Curse of the Blair Witch (1999 TV Movie) User Reviews

Good faking-of

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 9 July 2015]

I have to say I am a huge fan of "The Blair Witch Project". Horror films with unseen danger are exactly my cup of tea, so I would maybe even go so far and call it my favorite horror movie of all time. This piece here is a 43-minute add-on, which basically tells us what happened after the film, i.e. how they found the victims, investigated into the matter etc. There are interviews with family members etc. Still, you always have to keep in mind that this is not a real documentary, even if IMDb lists it as such. It's really more of a sequel than anything else, and also more than the actual very weak sequel. There are news telecasts in here, but everything about it is fake and only adds to the myth of the Blair Witch. In my opinion, these 43 minutes are at their best when they stay pretty close to the subject and I did not really care a whole lot about the references to the history of witches or a child murderer. Actually, I believe, if they had done without some of that and kept this film at 30 minutes max maybe, this could have been really great. But, even the way it is, it's still fairly decent, maybe also because this was written and directed by Myrick and Sánchez, the duo that also came up with the original film, a bit of a rarity that you see the original directors also coming up with the making-of. A bit of a pity that the two never came close again to their success from "Blair Witch Project" in the last 15 years and are not really prolific anymore in terms of movie-making. Same can be said about two of the three actors, including Heather Donahue. A bit of a shame that most of the people involved with the movie stayed one-hit wonders. Still, we can be grateful for what they came up with. This is a solid mockumentary here and I recommend it to everybody who loved the original movie.

The set-up for the Blair witch hysteria of 1999

[Wuchakk · 7/10 · 26 August 2016]

Released to TV in the summer of 1999 three weeks before the premiere of the found-footage film "The Blair Witch Project," "Curse of the Blair Witch" is a mockumentary (fake documentary) that goes over the mythology of the Blair witch and interviews people who knew the three amateur filmmakers who supposedly went missing in 1994.

How do you review a documentary that's phony? I suppose by how real it makes its topic appear. As far as that goes, this is a quality mockumentary that inspires interest in the non-subject. I say "non-subject" because there never was a Blair witch; there wasn't even a town of Blair; nor are any of the people in the film real. It's all fake. But "Curse of the Blair Witch" was an ingenious set-up to fool people into believing (or, at least, MAYBE believing) the found-footage of "The Blair Witch Project." With the hysteria of that movie far behind us "Curse of the Blair Witch" is still entertaining for what it is and you can't help but respect its cleverness.

I helps that the "documentary" only runs 44 minutes.

GRADE: B

nice special with a little cheese

[omega15 · 6/10 · 4 August 1999]

Well, I actually saw the movie and knew it was fiction before I saw this special. I must say though the actors in it are great and how hey make some pictures look weathered and old is pretty cool. There are some parts that are so cheesy I had to change the channel. I don't want to say it was a bad special because if you watch it before the film it will add some history and more depth to the film and will probably make you enjoy The Blair Witch Project even more.

Canny mock-umentary adds to realism of BLAIR WITCH legend

[dancziraky · 14 November 2000]

Originally airing on the Sci-Fi Channel the week before the release of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999), this fascinating look at the supposedly "true" legends of the Blair Witch, from the banishment of Elle Kedward, the drowning of little Eileen Treacle, and the massacre at Coffin Rock, to the 1941 murders committed by Rustin Parr, right up to the 1994 disappearances of Heather, Mike, and Josh, cleverly reels in viewers to this fictional mythology. Many who watched this later swore it was on The Learning Channel or Discovery, not Sci-Fi! In many respects, this short piece is far better than the actual feature film it was meant to promote.

Unbelievable believable

[arminio · 10/10 · 20 June 2002]

If I didn't know that this is mockumentary, I would definitely believe in every word they said there!

