin Rockers is pretty good. Oh, Coffin Rockers is a good one, man. Or Coffin Rockers for a fantasy team or Coffin Rock.

Something, Coffin Rock's good. Pickin'ets. I said earlier, why would you stay near the Indian Barrow Ground? Super. Just don't. Anyone listening? Indian, if you hear the words, Indian Barrel Ground, out. Just done.

Don't fuck with it. How did they have this much camera battery? They charge it at Heather's the day before. I wonder how, I mean, every... They're there for six fucking days. Those cameras where you chew up the battery in like three hours. And she's filming constantly. I think that's a legit knit to pick.

It's beyond a nitpick. Two cigarette questions. Why didn't they have more cigarettes? And then why did it take Mike so long to dig through his pack to make sure there weren't more cigarettes the bottom. I feel like C.R. is cigarette smoking peak. The bag's upside down

within three hours and you've gone through every crevice of it to make sure there's no cigarettes left. Mike's just like, hey, I found some more butts. It's like, what? That's what we call a carton trip. Somebody's got to bring a carton. How long is a carton trip? It's just anything longer than two days. And it's like,

we don't know where the next convenience store is going to be. There's not going to be like any outpost where we can do this. What else are we going to do? while walking around the woods. All of them smoke, right? So that's at least 15 sigs a day for three people. They're going to be in the woods for four. So that's...

I think Mike was closer to a pack because when they picked Mike up in the morning, he's burning one when he's saying by his mom. So Mike might have been like a pack and a half a day. Yeah. That goes to a larger nitpick that I had, which is, with all due respect to Heather as a documentary filmmaker, the camera equipment goes first.

It's just... I'm not looking this. Once we know we're dying, let's, yeah, let's try to get rid of this shit. Yeah. Good call. So I'm moving a lot quicker that way. You know, I shouldn't have mentioned this in what stage is the best. My apologies for not doing it.

Movies where cigarettes are a huge part of the plot, I just really miss. I just don't think you could do this now where it's like one of the three biggest dramatic forks are the fact that they're finally out of cigarettes. Yeah. What would be the equivalent now? Now it would be like, you know, vape. Yeah, like I ran out of Zinn. It would probably be phones if you didn't have your phone.

Oh, yeah. Your phone battery would be dead. Yeah. I can't go on TikTok. Any other nipicks? Do you think that, like, there's an interesting conversation that happens in the movie where Josh is like, my girlfriend is going to get worried soon. Like, people are going to notice that we're gone.

Yeah. Do you think that it's a nitpick that it wouldn't happen sooner? Or is it like, that's a very 90s thing that it's like, have you seen Bill? No, I haven't seen him like a week. It feels like 90s thing to me. Yeah, he said he was going to be back Tuesday. It's Thursday.

Ah. You know, Bill. Stop somewhere. He's looking for smokes. Probably found a diner. Sequel, prequel, prestige TV, all black cast are untouchable. Prequel was sitting there to do the Yellowstone model. There were multiple prequels.

The Rustin Par Story. Yeah, really such a miss by fucking artisan. They made so much money from this movie. Like, fuck it. Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Traos, Sam Jackson, J.T. Walsh, Byron Mayo, Harling Mays, Evil Affrey Ramon Raymond, Philip Baker Hall, our new entry just for this. Private Hudson from aliens.

She tore down the voodoo witch, man. What are we going to do now? What are we doing, man? I had Byron, actually. Heather. Heather, Josh, Mike. You know what helps me after a long day of hiking through the Maryland woods, looking for a mythological creature,

getting in a rented tent for three and turning on the camcorder and seeing what happens. Let's make a movie. Let's get rid of two of those three sleepy bags and go to town. Oh, my God. This would be a good Byron movie. It's day four. I know we're feeling a little gaming.

I love your scent, Mike. Just want Oscar who gets it, nobody. I mean, if you could give an Oscar to the marketing department or the marketing campaign, I think. Did they have that? They do not. Marketing would be good. Probably an answerable questions. So this is a passion point for me.

If you're this lost in the woods, climb a fucking tree and see where you are. My wife and I have talked about this last night. There's got to be a tree. You can climb and see how high you can go so you can see the surrounding areas. Because unless they hiked for 30 miles. But what if you get to the top of that tree and all you see is trees? Then I know. We're not near anything.

You just throw yourself out of the tree and die. Yeah. Then it's plan B. Start setting trees on fire. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just kill miles or miles of wildlife to get saved. No, I don't, I don't know.

When you climb to the top. Whatever it takes to see that Terps run, you got to do it. Can't miss it. Did Mike lose the map because the spirits possessed him? Unanswerable question. I never thought about that. I thought he was basically... The witch, like, wanted him to kick the map away.

