New Game Based On 'The Blair Witch Project' Demoed at Microsoft Xbox Event

"So that Blair Witch reboot wasn't very good. But maybe a video game could change things up?" writes Engadget. Mashable has more details: Remember The Blair Witch Project, that viral horror sensation that made waves before social media was even a thing? Well, it's back. And it's an Xbox game.

Microsoft debuted a first look trailer for Blair Witch during its annual E3 press conference, and it's coming from Layers of Fear developer Bloober. We don't know much. It returns you to the Black Hills Forest, the site of the movie. There's a camcorder. Also, a dog.

I fear for that dog.
Kotaku writes that "According to the description the game will be a 'first-person, story-driven psychological horror game based on the cinematic lore of Blair Witch.'"

It's already been done.

[Jeremy Erwin]

Umar Witch Project Journal: This journal seems to be that of an apprentice mage, telling the tale of her expedition into the Umar Hills with two other apprentices in the search for evidence of the fabled witch. The tale is hard to believe, but seems to relate the group's horror at getting lost and being hounded by an unseen predator during the nights. The script is in a panicky, feminine hand, and the last page can barely be made out as follows:
"...sorry to Joshellus's mother. I'm sorry about what happened to Michaelus. There's something out here with us. We thought it to be peasants, but peasants aren't this clever. Joshellus says it's the witch. I hear her when I sleep. I don't want to sleep. I don't want to sleep. I don't want..."

The journal ends here.

Original Blair Witch

[Anonymous Coward]

I never "got" that movie at all. It just seemed like some artsy film school project or something...? Got to the end and was like "Mmmm. OK"??

Re:

[ArchieBunker]

It was a novel concept that worked well. The witch made children stand in the corner before she killed them. The last shot is their friend standing in the corner before the tape ends. The witch got them all.

Re:

[magarity]

It was a novel concept that worked well. The witch made children stand in the corner before she killed them. The last shot is their friend standing in the corner before the tape ends. The witch got them all.

There actually was a witch? If I didn't just read that in your post I never would have guessed. All this time I thought the premise was 'city kids get lost in the woods and lose their minds'.

Re:

[Anrego]

Agree, never really got anything out of the movie itself at the time,
That said, it does deserve some credit for popularizing the whole found footage thing. Yes, Cannibal Holocaust did it first, but that didn't exactly have mainstream appeal. It was also one of the first to really use the internet for marketing.

Re:

[ffkom]

it does deserve some credit for popularizing the whole found footage thing.

I'd say it deserves some shame for inspiring others who lacked a tripod and decent camera skills to imitate their lame excuse of a low-budget movie. Others - like Robert Rodriguez - had very much proven earlier that you can make low budget movies that are not insults to the viewers eyes.

Re:

[Anrego]

Well sure, but hard to hold that against them specifically. Just about ever every low budget movie that becomes a bit inspires a whole generation of b-movie hacks.
"Hey, they shot that on a potato out in the woods somewhere.. we have a potato and a woods!"

Re:

[alvinrod]

It also borrowed heavily from the "true story" style in the same vein as something like the Cohen brothers's Fargo did, even though it has no basis on true events. All of that together got the audience really invested in the film to the point that it made did over 1000 times its budget in the box office revenue.

Camera Work

[MrKaos]

I think that most people ran from the cinema in that movie because the camera work gave them motion sickness.

Re:

[dcw3]

I clicked the article to say exactly that. This was the first movie that I ever actually walked out of. And, I never get motion sick in normal circumstances...for example, my daughter and I rode 13 roller coasters one day at Busch Gardens.

Re:

[XxtraLarGe]

I remember watching Blair witch project based on hearsay and it was the most dissatisfying movie I had ever watched at the time.

Then you haven't seen "There Will Be Blood" [imdb.com].

You know what I'd play?

[slashmydots]

I'd play it if they let me into the woods with an array of Supernatural style weapon and let me go witch hunting. You know what they needed in the original movie? Salt shotgun and silver bullets for starters. Just saying.

Re:

[LaminatorX]

They would have died in those woods even if they weren't haunted. They were lost and going in circles, without even the good sense to follow a stream.

Re:

[cyberchondriac]

Not sure if joking or serious, but that was part of the curse of the witch, she was warping either reality or their perceptions so that even following the stream (which they did try) they couldn't escape her domain.
I thought it was a cool idea for the time. The nighttime sounds were super creepy, even if oddly metallic; the hanging stickmen are also oddly creepy for some reason. Watching the trio slowly descend from confusion to frustration to panic then into terror was effective. I didn't see on the b

There are so much better movies about witches...

[ffkom]

just watch "Hagazussa" or "Suspiria" if you want some serious, intelligent movie on the topic, with great visuals instead of stupid shaky hand-camera.

DRM Free on GOG

[RoloDMonkey]

It's available DRM free on GOG:

https://www.gog.com/game/blair_witch [gog.com]