By Shane Gavin on the 11th of December 1999
By now half the cinema watching world has heard of, if not seen, "The Blair Witch Project" a brilliant film in its own way. However what will the consequences of this film be in the scheme of Indie Genre Based film making versus Hollywood? Will it mean the systematic sell out of one of the last virtues TRUE HORROR FANS have left. Or will this just be a flash in the pan that shimmers for a year and than goes away. This is a discussion and I'm going to love any feedback from people who have seen or haven't seen the film, horror fans and non-horror fans.. I'm going to divide it into sections..
WHAT GIVES ME THE RIGHT TO ANALYSE THIS FILM?
(a brief history of the hysteria)
I've been watching the film develop as a lurker on the www.haxan.com/homeframe.htm (Now www.haxan.com/blairwitch/homeframe.htm page since October of 1998 and was a regular poster on the Haxan films Discussion board early this year up until June/July (posting as GOREboy) when far too many Newbies start reposting old discussions. When the film was bought by Artisan for 1 million dollars at Sundance I rejoiced. Roger Ebert gets a gander at the film and gives it a catch phrase and marketing slogan ("The Scariest film since the Excorcist"). When the film was invited to Canne I was so happy for the Haxan 5 that I sent a mini interview to Ed Sanchez to get his thoughts, he replied to all three questions and with haste and sarcasm SEE THEM HERE. When TBWP was the only english language film to walk away from Canne with an Award Prix De Juennes (Auddience Award) I was again stoked. I was beginning to see a pattern. The film could not be stopped. I checked the FAKE online stocks I had bought for less than a dollar each on the www.hsx.com (Hollywood Stockexchange), soon those 50,000 shares that cost less than a fake 50,000 dollars were going to net me MILLIONS. On the Discussion board (at homeframe.htm) a couple of the regulars Abby and Eric found that had little too much in common, seemed that there was more than just the love of the witch between them. Not only did Abby and Eric create A&e.'s Blair Witch Fanatics site (which garnered coverage all over America and more hits than Battleship) it also lead to Abby and Eric getting a walk on role in "The Curse of The Blair Witch", they were the Archeology students that found the film. When www.blairwitch.com opened I already knew everything that was being posted on the page, from discussion and hidden links within the homeframe.htm at Haxan Films. When the film opened in the USA I had already taken an AXE to a pirate pre-sundance copy (as what the note read) that was sent to me from an anon source, and no, I didn't watch it. When this film was to release I was going to pay for it, not watch a pirate. On the 31st of July 99 the projected takings for TBWP were 60 million, (If this trivia hasn't given me the right to analyse this film how about this)... I watched as Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch said he would buy television exhibition rights for the film for 15% of the domestic gross of the film. Well the advertising on the night that it is shown on TV will be made of GOLD. At the time Rupert was planning on paying around 9 million based on preojections, now the figure that Rupert will pay is now over the 20 million US mark. To coincide with the release of "The Blair Witch Project" I released "The Road Rules Project" the first Australian parody of the film and only the 4th or 5th parody on the Internet on TBWP, I thought it would be the last. Big Mistake, a few days later NEWSWEEK would write a small article that turned the parodying of "The Blair Witch Project" (in which The Road Rules Project is named) into a free for all. Than the back lash started, one of the most foul came from a magazine known as SALON magazine which began to delve into whether or not the fan sites were actually paid for (mine wasn't I won a Dossier but that is all I have ever got.) in particualr the A&e. site becuase the loving couple made it into the mythos. Skipping the Merchandise (comic, Dossier, soundtrack, beanie, shirt, hat, pins, computer games) we finally hear the Australian release date of December (according to a report on the 2nd August) as the film released in the US, we hear that DENDY has gotten distribution (I feared limited release in the rat infested George cinema). At about this time E news is the first TV program on commerical to showcase TBWP. Cable TV had been raving through MTV specials and Movie Network specials for months. 