Movie is shoot so clever and good (which is reasonable because authors were fine documentary moviemakers before they did this and BWP) that is totally believable and real unless you read end credits where you can see that entire thing is fake :)

It is my favourite mockumentary, next to Jackson's "Forgotten Silver" which is funny and, in most scenes pretty obviously fake while this one is totally realistic.

10/10

Scarier Than The Movie!

[Michael-76 · 9/10 · 4 September 1999]

I saw the movie before Is aw this TV special, though now I wish I had done in in reverse order. I was far more scared and intrigued after watching the TV special than I was after I saw the movie, which was good but fairly disappointing. Even if you hated the movie itself, please give this TV special a chance. It has many details and answers many questions than the movie does not.

Umm what???

[dogwils · 2/10 · 9 July 2021]

This movie was so confusing and perhaps the worst movie i have EVER seen.

Almost believable!

[horror-5 · 10/10 · 19 July 1999]

I haven't seen the blair witch project yet.At first I thought it was real but later found out it wasn't.When I watched this special I began to forget this.It was very well staged and almost appeared real.It was almost like a mini movie accompanying the film.I know have a better understanding of this fictional myth.So when I see the movie I might better understand it.

Fun Start to the Blair Witch Craze

[Michael_Elliott · 9 March 2012]

Curse of the Blair Witch (1999)

*** (out of 4)

This is the TV special, which ended up leading to one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. This documentary build up the "legend" of the Blair Witch and also made people think that three filmmakers went into the woods to do a documentary on it and disappeared only to have their footage found later. This "footage" was released into theaters as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which of course became a huge hit. I must admit that this feature was a lot more effective back when it was originally released but watching it all these years later at least kept me entertained due in large part to nostalgia. With that said, you still have to give this fake documentary credit for at least making up a good story to play along side the actual film. I thought there were some good stories here and the most important thing is that it actually built up interest in the film and that still rings true when viewed today. I thought the best aspect was the backstory on the legend of the Blair Witch as it managed to be quite creepy and the story itself is just so well told that you can't help but get caught up in it. What doesn't work so well are a few of the interviews and especially the stuff from a 70s TV show. At just 44-minutes the film sets itself up like one of the countless reality/docu-dramas that are all over the place today. For the most part it succeeds but once you know the truth it's hard to see it in the same way.

Really, really enjoyable

[bethc_frith · 10/10 · 30 January 2013]

CONTAINS SPOILER Well firstly I'm a massive fan of the film Blair Witch project, i first saw it when it was out at the cinema and i thought it was excllent, really scary and to this day i don't think any other horror film has come close to being as cleverly done ( the marketing was genius!) I first saw the curse of the Blair witch on the bonus footage of the DVD of the Blair witch.I was utterly gripped! It was so incredibly eerie it really put the jitters up me (i might add i'm not easily spooked and i was watching it in broad daylight too!).

Even from the opening sequence i got chills up my spine, everything about this documentary is spot on for me, even down to the female narrators voice.

I thought it very clever how they continued with the whole "this is a true story" angle. I enjoyed the back stories of Eileen Treacle who was dragged into the river by an unseen entity and the letters to the sheriff who supposedly refused to believe there were paranormal reasons behind the students disappearance.

I actually found this documentary scarier than the film itself. An absolute must see for Blair witch fans! 13 years after the film was made and i still get shivers down my spine!

A faux documentary that nicely sets up 'The Blair Witch Project'

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 12 October 2016]

This faux documentary, originally shown in the run-up to the release of 'The Blair Witch Project' and helped create the belief that that film was in fact real. It tells us how the three student filmmakers who feature in that film had gone to Burkittsville, Maryland, to investigate the legend of the Blair Witch then disappear in the woods… never to be seen again, and how their recordings were discovered a year later. This also goes into the legend and goes into some detail when discussing various events linked to the Blair Witch. Various 'experts' are interviewed and give their views; some appear sceptical others seem to believe the commonly held details of the story.

