The Lore of the Blair Witch

The love affair I have for this movie started the first time I read about it on a geeky movie news blog after it had been previewed at Sundance and the bidding war had begun. Since first reading about it I followed the film until its release. Seeing the movie the first time stands as the best viewing I have ever been to. I was able to see it at an art house theater a week before it went national at a midnight showing that was sold out. The marquee read “Josh, where are you?” The audience was dead silent for the entire film and after it ended. The movie affected me in a way others hadn’t. It dug deep into my imagination and planted seeds that are still blossoming. Of the many things that makes me love the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, and which still continues to fascinate me is the lore that was created for the film. There are three levels to it.

Level One

The first level is the level the original film created. There is the film itself and the mythology of the wich and the stories people tell, as well as the initial promotional documentary that was made and aired on the Sci-Fi (SyFy) channel. We get the story of Elly Kedward, a woman who may have simply been an herbal medicine woman who had the town turn on her. Or perhaps she had been a dangerous witch waiting to prey on the town and its children. What the truth is, we never learn. It’s even been suggested by fans that the woods are the evil and they infected Elly and used as a tool, as they used Rustin Parr.

Ooooo.

The faux-doc that accompanied the film only added to this initial mythology and cast the shadows even further.

We are given enough to go along with the movie and its story but also are teased with a skeleton we put flesh to and do the work of the filmmakers for them by making Elly and the woods even more frightening than we are shown them to be in teh film.

Level Two

The other films add a second layer to things. The second film, its accompanying faux-documentaries, and then the third film. The movies have nothing to do with the original filmmakers but they add wrinkles to what we know about the woods and the witch and, like all great myths, things become blurrier. Did the people from BW2 simply go crazy due to their emotional and psychological attachment to the BW film? Or was there something else at play? Add in the two faux-docs that were made for the film it starts to make you question what we really know about the past and the woods themselves.

The third film, while essentially a re-hash of the ideas of the original, also adds to the idea that the woods effect time and hold people that go too far in a sort of bubble where they just do not exist on the normal timeline. We also get to see one of the creatures of the woods and are faced with the question – is this this witch, a minion of hers, or something else.

We may not get answers but the questions are very, very tantalizing.

Level Three

Here is where we are way off the ranch and into the weeds, but this is where some of the most fun is. After the initial film they wanted to cash in on its popularity so there were three computer games released (about Elly, Rustin Parr, and Coffin Rock). Each telling another part of the story of the witch. The games weren’t entirely successful but were interesting that they even existed. More recently there was a first person horror game released titled Blair Witch and it tells a new story in the woods and is chilling in what it portrays. The computer games played fast and loose, mixing lore with a creepy pseudo-Silent Hill sort of game but they never quite captured the horror of the film. The modern game Blair Witch follows a damaged man joining the search for a missing child and ending up lost within the dreaded woods of the witch. It’s a chilling game and really captures the spirit of the film.

Beyond the games there were books, a series for young adults called The Blair Witch Files. Written by several authors, they follow a young investigator’s search for Heather and the truth. Beyond these there were books written by D.A. Stern, which again take the books as if they are an investigation. The Blair Witch Dossier offers evidence and theories about what happened to the three filmmakers and The Confession of Rustin Parr focuses on Rustin and his truth. Finally there is Book Of Shadows, which looks at the events covered in the second film.

Here you have three books that take great liberties with the lore of the first film but in so doing offer new theories and three chilling books that, for those looking to expand the universe, fill that bill perfectly.

From there they released comics called The Blair Witch Chronicles that tell stories in this universe. It was a short series that’s never been collected but you can still find the issues. I collected half of them and they were really good.

But wait, there’s more!

The McFarlane Toys Movie Maniacs line gave us a look at what the witch MAY look like. Half tree, half crone, it put a face to our nightmares and seemed to capture the horror of what many had imagined she’d look like.

If you wanted to have figures of the characters from the first two films then Kubrick had you covered with small figures that resembled Lego figures and had the main cast and some small move ephemera as well.

One of the more recent additions that I have had a good time with is the mystery game. Created by Hunt-a-Killer, the game lasted one season and told the story of a search for a missing child. You get clues and artifacts to explore the history, the mystery, and to try to learn the truth of the woods and the child. It’s a fantastic game and for fans of the series a must-have.

Since the films there have been other books about the making of the movie, new editions of the film, posters, art, shirts, and who can say what else? I know I collected the main stuff when the first films came out but at this point there’s only so much you can really keep track of. What’s great though is that this film, these films, have birthed so much lore that allows us geeky fans to dive deeper into the mystery and the horror. They’re movies, yes, but its the lore that they have created, initially, and in the other media, that adds to the legend of the Blair Witch.

For me, I have to agree that the woods are the issue. Something in the woods, older than the area but which has been made hungry over the years. Elly, and her murder and thirst for vengeance after she was condemned to death, made her the perfect avatar for the evil in the woods. She became the face of evil. Especially since she was a “witch.” Everything that has happened has been controlled and created by the entity in the woods.
I think there are more stories to tell.

I wish they’d be told by the original filmmakers.

I’d love to see how they evolved the story.

For now, we’ll wait and see what comes next and hope for the best.

Whatever happens, the legacy of the initial film, the suffering of that cast, and the work of the filmmakers have created a heck of a legacy.

…c…