8th of August the film becomes the most profitable of all time, yet it never reaches #1 in the box office it breaks another record, it takes 57,700 dollars per screen in its US-limited release week #1, in week #2 it broke its own record, setting an unprecedented 64,500 dollars per screen these are the highest per screen rates ever recorded. By mid August WE the Aussie fans are hearing reports that the film will open on the 16th of December. The reports are coming from the FIRST Australian Blair Witch site (other than mine) The Blair Witch Project Downunder. The site is run by a brilliant Australian screenplay writer Andrew Mackie, who also happens to be a player in the Australian Film Industry see globefilm for more details. On the 16th of August TBWP passes 100 million domestic. At around this period people start filming there own Blair Witch parodies and the first non-purely html text and picture based parodies start appearing on the NET. On the 4th of September the Australian official site opens www.blairwitch.com.au along with the UK site www.blairwitch.co.uk . Arena's grveyard shift and TABITHA begin to hype it up to the horror audience without the web in mid September. Australian newspapers have been using re-runs of American columns trying to capture what the Witch is..The first week of November it opens in the UK it goes to #1 and stays there for 2 weeks, it is shafted by the Sixth Sense. November is the month that really makes the WITCH fly in Australia. The advertising starts to be in front of every single film MA and over, posters are now in prime places at the cinema, and on November 15 the preview screenings are announced. The film is confrimed as releasing in Australia on the 9th of December. On Thursday December 2nd "The Curse of the Blair Witch" is shown on Australian TV. It showcases the mythos of the film. December 3rd the Midnight screening occurs. That weekend in Australia during limited release the film amongst blood thirsty and scathing reviews from the Baby Boomer reviewers, rakes in a quarter of a million dollars.ON December 9 the film Grosses 850,000 Australiam. The Office of Film and Literature Classification down grades the film to an M rating, which makes it accesible to every man woman and child, seems the word FUCK is now, no longer offensive enough to gain MA. December 11 I write this article knowing that the film may come out of this weekend at the top of the box office, or get done over by Toy Story 2. The film is showing on the half hour in Australian multiplexes, and every half hour in the megaplexes. Now if this prior knowledge doesn't give me a right to express my thoughts on the film.. How about a BA majoring in Film and Media and Cultural studies (Griffith Uni) and the Owner operator of Horror Fans Anon. On December 11 The Sydney Morning Herald acknowledges my page.
HOW HORROR- ARE THE INDIE DIRECTORS ED AND DAN?
Well this is where the first straw of the SELLING OUT of the indie horror industry could hurt your average horror fan. Ed and Dan are not exactly your typical horror fans. They have often been quoted as saying they tried to make a film that scared them, this is what scared them etcetera (I think they must say it once or twice a day.). My thoughts on their horror fandom were further brought into doubt when Ed asked in a recent chat on www.blairwitch.com.au "Who is Fulci?" when a fan was asking him if he liked Fulci. Dan seems to be the quieter of the two, and if he is into horror he doesn't show it. I don't mean to take the shine off the film, a lot of non-horror directors have blindsided us with there brilliance, the scariest film I ever saw was "The Haunting" 1963 (I know he did 4 other horror films), directed by Robert Wise better known as the guy who bought the hills alive in "The Sound of Music". However will this look like another Kevin Williamson styled sell out of another sub-genre in the horror film industry?? It was clear when Williamson shot to fame after writing a self referencing film about slasher films, he had not seen Tenebrae, or even sat down and watch the film written and directed by the Weinsteins that bought his script called "The Burning". The difference here is that Williamson was kind of playing on the fact that he was a fanboy of horror when in fact he was a fanboy of pop-horror and Lois Duncan. Whereas Ed and Dan seem more grounded in telling a stroy not claiming to be anything of a horror fan, they don't come off as horror fans.. If anything, they resemble the Diretor Alan Parker, because of there advertising backgrounds.
HAVEN'T I SEEN THIS BEFORE??