Unfortunately I watched this after watching the film; I think it would have added to the sense of dread if I'd seen this first as the various details mentioned in the film are explained in detail here. These details are discussed in such a matter of fact way that people could be expected to believe much of it is real or at the very least that there must be a real Blair Witch legend that inspired the film… there isn't. There is also a believable use of re-enactments; historical evidence and even 'archive footage' of a convicted killer who was linked to the legend. I watched this immediately after watching the film and really enjoyed the way it the way it gave us details of the legend. Overall I thought this was an impressive companion piece to the film; it is well worth watching even if you don't usually bother watching DVD extras.

Better than the movie

[mermatt · 10/10 · 5 August 1999]

This TV "documentary" is better than the movie -- and made by the same people. These are very talented people -- they have the folklore of witches down cold and they also have the patter and pattern of documentaries down equally cold. The use of interviews and the extended story of the witch and her curse all add up to the sense of a realistic story.

I haven't seen this kind of verisimilitude since Orson Welles' made people believe that Martians were landing in NJ. As a teacher and writer, I plan to use this show and the film in my drama classes to illustrate verisimilitude, atmosphere, and style. The fact that all of this is done so realistically has started a national debate as to whether this myth and the movie are real. What fun!

Curse of the Blair Witch

[Scarecrow-88 · 9/10 · 13 August 2008]

Brilliantly conceived fake documentary of the Blair Witch mythos, Burkittsville's past origins(..how the township of Blair became Burkittsville) regarding a witch banished to the woods by superstitious locals in Colonial times who is reported to haunt those very woods at least every 60 years, children disappearing, others dying. Also, this explores the footage found of three missing student filmmakers and their descent into the woods on the outskirts of Burkittsville. We get a series of interviews from actors portraying professors, a historian, sheriff, & detective. We get an eerie narrative voice summarizing the spooky recorded documents regarding past haunts of Elly, the Blair Witch and those who mention seeing, communicating, and obeying her(..such as the infamous child murdering hermit Rustin Parr, who proclaimed that voices directed his methods of execution). What I found stunningly believable were the interviews with those who either knew or were related to the three missing filmmakers. I remember watching this on the Sci-fi channel way back in '99 before The Blair Witch Project, and must say that "Curse.." and the movie are almost an essential package together. "Curse.." really adds to the marketing juggernaut that was The Blair Witch Project, giving the "lost footage" a rack to hang it's hat on. I applaud directors Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez for creating a complete phenomenon, forming a history and origin of a fictitious witch, using the medium of television and movie-making to birth this whole "missing students" and their supposed "lost footage." Sure, these guys were inspired by such as "Haxan"(..and I'm sure Deodato's "Cannibal Holocaust" was as well), but The Blair Witch Project, even if it doesn't give you a definite answer as to what happened to those college students who went into the Maryland woods never to return, still lives and breathes thanks to imaginative efforts like "Curse of the Blair Witch." Heck, the guys even had an old interview with Parr on B&W film stock(..looks like something culled from old crime footage), and this 70's archival interview with a hippie cultist with an astute knowledge of witchcraft. A Blair Witch tome, photos of the student filmmakers working with equipment. Old child and family photos of the lost filmmakers. These guys went out of their way to create the success that was The Blair Witch Project. Too bad neither filmmaker has quite lived up to The Blair Witch Project, making little genre films, but never quite achieving the same experience as The Blair Witch Project & Curse of the Blair Witch. Maybe it is a product of it's time, but it's influence is seen to this very day..it's undeniable. As a promotional tool, "Curse of the Blair Witch" excels, and, heck, some might say is as creepy if not in fact creepier that the film it's supposed to sell!

Excellent mockumentary which parodoxically robs the film of much of its power.

[alice liddell · 8 November 1999]

It is a favourite sport among 'sophisticated' Europeans to laugh at gullible Americans, and it is a pastime, I'm ashamed to admit, I've indulged in myself. Ho ho! we chortle when we read about audiences feeling sick at such a tame film as THE EXORCIST. Hee hee! we titter as reports come of spectators needing psychiatrists after THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. But I for one envy American faith. Sometimes cynicism can be so tiring, and I'm really jealous of Americans who were genuinely scared watching BLAIR.

