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'The Blair Witch Project' Director May Go Into the Forest Again Soon

Except it will NOT be found footage. Read on for more!

By Pierre Roustan, Author of THE CAIN LETTERS and SCARY HORROR STUFF!Published 5 years ago 3 min read
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Make no mistake: The Blair Witch Project certainly had its fans. Stephen King himself happens to be one of them. But the idea of new Blair Witch films honestly may even make the fans go meh, and others want to scoff at the idea. After all, the film did have two sequels, neither of them impressing much. The much maligned Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows and the unusual and a bit over-the-top Blair Witch somehow just didn't have the newness magic the original had, but it just so happens that the original director Eduardo Sanchez himself recently came out and spoke of the very real possibility...

We May Have a Couple More 'Blair Witch' Films Coming

Only they won't actually be sequels, believe it or not.

Sanchez himself spoke of the fact that it seemed the franchise itself doesn't seem to work with the sequel format, which is odd. To a degree, Paranormal Activity did. Other found footage films even found some success with sequels, but unusually enough, The Blair Witch Project misfired twice.

The reason why is because the original film was very much grounded in history when you think about it. Long story short, when you look at the original film, it's a true standalone; there's no "what happens next, stay tuned" feel of what could be except for the fact that three hapless individuals got lost in the forest and trapped by a witch.

It's about the mystery. The enigma. In fact, we for the most part don't even see what the Blair Witch actually looks like (well, we sort of see what she looks like in the third installment, but it's shaky at best). It's that air of mystery drawing us into the mythology and the crypt of the wood where it all seems so black and white, deep and dark, and there is absolutely no end to it. Confusing, and utterly disorienting.

This Is Why Sanchez Undoubtedly Sees PREQUELS Instead

Instead of going forward, Sanchez would love to go backward, exploring the mythology of what brought the three students into the forest in the first place. Think period pieces, very much like how The Witch charmed audiences with a tainted past of toil, trouble, dismay and the bizarre that made the movie so eerie.

Come to think of it, The Witch could've literally been a film about the Blair Witch, and we're thinking that's what Sanchez wants to do: a story about how the original character of Elly Kedward was found guilty and then banished into the woods.

Of course, this would be set in the late 1700s, which means there would literally be no found footage aspect to this! But according to Sanchez, that's perfectly all right.

We May Possibly See Two More Films in the 'Blair Witch' Franchise

Sanchez was in talks with producer Gregg Hale about the possibility that they would not only work on a story about Elly Kedward, but the later period piece done in black and white about Rustin Parr: so two films.

Of course, the Elly Kedward story would be featured with completely unknown European actors sporting heavily thick accents, encompassing the United States back in the day—again, very much like The Witch, although not as grounded in deep personal characterization of just one family in the woods, but perhaps many suffering the ills of a particularly nasty magical woman, we would think.

The Question Everyone Would, However, Have Is: Would We Want to See More Blair Witch?

Why not? Sure, we might see just mere carbon copies of the period pieces in horror we've already seen, but the fact is the Blair Witch is a rich mythology of mystery and pandemonium, featuring a spectacle rising to the level of The Scarlet Letter when women were burned at the stake for adultery and such. Powerful storytelling. And it's worth telling.

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About the Creator

Pierre Roustan, Author of THE CAIN LETTERS and SCARY HORROR STUFF!

I am an author, adventurer, and father, living with my wife, four daughters and one son in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I've trekked through tundras, waded through swamps, wandered through deserts, and swam in the Great Barrier Reef.

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