If you are in Australia and you are naughty you will have seen a film that resembles it. "Cannibal Holocaust" was directed by Ruggero Deodato in 1979. It is BANNED in Australia, UK, Norway, Finland etcetera. The film is about a bunch of doco makers in search of cannibals.. The film is gettable in Australia, it is gore filled, it is scary and it is brilliant in its Italian genre gillatto. The Blair Witch Project does something much more different and domestic as opposed to exotic, it captures and creates an Urban Legend based on witch craft (something misunderstood, that terrifies Christians) and than they throw someones daughter, someones son and someones boyfriend into the woods to go and film the witch and subsquently they get done. If the film is still familiar, than think of another domestic film, that is all hand held and captures the demise not of filmmakers, but of a family during a very American Thanksgiving. The film was released in 1997 and was called "Alien Abduction". Alien Abduction came out when UFO hype was the go, it was a straight to video film in Australia and is about a family who are terrorised throughout the night by Aliens, untill the final frame when they are confronted. The film also has a sequence in common with "The Blair Witch Project" that can not be denied, when the youngest member of the McPherson family takes the handicam to the bathroom and films a sequence in which he breaks down crying and saying how "Scared" he is. Not an all out rip off but you can see the similarites and I know Ed saw the film, as I asked him about it. The problem with "Alien Abduction" was that it had FX in it that ruined the experience and really falsified any reality the film could have. The film also was a little too contrived, it was guided, it seemed that the handicam just happened to be left in the right spot to see the kid possessed and unload the shot gun. "Alien Abduction" was creepy at night, but really lacked surprises in storyline because it was so contrived, this is where "TBWP" manages to scoop extra points. If you are in American you will have heard of "The Last Broadcast" it was also talked about in Australia on The Panel. The film was marketed as being "Ripped off" by TBWP. It was just a maketing scheme used by indie horror fans to try and garner equal attention for both films that backfired. It meant that "The Last Broadcast" is now straight to video film about some cable tv producers who try to track down that half horse bird thing called the Jersey Devil. However it needs to be noted that Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler are also pioneers in the online genre and are a welcome part of the new wave of directors. They have marketed there film entirely over the web successfully since 1997.
WILL THIS FILM SELL OUT THE INDIE GENRE BASED UNDERGROUND??
NO.. This year has been a golden STAND OUT year for Indie horror. Not just in the USA, but also in Canada and the UK. The UK had Razor Blade Smile,The cutting edge and smartly original vampire flick. The US produced the best INDIE HORROR film (IMHO) this year in the shape of "The Dividing Hour" made for video (Mike Prosser et al.) and garnering some great underground support. The film was made for only 7000 dollars US.. Than there is the other mammoth indie film from friend of Kevin Smith: Roberto Masciantonio, the film is called "Cold Hearts" which has studios buzzing, as Roberto is now to pen the sequel to Lost Boys combining his mythos into the mix. Plenty of other Indie films are floating around in the ROCK YOUR WORLD SOON BIN, like "Stop it, You're Killing ME!" (US) and "Urban Flesh" (Canada). Actually the more one reads through the list of Indie horror the more one realizes that there is way too much of it to ever SELL OUT. There is no way the cinemas can handle the amount. Even if all the Indie Horror shorts and Features produced in my native Brisbane were too stand up I'm sure that there would be enough to pack out a megaplex several times over. INDIE horror is a love sub-genre.. It is not love in that gothic romance sense, but more in that love of the genre sense. Most who make the sub-genre films do it for the fun and the little money, then kiss it goodbye, after showing their friends.. But there are dreamers and master storytellers that emerged throught the Indie genre. In New Zealand we get Peter Jackson with Bad Taste and BrainDead, in Australia we get Russel Mulcahy with Razorback and George Miller with Mad Max, in America we get Sam Raimi with Evil Dead, John Carpenter with Halloween, George Romero "NOTLD" and Wes Craven with "Last House on the Left" (Still banned in Australia by the BAN WAGON aka OFLC), in the UK it was Clive Barker with his short hard as nails to get "SALOME". In all honesty the Indie scene is meant as a training ground for film makers and enthusiasts. Every now and than when studios are not raking in the bucks they go to a small cinema at the end of the street, which could burst into flames if a match fell the wrong way, and cultivate new talent..