Apparently this mockumentary played a large part in the film's mythology - I don't know how true this is. As I mentioned in my review, I was scared witless by BLAIR, and felt great anguish for some time after it. Watching CURSE was of great therepeutic value - shorn of the big screen and the mechanics of the horror film, I was able to dominate the material, to emasculate its very real hold on me.

I think this mockumentary both weakens and strengthens the film. Without having seen it, the film is extraordinarily rich and suggestive, playing havoc with the viewer who carries no preconceptions (like myself). Being not quite sure what to expect only increases the tension and the terror. If I'd seen this mockumentary, I don't think I'd have been as scared. I'd have known too much, many things would have been explained (or at least graspable), overarching theories would have been more easily explicable.

Not knowing too profoundly about the legend helps the film. However, it is also chilling in that the students therefore move from one set of bearings (map, compass), to another (the forest's enchanted circle, the signifiers of the Blair Witch myth). The mockumentary strengthens the film by showing us the outside world of the events, the context and apparatus from which the students disappeared, making their trauma less abstract, more real. It is so rational and comforting, filled with family, friends, and experts, that it makes the disappearance all the more bewildering and shocking.

It is alleged that this mockumentary was shown for real on a factual US television station. While I find this hard to believe, I've been asking myself how I'd have dealt with it in those conditions. I'm not surprised people were taken in - it's brilliantly made and acted, a spot-on recreation of a certain kind of programme-making, right down to the amusingly portentous music, used like double spacing after a paragraph. The only false note is the 1940s footage of the killer, which clearly looks like it was filmed recently.

If I'd seen this mockumentary - and I generally avoid UNSOLVED MYSTERIES-type TV - I don't think I'd have been as moved as I was at the film. The story itself is very compelling, and I love the whole creation of a myth to the extent that I can't believe now that the Blair Witch never existed.

But only fiction can created the character and empathy needed for true horror to succeed; the film reclaims the personal absent (necessarily) from this 'documentary'. CURSE has other points to make - the idea of both history and documentary (the recording of that history) as fabrication; the persistant cultural fear of independent women; the tensions and perversions of small town life; the Gothic strangeness, regardless of the supernatural, or life on the US margins; the deep failure of American masculinity, from Heather's film school teacher to the Sherrif. A lovely document, vastly preferable to THE X-FILES.

A well done "intro" to the film ...

[KennethEagleSpirit · 9/10 · 12 January 2007]

This stands well on its own. You can enjoy this and never see the movie. How well done is it? Well ... When all of this first started playing out, and "The Blair Witch Project" was being promoted, I saw certain things about it all that, because it was all done so well and because I wasn't paying that much attention, well, I thought it was REAL. Now thats a compliment to both cast and crew. They brought it off in a very real fashion. I think that watching this in conjunction with the Blair Witch movie is a real entertainment treat. As far as frightening goes, and coupling that with a building tension that I would compare to "The Red House" of the 40s, this is wonderfully wicked fun.

Scarier than the actual movie

[Rosabel · 9/10 · 17 August 1999]

Having seen this without any prior knowledge that it was complete fiction, I have to say that it scared me badly. By the time I got to see the movie, I'm afraid the initial impact had worn off, so if you want to get the full force of the horror in "The Blair Witch Project" I would recommend seeing it first, with as little information as possible, then following it with this special.

The documentary style is mimicked beautifully in "Curse of the Blair Witch", down to the Ken Burns-like reading of period documents in various voices. This program could stand on its own as a humorous textbook example of how a standard TV documentary is put together in the 1990s, complete with stock characters: the skeptical historical expert, the stolid, unimaginative police official, the superstitious townfolk, the irrelevant friends and family members. Only occasionally does the story overreach in an attempt to produce shivers; for the most part, this "mockumentary" is thoroughly believable. Even once the trick behind it is explained, it can be enjoyed as a skilful piece of film craft.