I thought it was supposed to be more like... Mike is hungry. Mike is tired. He does something really fucked up and then doesn't cop to it until the absolute last minute. Who found the camera stuff? How long did it take? I would assume, like, in the documentary,

it suggests that there's, like, you know, there's search parties. So, I mean, eventually, like, the authorities find it. Okay. Any other in answerables for you? How much did Heather know about where she was taking them in the woods? Because she obviously knows coffin rock. She knows that they're supposed to be a cemetery. She obviously knows there's supposed to be a house somewhere

since that's where the Rustin-Parr stuff happened. So in the journals, there's just a sense that she's like, I mean, she's very like keyed into some intense writing in the journals, but there's a suggestion that she's like a little bit more aware of the dangers and where they're going than when she's alluding to in the film where she's just like, I know where we're going, I know where we're going, don't worry about it, we're going this way, you know?

And so that's an interesting ambiguous part of the movie. So was Heather Evil? I don't think so, but I think she knew more about the mythology of the area than she was letting on. down a witch. Best double feature choice. Would you go paranormal activity? It's like the 1.0 and 2.0 version of the same. Well, I mean, honestly, the curse of the Blair Witch is the double feature.

Oh, good call. Okay. The Indian Red Zawantanae Award would happen the next day. Well, in this case, what happened in the next 15 minutes? How long did it take for Mike to die? Did he die? Or did he die? Because the legend was you killed the one and then he killed the other.

What if Mike's not dead? Later, we'll talk about the Cowboys. Now, the legend was he then has to die next. So you just probably a minute. I didn't understand. That is one thing that you kind of have to consider. So Josh gets his tongue and teeth ripped out. So the Blair Witch is imitating Josh.

I suppose you just assume Josh is dead, dead. But, you know, like, it's not killing in pairs if it's three. So is Josh still there as like a spectral kind of like emissary of the witch? I don't really know. Josh had to go because he kicked the rocks over. Yes. They slimed his thing. They were fucking pissed about it.

Yeah, he gets marked. Yeah, he got marked. That's what happened. What piece of memorabilia would you want from this movie? Obviously, the camera, because it went for 10K. I don't know what else. Like, it's like, oh, cool. That's a slime sleeping bag from Blair Witch.

Heather's Journal. Heather's Journal is a good one. Yeah. Mike's Last Cigrette. an empty Mike's cigarette pack Like a kind of crumpled up Winston Could you tell what he was smoking? I was looking for that

And I couldn't They really hit it hit it I smoked Winston Lights at the time So I was just I associate it with Winston Lights You think he was a cheaper cigarette guy Or did he splurge or was he a Marlboro Reds Let me just plow through these

Like a Carlton guy Yeah I was thinking I was thinking probably Maybe camels for him Not the camel lights Just a Oh unfiltered Camels.

Yeah. Oh. The coach Finstock were a best life lesson. Don't fuck with witches, barrel of grounds

or the woods. I think it's a good good way to proceed through life, those three things. Just don't leave eyesight of,

don't leave eye shot of the car. Who won the movie? Sadly, probably artist and entertainment. They 250-touple-time their investment,

unless you want to go the filmmakers. It definitely wasn't the three actors. The filmmakers, but I'm going to include the actors just because they also were part of the filmmaking process but to basically revitalize,

if not fully popularize the found footage horror thing that's still going strong today. I think we won the movie because we found out about your fear of hiking in the woods. Especially just getting deeply lost in the woods is not, I couldn't handle it.

Is that your number one fear? Feels like this should be a ring this should be what do they bring a retreat we have to do like trust exercises see our faces fears you and fantasy we have to get like in a shark cage together 10 miles into the woods with no phones uh Craig any last thoughts I don't feel like Craig's going to recommend this movie to anybody well I just think it's hard I'm jealous I couldn't experience the phenomenon and or and honestly there will probably be nothing like this that I could experience

or did experience in my life. So it's just a bummer. How about paranormal activity? Have you seen the first paranormal activity? Yeah, but you didn't think it was real. Yeah. Right. So even if it's a really scary, effective movie, there will be nothing like this again. And I can't even think of anything similar. It's just like Apex Mountain Ford you had to be there moments. I don't know. Oh, that's good. I like it. That's it for the Blair Witch Project. Thanks to Chris Ryan. Thanks to Craig Coralbeck for producing. Thanks to Jack Sanders as well. You can watch this

podcast on the Ringer Movies YouTube channel, and we'll see you next week. Stitch Fix. Shopping is hard. Let's talk about it. I don't have time to shop, so I buy all my clothes where I buy my seafood. I just want someone to tell me what shirt goes with what pants. I just want jeans that fit. Stitch Fix makes shopping easy. Just share your size, style, and budget. And your stylist sends personalized looks right to your door. No subscription required, plus free shipping and returns.

Man, that was easy. That looked good. Stitchfix, online personal styling for everyone. Take your style quiz today at stitchfix.com.