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!
Don't run off and sell your house and make a digital film now thinking it will pay itself off. Just don't even. Film has been around for more than 100 years. TBWP is the first film of its kind to do so well. The chances of this happening again in a hurry, when you go out and make a film are quite minimal. However I'm not trying to discourage you from making a film of your own. By all means make a film, but only spend the kind of money that you can honestly say GOODBYE too. If you want to make the movie for the big screen. Don't shoot it on Digicam and than transfer it to film, it is very costly. If you do this wait a few years until every cinema is running dgitally and than just transfers it to those new fandangled cinemas CD's that Star Wars Phantom Menace was bragging about. The industry is quickly moving digital and the art is becoming accessible which will mean that Hollywood will have to lift there socks to keep up. As Hollywood will not give up its strong hold to the IDIE's ever. Golden rule, INDIE's can keep Hollywood in line with masterpieces like TBWP. Now for INDIE horror film makers in Australia, I just have to say I saw one of the best Australian shorts in ages called TO DO, the screening I saw was cut from 40 minutes to 20 minutes and it was directed by a 17 year old Bart Sammut on Handi Cam. The film blew me away. In the next few years expect to see more of Barts work emerge from Southbank TAFE and his voluntary work at QPIX. Although Bart has a similar outlook to the directors of TBWP he makes films that are inner projections of the genre, IE What scares him, what makes him laugh.. Not what he thinks will make the world scared. This is one of the freedoms of an INDIE director, more control over the inner self in direction. Than there are the other features. Gregor Jordans "Two Hands" blitzed the field in the recent AFI awards.. However for every great story of an INDIE film in Australia, there are the films that don't make it out of the state they are in. Shannon Young (Pictured) was on an episode of Recovery on the ABC talking about his Indie horror film STYGIAN, which unfortunately has not enjoyed the success I think it deserves, the film was shot entirely in Melbourne. This is a film that needs distribution because it was so encouraging to see.
THE VIDEOEZY GENRE :)
It was an announcement that bought a smile to the faces of Indie directors across Australia. One of Australia's biggest Video shop chains decided that it would stock the first film by any Australian director that was made for under half a million dollars. How Long Video EZY can do this for is unknown. There should be government support for such initiatives, and it should be enforced in the other no-personality chains like Blockbuster. This is the biggest encouragemnet the Australian VIDEO industry has ever gotten. IT is something that will surely encourage filmmakers to aim low budget with reach for the stars type narratives.. I'd love to give filmmakers a link to a site all about this but unfortunately I haven't got an EXCLUSIVE LINK.. www.videozy.com.au will get you the Australia site.. Asking at local stores will also get you information.
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
Did not dissapoint. It wasn't the scariest film I've seen, although what is scary to Roger Ebert is not necessarily going ot be the scariest film I've seen. Scary is a word reviewers use to express their own personal fear from a film. So do not go in expecting to be scared by the film just cause Ebert was. I found the film extremely eerie..The characters were Fascinating especially Mike who sat well through out the whole film. The actors loose it once or twice, the film loosing an hour could possibly account for how quickly Heather falls apart when confronted by Josh, but really that is my only resignation about the film.. Heather saying "It's All I have Left".. (The line makes a lot more sense if you have read the Journal before hand or back when you found the hidden link to it provided by Ed Sanchez and his freebusmilken tactics.)... The film gets the HIGHEST RATING ON MY SCALE A+.. My scale rating is based on a the film and what it was meant to set out to achieve as single film within an industry. This film was meant to be gritty, realistic, cheap looking and it was destined to do well if it got to the box office. If you want some french type criticism of the film, well 5 stars for artsake.
-Shane Gavin
THIS ARTICLE WILL BE UPDATE AND AMENDED... FIRST PUBLISHED DECEMBER 11..
1999 .. PLEASE SEND COMMENTARY TO
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, 1998-1999.