Far Superior to the Film

[umainer · 9/10 · 10 November 1999]

For my money, this SciFi show packed more entertainment than the film and it was 30 mins shorter. I watched this 2 or 3 times on SciFi before seeing the movie. I can only say the movie was more of disappointment than "Phantom Menace". I think the SciFi show set the standards higher than the film was able to achieve. Even if you dont see the movie, this documentary stands alone as entertaining. I kinda wish I had never seen the movie in hindsight and kept my BWP experience to just this show.

Loved it!!!

[drwho_tardis · 10/10 · 4 February 2001]

I watched this on a rainy Sunday night and I have to admit that I was more scared by this than the film. It was so meticulosly created, and appeared so authentic, that i could imagine something like this happening in real life and that is what scared me so much. While the film didn't scare me as much as i would have liked (the hype or maybe it was just a bad movie)this documentary made me want to see the film again and give it another look. Maybe i'll have a renewed appreciation for it.

I give Curse of the Blair Witch 10/10

Can't disagree with this being believable (almost)

[Jigglypoof · 19 February 2000]

I only saw the film that this mockumentary is about today (see the comments in the comments page of the actual film).

I believe I watched this on our Canadian equivalent of the Sci Fi channel, called Space... in the summer. I was tired that day so I fell asleep during some of it.

At that point in the hype of the film, I was trying to find out if it was indeed fact or fiction, and I wasn't certain yet, so it did disturb me somewhat while I watched it, thinking, my God, what if this was real? I quickly learned after the credits rolled that there was no disclaimer to say that it was fact or fiction.

The only thing I had to comfort me is that I don't live anywhere near there, so it couldn't happen to me. Although... we do have lots of woods here so it did bother me slightly.

Later, I learned that the whole movie and mockumentary was untrue, so it set my mind at ease.

Once I found out there was minimal gore, I decided I might give it a shot when it came out on VHS, but only during the day on a smaller screen, so as to lose that "thrust into it/real feeling"... though I chickened out the first time when I went to rent the last one at Blockbuster... I despise horror films... but someone bought it and decided to show it to some friends and I, so I thought, what the hell. (See my comments in the comments section of the film for more.)

I can't tell you in which order to watch the film and this. You have to decide for yourself. Maybe you should see this first for a background story.

After watching the film, I am still left with questions. I guess I wasn't paying as much attention to this, or the beginning of the film, as I should have.

However I wouldn't recommend finding out exactly how either this or the film was made or it could somewhat spoil it for you.

Just be glad that it isn't true and watch these, and enjoy them... if you can.

Documentary Account

[AaronCapenBanner · 8/10 · 13 December 2013]

This supplemental documentary account was made as a companion piece to the(then) upcoming film "The Blair Witch Project") It chronicles the back story of the Blair Witch, who was a old woman in colonial times who was left to die in a blizzard, and then cursed the town of Blair, in Maryland. The children started to die, and strange things were reported, all of which led to the events in the film. Hermit Rustin Parr figures prominently, and the search for the three missing filmmakers goes on... Superb mini-movie creates an effective mood of menace and dread, with interesting interviews. A must-see before watching the film itself. A model of its kind, just as good as the film!

Better than the movie

[94GT · 4 August 1999]

After watching this on Sci-Fi, I eagerly awaited the release of the movie in my area. What I can tell you is the made for TV project is better than the movie. Having said this I would recommend finding out when this is on again, and watch it before you see the film also, as with out it, you will have no clue what is going on in the film, and it also helps your decipher the ending of the movie.

Better than the Project!

[djonin · 8/10 · 21 June 2000]

You have to wonder how this propaganda to promote "The Blair Witch Project" ended up being better than the movie that spawned it.

If you are going to see the "Project" see this first it is very entertaining and makes you almost believe that the Blair Witch is real, until you see the movie which destroys any illusion of reality.

Life's a Witch

[NoDakTatum · 8/10 · 16 November 2023]

This forty-four minute mockumentary was originally broadcast on cable television to take advantage of the soon to be released "The Blair Witch Project." In many ways, it is creepier than the film it was hoping to promote. Done by the feature film's directors, "Curse of the Blair Witch" gives some much needed background about the now infamous story of three film students disappearing in the Maryland woods, with their footage found years later. We start with pre-Colonial days, and the origin of the Blair, Maryland witch. Then, every thirty or fifty years or so, something happens in the region that triggers more Blair Witch talk. A child is missing, and her search party are hunted and killed. In the 1940's, a man hears the Witch's voice and follows her commands, killing seven children. Then, the three students disappear in the mid-1990's.

Like the film, many of the actors in the documentary use their real names. The town's historian and a university folklore expert are interviewed, as is the sheriff who is in over his head. Family and friends of the three film students all talk about the last time they saw the trio. This is accented by readings from old documents about the witch, newsreel footage, and artists' renderings. While I found the film "The Blair Witch Project" overhyped until the creepy finale, "Curse of the Blair Witch" is both informative and scary. Sanchez and Myrick do a great job making this footage look like a real documentary. The cast, actors and nonactors, are totally believable as interview subjects. If we did not know that the Blair witch is fiction, this documentary might have persuaded me otherwise. Of course, "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" and "Blair Witch" tanked, and I do not know if any other series entries are planned, but "Curse of the Blair Witch" is good for anyone needing a witch fix. I am glad this was made, instead of just another behind-the-scenes, or making-of documentary, where shiny happy actors liken their experience on set as the best of their lives, then trash the work six months later online.

Explains a lot.

[cliff-33421 · 10/10 · 24 April 2024]

Curse of the Blair Witch (1999) is what writers refer to as "telling instead of showing." The point of this hour-long film is to blatantly tell the secret of the Blair witch's power: time travel.

This is also confirmed in the two later films; "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" and "Blair Witch (2016)." Even the titles of these subsequent films relates to time, where the subtitle "Book of Shadows" comes before the main title "Blair Witch 2" and "Blair Witch (2016)" intentionally lacks a chronological indicator.

Specific mentions of time travel from "Curse of the Blair Witch(1999):"

• "Ellie is not very far from any of us at any time, and she chooses her time to appear."

• When describing the corpses found at Coffin Rock by the second search team, it was said that the smell of death remained in the air regardless that someone had removed the corpses. In reality, the corpses were still there, but Blair witch was manipulating time to hide the corpses from view.

• Finally we have the most blatant evidence of time travel: the backpack and associated gear belonging to Heather, Mike, and Josh hidden under two-hundred year old ruins. Also in this sequence, we see the timeless burned tree which exists in all of the films at all time periods.

I'm not sure why it took me twenty-five years to realize "Curse of the Blair Witch(1999)" exists, but I'll take any shred of Blair witch lore I can get.

A real showcase for the uses of planned hype.

[Glen-38 · 3 December 1999]

I was forced to tape this mock-documentary on Sky 1 and watch it later as it aired before the movie was released! I think that this is really best watched after "The Blair Witch Project", you need to see that film fresh.

The music is great, just the kind of thing we are given only at the very beginning and end of the film itself.

(WARNING SPOILER)

The "interviewees", who are actually actors, do well, not to mention the fact that they are so much more believable by the fact that the they, along with the three missing film students, are credited as real people.

(END SPOILER)

We are given an interesting insight into the story of the Blair Witch, complete with relating clips to the movie itself. While some might argue that this will destroy the power of your imagination making up the films background, I disagree. The directors write nothing in stone, and leave the door very much open for your own interpretation.

This program really is a testament to the hype machine of the blair witch project, and in the hands of the same directors, it manages to be almost as scary. Almost.